Today’s date, Dec. 4, has been a busy — and interesting — day in Browns history. Let’s take a quick look:
 
*Browns 31, Buffalo Bills 21 – 1949 – at Cleveland – All-America Football Conference playoff semifinal – The Browns and Bills had played two great games during the regular season, battling to a tie on both occasions, 28-28 at Buffalo in the opener and 7-7 just three weeks before at Cleveland. This was the rubber match – with much more, a trip to the AAFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers, at stake this time – and it was hard-fought again.
 
Cleveland quarterback Otto Graham and Buffalo’s George Ratterman, who would play together with the Browns from 1952-55, combined for 619 yards passing and five touchdown as the hosts rallied from a four-point halftime deficit for the win.
 
The Browns led 10-0 after one quarter on Graham’s 51-yard pass to wide receiver Dante Lavelli and Lou Groza’s 31-yard field goal, but they were behind 14-10 at haltime.
 
Cleveland went ahead 24-21 at the end of three quarters on a pair of touchdowns by the Jones boys, one on a two-yard run by Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones and the other on a 49-yard pass from Graham to wingback Dub Jones.
 
The Browns, who improved their record to 10-1-2, then clinched it with cornerback Warren Lahr’s 52-yard interception return for a TD in the fourth quarter. It was Cleveland’s second pick of Ratterman.
 
Graham threw for 326 yards and two TDs with a pair of interceptions. Wide receiver Mac Speedie had seven catches for 113 yards, Lavelli five for 96 yards and Edgar Jones six for 69.
 
Running back Rex Bumgardner, who would play for the Browns from 1950-52, caught four passes for 80 yards for Buffalo.
 
*Browns 49, New York Giants 40 – 1966 – at Cleveland – Think of games between the Browns and Giants in the 1950s and ’60s and images of hard-fought defensive struggles are conjured up. Not so with this one. The teams combined for the most points, 89, in series history as the Browns came storming back from a 20-point third-quarter deficit to win.
 
A pair of touchdowns on Leroy Kelly’s one-yard and Frank Ryan’s three-yard pass to wide receiver Gary Collins were the Browns’ only points as they fell behind 34-14 in the third quarter. But they dominated the Giants the rest of the way, outscoring them 35-6 on five TDs, including two on Kelly’s three- and two-yard runs. Ryan threw two TD passes, a 19-yarder to back-up tight end Ralph Smith and a 31-yarder to running back Ernie Green, and defensive end Bill Glass clinched the victory with a 13-yard fumble return for a score in the fourth quarter.
 
Kelly rushed for 126 yards and the three scores and caught four passes for 71 yards. Collins had five receptions for 120 yards, Green four for 68 yards and Smith three for 67 yards.
 
Ryan threw for 326 yards and the three TDs with three interceptions as the Browns won for the third time in four weeks to improve to 8-4 with two games left.
 
*Browns 24, Dallas Cowboys 21 – 1988 – at Cleveland – Quarterback Bernie Kosar had a lot of great games during his 8½ years with the Browns. And this was one of his best ones, as he completed 19 of 27 passes for 308 yards and three TDs with no interceptions, giving him a 145.3 quarterback rating, his best as a Brown, to lead the club to a narrow victory over a bad Dallas team that was in its final few games under head coach Tom Landry.
 
Kosar spread his completions around to eight different players, with 10 going to wide receivers. Reggie Langhorne had two catches for 79 yards, including a 73-yarder for a TD, little-used Clarence Weather had three grabs for 60 yards, including a 36-yarder for a score in the fourth quarter that made it 24-14 and gave the Browns some breathing room, and Brian Brennan had six receptions for 71 yards.
 
Kosar’s other TD pass was a 14-yarder to running back Herman Fontenot.
 
The Cowboys, who got 134 yards rushing and a four-yard TD from Herschel Walker, led 14-10 after three quarters before the Browns rallied for the victory that moved their mark to 9-5 with two games left and allowed them to remain in the thick of the playoff chase.