Of Great Kickers, A Great Star, A Great Rivalry and a Great Example

A few quick thoughts in preparation for the Browns’ game against the New York Giants on Sunday at Huntington Bank Field:

But First;

Listen in as Phil Dawson surprises Jim Donovan with a call to tell him he'll be joining him in this year's class of Browns Legends inductees! 🥹🧡 pic.twitter.com/2MoWI5ovZV
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 20, 2024

*Phil Dawson, who is being inducted into the Cleveland Browns Legends club on Sunday, is the best kicker in Browns history. That is saying a lot, because Lou Groza is a Pro Football Hall of Famer and is the man for whom the college kicking award is named. But Dawson was just better. His two field goals, from 49 and 35 yards against the Buffalo Bills in a snowstorm at Cleveland late in the 2007 season, defy logic. The wind was howling, the snow was falling, the field was slippery and yet he hit both of them. I’ll never see anything like that again in my life. On both occasions, he aimed for the back pylon in the end zone and let the wind, which was blowing across the field in a straight line, take the ball right up through the uprights. Just absolutely incredible.

*Saturday is the 54th anniversary of the first Monday Night Football game, played on Sept, 21, 1970 at Cleveland Stadium against the New York Jets. Nobody knew if Monday Night Football was going to be a tremendous success or a flop, but the way the Browns won the game 31-21, clenching the victory at the end of the wildly exciting game in an electric atmosphere before largest crowd ever to see the Browns play in Cleveland, 85,703, paved the way for the series to become a real hit.

*The Giants are just another team to Browns fans now, but there was a time long ago when a game between the Browns and the Giants drew the eyes of all the football world. For the first decade and a half after the Browns entered the NFL in 1950, that was the best rivalry in football. They were both in the Eastern Conference and dominated play there. For 15 of the 16 seasons from 1950 through ‘65, either the Browns or the Giants won the conference title. The exception was 1960, when the Philadelphia Eagles edged out the Giants and then went on to capture the NFL championship. When the NFL-AFL merger was completed in 1970, the Browns went to the American Conference with the old AFL teams while the Giants stayed in the National Conference, and they eventually became total strangers to one another.

* And finally, congratulations to the Guardians for making the American League playoffs. The Guardians are a lot like the Kansas City Chiefs in that they just have a belief they are going to win, no matter what. They have not been as successful as the Chiefs, of course, but the mindset is the same. The whole is greater than the sum of the Guardians’ parts. I wish the Browns were more like them.

Steve King

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