Head coaches like for their football teams to be consistent.
So considering that, then, the Browns’ Blanton Collier had to be pretty happy when it came to his team’s games against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967.
It was 48 years ago today, on Oct. 15, 1967, that the Browns edged the Cardinals 20-16 before another full house of 77,813 at Cleveland Stadium.
Then in the teams’ return match, on Dec. 10 at Busch Stadium in the next-to-last regular-season game, the Browns beat St. Louis again by the same 20-16 score.
It marks the only time in their history that the Browns have beaten a team twice in the same season by the identical score. Add to it the fact the Cardinals were one of the Browns’ chiefs rivals back then, and those victories meant even more.
After losing their first two games that year, the Browns (3-2) posted their third win in a row by beating the Cardinals on Oct. 15. That put them into a tie for first place with the Cardinals and New York Giants in the Eastern Conference’s Century Division, which was in its first year of existence as the NFL split the Eastern and Western conferences into two divisions each and expanded the playoff format accordingly.
The hosts sprinted to a 10-0 first-quarter lead on a 40-yard field goal by Lou Groza, the last of the original Browns from that first season of 1946, and Frank Ryan’s 20-yard touchdown pass to running back Leroy Kelly.
Ryan tossed another scoring pass, a 32-yarder to wide receiver Gary Collins, to push the advantage to 17-6 at halftime.
The Browns appeared to be in great shape at that point, but the Cardinals scored 10 straight points to open the second half to close the gap to just 17-16 in the fourth quarter.
The Cleveland defense then stiffened, and Groza pretty much sealed the victory with a 34-yard field goal with 58 seconds left.
Ryan hit on just 7 of 18 passing attempts for but 133 yards, but he made that a moot point by throwing for those two scores. He was intercepted once.
Collins, Kelly and running back Ernie Green all had two receptions each.
Kelly, who was on the way to the first of his two straight NFL rushing titles, and the second of his three 1,000-yard seasons in a row, ran for 63 yards in 15 carries.
The Browns forced four turnovers, including three interceptions of Jim Hart.
By sweeping the Cardinals in symmetrical fashion and splitting their two games with the Giants, the Browns went on to finish 9-5 to win the division by two games over New York (7-7) and 2½ over St. Louis (6-7-1) .
And fittingly, it seems, that second 20-16 triumph over the Cardinals on Dec. 10 clinched the division title for the Browns.
