The thrill of victory.
The agony of victory.
And the embarrassment of victory.
The Browns have gotten all three on this date, Sept. 10, through the years. Let’s take a look:
*1989 – Browns 51, Pittsburgh Steelers 0 – at Pittsburgh – Even after he was named head coach of the arch rival Browns in 1989, Bud Carson remained a Steelers guy. That’s understandable, for in serving as their defensive coordinator from 1972-77, he was integral in the Steelers’ two Super Bowl victories.
Carson accidentally – and unknowingly – showed where his true colors were during that first season with the Browns. One day a conversation with media members got around to great on-field fights between the Browns and Steelers. Referring to one in particular, Carson claimed, “They started it.”
By “They,” he meant the Browns.
Old habits die hard.
So it was with mixed emotions that he watched the Browns, at Three Rivers Stadium in the regular-season opener, hand the Steelers what is still the worst defeat in their history. Browns fans loved it.
But Carson? Uh, perhaps not so much.
The head coach on the Pittsburgh sideline was Cleveland Benedictine High School product and former Browns messenger guard Chuck Noll, who had given Carson his big career break when he hired him 17 years before.
Sure, Carson wanted to win the game, but not by an embarrassingly big margin of 51 points. How’s that for gratitude? It was a slap in the face of his old boss.
The Browns led 30-0 at halftime and 44-0 after three quarters. They tallied three defensive touchdowns, two by outside linebacker David Grayson, who started his NFL career as a strike replacement player with Cleveland in 1987, on a 28-yard fumble return and a 14-yard interception return. Fellow outside linebacker Clay Matthews opened the scoring with a three-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
Fullback Tim Manoa had three- and two-yard touchdown runs. Mike Oliphant, acquired in an ill-fated offseason trade with the Washington Redskins for Earnest Byner, added a 21-yard TD burst to close the scoring.
Former Steeler Matt Bahr kicked three field goals, two of 27 yards and one of 20.
The Browns held Pittsburgh to 53 total yards while sacking Bubby Brister six times and forcing eight turnovers.
The way Carson looked at it, his debut in Cleveland had been too good.
*2000 – Browns 24, Cincinnati Bengals 7 – at Cincinnati – The Browns pretty much dominated the contest from start to finish, scoring the last three touchdowns to break a 7-7 tie. Travis Prentice had a 16-yard touchdown run, and Tim Couch threw two five-yard scoring passes, one to fullback Marc Edwards, a native of the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood, and the other to tight end Mark Campbell.
It was on the pass to Campbell in the second quarter to put the Browns ahead for good, 14-7, that the unthinkable happened. Left guard Jim Pyne, the team’s first pick in the 1999 NFL Expansion Draft in Canton, ran the length of the field and jumped into the air to celebrate with Campbell, but tore his ACL when he landed and was lost for the year.
The Browns had little depth to start with. And after Pyne was shelved, they had a lot less.
A win like that really hurts.
