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By: Kyle Ferraro

The Cleveland Browns (2-4) ran into the brick wall that was the New England Patriots (3-3) as they fell 38-15 Sunday afternoon. The Browns came into this contest averaging 192.4 yards per game. Former Browns head coach Bill Belichick prepared his veteran team for the ground game and held the Browns to a season low 70 rushing yards.

The game started off slow with the first quarter ending with a score of 3-3. The first score of the game came as Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson burst through the line for a 31-yard touchdown run. The Browns drove down the field on the next drive and settled for a 48-yard field goal from Cade York to bring the score to 10-6. New England received the ball first in the second half and immediately put together a touchdown drive that ended in rookie WR Tyquan Thornton catching his first career touchdown pass from QB Bailey Zappe for two yards. The Browns offense continued to stumble as Jacoby Brissett threw his second interception of the day as Jalen Mills took advantage of an underthrown ball on a deep shot to TE David Njoku. With good field position the Patriots scored on a 31-yard pass from Zappe to TE Hunter Henry to extend the lead to 24-6. The Cleveland continued to lag along until 6:17 left in the game when Brissett threw a 15-yard touchdown to WR Amari Cooper who made an outstanding catch. The Browns defense seemed to throw in the towel as they let Thornton run untouched on a jet sweep to the left for a 19-yard. The Patriots added on to the score when Stevenson added his second rushing score of the day to reach the final score of 38-15.

On the day Browns QB Jacoby Brissett completed 21 of 45 passes for 266 yards and 1 touchdown. The majority of Brissett’s yards came when the game was out of hand. The favorite target of the day was WR Donovan Peoples-Jones who hauled in four receptions for 74 yards with 37 coming on one play. Njoku caught three balls for 58 yards and Cooper caught four for 44 yards with one being a touchdown. The usual outstanding run game of the Browns only totaled 18 carries in the game with 12 of them coming from Nick Chubb who gained 56 yards. Game script forced Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski to abandon the run game. Brissett also threw two interceptions.

The Patriots played this game with their third string QB who seemed to look like Tom Brady. Rookie Bailey Zappe carved up the Browns defense for 309 yards on 24 completions and added two touchdowns to no interceptions. Second-year RB Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 76 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns of his own. Another rookie, Tyquan Thornton totaled 53 yards on 7 touches with two touchdowns. Zappe spread the ball around to everyone on the day, with four different receivers totaling 60+ yards. Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Matt Patricia took advantage of an undisciplined Browns defense.

Big Accolades on the Day

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick ties George Halas on the all-time wins list with 324. Belichick look to get sole possession of second place next Monday night vs the Chicago Bears.

Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett is now the franchise leader in sacks as he overtook Clay Matthews Jr with 62.5. Garrett had two on the day and is now up to 63.5 in his career.

The Browns travel to Baltimore (3-3) to take on division rival the Ravens next Sunday.

New England hosts the Chicago Bears next Monday in primetime.