BROWNIE BITS: WEEK ONE
Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…
CAN WE JUST START ON WEEK 2?: The loss was the Browns’ sixth straight on opening day and marked the 11th loss in their last 12 openers. Only once since their rebirth have the Browns started 1-0: after beating Baltimore 20-3 on opening day, 2004.
OPENING ON THE ROAD: Sunday marked the first time the Browns started the season with a road game since 1995. The last time the Browns won an opener on the road was 1994, when they held off the Bengals at Riverfront Stadium thanks in to a cocktail of big plays on special teams: a kickoff return for a touchdown by Randy Baldwin, a punt return for a touchdown by Eric Metcalf, and Tom Tupa’s historic first two-point conversion.
THE TREND CONTINUES: After beating Tampa Bay in the teams’ first five encounters between 1976 and 1995, the Browns have now lost their last three games to the Bucs (2002, 2006, and 2010). Put another way, the Browns were 5-0 against the Bucs in their pumpkin-orange jerseys, 0-3 since they switched to the silver/red uniforms.
IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT: With the gametime temperature at 87 degrees and the heat index at 100, these were the hottest conditions the Browns had faced since facing the Chargers in San Diego on Nov. 5, 2006, when it was also 87 degrees at kickoff. The Browns also lost that game, 32-25.
SIMPLY NOT JAKE: Jake Delhomme, a sage veteran brought in to bring stability to the quarterback position, opened his Cleveland career with a sickly 59.2 quarterback rating in his first game. By comparison, Brady Quinn’s quarterback rating for the 2009 season was 67.2.
ROUGH DAY FOR JEROME: Though he was the Browns’ leading rusher, take away Jerome Harrison’s 39-yard run in the second quarter and he carried the football eight times for 13 yards on the day.
TAMPA TROUBLES: The Browns haven’t won at Tampa since the Eric Metcalf Show sparked a wild 42-31 victory on Nov. 5, 1989. They’re now 3-2 all-time in Tampa and 2-1 against the Buccaneers in Cleveland.
SECOND-HALF INEFFICIENCY: After converting on 4 of 6 third-down conversions in the first half, the Browns converted just 1 of 8 third/fourth downs in the second half.
SPREADING IT AROUND: If nothing else, Jake Delhomme was democratic in his distribution of the football. He completed passes to 12 different players – 10 to the Browns and two to the Bucs.
BLOWING IT: Sunday was the first time the Browns lost a game after taking a lead into the fourth quarter since Nov. 30, 2008, when they led the Colts 6-3 going into the final period and lost on Robert Mathis’ fumble return for a touchdown with 9:45 left.
OVER/UNDER: The Browns held Tampa Bay to a modest 288 yards of total offense. Only three times last year did they keep opponents under 300 yards, winning twice. Conversely, the Browns rolled up 340 yards of offense themselves – only five times in 2009 did they surpass the triple bill (they were 2-3 in those games).
THE GOOD NEWS: Last year, only twice did the Browns gain more yardage than their opponent. Sunday marked the first time in seven years the Browns gained more yardage than their opponent on opening day.
HOW THEY RANK: After one game, the Browns offense ranks 11th in the league in total yards per play (5.6). Their defense ranks 14th, having allowed 4.7. Last year the offense was 32nd (4.3) and the defense was 29th (5.8).
ENDING A WEIRD DROUGHT: Mohamed Massaquoi’s scoring reception was the first touchdown the Browns offense had scored against Tampa Bay since Vinny Testaverde hit Keenan McCardell for a 32-yard touchdown on Sept. 10, 1995 in the second quarter of the Browns’ 22-6 victory over Sam Wyche’s Bucs.
NFC STRUGGLES: Over the past three seasons, the Browns record against NFC teams is now 1-8.