Coming off a 16-7 loss to the Houston Oilers on Monday Night Football in Week 2 to drop their record to 0-2, the 1980 Browns had their backs to the wall and as such needed to start winning right away.

Compounding the problem for their next game, against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 21 at Cleveland Stadium, was that they didn’t have much time — one less day than usual — to prepare. Nonetheless, they got the job done, winning 20-13 on Brian Sipe’s 31-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to rookie running back Charles White, their first-round choice in the NFL Draft. The Heisman Trophy winner out of USC caught seven passes for 100 yards overall and also had a game-high 59 yards rushing in 15 attempts.

The Browns evened their mark at 2-2 on Sept. 28 with a 34-27 road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They built a 31-13 lead early in the fourth quarter on the last of Sipe’s three straight touchdown passes, two of which went to running back Calvin Hill, but then had to hold on for dear life as the Bucs rallied to make it 34-27 in the final seconds. Cleveland finally secured the victory by recovering an onsides kick. Sipe completed passes to nine different receivers en route to throwing for 318 yards.

So, just like that, they were right back to the .500 mark.

The Browns stubbed their toe at home the following week by losing 19–16 to the Denver Broncos on Fred Steinfort’s fourth field goal of the day, a 19-yarder in the fourth quarter. The game, though, turned when, with the Browns driving for a second-quarter TD that would have given them a 17–6 lead, Sipe’s pass was intercepted by linebacker Randy Gradishar, a product of Warren Champion High School
and Ohio State, and returned 96 yards for a touchdown. The Browns never recovered.

They didn’t let that disappointing loss derail them for long, however, as they went to Seattle the next week and dominated the Seahawks, against whom they had always struggled, to the tune of  27-3.

They were feeling good about themselves now, having won three of four to stand 3-3 as they got ready for two straight home games, the first of which was Oct. 19 against the mediocre Green Bay Packers. A win in that one would set themselves up nicely for their big contest the following week against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, a team they had to start beating if they wanted to win the AFC Central title and have a chance to begin working toward that elusive first trip to the Super Bowl.

Steve King