Tom DeLeone and the Kardiac Kids will be linked forever.
DeLeone, who passed away last Sunday of brain cancer at age 65, was one of the big reasons why the 1980 Browns did so well, finishing 11-5 and winning the AFC Central championship.
So when there’s a seminal moment in one or the other of the links, as there was four days ago, we can look back at the things we remember most.
We did that Wednesday with the 11 best moments of that season 36 years ago, and now we look back at the 10 biggest lingering thoughts – and in many respects, negative thoughts — from 1980.
So here we go:
1.
A PLAY THAT WILL LIVE INFAMY – Every Browns fan knows all about Red Right 88, the play that ended that great season. Wide receiver Dave Logan was wide open in the right portion of the end zone, but quarterback Brian Sipe didn’t see him, and in fact didn’t even look his way, choosing instead to try to hit tight end Ozzie Newsome in the opposite side of the end zone.
2.
GET HOLD OF YOURSELF – You’ll need to do that when you hear this story. On a day when you couldn’t feel your hands, nickel back Mike Davis was somehow able to hold onto Sipe’s pass for Newsome to make the game-ending interception. Was it just luck, good for the Raiders and bad for the Browns? Perhaps. Following the 1981 season, the Browns traded running back Greg Pruitt and defensive end Lyle Alzado to the Raiders, who by then had moved from Oakland to Los Angeles. One day during the 1982 training camp, Pruitt called his former boss, Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano. “Sam, you’re not going to believe this, but Mike Davis can’t catch anything,” Pruitt said. “He was dropping everything in practice today.”
3.
HAIL, THEN BAIL – Tommy Kramer’s 46-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Ahmad Rashad as time expired gave the Minnesota Vikings an improbable 28-23 victory over the Browns in Week 15 and denied them a chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs. It was not a good flight back to Cleveland. “All of Art’s lieutenants were so shaken up by what happened, and that maybe we wouldn’t get into the playoffs, that they were all ready to jump out of the plane,” Rutigliano said of owner Art Modell’s cronies such as vice president and general counsel Jim Bailey.
4.
READY, SET, SLOW – The 1980 Browns got off to a slow start, going 0-2, and they looked abysmal in doing it, losing 34-17 to the New England Patriots and 16-7 to the Houston Oilers. It’s the part of that 1980 season that nobody likes to remember.
5.
WHAT IF? – After beating the Browns, the Raiders went to San Diego and upset the Chargers 34-27 in the AFC Championship Game. But what if the Browns had defeated the Raiders? Would they have been able to go on the road and beat the Chargers? “No,” Rutigliano says every time I’ve asked him, and I’ve asked him plenty of times. “We would have had a lot of trouble matching up with them.”
6.
THE PROOF WAS IN THE WHIPPING — The teams did play in Cleveland in the 1981 opener, with the Chargers rolling 44-14 at Cleveland, but keep in mind that the 1981 Browns were nothing like the 1980 version. Indeed, maybe no team in any sport changed more than the Browns did in that offseason. The magic of 1980 was gone. All the games the Browns won down the stretch in 1980, they lost down the stretch in 1981.
7.
GOING, GOING GONE – Jim Shofner was a great quarterbacks coach. He had much to do with Sipe’s success. When he left after the 1980 season to take a job with the division rival Houston Oilers, Sipe was never the same.
8.
BETTER, BUT NOT GREAT – After going 5-11 in 1981, the Browns rebounded to go 4-5 and make the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season and then went 9-7 and missed the playoffs in 1983. As mentioned, nothing could come close to the pizzazz of 1980. And nothing ever will.
9.
A KICK IN THE PANTS – The Browns have a great legacy of kickers, and that includes Don Cockroft. But it’s sad that in his last game with the Browns, against the Raiders in the playoff game, he struggled horribly. He deserved to go out on a much higher note.
10.
THE LINE ON THE LINE – The Browns made a trade with the Buffalo Bills in 1980 to get Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure. But when DeLamielleure arrived, he displaced the popular Robert E. Jackson in the lineup and caused some friction that exists to this day. Jackson, DeLeone, Doug Dieken, Cody Risien, Henry Sheppard and Gerry Sullivan were all very close and never really accepted DeLamielleure.
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