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Peyton Manning Historically Struggles Against The Cleveland Browns

By Nick Dudukovich

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When the Cleveland Browns play the Denver Broncos at FirstEnergy Stadium Oct. 18, they’ll be underdogs to Peyton Manning and company, as Bovada listed the Broncos as 4 1/2-point favorites as of Tuesday morning. But perhaps Mike Pettine and company have a chance, because the Browns historically play the future Hall-of-Famer well.

The Cleveland Browns are slight underdogs to the Denver Broncos this Sunday, as Peyton Manning tries to improve his team to 6-0, while the Brownies try to climb back to .500.

When you hear Manning’s name, you would think that the Browns would have no chance, and that Cleveland would at least be seven-point underdogs. But this isn’t the same Manning NFL fans are accustomed to watching.

At 39, father time is making life difficult for Manning. He struggles to throw a tight spiral and can’t appear to heave the ball farther than 30 yards. He’s probably still the smartest quarterback in the game…he just doesn’t have the physical tools to be a top-notch quarterback any longer.

Surprisingly, the Browns have played pretty well against Manning throughout his career. A little perspective though. He’s 6-0 against Cleveland. But statistically, he hasn’t been as sharp. The future Hall-of-Famer has a career 97.1 QB rating, but only an 80.9 rating against the Browns. He’s also thrown more picks than touchdowns against Cleveland, with five scores against seven interceptions in six career games.

Manning also owns a career 7.68 yards gained per pass attempt, but that number shrinks to 6.00 against the Browns.

While the macro view shows Manning historically struggles against those orange helmets, the micro view isn’t as kind. In his last start against the Browns, Manning had his best game against Cleveland during his first year in Denver.

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He played a banged up Browns squad in Week 16 of the 2012 campaign, and threw for 339 yards and three scores, against one interception.

His most underwhelming performance came during the 2008 campaign, when the Colts were heavy favorites to knock off an underachieving Browns team. Romeo Crennell was still the coach, and the city had learned Derek Anderson wasn’t  a franchise quarterback.

While everybody expected the Browns to get blown out, they only lost 10-6. Manning was 15-of-21 passing, but threw for just 125 yards. He didn’t throw for a touchdown and tossed two picks. Only the Browns could play the greatest quarterback of all time on one of his worst days and still lose. But this is the Factory of Sadness, so I digress.

It would be “so Browns” if Manning just lights up FirstEngergy Stadium this weekend. After all, the Browns are allowing over 400 yards per game and Joe Haden may miss the contest because of a concussion.

Manning’s putting up the lowest numbers since his rookie season, and while bettors seem to think the Broncos are still the favorite, perhaps the Browns can earn their first win against Manning this Sunday on the lakefront.

Next: Are The Browns A Good Football Team?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtIfPM7BaHE

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