Tom Brady is a household name now as he leads the New England Patriots against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.
But the legendary quarterback was a virtual unknown when, 14 seasons ago, he faced the Browns for the first time. And after the game, he still wasn’t standing out.
It was Dec. 9, 2001 when Brady, then in his second pro season and his first as a starter, helped lead – well, maybe not – the Patriots to a comeback 27-16 win at Foxboro Stadium.
Brady, who was in just his 11th NFL start after taking over for a struggling Drew Bledsoe way back on Sept. 30 against some kid named Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, was 19 of 28 passing for 218 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions. One of those picks was returned 49 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Corey Fuller to give the Browns, in their first year under head coach Butch Davis, a short-lived 10-3 lead after one quarter.
The problem for the Browns was that their quarterback, third-year pro Tim Couch, was even worse, hitting on 20 of 39 tries for 244 yards and no TDs with three interceptions.
Holding the Browns without an offensive touchdown all day, and just 50 yards rushing, the Patriots scored 17 points in the second quarter to lead 20-10 at halftime. The Browns closed the gap to 20-13 after three quarters on the second of three field goals by ex-Patriot Phil Dawson, a 39-yarder, but couldn’t get any closer. Dawson’s other field goals were from 27 and 22 yards.
Not surprisingly, the only real star for the Browns that afternoon was their best player, wide receiver Kevin Johnson, who had game highs in both catches (eight) and receiving yards (95).
Patriots wide receiver David Patten, who had finished third on the Browns with 38 receptions in 2000, had three catches for 41 yards. Former Ohio State wideout Rerry Glenn had four grabs for 67 yards.
Another ex-Brown, fullback Marc Edwards, rushed for just three yards on four carries.
The Browns, who owned the AFC’s second wild-card playoff berth just two weeks before, suffered their second consecutive loss to fall to 6-6. It would be one of four consecutive defeats, and five in their last six games, en route to finishing 7-9. Still, that was two more victories than they had had in the first two years of the expansion era when they were 5-27.
The Patriots were headed the other way – emphatically so. After starting just 1-3 and putting second-year head coach Bill Belichick squarely onto the hot seat, with that only victory being a 44-13 wipeout of the Colts in Brady’s debut, the decision over the Browns represented their third straight win and fifth in six games as they improved to 8-5.
They captured their last three contests as well to run their victory string to six as they finished 11-5 – a complete about-face of their 5-11 record the year before – and earned the AFC East title.
After three nail-biting victories in the playoffs – 16-13 in overtime over the Oakland Raiders, 24-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers and 20-17 over the St. Louis Rams on a last-play field goal to run their overall win streak to nine – the Patriots gained their first Super Bowl championship. By that time, Brady was on his way to stardom.
Now, three Super Bowl wins later as he tries this year for No. 5, Brady is front and center in the conversation for the greatest quarterback of all-time, as is Belichick when it comes to head coaches. They are the most successful quarterback-head coach duo in NFL history.
So what happened with Cleveland’s head coach and quarterback that day? After resigning from the Browns three years later and going on to get fired at North Carolina, Davis is now out of coaching and doing some work as a college football analyst for ESPN.
After playing just two more seasons in Cleveland before flaming out of the NFL, Couch is also in media as a college football analyst, working games for the SEC Network.
By Steve King
