Written by Jonathan Knight

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

SEVEN SNAPPED: The victory snapped a seven-game September losing streak for the Browns, who hadn’t won a game in the month of September since Sept. 28, 2008, against Cincinnati.

SWEET SUNDAY: With the Indians also picking up a come-from-behind victory over Minnesota on Sunday afternoon, it marked the first time the Browns and Indians had won on the same day since Sept. 30, 2007, when the Browns defeated Baltimore and the Indians wrapped up their division-title season with a triumph over Kansas City. Putting things into perspective, the Browns’ starting quarterback that day was Derek Anderson, and the Indians’ starting pitcher was Aaron Laffey.

MISSING MANNING: The last time the Browns faced the Colts without Peyton Manning as their starting quarterback was September of 1994, when Jim Harbaugh was directing the Colts’ offense. That was also the last time the Browns defeated Indianapolis before Sunday, having lost the previous five meetings.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Browns now lead the all-time series, 17-14. They’re just 6-9 against Colts since they moved to Indianapolis in 1984 after posting an 11-5 record against the Colts while they resided in Baltimore.

HE’S NO JOHN ELWAY: Naturally, Peyton Manning is the heart of the Colts franchise, and had he played on Sunday, things may have turned out very differently. And yet, while Manning is 5-0 against the Browns in his career, he has not played particularly well in those games. He has a Tim Couch-esque quarterback rating of 74.2 against the Browns, completing 66% of his passes, but throwing six interceptions and just two touchdowns.

TWO DOWN: The Browns avoided a fourth straight 0-2 start, while the Colts stand at 0-2 for the first time since Peyton Manning’s rookie year of 1998.

MR. CONSISTENCY AT IT AGAIN: Phil Dawson has made 25 consecutive field goals of 45 yards or less. He’s now just three points shy of tying Don Cockroft for second on the Browns’ all-time scoring list and 272 behind leader Lou Groza.

A BAD OMEN: Since moving to Indianapolis, the Colts have never made the playoffs in a season in which the Browns defeated them. You have to go back to 1971 for the last time they reached the postseason after dropping a game to the Browns in the regular season.

DOME SWEET DOME: The Browns are now 4-4 in Indianapolis, bringing their all-time record in domed stadiums (including retractable) to 33-36. Lucas Oil Stadium joins the Louisiana Superdome (5-2) and the Houston Astrodome (16-10) as the only indoor stadiums in which the Browns hold a winning record.

ENDING A DROUGHT: When Colt McCoy hit Evan Moore for a touchdown in the second quarter, it snapped a string of three straight games against the Colts in which the Browns failed to reach the end zone. The last Cleveland touchdown scored against Indianapolis was on a two-yard run by William Green on Dec. 15, 2002.

SEVENTEEN PLUS: The 27-point outburst snapped a string of six consecutive games in which the Browns failed to score more than 17 points.

DOING IT THE HARD WAY: Take away Peyton Hillis’ exclamatory 24-yard touchdown run that sealed the game with four minutes to play and he tallied 70 yards on 26 carries for an average of 2.7 per rush. His longest run other than the 24-yard touchdown was only five yards. For the day, the Browns averaged only 3.1 yards per carry as a team.

GOOD SIGNS: The Browns had a nine-minute edge in time of possession (34:34 to 25:26) and converted 53% of their third- and fourth-down situations.

IMPROVEMENT: After getting flagged 11 times for 77 yards in Week 1, the Browns showed dramatic improvement in Week 2, being flagged only three times for 49 yards - and 34 of those yards came on the pass interference penalty on Joe Haden on the fifth play of the game. From that point on, the Browns were penalized only twice.

COLT BEATS THE COLTS: Colt McCoy quietly had very nice day, going 22 for 32 (68.8%) for 211 yards with a touchdown and no picks. His quarterback rating was an impressive 97.3, dramatically better than the veteran Kerry Collins’ 62.5. McCoy’s rating for the season is now 82.2 - ranked 23rd in the league.

RETURN OF CRIBBS: For the first time in nearly two years, Josh Cribbs looked like Josh Cribbs. He racked up 132 yards in returns, averaging 26 yards per punt return and 40 on two kickoff returns. What’s more, he snagged three passes for 41 yards - an average of 13.7 per catch.

HOPING FOR MORE: Now with eight carries for the season, Montario Hardesty has just 19 total yards.

PUNTING PROGRESS: New punter Brad Maynard provided a significant improvement over Richmond McGhee in Week One. Maynard had a net average of 40.2 (compared to McGee’s 31.6), with the Colts not returning a single punt, and placed three kicks inside the 20 (none for McGee) with no touchbacks (McGee had one).

STRONG DOWN THE STRETCH: After the Cleveland defense folded down the stretch in Week 1, it got stronger as the game wore on in Indianapolis. After the Colts cut the Browns’ lead to 14-12 midway through the third quarter, Indianapolis went five consecutive possessions without picking up a first down. Three times the Colts were forced to punt after three plays and twice the Browns forced turnovers. By the time the Colts picked up their next first down, they trailed, 27-12.

NO BREAKDOWNS: The Colts did not have an offensive play longer than 20 yards, while the Browns had three.

WHERE WE RANK: Averaging 4.4 yards per play, the Browns’ offense ranks 29th in the NFL, while their 22 points scored per game is tied for 22nd. Conversely, the Cleveland defense is allowing 4.5 yards per play, putting it second in the league behind Tennessee, and the 23 points allowed per game puts the Browns tied for 16th.

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