Baker Mayfield threw for two touchdowns and 247 yards but also was intercepted twice.
Kareem Hunt finished as the leading rusher with 72 yards and caught one of Mayfield's passing touchdowns, while Jarvis Landry led the receivers in yards with 88.
The now 4-1 Browns will travel to Pittsburgh against the 4-0 Steelers next Sunday in a game that will be far more than Myles Garrett meeting Mason Rudolph, it'll be for first place in the AFC North.
Brownie Bits
1) You couldn't have asked for a better offensive performance in the first half against a good defense like the Colts.
Four possessions, four scores, two touchdowns, two field goals, and other than settling for two field goals, can you ask for more?
2) But the second half, Baker Mayfield's evil twin shows up and things go off the rails.
Mayfield threw both of his interceptions in the second half and the Browns would only credit the offense with the field goal at the end of the game.
2 of 9 for 19 yards with two interceptions and took a big hit to the ribs in the fourth quarter.
X-rays were negative on any breaks, but Mayfield will surely not be 100 percent in Pittsburgh.
3) Baker Mayfield's second half was hindered by a few dropped passes, but between the interceptions and the constantly thrown passes over receivers heads both out of bounds and in the field of play, I'm concerned about his field vision and the accuracy.
I know I seem to write about this every week and I'm tired of writing it, but the Browns are getting away with wins in spite of this.
When the opponents get better, this is going to cost them should it continue.
4) Rashard Higgins caught one of the two touchdown passes from Baker Mayfield in a return to the field replacing the injured Khadarel Hodge and you can see why Browns fans love the guy.
Higgins has been essentially crapped on by three coaches, busts his hump isn't afraid to block, and has reliable hands, yet never seems to have coaching staff members like him as much as the fans do.
5) Myles Garrett is on his way to winning defensive player of the year.
Garrett only finished with one sack in the stat line and it wasn't a sack in action, but Garrett's rush on Phillip Rivers in the end zone caused Rivers to fling the ball vainly to avoid the sack.
Rivers was called for intentional grounding and since he was standing in the end zone when he threw the pass, a safety was correctly called.
Garrett is arriving as the consistently dominant factor that he's only been on occasion in the past.
Should he continue at this level of performance, Garrett will not have to take a backseat to any pass rusher in the league.
6) The Browns only touchdown after halftime was a pick-six by Ronnie Harrison, who is seeing more playing time by the week after being acquired from Jacksonville.
Harrison would leave the game later and be checked for a concussion after the game, so hopefully, we can see more of him and less of...
7) Yet another topic that I seem to write about every week is the poor play of Andrew Sendejo.
Every week there is a long pass that often results in a touchdown or as in this weeks case, a big gainer that would set up a touchdown and you see Sendejo either out of the picture because he's allowed his man to break into the open or he is chasing the runner like Sham after the first mile of the 1973 Belmont.
For all of the good work that Kevin Stefanski has done this season, the refusal to see how Andrew Sendejo's play is hurting the team thus far is the most damning checkmark on Stefanski's first five games.
8) The Browns safety position did take hit with Karl Joseph missing the game, but a huge fourth-quarter interception by backup Sheldrick Redwine did give the Browns some production when they needed it most.
The second-year player from Miami may not be a regular safety, but if playing him more means less of Andrew Sendejo...
9) Odell Beckham made a tremendous catch early in the catch and he completed a pass to Jarvis Landry as well as the two reversed the connection of last weeks, Landry to Beckham completion in Dallas.
Kevin Stefanski learned from the problems from last season with Freddie Kitchens and in the first game in Baltimore and has been creative in keeping Beckham involved while not funneling the offense through him.
10) Beckham's second-quarter catch not only was one for the 2020 Browns highlights, but he should also have gotten yardage for a clear facemask that the referees missed.
And as an added bonus, Indianapolis coach Frank Reich challenged the catch!
As replays showed, Reich wasted a timeout and a challenge.
11) The Browns ran decently without Nick Chubb, but not as well in previous games.
Kareem Hunt finished with 72 yards on twenty carries and D'Ernest Johnson ripped off a twenty-eight-yard run that clinched the win, but the running game was not nearly the factor that it had been in the previous three wins.
12) While you don't expect to be as dominant as you move up the scale against better opponents and the Colts were the best team that the Browns have beaten of the four wins, Baker Mayfield will need more help than that to win in Pittsburgh next Sunday.
Part of the problem may have been the loss of Wyatt Teller in the first half with a calf injury.
Teller had been receiving raves for his play in the early season and even though Chris Hubbard played surprisingly well in Teller's place, any missed time for Teller would be a major downgrade for the offensive line.
13) The Browns are 4-1 for the first time since 1994.
The Browns have won four in a row for the first time since 2009
The Browns have scored 30 or more points in a game for four games in a row
since 1968, when they pulled the feat off seven games in a row.
1968, huh? Heard something good happened that year...
14) Now it's Pittsburgh, who is 4-0 and has already used its bye thanks to the Covid-19 hit on their scheduled opponent in Tennessee.
However, the Steelers have questions similar to the Browns.
Pittsburgh haven't really stopped any of their opponents and of their four wins, none of those have more than one win with the Eagles at 1-3-1, Texans 1-4 and Broncos 1-2 (With their win over the 0-5 Jets) have even won a game with the other win over the winless Giants.
Ben Rothlisberger is back and playing well and the Steelers are improved from last year on that only.
You can make an argument that this might be the biggest regular season going back to the final game of the season in 2007 when a Browns win over San Francisco and a Tennessee loss would put them in the playoffs or the loss at Cincinnati the week before when two wins would have clinched a spot in the postseason.
If that wasn't enough for you, it goes even farther to the "Run William Run" game over Atlanta in 2002 to allow the one Browns team to make the playoffs since the Browns returned from hiatus.
That game was so long ago that it was FIVE years before we started this venture.
See you then...
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