A win into the wind for Browns in 2007

Other than all the snow — and there was a lot of snow — there was nothing memorable about the Browns’ 7-0 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 1, 1974.

But there was much more memorable than the snow — there was a lot of it that day, too, in the form of a mini-blizzard blowing in off Lake Erie — on the other big-snow home game in Browns history, an 8-0 triumph over the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 16, 2007 at what was then known as Cleveland Browns.

The real story of the day, played before only slightly less than a full house of about 72,000, was the two field goals made by Phil Dawson. The best kicker in Browns history connected on tries of 48 and 35 yards, and they were the most unbelievable things I’ve ever seen on a football field.

The wind was blowing consistently at 32 miles per hour, but it was a straight-line wind, from south to north (Browns sideline) in that it was not swirling.

So Dawson, who studied the wind in that stadium like a student testing to get his PhD, took a look, did some mental calculations and gave it his best shot, literally and figuratively. As it turned out, his best shot was absolutely incredible.

On both kicks, the 35-yarder in the first quarter and the 48-yarder in the second quarter, Dawson aimed for the pylon at the back of the end zone on the side and let the wind drive the ball right down the middle of the uprights. You had to see it to believe it, and even then, it seemed like an optical illusion.

The Browns got their other points when the Bills snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone on a punt attempt.

Not surprisingly, with the wind, neither team could throw the ball effectively, but the Browns rushed for 174 yards, with Jamal Lewis getting almost all of it — 163 — on 33 carries.

The win was the second in a row and the fourth in five games for the Browns, who increased their record to 9-5 and stayed in the playoff chase, while Buffalo saw its two-game winning streak come to an end and began a string of three consecutive losses to finish the season with a 7-9 mark.

There’s one more tentacle to this story, and I’ll talk about it in my next post.

By Steve King