It’s unclear at what point, during Sunday’s 49–38 win over the Cowboys, the Browns’ 3–1 start no longer seemed like a mirage.
Maybe it was the moment the Browns reached 28 points in a first half for the first time since the end of the Cold War (not a joke, by the way). Maybe it was when they took over the league lead in points off turnovers. Maybe it was when they emerged from halftime with a continuation of their functional, sensible game plan and shoved the ball down Dallas’s throat to go up 24 points—a lead they didn’t relinquish.