CLEVELAND A field-level banner laughed at that old circus Cowboy, Terrell Owens.

“T.O. has B.O. ... still.”

The Browns still stink in openers, losing this one 28-10.

Owens drew his obligatory 15-yard penalty for a touchdown skit.

“You can’t have fun ... is that what it is?” he said.

What about the Dawg Pound’s fun?

Even the die-hards left early. At the two-minute warning, the outgoing foot traffic on the Third Street Bridge resembled the evacuation of New Orleans.

These storms can pass quickly — the Browns went 10-5 after their 2007 opener — but this one left an immediate mark.

“We know the fans are disappointed,” linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. “We’re more disappointed.”

The Browns should beg Roger Goodell for a 2009 opener in Anchorage. They are 1-9 in expansion-era kickoffs — all in Cleveland!

“It was very frustrating,” said captain Andra Davis, who is 1-6.

The Browns aimed to erase the memory of last year’s caustic kickoff against Pittsburgh, a 34-7 loss. Here’s how close they were to the bull’s-eye:

n At halftime, they trailed 21-7 in points and 239-110 in yards.

n At that point, Tony Romo was 13-for-16; Derek Anderson was 8-for-16.

n Marion Barber had run 11 times for 64 yards; Jamal Lewis had rushed 10 times for 30.

n Tight end Jason Witten had caught four passes for 64 yards; counterpart Kellen Winslow Jr. had caught four passes for 38 yards.

“They found the crease in our zone,” Jackson said. “That’s what Witten is good at.

“Give those guys a lot of credit. They have a lot of firepower, and they made a lot of plays.”

The Cowboys weren’t twice as good in everything. In some cases, it was worse. Before the



irrelevant second half, Owens caught four passes for 65 yards and a touchdown; Braylon Edwards had two little catches and two big drops.

Worse than the ‘07 opener against Pittsburgh? In that one, the Steelers led 365-221 in net yards. On Sunday, the Cowboys led 487-205.

The Browns’ vaunted offense was AWOL.

“Braylon Edwards scares you,” Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. “We did a pretty good job on him (he finished with two catches for 17 yards).

“Winslow (five catches, 47 yards) is a great receiver, inside and outside. They like to look for him. We took it away.

“The quarterback scrambled more than I would have liked, but I don’t think they made 200 yards in total offense.

“For one of the top-scoring teams from last year, we did a good job against them.”

Romo sizzled, going 24-of-32 for 320 yards and throwing his only interception when it was 28-7. Coming off an Aug. 18 concussion that cost him two preseason games, Anderson fizzled, going 11-of-24 for 114 yards.

“(Rust) is an excuse,” Anderson said. “I felt good when I went out there. I was seeing things pretty well.”

The Browns had a great chance to cut into a 21-7 deficit early in the third quarter, but they couldn’t do anything with great field position. Dallas, in turn, drove 86 yards for a dagger touchdown.

When Felix Jones blew 11 yards up the middle for a score on his first NFL carry, this looked worse than the Pittsburgh game. The score was 28-7. At almost exactly the same point last Sept. 9, Pittsburgh led 24-7.

The Browns scored once more, but that only turned the fans’ numbness into anger.

The booing got loud when Romeo Crennel opted to go for a field goal on fourth and 3 from the 17 in the fourth quarter.

Phil Dawson converted, but the Browns still needed three touchdowns in 10 minutes against an offense that was killing them.

“There were 10 minutes left, and if you don’t make it, then where do you go?” Crennel said.

Here’s where the Browns went after cutting it to 28-10: On the backpedal. The Cowboys got the ball with 10:13 left and burned the entire rest of the clock.

Romo went through the Browns like butter on his first series. He hit Witten for two big gains when the Browns blitzed during a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Marion Barber scored from the 1 and came out of the pile gyrating like a wild man.

Anderson, who is supposedly slow afoot, saved the Browns’ second drive on a rollout that looked sluggish but got the job done when he flicked a third-down pass to a well-covered Steve Heiden.

On a second-down play fake from the 2, Anderson rolled right again, buying enough time to find Winslow wide open in the end zone. It was a tough, downhill throw, with Anderson getting chased, but he made it.

It was 7-all with 12:43 left in the first half.

It would have been a good time for a blizzard to hit. Instead, reality set in.

Last year, the Browns came off an awful opener against Pittsburgh and went 10-5.

Does that do them any good heading into next Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh?