Last week was the two-year anniversary of Colt McCoy's career start with the Browns. Today is the two-year anniversary of Colt McCoy's first career win — 30-17 over the New Orleans Saints:

NEW ORLEANS — For once, and maybe for the only time since pro football returned to Cleveland in 1999, when a road game ended Sunday, the Browns' faithful in attendance were making more noise than the remaining stunned fans of the hosts.
The game did not start out that way. The noise inside the Superdome created by impassioned Saints fans was so loud Browns rookie quarterback Colt McCoy had to resort to a silent snap count after one play.
Things can change, and the Browns changed them. They changed the cheers to boos by confounding the Saints on defense, tricking them on special teams and playing efficiently on offense, especially when McCoy played keepaway on a crucial drive that chewed up more than half of the fourth quarter of a 30-17 victory over the defending Super Bowl champions.
When it was all over, a loud gathering of Browns fans sitting above the tunnel to the Browns' locker room barked like old times and chanted "Here were go Brownies, here we go!" as players trotted off the field. The Browns are 2-5.
"I'm really proud of the guys," Coach Eric Mangini said. "What I said to them in the locker room is, ‘You see what's possible when we play complementary football. When we play together, we win.'
"When we do that, I think anything is possible. I think it was, arguably, our most complete game (in two years)."

Read more from Jeff Schudel's game story: Browns 30, Saints 17: Big and easy.

Below, the front page and Sports section front from the Oct. 25, 2010, print edition:

-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

Browns new owner Jimmy Haslam III and new CEO Joe Banner gave a news conference today — two years to the day after Colt McCoy's career start with the Browns. The Browns lost to the Steelers, 28-10:

PITTSBURGH — Colt McCoy had to feel like a guy who knew his check-engine light was on and as he was driving had one tire go flat, then a few miles later had another go flat.
The rookie quarterback had no choice, though. He had to keep driving.
McCoy, already third on the Browns' depth chart at quarterback, went into Heinz Field with top running back Peyton Hillis playing with a quadriceps injury, center Alex Mack playing with a bum shoulder and right guard Floyd Womack playing with a sore knee.
With 8 minutes, 51 seconds left in the second quarter, Josh Cribbs was knocked out of the game on a helmet-to-helmet hit by Steelers linebacker James Harrison. On the Browns' next series, Harrison knocked Mohamed Massaquoi out for the rest of the game with another blow to the head.
The avalanche of injuries and Ben Roethlisberger's return from a four-game suspension were too much to overcome. The Steelers punished the Browns, 28-10, on a day when McCoy did enough things right to say he was worth a third-round draft pick.

Read more from Jeff Schudel's game story, Steelers 28, Browns 10: A little help?.

Below, the front page of the Sports section for the Oct. 18 print edition of The News-Herald. (Does McCoy look slightly terrified to anyone else? [But for good reason! That's the Steelers defense coming after him!])

-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

Today in the Media Lab and Archives ...

In addition to getting jazzed for tomorrow night's gathering with Media Lab blogger Chris Lambert, we were getting into the holiday spirit.

Community Engagement Editor Cheryl Sadler and I plotted out future gatherings while putting our carving skills to the test. Surprising no one  in the office, we had few skills to show off. (as our jack-o'-lantern will attest.)

We're sure your carvings will put us to shame, though we haven't exactly set the bar too high.

Post a picture of your jack-o'-lantern, and you could win a $50 gift certificate to El Meson de Fuentes in Mentor. Deadline to enter is 5 p.m. Oct. 26, with voting running through 5 p.m. Oct. 30.

Enter Judging the Jack-o'-lanterns here.

And, good luck.

- Tricia Ambrose   l   @triciaambrose

1934: Kirtland records its first victory of the season, getting a standout game from halfback Sammy Nutter and scoring all its points in the first three quarters of a 33-0 win over Huntsburg.

2010: J.J. Hickson records a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Cavaliers defeat the host Rockets in preseason action, 99-93.

1999: Joe Lonardo scores on a 2-yard run with 2 minutes, 6 seconds remaining – part of a 31-carry, 142-yard outing - to propel Gilmour past Metropolitan Area Conference foe Brooklyn, 10-7.

1988: Ledgemont, with just 18 players in uniform, get 90 yards rushing and three touchdowns from Steve Brooks to blank visiting Fairport, 31-0, and Brush’s Tina Roth wins the Class AAA South Sectional in tennis.

1977: Quarterback Darren Kennedy finds Ken Kristan for a 23-yard touchdown in the final minute to give Brush a 10-7 Greater Cleveland Conference win over visiting North.

1966: Wickliffe wins its third straight dual meet, with Dave Datsko placing first just four seconds off the course record in 10:39 as the Blue Devils defeated Riverside, 21-39.

1955: The Painesville Telegraph announces bus service will be offered to all Browns home games by Direct Greyhound Bus Service from its station in Painesville.

1944: Willoughby Union coach Pat Pasini readies his team for a game at University, telling the Painesville Telegraph he hopes to avenge a 20-7 loss the year before.

1933: The Harvey football team, unhappy about a punting advantage by Euclid Shore, work out three new punters to assume those duties for the upcoming Lake Shore League opener with Ashtabula.

2009: Danny LaRosa runs for 205 yards on 15 carries in Ledgemont’s 41-0 win at Grand Valley, and Chris Gorman’s 95 yards rushing and two TDs pace Chagrin Falls past Wickliffe, 23-7.

1998: North wins the first Premier Athletic Conference boys golf tournament by nine shots over Chardon, paced by Mike Lane’s 79, and NDCL takes the Division II Fairway Pines Sectional team title.