Cleveland Browns" stumble toward record futility continues

Browns vs. Bengals (Week 7) | Game Highlights | NFL

CLEVELAND -- The records keep falling, but not the way the Cleveland Browns want them to.

Sunday"s 35-10 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys was the Browns" ninth loss in nine games this season and 12th in a row, dating back to 2015.

No previous Browns team had ever lost 12 games in row, over one season or two. And the Browns have been playing in the NFL since 1950.

There"s more, as the Browns continue a slide toward NFL ignominy:

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The Browns are 0-9 for the first time since 1975, and a loss Thursday in Baltimore would set a team record.

The Browns are 1-19 over their past 20 games, another franchise first.

In 2015 and 2016 they are 3-22.

Since starting the 2014 season 7-4, they are 3-27. Three. And. Twenty-even.

Playing at a competitive level has never seemed so far away.

Dallas won this game in dominant style. The Cowboys are a far better team than the Browns, and their offensive line is one of the game"s best. It showed as Dak Prescott threw three touchdown passes and was barely touched, while running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Alfred Morris combined for 148 yards.

That powerful front controlled the game for Dallas, which rolled up 424 total yards. The Browns helped by three times lining up in the neutral zone -- how does this happen three times in a game? -- and by blowing coverage on all of Prescott"s TD throws.

The Browns opened with a field goal drive and were down 7-3 when they had a field goal try hit off the upright. Aside from a seven-play touchdown drive that made it 21-10 in the final minute of the first half, that was it for the Browns.

As Dallas was adding to its second-half lead, the Browns had 28 yards of offense in the second half -- 6 in the fourth quarter.

Dallas started the game favored and expected to win. That they carried it through with an exclamation point didn"t make it any easier to watch.

Source: http://www.espn.com/blog/cleveland-browns/post/_/id/20657/cleveland-browns-stumble-toward-record-futility-continues