Editor’s Note: As a thank you for your support we will post some of are most popular articles over the previous three years. They won’t be in any particular order as we post (originally posted 9-8-15).
The Browns and New York Jets haven’t played each other much over the last 45 years since they both became charter members of the AFC. In fact, their meeting on Sunday in New York in the regular-season opener will be just their 23rd overall.
Nonetheless, they’ve had some memorable games, including three in particular. Here’s a quick look at those:
*Browns 31, New York Jets 21 — Sept. 21, 1970 at Cleveland (85,703) – With the merger of the NFL and AFL now complete and pro football coming into a whole new age, ABC-TV and the NFL wanted to try something new. They came up with something called Monday Night Football, a season-long series of games on Monday nights. It seemed like a good idea, but no one knew for sure.
Indeed, would anyone watch a game on a weekday night? All previous games in NFL history had been on the weekends.The ABC affiliates were skeptical. Less than half of them took the game. The others showed their regular Monday night programming. After all, the new fall shows were debuting.
For the series to have a chance to make it, it needed a rousing start to get the momentum going. There needed to be a big, loud crowd and a matchup of two good teams, one of which from New York, the biggest TV market in the world.
It all came together perfectly. Browns owner Art Modell volunteered his team, which had been to the NFL Championship Game the previous two seasons, and mammoth Cleveland Stadium as the test site. The opponent was the Jets, led by quarterback Joe Namath and just 20 months removed from having stunned the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, shocking the pro football world and adding some real spice to the merger.
But again, would anyone watch?
Yes! Emphatically yes! The ratings for the markets in which the game was shown were through the roof.
And those who watched on TV, and also in person as part of the largest crowd ever to see a Browns game in Cleveland, were treated to a real show.
The Browns jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead on Bill Nelsen’s eight-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gary Collins and Bo Scott’s two-yard scoring run. They went ahead 21-7 when Homer Jones returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a TD.
The Jets got to within 24-21 in the fourth quarter and took over at their 18 with just over a minute left. On the first play, Namath was intercepted for the third time, this one by linebacker Billy Andrews, who scampered 25 yards for a TD to seal the deal and thus become the first in a long line of little-known MNF heroes.
*Browns 38, Jets 17 – Sept. 12, 1976 at Cleveland (67,496) – This is the day that the seed for the Kardiac Kids Browns teams in 1979 and ’80 was planted.
Unfortunately, it came at the expense of Mike Phipps.
The Browns had been waiting for Phipps to develop as their franchise quarterback since they traded Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield to Miami to get the Dolphins’ No. 3 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, which they used to take the Purdue product.
It hadn’t happened, but it looked like it might be ready to with the way Phipps was playing in the first half against rookie head coach Lou Holtz and the Jets in the season opener. He was nearly flawless, completing 10 of 15 passes for three touchdowns and no interceptions while also rushing three times for 26 yards.
But it was on the last of those runs just before halftime that Phipps suffered a separated shoulder while being flipped as he was tackled near the New York sideline. He missed most of the rest of the season, which opened the door for a young player named Brian Sipe to get his foot in the door.
Sipe, who had been drafted in the 13th round in 1972 but didn’t make the roster until ’74, completed 7 of 10 passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns and thus began his trek to becoming the triggerman of the Kardiac Kids and the 1980 NFL MVP.
*Browns 23, Jets 20 ( 2 OT) – 1986 AFC divisional playoff – Jan. 3, 1987 at Cleveland (78,106) – It had been a great season for the Browns – they finished 12-4, won the Central Division title and clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs – but now it looked as if it was all coming to an end.
They trailed the upstart Jets by 10 points, 20-10, with just 4:14 left in regulation, and a good portion of the fans began heading for the exits.
The Browns needed a miracle comeback. And they got it.
Aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive end Mark Gastineau, the Browns drove down the field and got a touchdown on Kevin Mack’s one-yard run with 1:57 left to make it 20-17.
Their defense forced the Jets to go three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and the Browns got the ball back and marched into position for Mark Moseley’s 22-yard field goal with seven seconds left to tie the score at 20-20 and force OT. By this time, most of the fans who had left had raced back into the stadium.
Moseley accounted for the next points as well, kicking a 27-yarder two minutes into the second OT to win it. It was the third-longest game in NFL history.
