Written by Jonathan Knight

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

TITANIC FAILURES: With their win on Sunday, the Titans narrowed the Browns’ lead in the all-time series to 33-28. Though since the Oilers’ move to Tennessee, the Browns have been dominated, losing seven of 10 games to the Titans, including four of five in Cleveland.

BEFORE THE BYE: The Browns’ all-time record in the game before their bye week is now 6-13. Their record in the game immediately following their bye week is 7-10.

BIG PLAYS: Jordan Babineaux’s 97-yard interception return for a touchdown was the second-longest ever against the Browns, trailing only Baltimore safety Ed Reed’s 106-yard runback in 2004. The 80-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Jared Cook was the longest play from scrimmage the Browns had allowed since Jay Cutler hit Eddie Royal for a 93-yard touchdown in Denver’s win over the Browns on Nov. 6, 2008.

MORE DEPENDABILITY: The 51-yard field goal made by Phil Dawson in the second quarter was the 11th kick of 50 yards or more he’s made in his career. Interestingly, he’d missed his previous five field goal attempts from 50 yards or more - his last successful attempt was the epic 56-yard kick he made to beat Buffalo on a Monday night in 2008.

THE 400 CLUB: This was just the second time in the past two seasons the Browns collected 400 yards of total offense in a game. The last time was the hallmark victory over New England last November.

ACTUALLY AHEAD OF THE PACE: For as much ballyhoo as there’s been over Peyton Hillis’ lack of inclusion in the offense thus far, he’s actually been much more involved than he was a year ago at this time. After his first three games this year, Hillis has touched the football 69 times (54 carries, 15 receptions). After his first three games a year ago, Hillis had touched the football 53 times (39 carries, 14 receptions).

ENDING A DROUGHT: Colt McCoy notched the Browns’ first 300-yard passing day since Brady Quinn tossed for 304 in Detroit in November of 2009. McCoy’s 350 yards passing were the most by a Browns’ quarterback since Derek Anderson had 364 against Seattle in an overtime victory in 2007 and the most in a regulation game since Kelly Holcomb’s 413-yard eruption in the infamous 58-48 loss to Cincinnati in 2004.

THE 300 CLUB: By achieving his first 300-yard game in his 12th career start, Colt McCoy achieved the milestone faster than Tim Couch (18th start) but not quite as quickly as Brady Quinn (eighth start) or Derek Anderson (fourth). But maybe getting there that quickly isn’t such a good sign. By contrast, Bernie Kosar first passed for 300 yards in his 20th start, while Brian Sipe didn’t do it until his 40th.

UNIMPRESSIVE RECORDS: Though Colt McCoy set a new team record for pass attempts in a regular-season game with 61 (breaking Brian Sipe’s mark of 57 set in 1981) and completions with 40 (breaking Tim Couch’s mark of 36 set in 2002), his mediocre quarterback rating of 79.3 reflected the reality of the numbers. McCoy’s rating for the season is now 78.7, 24th in the league.

SPREADING IT AROUND: Along the way, Colt McCoy connected with a whopping 11 different receivers and literally had four times as many completions as his counterpart Matt Hasselbeck. Yet Hasselbeck averaged 10.5 yards per pass attempt while McCoy only averaged 5.1.

A CLEAR SIGNAL: Once again, the attendance for a Browns’ home game failed to hit 70,000. Sunday’s total was 66,240, extending the string to 18 straight home games since the Browns drew 70,000-plus. Putting that into context, from 1999-2005, when the Browns were still not good but at least the fan base wasn’t quite so disenchanted, they drew more than 70,000 fans for 55 consecutive home games.

THROW THEM OUT THE WINDOW: In a true aberration considering the final score, the Browns were statistically dominant in first downs (25 to 13), total yards (416 to 332), and time of possession (36:53 to 23:07), and the teams were even in penalties and turnovers. In addition to the interception return for a touchdown that blew the game open, the two areas in which the Titans clearly were the better team were in sacks (four for the Titans, none for the Browns) and yards per play (Tennessee averaged 6.6 yards per play, while the Browns were just 4.8.)

SAME PACE, DIFFERENT RESULT: For the second straight week, the Browns saw their opponent finish with a comfortable advantage in rushing yards, but only because they stuck with it longer. The Titans picked up 112 yards on the ground to the Browns’ 87, but only averaged 3.9 yards per rush to the Browns’ 3.8 clip.

EASY DAY FOR HASSELBECK: Not only did the Browns fail to record a sack - after averaging nearly four per game over the first three weeks - but they were credited with only one quarterback hit for the game - after averaging six per contest over the first three weeks.

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH: The Browns held the Titans to just 90 yards of offense and five first downs in the second half.

WHERE WE RANK: Averaging 4.6 yards per play, the Browns’ offense ranks 29th in the NFL, while their 18.5 points scored per game is tied for 25th. Conversely, the Cleveland defense is allowing 5.1 yards per play, putting it eighth in the league, and their 23.2 points allowed per game puts the Browns 14th.

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