The Cleveland Browns played a good game in Week 1, but not many people will remember that.
If anything, they will only focus on what the win-loss column says, and it reads 0-1.
Unfortunately, that has become the standard in Cleveland since the team returned in 1999.
As pointed out by Daryl Ruiter on X, this was the 23rd time since 1999 that the Browns have lost their first game of the season.
“23rd time since 1999 #Browns start a season with a Week 1 loss,” Ruiter posted on X.
23rd time since 1999 #Browns start a season with a Week 1 loss
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 7, 2025
Of course, that’s not to say that the season is lost already.
There’s still plenty of football to be played, and the Browns should have a chance to win plenty of games if they continue to play in the way they played in the season opener.
The defense was spectacular, especially in the second half, and Joe Flacco looked like he hadn’t missed a beat since he last played for the team.
Granted, the two turnovers were massive blows, but neither of them was on the quarterback; they both hit the receivers in the hands.
The biggest takeaway from this game must be that the Browns need to reconsider all their options at kicker.
They can’t allow Andre Szmyt to turn into Cade York or Dustin Hopkins all over again; they must cut the cord before it’s too late.
It’s a game of inches, and it’s often hard to point to a single play as the reason a team won or lost, but when you lose by one point, those two missed kicks certainly carry a lot of weight.
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