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Game Day

Against his former team, Jarvis Landry stars in the show Browns fans have waited to see

Jarvis Landry has been waiting for a while for the kind of game the Browns had in their win Sunday against the Dolphins.

Against his former team, Landry reeled in 148 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 10 receptions and paced the Browns' offense in a dominant, 41-24 win over the Dolphins at FirstEnergy Stadium.

On the field, Miami had no answers for its former wide receiver, whom they traded to the Browns in 2018.

In the postgame locker room, Landry kept his answers about revenge brief. He smiled when he was asked if the big day meant anything more given the history.

"No, it didn't mean anything extra," Landry said with a laugh. "But it was fun."

Check out photos of the Browns in action against the Dolphins

Indeed it was, and it didn't take long to start the fun, either.

On the first drive of the game, the Browns gashed through the Dolphins defense on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Landry catching a pass in the end zone -- a preview of the offensive explosion that was about to come from the Cleveland offense.

For Landry, it was his fourth consecutive game in which he caught at least one touchdown, but the fireworks didn't stop there.

Two drives later, it was Odell Beckham Jr.’s turn to make a big play.

Landry's former LSU teammate converted on his second touchdown of the season with a 35-yard strike from a beautifully thrown pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield.

After Beckham snagged the deep ball, he stood still and watched as the raucous fans in the Dawg Pound roared in approval. That's what they've wanted to see since the Browns united Beckham with Landry in the offseason.

Landry has been waiting to see that, too. It was the first game the duo has each caught a touchdown since their college days in 2013.

So, Landry raced down to the end zone to join Beckham with a new celebration they learned from the "BOP" music video made by DaBaby.

It felt like college again, only now it was happening in the NFL.

For Landry and Beckham, who conducted their postgame interviews together inside the Browns locker room, the moment was perfect

"We liked the song and saw the video," Landry said. "We got a group chat and texted all the other wide receivers. Someone put it in the group text, and we were like 'We got to do it.'"

The show didn't stop there. On the next offensive drive, Mayfield hit Landry in the end zone again with a perfectly placed ball that Landry snagged over the head of a Dolphins defensive back. That pushed the Browns to a cozy 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter and gave Landry his first multi-receiving touchdown game in a Browns uniform.

While he didn't reach the end zone again, Landry continued to find space against the Dolphins' struggling pass defense and helped move the Browns down field.

When the Dolphins garnered momentum for a comeback and cut the deficit to 31-17, Mayfield looked for his hot receiver to make another big play. He lofted a back-shoulder pass to Landry, who outpaced Dolphins cornerback Ryan Lewis and turned around in time to make a chest-clinging, toe-tapping 37-yard catch that put the Browns at the Dolphins' 11.

The drive ended with a field goal that eased any fear of a Miami comeback, and it was Landry who pulled through with the highlight-reel catch.

Was it revenge for Landry? He didn't have to admit it. His teammates did that for him.

"He did a good job suppressing the emotion, keeping to himself and making it all about the team," Mayfield said. "But deep down inside, we know how much it meant to him."

The Browns have shown flashes of their potent offense with Landry and Beckham all season. The arrival of Beckham was expected to open up bigger games for Landry, but the offense had only shown flashes of the duo's potency in the first 11 games.

Now, with the Browns' third consecutive win, that formula is coming to fruition. Landry has logged over 90 receiving yards in two of the last three games, and it's helped the Browns creep closer to the top of the fight in the AFC playoff race.

Next week against Pittsburgh, it could be Beckham who delivers with the big game. Maybe it will be Landry again

Landry doesn't care. As long as the touchdowns — and wins keep coming — he'll be happy.

"It just feels great to get a win," Landry said. "For us, it's great to help the team out. We just got to keep that momentum going."

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