A good friend who knows the Browns very well texted me after their 19-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday.
“Wow!”
A simple but yet very profound remark, and emotion, for the win was certainly wow-worthy not just for the moment and even this season. Rather, it was so for the entire history of the Browns — both franchises, the original one from 1946-95, and the reborn one from 1999 on.
Indeed, it is historic, because no one thought the Browns, all beat up on offense, including with having to start a little-used quarterback, could defeat the 5-0 49ers, who were considered the top team in the NFL.
And I mean that with every fiber of my being.
Also on that “wow” list are these games in the history of the original Browns franchise (the list of such from the expansion era will appear soon):
*The Browns whipped the Miami Seahawks 44-0 in their first regular-season game ever, and the first game played in the All-America Football Conference, on Friday night of Labor Day weekend, Sept. 6, 1946, at Cleveland Stadium before 60,135, the largest crowd ever to see a pro football game to that point in history. The Browns dazzled the fans with their fast-paced style of play, using a a well-organized, motion-based passing attack, the likes of which no one had ever seen. And the wowing continued, for this was the start of something iconic.
*In what is still the largest deficit they’ve ever overcome, the Browns, at one time trailing 28-0, rallied to tie the host New York Yankees 28-28 on Nov. 23, 1947. It was part of the Browns’ 29-game unbeaten string from midway through the 1947 season to midway through 1949. Interestingly enough, the other tie in that 27–0-2 streak was also 28-28 on the road with the Buffalo Bills in the 1949 opener.
*The Browns won three straight games, all on the road, on opposite coasts and against their three biggest rivals then in the 49ers, Brooklyn Dodgers and Los Angeles Dons, in an eight-day span — THREE games on eight days! — during Thanksgiving week in 1948 on their way to a perfect 15-0 record and a third straight AAFC championship. It is one of only three times in pro football history that a team has finished with a perfect record — no losses or ties — and won the league championship.
*Three games won in 1950, the Browns’ first season in the NFL after arriving from the AAFC. The Browns opened the season with a 35-10 victory — the game wasn’t even that close — against the two-time defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road. They won 8-3 over the New York Giants, the team that handed them their only two losses, in a special playoff game after the clubs had finished the regular season tied for first place in the American Conference. The win was secured when when middle guard Bill Willis somehow, some way chased down running back Charlie “Choo-Choo” Roberts, probably the fastest player in the league, and made a touchdown-saving tackle at Cleveland 7 late in the game. The Giants ended up getting no points on the drive. The triumph qualified the Browns for the NFL Championship Game, where they edged the Los Angeles Rams 30-28 on a Lou Groza field goal with 16 seconds left after they trailed by two scores midway through the fourth quarter. Despite all their critics who scoffed at their success in AAFC, saying they were champions from a “Mickey Mouse” league, the Browns proved by taking on and defeating all comers, and ultimately capturing the NFL title, that they were as good as advertised.
*Browns running back Dub Jones tied an NFL record by scoring six touchdowns in a 42-21 win over the Chicago Bears on Nov. 25, 1951 at Cleveland. Four came on runs of two, 12, 27 and 43 yards, while two occurred on passes from Otto Graham covering 34 and 43 yards. He shares the mark for TDS in a game with Pro Football Hall of Famers Ernie Nevers and Gale Sayers, and Alvin Kamara. Also in the game, the Browns and Bears set records for number of penalties and penalty yardage.
*Quarterback Otto Graham and the Browns completed an amazing decade-long run by winning two more league championships, routing the Detroit Lions 56-10 in 1954 and the Los Angeles Rams 38-14 in 1955. In their first 10 years of existence, all with Graham leading the way, the Browns played in 10 straight league title games in the AAFC and the NFL, winning seven crowns. In those last two championship games combined, Graham, saving his best for last, accounted for 10 touchdowns, running for five and passing for five. Against visiting Detroit, he ran for three scores of one yard (twice) and 15 yards, and passed for three (31 and 37 yards to Ray Renfro and eight yards to Pete Brewster). Then in Los Angeles, he ran for two TDs of one and 15 yards, and passed for two of 50 yards to Dante Lavelli and 35 to Renfro. It’s the quarterback’s job to win the game, and there has never been a more complete winner — he retired a second time, and this time for good — than Otto Graham. So, then, is he the greatest quarterback ever? He is certainly in the conversation for such. That he played so long ago has caused many to fail to understand just how good he, and those early Browns teams overall for that matter, were.
*The Browns, despite being 11-point underdogs, defeated the Baltimore Colts 27-0 Dec. 27, 1964 in the NFL title game on Frank Ryan’s three TD passes to Gary Collins and the greatest defensive performance in club history. The Colts, stocked with future Pro Football Hall of Famers, including quarterback John Unitas and wide receiver Raymond Berry, had led the league in points scored and fewest points allowed that season. That the Browns could shut out a team like that and score 27 points on it, riddling Baltimore’s great secondary, was absolutely incredible. It was the greatest team effort in Browns history. The biggest “wow” moment of this “wow” day occurred in the second quarter when Unitas perfectly set up a screen pass to running back Lenny Moore on a play from the Baltimore 32. It completely fooled 10 members of the Browns defense , who were all on the side of the field that Unitas was on. The only Brown who sniffed it out was linebacker Galen Fiss, who came out of seemingly nowhere and upended Moore just as he caught the ball. Had Fiss not been there, then Moore would have raced 68 yards untouched for a TD like a thief in the night. In fact, he could have run all the way to Erie, Buffalo or beyond. The path was wide open. The Colts never came even remotely close to scoring otherwise. If Moore had scored, then the whole tenor of the game would have changed. Baltimore would have finally cracked the Browns defense and would have taken control of the game, and Cleveland’s historic victory never would have materialized.
*The Browns’ 31-21 victory over the New York Jets in the first Monday Night Football game on Sept. 21, 1970. It was the perfect storm. Played before a raucous gathering of 85,703, the largest home crowd in Browns history, the exciting game, which was not decided until the final minute when a little-known linebacker by the name of Billy Andrew intercepted a Joe Namath pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown, drew off-the-chart TV ratings in the markets where it was shown, thus proving that fans would tune in to games played on other days and times than just Sunday afternoons. It led to telecasts today in all different time slots on a variety of days. But it had to be seen to be believed, for it was an experiment that carried with it a grand leap of faith. If it failed, then the NFL would have been stuck with a whole slew of “white elephant” games for the remainder of the season. Indeed, when you look up the term, “high-risk, high-reward,” in the sports dictionary, there’s a photo of this game.
*The Browns’ pulled off a 21-16 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 25, 1973, achieved after quarterback Mike Phipps, sonehow eluding a horde of rushers, threw a 42-yard pass to running back Greg Pruitt, who somehow eluded a horde of linebackers and defensive backs en route to a 42-yard gain. Two plays later, Pruitt ran 19 yards for the game-winning TD with a minute left, then mistakenly ran into the Steelers locker room after the game while trying to get away from jubilant fans who stormed the field.
*The Browns’ 26-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers came almost exactly 43 years ago to the day, on Oct. 19, 1980. In a season full of the most improbable comebacks and the most incredible finishes in team history, providing a slew of “wow” moments, this one stood out as the Browns rallied from a two-score, fourth-quarter deficit to win on Brian Sipe’s 46-yard TD pass to wideout Dave Logan with 16 seconds remaining. Avoiding what would have been a huge upset loss saved the season for the Browns as they captured their first AFC Central title in nine years.
*The Browns’ huge, dramatic 35-33 upset victory over the New York Giants on Dec. 1, 1985 at Giants Stadium did for that team what last Sunday’s triumph over the 49ers will hopefully do for the current club — that is, transform the Browns from a team trying to find itself to one that discovered it was good enough to beat the best teams if it played up to its capabilities. This was the win that launched the Browns on their great run through the last half of the 1980s, as they made the playoffs five straight years (1985-89), won four Central Division titles and got to the AFC Championship Game on three occasions. No one gave the middling Browns a chance to win against the Giants, especially when rookie quarterback Bernie Kosar struggled and was replaced by ailing veteran Gary Danielson, who, despite an ailing arm, was able to make key throws as the Browns went ahead 21-7, fell behind 33-21, got two touchdowns to go back on top 35-33 and then held on for dear life as the Giants drove the length of the field in the closing minutes but, almost just like the 49ers did last Sunday, missed the potential game-winning goal as time expired. Tony Grossi, then the Browns beat writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, began his game story this way: “Wide right. A kick went wide right and a season was born.” The only thing is that it birthed not just the 1985 season, but rather also a whole era.
*The Browns rallied from 10 points down with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter to defeat the New York Jets 23-20 in double-overtime on a Mark Moseley field goal in the 1986 AFC divisional playoffs on Jan. 3, 1987 at Cleveland. With their team behind 20-10 and little time left in regulation, Browns fans, figuring the game was over, dejectedly exited frigid Cleveland Stadium to head home and get warm. But, while listening to Nev Chandler’s and Doug Dieken’s call on their radios of to the comeback, they stopped dead in their tracks, turned around and went running back into the stadium, slipping and sliding on the icy walkways left by a sizable overnight snow. What they would have missed, but instead got to see, was worth the effort.
*The Browns, in desperate need of a victory to make the AFC playoffs for a fourth straight year, and for the first time as a wild card, appeared to be dead as a doornail in their regular-season finale against the Houston Oilers exactly a week before Christmas, on Dec. 18, 1988 at Cleveland Stadium. They trailed 23-7 with 9:32 left in the third quarter and, because of an unprecedented number of injuries to quarterbacks that season — they had already lost their starter four different times (it would end up being five by the time the year was over) — the Browns were relying on 38-year-old Don Strock to lead a comeback. He had been coaxed out of retirement and signed off a golf course. The former longtime Miami Dolphins backup had been, understandably so, rusty and ineffective in his first start since taking over for Bernie Kosar. He had thrown three interceptions in the game, one of which was returned for a touchdown. It appeared hopeless for the Browns. Father Time has never been beaten, and he looked ready to snag another victory that frigid day as a light snow began to fall. But all of a sudden, Strock took a swig from the Fountain of Youth, shook off the rust and turned back his personal clock to an earlier era. By the time he was done, he had thrown for 326 yards and two touchdowns, including the 22-yard game-winner to wide receiver Webster Slaughter, as the Browns rallied to top the Oilers 28-23 and make the playoffs.
*The Browns had struggled mightily to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium, losing their first 16 games there. Then from
1986-89, they won four in a row in Pittsburgh, the first three of which were by just three, six and 14 points. However, the last one, on Sept. 10, 1989, was an entirely different story as the Browns beat the Steelers by a whopping 51-0, handing them their worst home loss ever. They led 30-0 at halftime. The Browns scored three defensive touchdowns, two of which — an interception and a fumble return — by linebacker David Grayson, the last of the team’s strike replacement players from 1987. Bud Carson, in his first game as Browns head coach, had pulverized the team of the man under whom he served for years as defensive coordinator, Pittsburgh head coach Chuck Noll. Carson admitted afterward that he sheepishly, almost fearfully, approached a frowning Noll at midfield for the post-game handshake. With the lopsided win, Carson had not just poked the bear, as the saying goes. He had conked him in the head with a coal shovel.
*It was a football game — the 1989 AFC divisional playoffs — but it much more resembled a track meet full of sprinters racing back and forth, first one way and then the other, or a boxing match in which there were almost nothing but roundhouse punches being thrown, with only a few jabs, when the Browns and Buffalo Bills met on Jan. 6, 1990 at Cleveland Stadium. It was wild and incredibly entertaining, in fact spellbinding right to the very end, by which time the players, coaches and fans on both sides were completely out of breath. Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar passed for three touchdowns, while Buffalo’s Jim Kelly, who grew up not far from his Cleveland counterpart and played at the University of Miami at about the same time as him, threw for 405 yards and four scores. The Bills, trailing 34-30, put together one last drive as time was running out. Kelly led them further and further into Cleveland territory with passes across the middle. With time for only one more play, he understandably went to the well again and threw to the middle, but he didn’t see Clay Matthews standing at the 1. The ball went right to the Browns linebacker, who intercepted it and then cradled it while falling down to secure the win as time expired. Matthews immediately hopped up and showed the ball to everyone, including Art Modell up in his suite. Why? Exactly two weeks earlier, in a 24-20 road victory at Houston in the regular-season finale that clinched the Central Division title for the Browns for fourth time in five seasons, Matthews came under heavy criticism, including from the Browns owner, after he intercepted a pass from Oilers quarterback Warren Moon late in the fourth quarter that appeared to seal the victory before he fumbled the ball away after inexplicably trying to lateral to a teammate instead of simply falling down. The Oilers took advantage of their good fortune to score a TD and take the lead, forcing the Browns to put together a last-ditch touchdown drive of their own to win it.
*Just like going into last Sunday’s game against the 49ers, no one gave the Browns a chance against the Houston Oilers on Dec. 8, 1992. The Browns were playing one of the best teams in the NFL, and the most explosive one offensively, especially via the pass with quarterback Warren Moon throwing to a bevy of talented wide receivers. And they were doing so on the road at the Astrodome, one of the league’s greatest home-field advantages. In addition, they were all beat up in the secondary, having to sign players off the street all week to fill key roles. But sonehow, a defensive coordinator by the name of Nick Saban and a head coach by the name of Bill Belichick — perhaps you’ve heard of them — were able to coach up the newcomers well enough to the point that they completely shut down Moon and the Oilers en route to a stunning 24-14 win.
*And finally, there is what happened when the Browns hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 24, 1993 at Cleveland Stadium. The head coach of the Steelers was Bill Cowher, a former Cleveland linebacker and special teamer during the Kardiac Kids era in the early 1980s who then served as an assistant coach with the Browns, starting as the special teams coordinator. It’s on special teams where he began to build his coaching resume that eventually landed the Pittsburgh native as the head coach of his hometown team. But on this day, he had to watch his Steelers lose 28-23 at his old stomping grounds because of egregious special teams breakdowns as Eric Metcalf returned two punts for touchdowns of 91 and 75 yards, the latter coming late in the fourth quarter and being the game-winner. A proud man, Cowher stood on the sidelines following Metcalf’s second score, fuming at the embarrassing manner in which his team had lost. He was so mad, in fact, that he fired his special teams coordinator when the team returned to Pittsburgh. Two weeks later, Browns head coach Bill Belichick “fired” longtime quarterback Bernie Kosar, but that’s another story for another time.
Perhaps the Browns can put together another “wow” moment when they travel to Indianapolis on Sunday to face the Colts.
Steve King
