Cleveland Browns hope third time's the charm as they bring back white facemask

The Cleveland Browns are honoring the past by throwing it back to the halcyon days of Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb this Sunday. Yeah, it's been tough being a Cleveland fan over the years.

The Browns are bringing back their white facemasks in a game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. In the team's announcement, the Browns say the look is a "nod to several storied eras in Browns history," which includes the 1999-2005 seasons. Cleveland was 36-76 (.321) during that storied portion of Browns football.

The team found more success in the first go-around with the white facemask from 1975 until 1995, the franchise's last season before it moved to Baltimore. Cleveland had eight playoff appearances during that 21-year period. Even that stretch is a far cry from the franchise at its peak. From 1948 to 1964, the Browns won eight championships.

No combination of QB and coach has been strong enough to build a consistent winner in Cleveland. Whether it was Butch Davis and Couch; Romeo Crennel and Derek Anderson; or Kevin Stefanski and Baker Mayfield, none were able to build off their modicum of success and launch the Browns into sustained relevancy, 

The addition of Deshaun Watson was meant to do that but he's produced lackluster results his first two games back from an 11-game suspension. He is 38-of-64 (59.4 percent) for 407 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. 

Unless Watson turns things around and is able to consistently win games for the first time since 2019, the Browns' future will be as fruitless as the eras they are harkening back to this weekend.

Cleveland hopes its throwback will remind fans of better days. What the team is likely to find is there's no masking a history that reeks.