It was 32 years ago today, on Oct. 9, 1983, that the Browns edged the New York Jets 10-7 behind the efforts of four players who are well known in Northeast Ohio.
We’re talking about Brian Sipe, the trigger man of the Kardiac Kids and the owner of most of the team’s passing records. He threw for 294 yards and Cleveland’s only touchdown in the contest at Cleveland Stadium, played behind a full house of 78,235.
And Matt Bahr. Part of the lineage of great kickers that spans the Browns’ first 64 years of existence, he booted a game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired.
And right outside linebacker Tom Cousineau. A legend first at Lakewood St. Edward High School and then at Ohio State, after which he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft, he led an unrelenting defense with 15 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
And finally, wide receiver Bobby Jones.
Bobby who?
Jones is, like Cousineau, a native of the region, having been a standout at tiny Brookfield (Ohio) High School, near Warren. The school’s stadium is located just a few football fields away from the Pennsylvania state line. He did not play college football, so he came to the NFL on the road less traveled.
He was on the receiving end of Sipe’s TD pass, a 32-yarder in the second quarter, staking Cleveland to a 7-0 lead, on which he leaped high into the air to grab the ball and then held on despite being flipped upside down.
The catch, one of five he had that day for 68 yards, was satisfying in a variety of ways for Jones, a smallish player with good hands, including the fact that he had played his first five NFL seasons (1978-82) with the Jets. He went to the Browns in 1983 for what turned out to be his last year and had a career performance, finishing third on the team with 36 receptions, just one behind the much higher-profile Dave Logan, good for 507 yards and four TDs, putting him second on the club. For his career, Jones had 89 receptions for six scores.
The win, following a disappointing 24-9 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks a week earlier, lifted the Browns’ spirits and their record as well, to 4-2. Head coach Sam Rutigliano’s team would continue its success, standing 8-5 with three games to go and on the verge of nailing down a playoff berth before it collapsed and finished 9-7, missing the postseason on tie-breakers in favor of the Seahawks and Denver Broncos.
But on this day against the Jets, life was good in Northeast Ohio, and for two hometown guys, including one even longtime Browns fans may have forgotten about in Bobby Jones.
