Written by Jonathan Knight

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Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…

 

PUT AWAY THE BROOMS: Thanks to another predictably awful performance by the Browns, the Bengals avoided being swept by their intra-state rivals for the first time since 2002. Cincy now leads the all-time series, 39-36.

 

PAGING MR. GRUDEN?: Assuming Eric Mangini is a dead man walking (and who would bet against it after losing back-to-back games against teams with a current combined record of 7-21), he will go down as the only Browns’ head coach never to win a divisional game on the road. The Browns finish 2010 with a 2-6 road record - Mangini’s road mark with Cleveland is 4-12.

 

OHIO MISERIES: Since 2002, the last time the Browns swept the season series from the Bengals, they’ve posted a record of 5-11 against Cincinnati. The Browns have now lost 10 of their last 13 games to Cincinnati and six of the last seven they’ve played in Paul Brown Stadium.

 

CAN’T BLAME THE ROOKIE: Once again, Colt McCoy played solid football and kept the Browns in a game that by all rights they should have lost by 30 points. Producing more in his first drive than Jake Delhomme did in the entire game last week in Buffalo, McCoy tallied a 132.6 quarterback rating - the team’s highest for the season - and raised his season rating to 93. The 132.6 was the highest rating for any Browns quarterback since Brady Quinn’s 133.1 in Detroit in November 2009. 

 

BOOKENDING HIS CAREER?:  Assuming Marvin Lewis is on his way out as Bengals’ head coach, Sunday’s game may have provided a bit of poetic symmetry to his tenure. It could well have been the final victory of his head-coaching career – seven years after his first career victory, also against the Browns on Sept. 28, 2003.

 

AND THAT’S 19!: The Browns have now held a lead in 19 consecutive games, clawing to within three games of matching the third-best streak in team history (22 straight: October 1964 through December 1965).

 

A TRADITION UNLIKE ANY OTHER: The loss clinches the Browns’ third consecutive losing record, their seventh in eight seasons and 11th in their last 13.

 

STILL CONSISTENT: Phil Dawson has now made 20 consecutive field goals from inside 45 yards.

 

A DECEMBER TRADITION: The Browns and Bengals have a long history of matching up in December. This was the 20th time the teams have played in December in their 38-year rivalry, with the Bengals winning 12.

 

QUIET DAY FOR THE BEAST: It took a couple months, but Peyton Hillis was truly silenced for an entire game. With absolutely nothing else to worry about, opposing defenses have beaten Hillis to a pulp over the last month, and his numbers against a lousy Cincy defense demonstrate this: 59 yards on 14 carries with a pair of receptions for 23 yards. Take away his long run of 18 yards and they’re a much more reflective 41 yards on 13 carries. Yet even those totals are likely going to look impressive compared to what the Ravens and Steelers will likely do to him over the next two weeks.

 

NOT IN A GIVING (OR TAKING) MOOD: This was the first time since Week Three in Baltimore that the Browns did not force a turnover and the fourth game this year in which they did not turn the football over themselves.

 

BAH HUMBUG: The Browns have now lost seven of their last eight “Christmas Games” (the last game played prior to Dec. 25). This Scrooge-y trend stretches even further: they’re 2-10 since 1999 and 3-15 since 1990.

 

PEYTON’S PACE: Though quietly, on Sunday Peyton Hillis surged over the 1,100-yard plateau for the season. With two games to play, he’s already secured the 15th-best individual rushing season in Browns’ history. He currently stands at No.10 in the NFL in rushing yardage, tied for third in rushing touchdowns, 11^th in attempts per game, and still No. 1 in fumbles.

 

WITH A BANG: The Browns’ opening salvo marked the second time this season they’d scored a touchdown on their first drive (Carolina). They’ve now outscored their opponents 70-26 in the first quarter for the season, holding opposing teams scoreless in the first 15 minutes eight times.

 

BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN A MEDIOCRE PLAYER: Carson Palmer is 6-0 against the Browns in Cincinnati. The Browns are now 14-24 all-time in the Queen City, 4-7 at Paul Brown Stadium.

 

FINALLY SLAMMING THE DOOR: In the past two weeks, the Browns have stopped their opponents on two of three fourth-down conversions. Prior to that, their opponents had converted on nine of 10 for the season.

 

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: Sadly, losing to Cincinnati when by all appearances they had no business doing so is nothing new for the Browns. Once again, the Browns proved to be the perfect elixir for a struggling Bengals team. Consider the records of some of the apparently “overmatched” Bengal teams that have beaten the Browns over the past 30 years:

 

1978: Bengals (3-12) beat Browns (8-7)

1979: Bengals (3-12) beat Browns (9-6)

1983: Bengals (1-6) beat Browns (4-3)

1984: Bengals (1-6) beat Browns (1-6)

1991: Bengals (0-8) beat Browns (4-4)

1992: Bengals (2-5) beat Browns (4-3)

1999: Bengals (0-4) beat Browns (0-4)/Bengals (3-10) beat Browns (2-11)

2000: Bengals (1-6) beat Browns (2-6)

2003: Bengals (0-3) beat Browns (1-2)

2007: Bengals (5-9) beat Browns (9-5)

2008: Bengals (2-11-1) beat Browns (4-10)

2010: Bengals (2-11) beat Browns (5-8)

 

LIGHTING US UP: In their two games against the Browns, the Bengals have averaged 405 total yards of offense - 6.4 per play. In their other 12 games, they’ve averaged only 309 yards per game, 4.7 per play.

 

SPLITSBURG: The Browns and Bengals have now split their season series 20 times. The Browns have collected eight sweeps and the Bengals have nine (due to the players’ strike, they only played once in 1982).

 

FALLING APART: Over the past two games, the Browns have allowed a total of 380 rushing yards. In the previous 12 games, they allowed just 119 per contest. Food for thought: what if a battered Peyton Hillis were to face our overwhelmed defense? Discuss.

 

EMBARRASSING PAUL BROWN: The last time the Browns and Bengals both had winning records in the season was 1988. Over the following 19-season period, the teams have had losing records in the same year nine times.

 

MORE QUIET EXCELLENCE: Reggie Hodges put two more punts inside the 20 on Sunday, giving him 27 for the year. He ranks fifth in the NFL in that category and 10^th in net average (38.9).

 

DIVISIONAL WOES: The Browns have now lost 14 of their last 17 division games. Since its founding in 2002, the Browns are 13-39 in the AFC North.

 

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:  After surrendering four plays of 25 yards or more to the Bengals in their first meeting back in October, the Browns only allowed one on Sunday. Tied in with that, they limited the Bengals’ Receiver Who Wears No. 85 (yes, I refuse to participate) to just a pair of catches for 36 yards. Part of that was certainly due to Terrell Owens leaving due to injury, but at this point, we’ll take whatever ray of sunshine we can find.

 

WHERE WE STAND: The Browns’ offense, tallying less than 300 total yards for the third consecutive week and fourth time in the last five games, now ranks 22nd in the NFL, averaging 5.1 yards per play. The defense, meanwhile, comes in at 16th, allowing 5.3 yards per play. In terms of scoring, with their third straight game with 17 points or less, the offense is 28th in the league at 18 points per contest, while the defense is 10th, allowing 19.4 points per contest.