Having the lead in an NFL game is a good thing, right?
Well, yes, of course.
But there are exceptions to every rule, and one of them occurred on Oct. 19, 1980 when the Browns hosted the Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Stadium.
The Browns jumped out to a 10-0 halftime advantage on a 40-yard field goal by Don Cockroft and a one-yard Mike Pruitt touchdown run, both in the second quarter. It increased to 13-0 early in the third quarter on another Cockroft kick, this one of 42 yards.
The Browns were already taking the Packers lightly. That’s because the Packers were not very good. They came into the game with a 2-3-1 record on the way to what would eventually be a 5–10-1 finish.
And when the Browns got ahead by nearly two touchdowns, what little respect they had for the Packers went right out the window. They put it into cruise-control. They took their foot off the gas pedal. They just needed to finish the game and begin preparing for next week’s big game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Somebody forgot to tell the Packers all that, however. They scored two touchdowns later in the third quarter to take a 14–13 advantage, and opened up the fourth quarter with another TD to increase it to 21–13. These were the days before the advent of the two-point conversion, so the eight-point difference meant the Browns needed to score twice to go back on top.
They got one of those scores later in the fourth quarter when Brian Sipe threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ozzie Newsome to move them to within one at 21-20.
The Browns made a third-down stop and forced the Packers to punt late in the fourth quarter. They took over at their 11 with just under three minutes left and eventually moved the ball to the Green Bay 46, where they faced a third down with 25 seconds left.
A field goal would do, but they needed to get about 15 to 18 yards to have a chance for that to happen. A touchdown, of course,,would be much better, but did the Browns have enough time to move half the length of the field for that?
Indeed, the Browns were up against it. They were called the Kardiac Kids for a reason, though. So, could they pull off yet another miracle finish?
The Browns had to come up with something, because a loss to the lowly Packers would have dropped them to 3-4 and really jolted their hopes for an AFC Central title.
Steve King
