CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns produced a dominant 31-6 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, but that’s just what the scoreboard said.
Here are the real winners and losers from the game:
Winner: Joining the 20-point club
Finally, the Browns eclipsed 20 points.
Now you might be thinking, “They scored 31 points, why celebrate hitting 20 points?”
Cleveland was the final team in the entire NFL yet to have scored 20 points in a game. Despite entering Sunday as one of five teams averaging under 20 points per game, they were in a club of their own.
Even if you took away Tyson Campbell’s pick-six and Andre Szmyt’s 30-yard field goal on Sunday, that still leaves 21 points to Cleveland’s name.
The last time they had hit 20 points was Week 13 of 2024, in a 41-32 loss to Denver.
And during last season, Cleveland scored sub-20 points through the first seven games before ending that streak in Week 8.
Let’s use baseball as another example: Seven Major League Baseball teams recorded 20 or more runs in a game during the 2025 regular season. The Kansas City Royals were the final team to accomplish this feat, doing so in a 20-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 19.
By that point, the Browns had scored 17 points in both Weeks 1-2.
Browns fans are hoping they never see a streak this long again.
1/25
Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins vs. Miami Dolphins, October 19, 2025
Winner: Keeping it simple
Give the ball to Q and get out of his way.
Browns fans had to like the sound of that.
The rookie running back gained 84 of Cleveland’s 104 rushing yards, and three of the team’s four touchdowns.
He delivered.
That 46-yard score was a thing of beauty, the way he burst through the gap and by Miami defenders, with only Rasul Douglas and Ethan Bonner to worry about at the tail end.
His 3-yard score in wildcat formation was just as cool.
Judkins bobbled the ball as he received the snap, but his instincts led the way as he recovered, dodged a tackle from Jack Jones, and spun his way into the endzone.
Who’d have thought feeding your legit running back could lead to great things?
Feeding Judkins the ball on Sunday was the best gameplan Cleveland could’ve cooked up...for a couple reasons.
For one, the weather was expected to be rainy and nasty.
For two, Miami’s run defense had given up the most yards per game in the NFL (168.5).
No matter the trajectory of this offense, giving the ball to Judkins will help Cleveland more than it could hurt them.
Don’t starve a hungry dawg.
Loser: Tua Tagovailoa
I don’t think we’ve seen such a bad performance from Tagovailoa as we did Sunday, but this Browns defense had him seeing ghosts.
Cleveland’s defense brought the pressure and kept Tagovailoa to an average of 2.5 seconds in the pocket, and 2.9 average completed air yards, per Next Gen Stats.
In the end, Tagovailoa finished with 100 passing yards and three interceptions.
His 100 passing yards Sunday were the fifth-fewest total he’s ever recorded in a NFL start.
And before Sunday, Tagovailoa had recorded five games with three interceptions, but those games still featured at least one touchdown pass.
His first interception was intended for De’Von Achane, but the pass was a little high for Achane to catch.
Instead, it glided off his fingertips and into the hands of Cleveland’s Tyson Campbell, who took it the other way for the 34-yard score.
“(I) made a throw, maybe it was too high for (De’Von), so I got to make a better throw for him to be able to come down with that,” Tagovailoa said.
His final two picks came in the fourth quarter.
On a terrible decision while backed up in his own end zone, his pass was picked off by Rayshawn Jenkins. The very next series, he telegraphed a pass that was intercepted by Ronnie Hickman Jr.
The quarterback gave the Browns their props, but cited self-inflicted wounds being the key component to Miami’s detriment.
“I would say they’re a really good defense, but I think a lot of it was, we shot ourselves in the foot, burning ourselves with penalties going out there,” Tagovailoa said. “I can’t give that they are the best defense that I faced or not, but they’re a really good defense.”
Winner: The Delpit & Jenkins Show
Why put these two names together in one headline like it’s a TV sitcom?
Because thanks to a couple of pivotal plays featuring these two players, Grant Delpit and Rayshawn Jenkins became each other’s yin and yang.
Think about it.
Miami’s D’Wayne Eskridge fumbled the ball on his kickoff return, and Jenkins recovered the ball. Who got a hand on the ball and knocked it out?
Delpit.
Later, Tagovailoa felt the pressure deep in the end zone from Delpit and got rid of the ball like it was a hot potato. Who was right there for the interception?
Jenkins.
These two helped create two of Cleveland’s four takeaways, which matched their season total going into Sunday (four).
In 2024, this defense tied for 30th in takeaways (12). They’ve already recorded two-thirds of last year’s total (eight).
Loser: Unnecessary Roughness
Toward the end of the first half, Riley Patterson’s 43-yard field goal was unsuccessful for the Dolphins.
Cleveland’s offense should’ve taken over with 1:06 left. Instead, the defense stayed on the field as Miami was awarded a fresh set of downs.
This was due to an unnecessary roughness penalty on Shelby Harris, who made unnecessary contact to the snapper.
Miami took advantage and set up for Patterson’s 26-yard make to end the first half.
Winner: Ball security
For a third game in a row, the Browns didn’t turn the ball over.
The last time Cleveland recorded zero turnovers in three straight games was in 2021, doing so between Weeks 3-5.
Winner: Browns in Brown
At the start of training camp, the Browns revealed their “Alpha Dawg” brown uniform and helmet, and their intent to wear the uniform in three games this season.
The reception? Laughter, after a videographer fell into Lake Erie during the helmet reveal.
But Cleveland is earning the last laugh.
The Browns are 2-0 in the uniforms, after upsetting Green Bay and then dominating Miami.
Their final game wearing these will be versus Tennessee (1-6), one of five teams with one or fewer wins.
It must be the Brown on Brown.
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