CLEVELAND — Bonus points if you knew Nik Needham and Ryan Lewis were Miami Dolphins defensive backs.
A subtraction—but only a minor one—if you guessed they might be the names of insurance agents on an I-480 billboard.
Forget the quality of Sunday’s Browns opponent for a moment.
In order of importance, the Browns:
- Won their third straight game to go to 5-6
- Won it pretty convincingly, 41-24
- Had a 100-yard receiver (Jarvis Landry) and a 100-yard rusher (Nick Chubb)
- Found a way to feature Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. in the same game without Chubb taking on rust
- Got 327 yards and three touchdowns from Baker Mayfield, who made some 2018 highlight throws
- Did not get Mayfield hurt despite Freddie Kitchens letting his quarterback throw 16 more times after halftime in a game the Browns led 28-3 at the break
- Put a tumultuous post-Steelers week behind them while facing a trip to Pittsburgh two weeks later
- Didn’t lose their concentration despite some early penalties.
"I thought we focused all week on the task at hand," Kitchens said Sunday. "We played Wednesday football Wednesday, Thursday football Thursday, etc."
Three consecutive hours of efficient Sunday football might have eluded them, but to be fair, it eludes many teams. Mayfield cited "lulls" and "low points" in a stretch of 17 unanswered Miami points.
"We’re making strides in the direction that we need to," Mayfield said. "I would not say we are exactly right where we need to be, but we are showing flashes of that consistent that I talked about."
The second-half lull can be excused given the lack of serious competition raised by the Dolphins, who somehow own wins over the Colts and Jets this season. Miami was so bad in the first half, it was hard to imagine how the winless Bengals could actually be worse.
The Browns had 169 first-quarter yards; the Dolphins had seven. The first half looked like a GEICO commercial with the Browns as Jerome Bettis.
On their first two possessions, if that’s the right word, the Dolphins held the ball for 1 minute, 20 seconds and 51 seconds, respectively.
It’s never good when your quarterback is your biggest rushing threat on his 37th birthday, but that was Ryan Fitzpatrick (45 yards) Sunday.
On the other side of the ball, the Browns took turns passing and running at will.
The string of tough defenses faced in the past two months is behind them. Pittsburgh and Baltimore remain, of course. But now, Cincinnati and Arizona are scattered in.
That means three bottom-five defenses (including Miami) in the final six games. The only game the Browns won’t be favored to win is probably Baltimore on Dec. 22, and that’s at home where they’ve now won three straight.
"It feels good to know that we have that comfort of coming back home, having that advantage of people need to fear coming to Cleveland," Mayfield said. "You have the fans to rely on. You can feel that energy and build the momentum."
Mayfield is starting to resemble the franchise quarterback we saw last year. Two deep outs to Landry in particular were things of beauty.
Landry (10 catches, 148 yards and two touchdowns) had his best game since Baltimore. Beckham had 84 yards and a 35-yard touchdown reception.
"[Beckham and Landry] were making plays all day," Mayfield said.
So what if you couldn’t have named five players on the Miami defense without being spotted four.
The Browns should’ve won and did, and for the most part the complaint department was closed. That hasn’t been the case often enough this year to give anyone peace of mind, and because of that it should be easy to enjoy a comfortable win Sunday over whatstheirnames.
