Now, after sweating through the Browns’ 18-13 victory over the host Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, you have a taste for what it was like with the 1980 Kardiac Kids.

Just when you thought they had it in the bag 44 years ago, they didn’t. And just when you thought they didn’t have it in the bag, they did. It was wildly exciting. In fact, it was the most exciting season in Browns history.

And on Sunday, that’s exactly the way the Browns played, building a 16–3 lead and then holding on for dear life to finally secure the win on the very last play when they broke up a pass into the end zone.

in 1980, the Browns clinched the AFC Central title with a 27–24 victory at Cincinnati. In that game, the Browns traled 17–10 in the third quarter and seemed to be stuck in neutral. They had tried all their big-time players, and they did what they did but the Browns still couldn’t get over the hump against the Bengals. Then, a guy came out of nowhere, wide receiver Ricky Feacher, to catch two touchdown passes in a 3 1/2-minute span in the third quarter to turn the game around and give the Browns the lead.

At the beginning of that game, nobody — and I mean, nobody, probably not even Feacher himself — thought he was going to be the hero of the game. They don’t win that game without him, even though it was Don Cockcroft who eventually kicked the game-winning field goal.

In Jacksonville, it was Browns punter Corey Bojorquez who came out of nowhere to steal the show and become the hero. His punt late in the game to the J Jacksonville 2-yard line set up a safety on the next play and gave the Browns enough breathing room that they were able to hold on for the win.

Again, no one thought he was going to be the guy who made the biggest difference, and the guy who really was the hero.

The Browns still have a lot to clean up, especially offensively. Quarterback Deshaun Watson played better, but he still wasn’t that good, particularly when it came to being consistent. They struggled all day on third down.

But a win is a win is a win, and just as in 1980, in 2024 they don’t count style points.  They just ask if you had more points on the scoreboard than the other team at the end of the game. On this day, the Browns did, which made it a lot better feeling than last Sunday when they were overwhelmed by the Dallas Cowboys in the regular-season opener. 

Steve King