It’s no breeze kicking in Cleveland and more

By STEVE KING

I had to laugh — I really had to laugh — when Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked in his Monday press conference if the wind was more of a factor than he realized in the team’s 34-20 victory over Washington the day before at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Related: Favorite Browns-Cowboys game of all-time

“I would not say it was more of a factor, but being on Lake Erie, you know that wind is going to be a factor,” he said. “We know that. I will tell you that there were conversations throughout the game of really which way it was blowing, and that seemed to change throughout the game.

“Anytime you are playing at FirstEnergy Stadium, we are mindful of what the wind is doing.”

Yeah, you bet, Coach, you definitely have to be mindful of what the wind is doing in games there. If you do, then your teams will do better — perhaps even a whole heckuva lot better — and if you don’t, then they won’t. It’s just that simple.

Because of those winds off Lake Erie, Cleveland has long been the toughest place in the NFL in which to kick. Some people seem to think that Heinz Field, built on the confluence of where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, is the toughest. Yes, it’s tough, but not as tough as Cleveland. It started at Cleveland Stadium, and it has continued at FirstEnergy, which was, of course, built on the exact footprint of its predecessor. Even the field runs the same way, northeast to southwest.

The old place was worse than the present one, simply because of the construction of the stadium, which allowed more wind to enter from the northeast end, over the bleachers (Dawg Pound), and did not give it anyplace to exit because of the high upper deck grandstand behind the opposite end zone at the southwest end. Still, FirstEnergy, as Kevin Stefanski found out and former Browns standout kicker Phil Dawson can attest, is also very tough — the toughest in the NFL, really.

HISTORY IN BROWNS-COWBOYS SERIES INDICATES PLENTY

Pivotal?

Telling?

Seminal?

Yes, the Browns’ game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at AT&T Stadium will be all of those things. The outcome of the game — even the way it is played — will say much about both teams not just for the here and now, but many times also going forward.

Related: Favorite Browns-Cowboys game of all-time

The Browns are 2-1 and trying to prove to the country that they are for real by winning on the big stage in Dallas, while the 1-2 Cowboys are desperate, trying to prove that they still belong among the contenders in the NFC. The winner will continue on that particular path, and the loser will have some work to do. For the Cowboys, who would fall to 1-3, it would be a lot of work.

That the teams are ranked side by side right in every NFL power poll you see — the Cowboys one spot ahead of the Browns in the late teens — indicates it should be a close, hard-fought, down-to-the-wire affair. 

That’s not surprising because a lot of the games — actually, almost all of them — between the Browns and Cowboys have been that way — very important — since the series began 60 years ago, in 1960, when the Cowboys were born and Pro Football Hall of Famers Paul Brown and Tom Landry were coaching the teams.

It started late in the 1962 season when the Cowboys beat the Browns for the first time by the convincing score of 45-21. It was a sign that Brown’s time with the team named for him might be coming to an end, and that, if given enough time, Landry just might be able to build something special in Dallas.

It continued in 1965, when, despite sweeping the season series with the Cowboys en route to going to the NFL Championship Game for the second straight year, the Browns’ two victories came by just six and seven points. The improving, evolving Cowboys were almost there.

It continued the following year, 1966, when, in the first of the long series of Thanksgiving Day games hosted by the Cowboys, they beat the Browns 26-14 and won the Eastern Conference title for the first time. It was the start of two straight decades of success enjoyed by the Cowboys. Perhaps the fans sensed that, for the game drew the largest crowd ever to see the Cowboys play at their first home, the Cotton Bowl.

It continued again in 1967 when, in a playoff game, the Cowboys crushed the Browns by a resounding 52-14 and proved that their edge over Cleveland was no joke and that head coach Blanton Collier’s team had a whole heckuva lot of work to do if it wanted to catch up.

It continued once more in 1968 when, in another playoff contest, this one at Cleveland, the Browns ended a four-game losing streak to the Cowboys and began a string of three victories in a row over them with a 31-20 decision. The game — and the series, along with the balance of power in the East — swung back in Cleveland’s favor when linebacker Dale Lindsey intercepted a Don Meredith pass early in the third quarter and returned it for a touchdown to break a 10-10 tie. For whatever it’s worth, it’s my favorite Browns-Cowboys game memory.

It continued early in the 1979 season when the Browns throttled the Cowboys 26-7 at Cleveland on Monday Night Football and, for all intents and purposes, launched the Kardiac Kids era.

And it continued late in the 1994 season when Bill Belichick’s team went to Texas Stadium and stunned the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys 19-14 as safety Eric Turner tackled tight end Jay Novacek at the one-inch line on the final play. With the win, the Browns proved they were legitimate Super Bowl contenders in the AFC, while it became evident that the Cowboys may not be quite good enough to win another Super Bowl.

As for Sunday, who knows? I think the Cowboys win 23-20 over a Browns team that will play well but, because of its youth, wilt late in the game against the veteran-laden hosts.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see if what happens – whatever it is — turns out to be an indication of where the two teams are headed not just this season, but possibly also down the road even more.