The Cleveland Browns are sitting in first place in the AFC North with a 3-1 record after snagging a huge “Thursday Night Football” win against their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s a sentence most fans in Cleveland haven’t been able to say in a long, long time. We’re talking 2021 since they last hit 3-1, and for the past two seasons, they didn’t even get their third win until November.
“New Swag” or Same Old Song?
After the Steelers game, defensive end Jared Verse didn’t hold back. “This ain’t the old Browns,” he declared. “We’ve got new swag. We’re a lot more aggressive, a lot more, you know, getting after it. This is something different here. We’re going to make this whole city rock.” You gotta love that kind of fire, especially when the team is actually winning. This 3-1 start is a massive surprise, honestly, especially considering how they kicked off the season. Remember that pitiful blowout loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars? It looked like they were on track for another historically bad year, one of the worst records in the NFL. Head coach Todd Monken even called that opener “a complete, maybe disaster is a little bit strong, but that’s a tough opening game in every phase, other than maybe kickoff return, maybe other than that.” But he quickly added that his guys “trusted the process” and “responded to that.” The locker room “is fun,” Monken said, celebrating that “big, big, big divisional win.”
The Stats Perform Bombshell That’s Hard to Square
Here’s where things get wild, and why you can’t *totally* ignore Monken’s words of caution. While they’ve strung together three straight victories, all of them came by a combined 10 points. Yeah, you read that right. Ten points total for three wins. Every single one of those wins required a game-winning drive in the final five minutes. They’re still running a negative point differential for the season, and the win against the Steelers was actually the *first* time they out-gained an opponent all season, and that was by a measly 11 yards.
Now, for the absolute kicker, courtesy of Stats Perform: The Browns are the only team in NFL history to have fewer touchdowns, fewer made field goals, fewer rushing yards, fewer net passing yards, more turnovers, AND more penalties than their opponents through four games and still somehow have a winning record. Let that sink in for a second. That’s not just “not dominant,” that’s flat-out bonkers. It’s encouraging to see the fight, sure, but the underlying numbers are making some serious noise right now.
What’s Next for This “New Swag” Crew?
Monken isn’t letting his team get carried away, saying, “It’s still only three [wins].” He emphasized that they have a lot to improve on, because “our guys are humble and they’re still hungry.” That’s the mindset you need when your stats look like *that* but your record says 3-1. “It’s really cool, because it means the next one continues to matter. That’s all you want to be. You just want to be in a position where the games matter, right? That’s what we want to be in, that’s what our fans want to be in, and that’s what we’re going to fight for every day.”
The schedule ahead gets interesting, to say the least. They’ve got four of their next five games on the road, with the lone home game being against their division rival Baltimore Ravens. First up, though, they’re heading to New York to play the Jets. Will the “new swag” hold up when the rubber truly hits the road, or will those historical underlying stats catch up? It’s gonna be a wild ride.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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