ending our time in Philly with a tie pic.twitter.com/RHSRyXYM3t

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 18, 2023

The Browns’ two days of practices against the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles this week in preparation for their preseason game on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field is reminiscent of something that occurred between the teams 34 years ago.

Let’s hope it goes a little more calmly this time.

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It was in the days leading up to their preseason game in London on Aug. 6, 1989 that the Browns and Eagles practiced against one another. To say it was physical, is a tremendous understatement. It was more like a a controlled brawl. Call if footbrawl, if you will.

The Browns were in their first year under head coach Bud Carson, while the Eagles’ head coach was Buddy Ryan, the father of Rob Ryan, who would serve as Cleveland’s defensive coordinator a little over 20 years later. Carson and Buddy Ryan were two peas out of the same pod, as my mother used to say, because they were older, tough, no-nonsense, defensive-minded men who wanted their teams to be physical. And on those two days in particular, they certainly were.

There was talking and taunting and pushing and shoving before and after every play. The officials’ whistles didn’t really halt play. Rather, they were simply one of the things you heard, or didn’t, because of the shouting. Nobody was about to give an inch, and so they didn’t.

If pro football tried to resemble pro wrestling, then these practices would’ve served as the tutorial.

Finally, both coaches, possibly in a moment of weakness, decided it was best to halt the practices on the second day before everybody ended up on the injured list.

If one of the goals of these practices was to gauge the teams‘ toughness, then it worked, and both the Browns and Eagles passed with flying colors.

Steve King