CLEVELAND -- With just over nine minutes still to go in the most ballyhooed Browns season opener since the days of Bernie Kosar -- heck, since maybe even Jim Brown -- the inconceivable occurred. Cleveland fans began filing out of FirstEnergy Stadium. The Dawg Pound, of all doggone places, thinned out into an orange swath of empty bleachers.
Even on this star-studded squad, featuring quarterback Baker Mayfield, receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and defensive end Myles Garrett, the Browns were always going to face adversity, at least at some point down the line.