Thursday, Aug. 20 – Who was the first first team from the old AFL that the Browns  played?

If you say the New York Jets, you’re way wrong. The Jets, who came to Cleveland in the 1970 regular-season opener in what was the first Monday Night Football game, were only the fifth old AFL club to meet the Browns.

The first team was the Buffalo Bills, who visit FirstEnergy Stadium tonight for the second preseason game of the year.

The Browns played the Bills 47 years ago, on Aug. 30, 1968, at War Memorial Stadium in their next-to-last preseason game that year.

As part of the merger between the NFL and AFL that was announced in 1966, preseason games were to be scheduled between teams from the two leagues so they could begin to get to know one another in advance of when they would start playing regular-season games in 1970 when the merger was completed.

The Browns and Bills, being based just three hours away from each other on I-90, were an easy match. So on a hot, steamy Friday night, they met before a full house of 45,994, with the Browns prevailing 22-12.

Unlike now, teams played to win preseason games back then, especially ones later in the schedule when the starters were playing most, if not all, of the way in preparation for the start of the regular season. This game was especially competitive, with both teams pulling out all the stops, since NFL and AFL pride was on the line. The NFL’s Green Bay Packers had won the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and ’67 seasons, so the AFL was still trying to prove itself against the older, more established league.

The Bills were on a downward slide into mediocrity in 1968. They had won back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and ’65 and made it back to the league title game in 1966. But they finished just 4-10 in 1967 and would dip even further, to 1-12-1, in ’68. The great players from the glory days were getting past their prime and were retiring.

The Browns had captured the 1964 NFL title over the Baltimore Colts and then lost to the Green Bay Packers in the 1965 championship game. They finished 9-5 the next two years, making the playoffs in 1967, and were headed for a 10-4 finish in 1968 and a trip back to the championship game, where they would lose to the Colts.

Frank Ryan, whose three touchdown passes to wide receiver Gary Collins keyed the 27-0 victory over the Colts in 1964, entered ’68 as the starter. But several years of injuries had taken their toll and were diminishing his effectiveness. He would lose his job after three games in 1968 to Bill Nelsen, who had been acquired in an offseason trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Browns faced the AFL’s San Diego Chargers in the 1969 preseason, playing them to a 19-19 tie, and then met Kansas City and Cincinnati in the 1970 preseason. They lost 16-13 to the Chiefs and 31-24 to the Bengals.

By the time the Browns got to the Jets in the first regular-season game of 1970, the novelty of going against old AFL teams had worn off.

And when the Browns and Bills play tonight, few watching will even remember a time when such a matchup was considered an oddity.