It was the coldest I’ve ever been, a slow, steady, light rain eventually turning into flakes of snow as the temperature dropped toward the late afternoon.
It gave you the feeling of being freeze-dried, although the phrase had not yet been invented by Folger’s Coffee.
It was a day spent with my dad, my best buddy.
It was one of the best birthday presents I ever got, the opportunity to see a Browns game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Stadium.
And it was the best, and most memorable Browns game I ever saw.
It was Nov. 19, 1972, exactly 51 years ago Sunday, as the teams get ready to meet again today st Cleveland Browns Stadium, located on the footprint of the old place. Those long-ago Browns, on Dan Cockroft’s second-chance 26-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining, defeated the Steelers 26–24 to forge a tie atop the AFC Central between the two teams at 7-3with four games left.
Cock rough had missed from that very same spot just two minutes before, and salt to the bench thinking he had lost the game for the Browns. But the defense got the ball back, stopping Pittsburgh on it and suing possession in the Cleveland office with Mike Phipps, making several key passes, drove down the field and put Cockcroft into position to try it again, and this time, he made it, much to the delight of the 83,009 fans in attendance.
The Browns shout out to a 20–3 first-half lead, only to see the Steelers start to fight their way back. Pittsburgh eventually took the lead 24–23 in the fourth quarter before the Browns, especially Cockcroft, turned in those late heroics.
It was the Browns’ eighth straight victory over the Steelers in Cleveland. The Browns had also dominated the series overall between the two teams since entering the NFL from the All-America Football Conference in 1950. The Browns were regularly winning championships, or playing for them, and the Steelers had never been in the postseason in their 39 years of existence.
But several things changed, or began to change, that day regarding the two teams.
The Steelers, under third-year head coach Chuck Noll, a Cleveland Benedictine High School product who went to become a messenger guard on head coach Paul Brown’s grrat Cleveland teams in the 1950s, defeated the Browns 30-0 two weeks later at Three Rivers Stadium and went on to claim the division crown with an 11–3 record, a game ahead of the 10–4 Browns, who earned the conference’s lone wild-card berth.
That was the beginning of Pittsburgh’s rise to power, one that still exists today to some degree. The Steelers are now the ones dominating the series with the Browns.
Individually, that game in 1972 — and his game-winning kick coming on the heels of his miss — was the turning point in Cockroft’s career, he would admit years later.
“I was losing my confidence, and the Browns were losing their faith in me,” said the man who took over in 1968 after Pro Football Hall of Famer Lou Groza, the only kicker the club had ever had, retired for the second time. “They were trying to replace me (they had taken kicker George Hunt in the 1972 NFL Draft).
“But when I made that kick, it made me believe in myself again, and gave me a confidence that I never lost throughout the remainder of my career.”
Cockcroft, in fact, it’s his name on the list of the string of iconic Browns kickers. It also includes Matt Barr, Matt Stover and Phil Dawson.
The Browns, who will be without starting quarterback, Deshaun Watson for the rest of the season, may need some pressure kicks again today from Dustin Hopkins if they want to beat the Steelers.
Steve King
