From late in the 1966 season through the second week of ’68, the Browns lost four straight times to their arch rivals at that time, the Dallas Cowboys.
Included in that was a 52-14 thrashing in the 1967 Eastern Conference Championship Game.
The Browns began turning the tables in a big way when they topped Dallas 31-20 in the 1968 conference title contest at Cleveland.
And then the Browns added an exclamation point – or two or three – to that win, and their attempt to reclaim the reputation as the top team in the East, with what they did 46 years ago today, on Nov. 2, 1969.
Bill Nelsen threw a team record-tying five touchdown passes, including two each to wide receivers Paul Warfield and Gary Collins, and the defense turned in one of the best performances in club history, as the Browns rolled to a 25-point halftime lead en route to blasting the Cowboys 42-10 at Cleveland Stadium.
It all happened to the sheer delight of 84,850, which set a record for the largest regular-season home crowd in Browns history. It is still No. 2.
The Cowboys came in with a 6-0 record, had been seriously challenged only twice and had kept three opponents in single-digits scoring. They had allowed just 61 points overall.
But the Browns overwhelmed them — they manhandled them – as they improved to 5-1-1.
Nelsen threw a 48-yard TD pass to Warfield on the game’s first play from scrimmage, and it just went from there. Later in the first quarter, Nelsen found Collins for a 10-yard score.
Ron Johnson ran one yard for a TD to increase the lead to 21-0 in the second quarter. It was 28-3 at halftime after Nelsen went to Warfield again for a 21-yard score.
It stayed that way until the fourth quarter when Nelsen threw his last two TD passes, a seven-yarder to Collins and a 10-yarder to backup tight end Chip Glass.
Overall, Nelsen completed 18 of 25 passes for 255 yards and the five TDs with one interception. Tight end Milt Morin had seven receptions for 101 yards, while Warfield added three catches for 84 yards and Collins five grabs for 47 yards.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly had 65 yards rushing, but in reality, he wasn’t even needed.
Defensively, the Browns recorded six sacks and forced six turnovers, including three interceptions of Craig Norton. He was finally relieved by Roger Staubach.
HOF tight end Mike Ditka caught three passes for 34 yards. Rookie Calvin Hill, who went to the Browns in 1978, was an integral part of the Kardiac Kids two years later and then was part of a prospective ownership group to get the rights to buy the new Browns when they returned in 1999, rushed for 52 yards and caught two passes.
The teams would meet again eight games later with the conference title on the line, giving the Browns one more chance to beat the Cowboys before they moved to the AFC in 1970 with the NFL-AFL merger, in effect ending the rivalry.
