Earnest Byner had a great career with the Browns.
 
And, for all intents and purposes, it began on this day 31 years ago, on Nov. 4, 1984.
 
The rookie running back picked up a fumbled pass reception by wide receiver Willis Adams in the fourth quarter and raced 55 yards for the Browns’ only touchdown of the day – and the game-winning points – as they splashed their way past the Buffalo Bills 13-10 on a rainy, cold day at what was then known as Rich Stadium.
 
It was the first career touchdown – and the first big moment — for Byner, the latter of two 10th-round picks and, as it turned out, the final player the Browns selected in the 1984 NFL Draft. That, along with the fact he came from an off-the-beaten-path school in East Carolina, meant the then bespectacled Byner arrived in Cleveland with absolutely no fanfare or expectations. He caught the eye of Sam Rutigliano, then the head coach, who pointed out to reporters one day at training camp, “He pushes the pile back.”
 
That day in Buffalo, though, Byner wasn’t pushing anyone anywhere. He was tiptoeing along the sidelines, causing everyone back home in Northeast Ohio watching on TV in the comfort of their warm, dry living rooms to wonder out loud, “Who the heck is that guy with the thick-rimmed black glasses?”
 
A year later in 1985, after he and Kevin Mack, then a rookie, became only the third pair of running backs from the same team to both run for 1,000 yards in the same season, everybody knew who Byner was. And by then, he had shed the glasses.
 
The win ended a five-game losing streak and improved the Browns to a paltry 2-8 in a season that had long ago morphed into a nightmare. It was also Marty Schottenheimer’s first win as head coach after taking over for the fired Rutigliano on Oct. 22. In his first game six days later, the Browns lost 16-14 to the New Orleans Saints on a last-play, 53-yard field goal.   
 
The Browns had only a pair of Matt Bahr field goals, from 28 and 36 yards, as they trailed 7-6 at halftime. It was 10-6, with a loss to the 0-9 Bills staring the Browns right in the face because of a sputtering offense yet again, before Byner grabbed the ball, and in doing so grabbed everybody’s attention.
 
Byner rushed for 58 yards in just nine carries and, along with Boyce Green’s 156 yards in 29 tries, contributed to a Cleveland running attack that produced 211 yards. It was enough – barely – to offset the fact that Paul McDonald completed only 7 of 18 passes for 86 yards with an interception.
 
Somehow, tight end Ozzie Newsome, on his way to catching a team-record 89 passes for a second straight year, had four receptions for 53 yards.
 
The Cleveland defense, which did an outstanding job in 1984 despite the team finishing only 5-11, had two interceptions off Joe Ferguson and did not surrender a TD to the Bills. Their lone TD came on a 34-yard fumble return.
 
That’s nothing. At 34 yards, Earnest Byner was just getting going on his fumble return for a TD.