Note: If you missed Part 1 click here

The Browns’ magical Kardiac Kids season of 1980 would not have happened without four plays.

Let’s continue to take a look at those plays, and the four men who made them, with this, the second of a three-part series:

GREAT SCOTT! FORMER CB STEALS A WIN

Clarence Scott never wanted to go to safety. When a cornerback is moved there, it’s a sign he’s slowing down. It’s the NFL’s version of sending a player out to pasture, to the doorstep of retirement.

Scott, taken by the Browns in the first round of the NFL Draft in 1971 out of Kansas State, was a standout for eight seasons as one of the best cornerbacks in the league and one of the best in team history.

Then in 1979, second-year Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano made the difficult decision to move him to safety.

Scott didn’t like it one bit. But instead of complaining about it, which would have been easy to do, and completely understandable, he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t say a word. He quietly seethed.

That’s what consummate pros do. And Scott was a true consummate pro, one of the best the Browns have ever had, in fact.

It was on Nov. 30, 1980 at the Astrodome when that decision really paid off, allowing the Browns to hold off the division rival Houston Oilers 17-14 and gain one of their biggest wins in a nerveracking season full of them.

The Browns and Oilers entered the game tied for first place in the AFC Central with 8-4 records. With just three games left after that, the winner would have the edge down the stretch.

The Browns were up against it, being on the road, in one of the most intimidating venues in the league, against a team that had stifled them 16-7 at Cleveland on Monday Night Football back in Week 2. Another Browns loss would give the Oilers the season series sweep, a huge factor in breaking ties at the end of the regular season.

Two touchdown runs by Cleo Miller gave the Browns a 14-0 second-quarter lead, and they were still ahead 14-7 at halftime following Earl Campbell’s scoring run.

It was 17-14 Cleveland through three quarters after Don Cockroft’s 25-yard field goal and Ken Stabler’s 30-yard TD pass to tight end Dave Casper.

That remained the score when the Oilers got the ball for one last nchance to tie the game with a field goal or win it with a TD. The Oilers piece-mealed their way down the field, finally getting a big-gainer to take them into Cleveland territory when Stabler hit Casper for 26 yards.

The Browns were in dire need of a big play. This is where Scott, and his experience, made the difference.

Casper had seven receptions for 150 yards on the day as he and Stabler, who had starred together with the Oakland Raiders for so many years, played pitch-and-catch. Scott sensed that, on the very next play, Stabler would go to the well once again and try to his buddy.

Scott hid in the secondary — Stabler never saw him — and he stepped in front of Casper as the tight end ran down the seam, diving to intercept the ball and then stretching out on the ground to secure it.

The Browns got a critical victory and Scott got a chance to prove he could make big plays in key moments to help the team.

Steve King

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