The Cleveland Browns may not win very often, but that does not mean they don’t play some memorable games on Sundays.
Even if they are too often for the wrong reasons.
Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets,
who entered the game with just one win, had traded away their two best defensive players earlier in the week, and were rolling with a quarterback who is better suited for the 1940s brand of pro football, was just the latest example of “how in the world did they did they manage that?”
Consider that in the 27-20 loss:
- The Jets returned both a kickoff (99 yards by Kene Nwangwu) and a punt (74 yards by Isaiah Williams) for a touchdown. That is the first time the Jets have done that in franchise history, which dates back to their inaugural season of 1960, when they were known as the Titans and played in the AFL.
- It was the first time in franchise history that the Browns allowed a pair of kick returns for touchdowns in the same game, a span covering 1,133 games.
- The Browns lost even though they allowed just 42 net passing yards in the game.
- The last time the Jets won a game with so few passing yards was in Week 5 of the 1973 season, when quarterback Bill Demory had 0 net passing yards in a 9-7 victory over the New England Patriots, according to NFL Research.
- On that memorable day, Demory was 1-of-7 for 11 yards, but also took an 11-yard sack that negated the yardage from his lone completion.
- The Browns held the Jets to 169 total yards, and Cleveland did not turn the ball over. Before yesterday, teams were 225-0 since 1950 when holding an opponent to less than 175 yards of total offense and not committing a turnover.
- The loss was the 13th consecutive road defeat for the Browns, dating back to the 2024 season.
- This is the second-longest streak in franchise history, eclipsed by the 25 consecutive road losses that started with a Week 7 loss to the then-St. Louis Rams in 2015 and did not end until a Week 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018.
- Cleveland’s next chance to break the road losing streak will come in Week 12 when they take on the Las Vegas Raiders in a game that will have major implications for next year’s NFL Draft.
In some ways, the defeat is not all that surprising. These are the Browns, after all, and they have had their share of memorable games against the Jets over the years. But even by their low standards, the Browns may find it hard to duplicate what took place on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Although with eight games still to go in the season, you never want to count this franchise out when it comes to treating the fans to something they have never seen before.
