EDITOR’S NOTE: Leading into Sunday’s game between the Browns and Miami Dolphins at Huntington Bank Field, this is the third in a four-part series on Friday being the 60th anniversary of the Browns winning the 1964 NFL championship.
By STEVE KING
There are two iconic defensive plays in Browns history, both of them being touchdown-, game- and championship-saving tackles in postseason games at Cleveland Stadium.
They serve as bookends for the first and then what is still the last of the Browns’ four NFL titles.
We touched on the first one several days ago, when middle guard Bill Willis, despite being blocked to the ground at the line of scrimmage, got up and somehow chased down one of the fastest players in the league, New York Giants running back Gene “Choo-choo” Roberts, at the Cleveland 7 following a 32-yard run in the fourth quarter of a special playoff game on Dec. 17, 1950. It helped preserve the Browns’ 6-3 lead and propelled them to an 8-3 win that sent them on to the league title game, where they edged the Los Angeles Rams 30-28 and proved to all their many doubters that they really were as good as advertised.
The second iconic play occurred 14 years later almost to the day, on Dec. 27, 1964 in the league championship game against the Baltimore Colts.
The game was scoreless in the second quarter with the Colts having the ball at their 23-yard line. They called a screen pass and set it up to perfection, with 10 defenders focusing only on Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Unitas retreating into the pocket. The lone Brown who wasn’t fooled was veteran linebacker Galen Fiss. He read it right away, seeing Hall of Fame running back Lenny Moore and HOF guard Jim Parker drifting over into the flat. The field ahead of them was wide open to the goal line. Just as the Browns were about to sack Unitas, he floated the ball to Moore. Fiss broke at that moment, deftly working his way around Parker and upending Moore a split-second after he caught the ball. Instead of Moore racing untouched for a 77-yard touchdown that may well have jumped-started the explosive and heavily-favored Colts on their way to the resounding victory that nearly everybody expected, it resulted in a loss of yards and began to put the thought into the visitors’ heads that this just may not be their day, and no matter what they tried, it wasn’t going to work.
Indeed, you could feel the momentum shifting to the Browns, who, in having kept Baltimore off the scoreboard to that point, were starting to gain confidence that they could play with the Colts. Now, they mwere absolutely convinced that that were going to win. As such, they became the aggressors. It was the Browns who got jump-started in the third quarter, taking advantage of good field position as a result of a short, wind-blown punt by Tom Gilburg to score 17 points by the end of the quarter on a Lou Groza field goal and two Frank Ryan-to-Gary Collins touchdown passes. The rout was on, and in the fourth quarter they added another field goal and a third Ryan scoring pass to Collins for a shocking 27-0 win.
Years later, Fiss was attending an NFL function when a friend approached him.
“Lenny Moore is here tonight. Would you like to meet him?,” the man said.
“Sure! I would love to,” Fiss replied. “I’ve never had a chance to meet him.”
The man took him to Moore, who turned around and then, in wide-eye fashion, exclaimed, “Galen Fiss, how did you tackle me?!”
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Steve King
