CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns suffered their third loss in four home games this season falling to the New England Patriots, 38-15, Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
The Browns had four turnovers, two interceptions and two lost fumbles, and were held to 328 yards of total offense, including 70 yards rushing. Cleveland entered the game with the NFL’s top rushing attack.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw for 266 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Running Nick Chubb was held to 56 yards on the ground and Donovan Peoples Jones caught four passes for 74 yards.
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett passed Clay Matthews for the most sacks in franchise history with two sacks in the game. Garrett now has 63.5 sacks in 73 games.
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Patriot rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe threw for 309 yards and two touchdown while Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for 76 yards and two scores. Rookie wide receiver Tyquan Thornton caught and ran for a touchdown.
With the win, New England head coach Bill Belichick tied George Halas for second on the all-time list for wins with his 324th victory. Belichick coached the Browns from 1991 until 1995.
Brissett was intercepted by Kyle Dugger on the game’s second play and that led to a 19-yard field goal by Nick Folk to put New England up, 3-0. The Browns drove to the Patriot 21-yard line but could not get closer as Cade York’s 39-yard field goal tied the game at 3-3, after one quarter.
Cleveland had a chance to take the lead after recovering a Zappe fumble late in the first quarter but Brissett was stopped on fourth down with 13:56 left in the second quarter.
Stevenson ran 31-yards for a touchdown to give the Patriots a 10-3 lead with 3:23 left in the first half. York made a 48-yard field goal before halftime to cut New England’s lead to 10-6 at the break.
The Patriots took the second half kickoff and drove to the Brown two-yard line. Zappe threw a two-yard score to Thornton to increase the lead to 17-6. The teams exchanged punts and Brissett threw his second interception of the game to Jalen Mills and New England took over with 7:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Zappe found tight end Hunter Henry for a 31-yard touchdown pass to expand the advantage to 24-6 after three quarters.
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Cleveland tried to come back in the fourth quarter as York made his third field goal of the day, 51-yards, to cut it 24-9. Brissett threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper but the Browns missed on the two-point conversion and trailed, 24-15.
The Browns appeared to have recovered the onside kick with 6:17 left but after review, officials ruled that Cleveland’s A.J. Green touched the ball while his foot was out of bounds and the Patriots took over. Cleveland was about to get the ball back but Chester Rogers muffed a punt and Brandon Schooler recovered for New England. On next play, Thornton scored on a 19-yard touchdown run to to extend it to 31-15.
On Cleveland’s next series, Brissett was sacked and fumbled the ball and Carl Davis, Jr. recovered for the Patriots. Stevenson’s scored his second touchdown of the game from six-yards out.
Cleveland falls to 2-4 overall while New England improves to 3-3.
The Browns are back in action on October 23 when they go on the road play the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.
Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.
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