We get it. The Cleveland Browns have been bad, historically awful, enough to become a pop culture reference point used by people who don’t even follow pro football. So there is NO stat speaking to their futility that actually surprises us anymore.
Here are some stats about the Cleveland Browns that may surprise you, if you’re unaware that they haven’t been very good for a long time
A statistical snuff film with a happy ending, maybe.
Not even this one, shared by Chase Stuart.
OK, that is a little jarring, even for those of us who are pretty well inoculated against the Browns’ special brand of sports fecklessness.
Bernie Kosar leads the Browns in passing touchdowns since 1984 with 131, regular and postseason. Tim Couch has 64, good enough for second on that list, obviously without any postseason touchdowns.
Let’s shorten the scope of that, cutting it off at 1999 when the Browns “came back” to Cleveland. Since then, the franchise has 328 passing touchdowns in the regular season and postseason. Seven quarterbacks have thrown more over that same period of time, in both the regular season and the playoffs. They are:
Tom Brady, 559 (488 regular season, 71 playoffs)
Peyton Manning, 553 (513, 40)
Drew Brees, 517 (488, 29)
Ben Roethlisberger, 359 (329, 30)
Eli Manning, 357 (339, 18)
Philip Rivers, 353 (342, 11)
Aaron Rodgers, 349 (313, 36)
But there’s some good news for the Browns in all this. Yes, those 328 touchdowns since 1999 are the fewest thrown by any team, playoffs and regular season. However, they’re actually tied with the Texans, who also have just 328 total passing touchdowns since then.
And just to leave you with a positive note, the Browns should definitely be better this season. Cleveland has talent! Quarterback Tyrod Taylor has 51 career passing touchdowns, all since 2015. The Browns have 50 over that same span. There’s even more talent on the roster than just the veteran quarterback, and on both side of the ball!
The trick here, for 2018 at least, is overcoming whatever it is Hue Jackson is doing as the head coach (maybe new OC Todd Haley will help) and not getting weighed down by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his brilliant strategy of surrendering the entire middle section of the field.
I feel very confident that this season’s Browns’ team will top the 15 passing touchdowns they completed last season, a number bested by 24 quarterbacks, including Josh McCown, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler, Blake Bortles, and Aaron Rodgers, who only played seven games.
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