by In 1935, the city of Cleveland got its first pro football team named the Cleveland Rams. The Rams were named after the Fordham University Rams, best known for their Seven Blocks of Granite, their offense line anchored by Vince Lombardi. Lombardi went on to coach the NFL’s Green Bay Packers to several championships and even the first two Super Bowl victories.
Man fans from that generation fondly remember walking up Lexington Avenue to the Old League Park. The Green Wall seemed as if it went on forever. The fan following for pro football wasn’t as strong as the backing for college games, but it was slowly starting to gather steam
After several horrible seasons, the Rams actually disbanded for the entire 1944 season. With college football drawing 80,000 fans, and Rams games only drawing 3,000, the hiatus didn’t come to a surprise to many. However, in 1945 Rams owner, Dan Reeves, brought the Rams back for one more season. This time things would be different as the Rams were headed for a massive turnaround. The talent was about to put it all together for a run at the championship.
On December 16, 1945, a cold winter’s day in Cleveland, the championship game took place between the Cleveland Rams and the Washington Redskins, led by Sammy Baugh. Many fans that saw him play considered Baugh one of the greatest football players of all time. It was a tight game that had four points scored by a player not even wearing a uniform. In the first quarter, Washington quarterback, Sammy Baugh, dropped back to pass in the end zone, but the ball hit the goal post. The rule stated that when this occurred, a two point safety would be charged against the offensive team. Back then, the goal post was at the goal line and not at the back of the end zone. This gave the Rams a two- point lead. Those points proved crucial later in the game.
After Cleveland answered a Washington touchdown with one of their own, the time came for an unorthodox extra point. Quarterback, Bob Waterfield, who was also the Rams place kicker, booted the ball and it bounced off the goal post before going in. It was the same goal post that created the safety from earlier in the game. The final score saw Cleveland celebrating a 15-14 win and their first pro football championship.
The famed owner of the Washington Redskins, George Preston Marshall, was so irate that two major consequences emerged from this game. The first occurred later that night when at dinner with his coach, Dudley Degroot, the vaunted owner fired Degrott, who had the nerve to complain that his wife’s purse was stolen at the game. Marshall was so irate that the coach dared complain about anything other than the loss that he fired him on the spot. The second major event to occur was that of the safety rule being reversed. From that point forward, any ball hitting off the goal post thrown by the offense was considered a dead ball. It was referred to by most as the “Baugh Marshall rule”.
In the spring of 2012, I visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame with my father-in-law, and to our amazement a piece of that exact goalpost was part of a special exhibit.
The unbridled enthusiasm of winning the championship would quickly wore off when owner, Dan Reeves, announced he was moving the Cleveland Rams to Los Angeles in 1946. It wasn’t total heartbreak, because the city would still have pro-football; it would just be a new team under owner Mickey McBride.
As mentioned in the introduction, in 1946, professional football returned to Cleveland when Mickey McBride, who owned the Yellow Cab Taxi Company, and was also an active real estate agent, created the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland had a prior professional football team in town called the Cleveland Rams, however after winning the championship in 1945; owner Dan Reeves moved them out of town.
Mickey McBride’s first order of business was to move the Cleveland Browns from League Park to the new Cleveland Municipal Stadium downtown. If not for him, there might have not been a football in Cleveland for many years. McBride hired the legendary, Paul Brown, for whom the team was later named. Many people have the false impression that the team was named after the “Brown Bomber” Joe Louis; however, it is a fact that they were named after Coach Paul Brown. This came after a failed attempt in the Cleveland local newspaper to let the fans decide on a name for the team. The Fans had voted for Panthers as the name for the team, but Paul Brown shot that down. He stated that the Panthers were associated with failure from a past team in town.
Brown was brought in to coach the Cleveland Browns after years of serving in the U.S. Navy as well as a very successful coaching stint at Massilon High School as well as The Ohio State University. He signed a contract worth a reported $17,500 yearly, which at the time was the highest paid coaching contract in football. McBride even reportedly offered Brown a stipend for the rest of his time in the military.
Brown wasted no time bringing in as many players as he felt could help the team immediately win. Some of the biggest and best players included Northwestern quarterback, Otto Graham. Running behind Graham would be eventual Hall of Fame running back, Marion Motley. With star wide out, Dante Lavelli, and placekicker, Lou “The Toe” Groza, the new team in town proved to be a force to reckon with. The Browns began practicing at the campus of Bowling Green State University a couple hours west of from Cleveland. The team colors came from the Bowling Green Falcons, who were brown and orange.
Joe DeLuca, who grew up in Cleveland, has many stories about the winning years of the past. Things were much different then and winning wasn’t a gift, but a birth right. Joe was born in 1933 and he had the incredible opportunity to see the first ever Cleveland Browns football game in person. Throughout the first fifteen years of his life, he saw multiple championship seasons.
“The Browns were being lead by a great disciplinarian”, recalls eighty 87 years old Browns fan Joe Deluca, telling a story regarding Brown, “He was such a strict coach that even enforced a dress code, but that is why his players respected him. He even fired team captain, Jim Daniel, after he had gotten drunk a week before the 1946 Championship game. Daniel had gotten so drunk that he even took a swing at a cop. In order to set an example for the rest of his team, Paul Brown didn’t hesitate to cut his captain”.
The Browns joined the All American Football Conference in 1946. So prepared was Brown that he even convinced McBride to keep a list of reserves, who didn’t make the team, employed on his taxi cab payroll just in case of an injury. The part-time taxi drivers were fondly known as the Taxi Squad. Brown searched the entire country to bring in the best talent he could find.
The Browns took the field at Municipal Stadium for the first game against the Miami Seahawks in front of 63,000 fans on September 6, 1946. Joe DeLuca can still close his eyes and recall the moment fondly. “The lights were shut off in the whole stadium, the only light coming from the exits signs when a spotlight from the right field stands turned on. The light shone into the dugout where the Miami Seahawks players were about to run out and take the field. As the announcer spoke and the first player from the Seahawks ran across the field, he kicked up a little dust as he ran across the dirt infield. I remember getting chills seeing this thinking something great was happening. I still get goose bumps as I think about it all these later”,
DeLuca can still name every single player from the 1946 roster, the position they played, and their number without even having to look at a team picture. Years later, he met Lou Groza at a laundry mat and told him that it was the greatest team in Cleveland Browns history. When Groza asked him why he felt that team was the best ever, DeLuca replied “If that team was lousy, no one would have come and they would have left town”. It was vital that the 1946 Cleveland Browns be great.
Paul Brown winning teams brought packed houses for each game. The Cleveland fans quickly forgot about the Rams when the Browns crushed the Seahawks and kept the ball rolling all season. Mickey McBride was a smart business man who took full advantage of the team’s success. Tickets sold at the premium price of 25 cents each. Included in each paid program was a raffle number to allow a fan to win a brand new car. McBride even promised a big celebrity to appear at every home game as well.
In 1946 the Cleveland Browns led by Paul Brown won their first league championship by beating the New York Yankees 14-9. This completed a magical first season that spilled over into a 1947 season. In their second year, the Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts 42-0 for a second consecutive championship. Heading into 1948, nothing would change as the Browns won their third championship with a 49-7 rout over the Buffalo Bills. The Cleveland Browns did not lose a single game the entire 1948 season making them a dominant force in the league
The 1948 year in sports had been so amazing for Cleveland that the city was now known simply as “The City of Champions”! As Joe Deluca recalls, “We were so spoiled with all the winning; it was as if it would never end”. In 1949, the Browns won the championship yet again under the direction of legendary Paul Brown with a 21-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers. In 1950, the Cleveland Browns moved to the NFL but they remained dominant, winning the championship on Christmas Eve over the Los Angeles Rams 30-28. Paul Brown was proving he could win in any league at any level. Joe DeLuca attended that game with many other rabid fans freezing but winning! The irony was sweet, as they had beaten the former Cleveland Rams.
The Browns reached the championship each of the next three years, but lost all of those games. A pair of them to the upstart Detroit Lions, who were shaking off years of losing and starting to taste winning for the first time.
Changes for Paul Brown started before the 1953 season when McBride sold the team to a group of local businessmen led by David Jones for $600,000. Paul Brown was upset that McBride did not consult him about the deal, the new owners assured him they would stay out of the picture and let Brown run the team. This was a vital issue for Brown as he needed full control over personnel decisions for his system to work successfully.
Paul Brown remained unfazed with the ownership change and led the Browns to back to back NFL championships with wins over the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams in 1954 and 1955. The 1955 championship would be the last one Brown had Otto Graham for at his disposal as he announced his retirement after the game was over.
In 1956, the Browns had their first losing season under Paul Brown as they struggled to go 5 – 7. It was their first season without Graham at quarterback in a long time and they had problems adjusting. In the following year’s draft, the team selected Jim Brown out of Syracuse University. Jim Brown was loaded with talent and was one of the greatest runners to ever play the game. The problem was that Jim Brown was not one for accepting discipline and slowly started to align his teammates against Paul Brown. It didn’t help matters that Paul Brown was critical of some aspects of Jim Brown’s game, including his extreme lack of blocking. Where Jim Brown excelled at was running, not blocking or being an all around good teammate. In Jim Brown’s first season, the team reached the championship game, again against the Lions, but lost 59-14.
As Jim Brown’s star rose, players began to question Paul Brown’s leadership and play-calling in the late 1950s because Jim was turning his teammates and the media against the proven coach. It was Jim Browns play on the field that was allowing more people to side with him over the seasoned coach. People where in awe of Browns running ability and willing to look past his off the field antics. Jim Brown started a weekly radio show, which Paul Brown did not like as it undercut his control over the team. The team finished second in its division in 1959 and 1960 but the second place finishes didn’t bother Jim Brown as he continued to lead the league in rushing every season.
A dark cloud rose over Cleveland in 1961 when Art Modell, a New York advertising executive, bought the team in 1961 for almost $4 million. At first it looked as though Modell would not be all that bad as he gave Paul Brown a new eight year contract and stated he and Brown would have a “working partnership”.
It didn’t take long for Modell to get in the way of things and start to play a heavy hand in football affairs. This upset Paul Brown who was used to having total control in football matters. Modell was close in age to many of his players, only 35, he took it upon himself to try and buddy up to many of them. Modell became very close with Jim Brown, which was the kiss of death of the disciplinarian coach. Modell could be heard during games second guessing Paul Browns play calling.
Things finally came to a head between the owner and coach when Paul brown traded Bobby Mitchell for the rights to Ernie Davis, who was a Heisman trophy winning running back out of Syracuse. Davis was no stranger to the end zone as he broke all of Jim Browns rushing records while playing at Syracuse. This was a face that did not sit well with Jim Brown, furthermore he was not happy to have Davis as a teammate. Sharing the spotlight, was not something Jim Brown preferred. Sadly, Ernie Davis never played a single game as a Cleveland Brown because he was diagnosed with leukemia before the 1962 season.
Paul Brown was a methodical and disciplined coach who tolerated no deviation from his system. He ran a well oiled machine and that was simply not the way Jim Brown was choosing to be coached. In the end it was Modell who sided with Jim Brown and fired the legendary coach on January 7, 1963. This was right in the middle of a newspaper strike which allowed Modell to try and make the move under the radar. Blanton Collier, Brown’s longtime assistant, was named the team’s new head coach.
Paul Brown was a great leader of men, and some of the men who worked directly underneath him went on to have amazing careers. Men such as Don Shula, Blanton Collier, Weeb Ewbank, Bill Walsh, and Chuck Knoll to name a few. He finished with seven league championships during his tenure with Cleveland. He led them to 11 straight title games in that stretch. It was the most dominant run of any head coach in the history of football. It is safe to say that Paul Brown is the greatest head coach in the history of pro football, and Art Modell fired him. It was the first of many shocking moves by Modell that would occur over the following 40 years plus years.
Paul Brown would only stay away from the game for less than five years as he was quick to throw his hat in the team ownership of the AFL franchise that was starting in Cincinnati. Brown was the third-largest investor in the team and was given the title of coach and general manager. Two roles he succeeded at. The Bengals joined the NFL in 1970 as a result of the AFL-NFL merger, and were placed in the newly formed American Football Conference. In his years as the Bengals’ head coach, Brown took the team to the playoffs three times but was never able to win a championship for the Queen City.
Paul Brown will be forever remembered as the man who helped change the course of professional football. His coaching ways and attention to detail and discipline reshaped the landscape and model of professional football. The combination of Art Modell and Jim Brown ran him out of Cleveland; it was the first in a long line of shocking moments and disappointing decisions that Cleveland sports fans would have to endure.The Cleveland Browns last won the NFL Championship in 1964 with a group of players drafted and trained by Paul Brown, despite him not being there, his impact still loomed over the team and was a big reason they took home the title in 1964. They were coached by Blanton Collier and it seemed as though their dynasty built under Paul Brown would continue on with several more championships, however it was the last world championship Cleveland has obtained in any major sport.
They returned to the NFL championship game three more times in the next four years. They lost all three times to the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Colts and Minnesota Vikings. By that point and time, the NFL winner was playing the AFL winner in a game called the Super Bowl. They fell short of the championship game in 1971 and 1972 with losses to the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins. They went the rest of the 1970’s without making it back to the playoffs. Things began to change in the 1980’s.
After the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964, they returned to the playoffs 6 times in the next seasons, never again winning the championship. They lost to Green Bay in 1965, the Cowboys in 1967, the Colts in 1968 and 1971, the Vikings in 1969 and the Dolphins in 1972. After that however, things went south and the Browns would not return to the postseason until 1980.
That is where this story picks up. The Browns had showed great improvement in 1979, going 9-7 under Sam Rutigliano and just missing the playoffs. In two years under coach Sam, they had gone 17- 15 and appeared to be heading in the right direction.
Under center heading into 1980 was Brian Sipe who was in his 7th season with the Browns. Sipe became the full-time starting quarterback in 1976 and had always put up middle of the road numbers. Nobody with the exception of Sipe and Rutigliano could have imagined the 1980 season he was about to embark on. Sipe would finish with 30 touchdowns, 4,132 yards and 91.4 QBR. He went on to win the MVP that season and will forever be loved by Cleveland fans for that magical year.
And it was magical folks, after starting the year 0-2 with losses at New England 34-17 and at home to divisional rival Houston by a score of 16-7. They rebounded quickly however by winning their next two games to even their record at 2-2. The victories coming at home against Kansas City 20-13 and at Tampa Bay 34-27.
It wasn’t just that the Browns were winning games, it was how they were winning them. For instance, week 3 against KC, they trailed or were tied the bulk of the first three quarters until pulling ahead 20-13 on a Sipe to Charles White touchdown pass late into the third quarter. From there, they clung to the lead and held on to win the game. The following week in Tampa Bay, they once again overcame a first half deficit to win. These were close games, but nothing compared to what was about to come that season.
A last second 19-16 loss to the Denver Broncos at home would set them back to 2-3 on the season. Perhaps the close loss was all Cleveland needed to spark something in them, because after that crushing defeat at the hands of the Bronco’s, they rattled off 5 straight wins, and then compiled 3 more after a loss to win 8 of 9 in the heart of the season.
The winning streak began week six with a 27-3 blowout win at Seattle. The next four straight wins would not be laughers however, but absolute white knuckle down to the wire nailbiters. The first of the stretch coming week seven at home versus Green Bay. Down by two scores, 21-13, in the fourth quarter, the magic began with a 19-yard Sipe to Ozzie Newsome touchdown pass to cut it 21-20. From there, the Browns needed the ball back one more time to try and win it, and did just that with a glorious and stunning 46-yard Sipe to Dave Logan touchdown pass to win the game.
They may not have been called the Cardiac Kids yet, but it was brewing. The next week at home against bitter rival Pittsburgh, they pulled off enough thrilling 1 point win 27-26. Yet again, they trailed by two scores in the fourth quarter, 26-14 before the magic began.
This time it was a Sipe to Greg Pruitt touchdown pass from 7 yards out to get it going. Then, as the game winded down, it was winning time as Sipe connected with Ozzie Newsome to win the game at 27-26 in front of 82,000 crazed fans at Municipal Stadium.
The third and final game of the three game homestand, and the fourth game of the win streak came against the visiting Chicago Bears. It was another one score win for the Browns, but came in a little bit different fashion. The Browns led 13-7 to start the final 15 minutes and it looked for a moment that they would pull away on a Mike Pruitt 1 yard rumble into the endzone, extending the lead to 20-7. The Bears were far from down however and pushed across two scores of their own wrapped around another Pruitt touchdown for Cleveland, as the Browns hung on in the final moments to win 27-21.
The close wins weren’t done yet however, winners of four straight, and now 6-3 on the season, Cleveland ventured to Baltimore for a Week 10 slugfest. Just like the prior week against the Bears, the Browns built a comfortable fourth quarter lead at 28-13 before it began to slip away. You must remember, this was long before the days of two pointers being allowed, so a 15-point game was a three possession game.
The Colts began scoring at a wicked pace to close the gap with touchdowns from the arm of Bert Jones to Reese McCall and Don McCauley. Luckily for the Browns, the Colts would run out of time on a third score attempt, as Cleveland hung on for the 28-27 victory. This pushed the Browns record to 7-3 and put the NFL on notice.
The next week however it was the Browns getting snake bit from a last minute fourth quarter comeback to fall to the hated Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Browns saw a slim 13-7 fourth quarter lead disappear after getting a safety against them, and then a Terry Bradshaw to Lynn Swann touchdown pass in the closing seconds to win it for Pittsburgh. The heartbreaking loss dropped the Browns to 7-4, but they were still very much in playoff contention.
The Browns bounced back from the tight loss to destroy divisional rival Cincinnati 31-7 at home. From there, it was back-to-back 3-point wins of 17-14 against both Houston and the Jets. Against Houston they stave off a fourth quarter comeback attempt from Kenny Stabler and crew. Against the Jets, it was a 5-yard touchdown pass from Sipe to Greg Pruitt to win it late! Time and time again, games were going down to the wire and the Browns were coming out ahead.
The Pruitt touchdown in New York improved their record to 10-4 and clinched a playoff berth. One more win, and they would be hosting a playoff game. After failing to secure it week 15 against the Vikings, they would have one more chance to close it out on the road, week 16 against the Bengals.
The Vikings game left Browns fans feeling snakebit. Cleveland was cruising, up 23-9 after a Cleo Miller touchdown run to start the fourth quarter. Minnesota’s offense had done nothing all game and the 14 point lead looked like it was going to hold up. The Vikings had a different idea however, as Tommy Kramer touchdown pass to Ted Brown cut into the lead. Placekicker Rick Danmeier missed the extra point and the score stayed at 23-15. An 8 point lead with time dwindling off the clock, it looked the Browns had it in the bag.
The Vikings were persistent and would not got away without a fight. They got the ball back and scored again, this time on a Kramer to Ahmad Rashad touchdown pass of 12 yards. The Browns were still up 23-22 with little time remaining. Sadly, for Cleveland fans, the Vikings had enough time left to get the ball for one last heave to the endzone.
The Viking drive started with 14 seconds to go on their own 20-yard line, with no timeouts remaining. Someone forgot to tell Tommy Kramer and the Vikings the game was over. Frozen fans in Minnesota watched as the first play of the drive was a 10-yard slant caught by Grant who flea flickered it to Brown, who then took it all the way down to the Cleveland 46-yard line with only 5 seconds remaining. Marty Schottenheimer, who was the Browns defensive coordinator at the time, lived and died by the prevent defense, he was about to get scorched by it.
NBC showed a young and worried Art Model in the visiting owners box, and for good reason as the next play saw Ahmad Rashad catch a deflected Hail Mary pass at the 5 yard line, and then walk it in for the win! Long before Rashad was the host of NBA on NBC, he was breaking Browns fans hearts!
The Browns, now 10-5, found themselves in a must win situation to host a home playoff game as they traveled to Cincinnati. The lowly Bengals were just 6-9 at the time and had little to play for. Someone forgot to tell them that however and relished the chance to play the role of spoiler. Yet again, the game was in doubt late and it wasn’t until Browns placekicker Don Cockroft nailed a 22-yard field goal to win it and send the Browns to the postseason.
Let’s talk about Don Cockroft for a moment as he is about to become a key member of this little story. Cockroft played his entire career in Cleveland after arriving there in 1968. This would be his 13th and finals season in the NFL. 3 times in his career, he was a league leader in Field Goal percentage. In 1968 he connected on 75% of attempts, in 1972 he connected on 81% and in 1974, he connected on 87.5% of his attempts.
Those sure thing days were long gone however, as in 1980, he only made 16 of 26 attempts for a paltry 61% heading into the playoffs. He also missed 6 extra points that season. This was 30 plus years before they moved back the distance, this is back when extra points were automatic. The Browns stuck with him and it was about to bite them.
Heading into the Divisional Playoff game on January 4th, 1981, everything should have favored Cleveland as they hosted the warm weather Oakland Raiders at 12:30 on a blistery Sunday afternoon. How cold was it exactly? With the windchill, it was negative 21 degrees. It is one of the coldest games in the history of all sports at any level, not just the NFL. I don’t care how many layers you wear or how drunk you think you get, you’re not staying warm outside in that kind of weather.
With the early start time, and the West Coast to East Coast trip, again, everything should have favored the Browns that day. After no one could do much of anything in the first quarter, the Browns drew first blood in the second when Ron Bolton picked off a Jim Plunkett pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. That’s when the problems with Cockroft began as he missed another extra point.
The Raiders would take a 7-6 lead into the half before Cockroft began to kick the Browns back into in the third. He managed to make two 30-yard field goals to give the Browns the 12-7 lead as the third quarter ended. It wasn’t exactly a ticker tape parade for the grizzled placekicker however, as even with those two makes, he also missed two field goals to go along with that missed extra point.
Those three missed kicks were fresh in Sam Rutigliano’s mind as Brian Sipe took the ball in the closing minutes of the game with the Browns now trailing 14-12. As scary as that thought was, they still had the league MVP at quarterback and had been winning games in the last seconds all season long, how would this be any different?
Sipe began to drive the Browns down the field with ease, knowing full well they would only need three points to win. Despite already throwing 2 interceptions, they had confidence in their passing game and continued to let Sipe air it out on the drive.
With 49 seconds to go, they had the ball at the Raider 13-yard line, which would have made it a 30-yard field goal. Despite his massive troubles, Cockroft had made two from that exact distance earlier in the game, but facing the other end of the field with the 21 MPH winds at his back. Sam and the Browns opted against the field goal even with the ball being exactly in the middle of the field for the kick.
The very next play, tragedy happened as Sipe dropped back, looked over the defense and threw to the endzone for Ozzie Newsome. Michael Davis read the pattern perfectly and picked it off for a Raiders win. Cleveland had an incredible chance at the Superbowl, or atleast hosting the AFC Championship game the following week against San Diego, but saw it all slip away.
Making matters even worse, and what could only go down as, “only in Cleveland lore”, Sipe called the wrong play in the huddle. Coach Sam called a pass play, “Red Slot Right, Halfback Stay, 88,” and instructed Sipe to “throw it into Lake Erie” if the play was anything less than wide open. It was only second down and an incomplete pass would have kept the game alive. Sipe called the wrong play in the huddle, “Red Right 88”, and the rest is history.
The Browns would stumble in 1981, going 5-11 and falling apart. They managed to “rebound” in strike shortened season, making the playoffs at just 4-5. They would fall to the Raiders again in the playoffs, this time 27-10 on the road in LA. Yes, that’s right, David pulled them from Oakland after winning Super Bowl XV.
From there, it was all downhill for the Browns as the missed the playoffs in 83 and 84, before Schottenheimer took over in 1985 and got them to the playoffs with a hometown rookie quarterback named Bernie. More on that later.
As for Brian Sipe, he will go down as one of the most beloved Cleveland Browns figures. After being drafted by the Browns in the 13th round of the 1972 Draft, he went on to play 10 years for the Browns before departing for the USFL’s Washington Generals. Sipe finished his Browns career with 154 touchdowns and 23,713 yards. Many fans, including myself, consider him the second-best quarterback behind Otto Graham in franchise history. The San Diego “California Kid” won the hearts of Cleveland during his stay.
Sipe didn’t do it by himself that season, in fact, he had plenty of help. His top receiving threats were Reggie Rucker with 52 catches for 768 yards and 4 touchdowns. Dave Logan caught 51 balls for 822 yards and 4 touchdowns. It was Calvin Hill, the father of Duke sensation Grant Hill, with 27 catches, but a nose for the endzone with 6 touchdowns.
Perhaps what really separated the Browns offense that year was their reliance on running backs in the passing game. Both Gregg Pruitt and Mike Pruitt played major roles in that aspect as Mike had 63 catches for 471 yards to go along with his 1,034 rushing yards that year as well. Greg caught 50 balls for 444 yards. Extra special for Greg was a few a years later when he was traded to the Raider, in time to be on another Super Bowl winning team with them, along with Lyle Alzado who was another former Brown to win a Super Bowl with the Raiders in 83 against Washington.
The” Wizard” Ozzie Newsome, may have not caught the pass that mattered the most, but he did finish with 594 yards on 51 receptions with 3 touchdowns. Newsome would go on to become the greatest tight end in Cleveland Browns history. Also, one Hell of a GM when he got to Baltimore.
If the weather is even somewhat normal, are the Browns playing in the AFC Championship game that year? One may never know, but with Bernie Kosar on board a few later, things would be looking up once again.
The native of boardman, Bernie Kosar skipped the NFL Draft in 1985 just to have the chance to be picked by the Browns in the supplemental draft that summer. His risk paid off as the standout from The University of Miami, and also Boardman Ohio native, was coming to the Orange and Brown. Following an injury to starter Gary Danielson midway through the 1985 season, Kosar took over and never looked back.
The first five years of his career were the best honeymoon /love affair a fan could have with its star quarterback. Under Kosar, the Browns went to five straight postseasons, including 3 AFC Championship games, all of which they lost to Denver. Year in and year out, he seemed to be the chosen one and it was only a matter of time before he led the Browns to the Superbowl.
That was until 1990 when seemingly everything began to change. The Cleveland Browns began a run of four straight losing seasons.
3-13 in 1990
6-10 in 1991
7-9 in 1992
7-9 in 1993.
It was during that 1993 season, that the Browns did the unthinkable by not only benching Bernie Kosar in favor of backup Vinny Testaverde, but eventually cutting him all together. Kosar would go on to win the Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys as a backup while the Browns failed to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
Bill Belichick and the Browns were on a mission heading into the 1994 season. They made a lot of bold moves in the first three years of his tenure, and didn’t exactly win a lot of games during it. It was time for the moves to finally start paying off and the fruits of their labor to be picked.
The pressure was on Belichick to the lead the Browns to the playoffs or else his days as a head coach in the NFL would be numbered. Art Modell was not a patient man, and the fact that after three seasons under Bill Belichick and no playoff runs, and he hadn’t already made a switch at head coach was a shock to many fans and personal around the NFL.
One year removed from cutting Bernie Kosar, the Browns started the 9 – 4 as they headed to Dallas to take on the highly talented and two time defending Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys as Christmas 1994 approached. The Browns were right in the playoff hunt, but seen as heavy underdogs going into this clash.
The Dallas Cowboys were coming off of two straight Super Bowl wins and playing with a giant chip on their shoulder as most national pundits weren’t picking them to three-peat, instead a lot of press around the league felt that the San Francisco 49ers were the new favorites to win the NFC title.
The Cowboys came as 10 and a half point favorites by the Vegas line. The Browns would not be intimidated and were eager to shake off the bad loss from the prior week against the New York Giants. The Browns defense had held all but one team, ( Denver) to 20 points and under all season long, and were up for the challenge of trying to do it again,
The game got off to a hot start with both teams scoring quickly into the first quarter. The Cowboys drew first blood with a 7 yard touchdown pass from Troy Aikman Emmett Smith. The Browns answered back with a two yard touchdown pass from Vinny Testaverde to his main target Michael Jackson to tie the game at seven apiece heading into the second quarter. The Browns defense which had been playing great all season and continued to as they held the Cowboys high powered offense in check and shut them out in the second and third quarters.
Meanwhile, Matt Stover was kicking everything possible through the uprights, and three field goals later the Browns led 16 – 7 midway through the fourth quarter. The Cowboys did their best to rally with 4 yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 16 – 14. Matt Stover added another field goal and the Brown were clinging to a 19 – 14 lead in the final moments of the game. One last Cowboys drive was snuffed out with a dramatic and impressive Browns goal line stand to give the Browns the shocking 19 – 14 road victory.
The Browns defense had played amazing once again to seal the victory. They picked off Troy Aikman twice while forcing two fumbles. Don Griffin and Eric Turner were once again responsible for the big interceptions of Aikman, they had been both playing incredible all season long. Don Griffin also had a sack of Aikman along with one from Anthony Pleasant.
The Browns offense didn’t exactly light the league on fire, but they did enough to win on the strength of four Matt Stover field goals and 99 rushing yards from Leroy Hoard. In his fourth season as head coach, it was by far and away the signature win for Bill Belichick that he so desperately needed and wanted. The Browns were now 10 -4 and headed back to the playoffs, with still two games left in the season to try and catch the Steelers for the division championship. They would split the final two games, losing to Pittsburgh and defeating the Seattle Seahawks to close out the regular season 11-5 and return to the playoffs for the first time in the Bill Belichick eta.
It was a great regular season for the Belichick led squad. They bounced back from a drama filled season of disappointment, to have a double digit win total season and earn a first round home playoff game. The Nick Saban defense continued to excel as they had a season for the ages. They only allowed 204 points all season, an average of 12.8 points per game. That is incredible and went well with an offense that at times, had trouble scoring. The offense finished with 340 points, an average of 21.2 points a game. It was a healthy 136 point differential.
The Nick Saban led defense only allowed a team to score more than 20 points once. They held opponents to under 10 points, 6 different times. They had 1 shutout, and twice didn’t allow a team to score a touchdown. Eric Turner had the best season with nine interceptions, leading the team by far as the next closest person only had two interceptions. Antonio Langham had a great rookie season as he played and started in all 16 games.
He had two interceptions and recorded 55 tackles, including one forced fumble. Rob Burnett led the team in sacks with 10. Free agent pick up Carl Banks played well and was worth the money spent on him. He started 15 games and had 56 tackles with 1.5 sacks. Pepper Johnson also played well at middle linebacker, leading the team with 95 tackles. It was an all around great year for the defense.
The special teams also continued to play well as Matt Stover remained clutch. He converted 26 of 32 field goal attempts, including 9 of 9 from 40 plus yards. Stover also converted 32 of 32 extra points. The extra point team itself did great, as they converted 3 of 4 two point conversions. Tom Tupa did his part in his first season with the team, punting the ball 80 times for a 40.1 yard average. Eric Metcalf once again shined on special teams as he took two punts back for touchdowns. Randy Baldwin handled most of the kickoff return duties, and he did it well as he had one touchdown and 753 yards.
Vinny Testaverde played in 14 games, started 13 of them and tossed 16 touchdowns, but also 18 interceptions. He really didn’t have that great of a season when you look at the stats alone; he only threw for 2,575 yards and only led one game winning drive.
The difference was, unlike the last couple of years, the Browns finally had a decent running game thanks to Leroy Hoard who finished with 890 yard and five touchdowns. He also caught 45 balls for 445 yards with four touchdowns. Hoard had a great year and proved how valuable he could be when given the chance to play.
The wide receiving core improved as well with the addition of rookie wide out Derrick Alexander who completed his first season with a team leading 48 catches. He earned 828 yards and scored two touchdowns, including one from 81 yards out. The emergence of Alexander was very important and crucial because their normal number one starting receiver Michael Jackson was banged up most of the season, only playing in nine games. Jackson was reduced to 21 catches for 304 and two touchdowns.
Mark Carrier also needed to step up in the absence of Jackson and he did with 29 for 452 yards five touchdowns. Brian Kinchen made the most of his starting role and caught 24 passes for 232 yards and scored one touchdown. The only down note, was Rico Smith continuing to be a draft day bust with only two catches for 61 yards on the entire season.
It was clear that their dominant defense was the main reason for winning 11 games, but it didn’t matter to the Browns fans, they were just happy to be back in the playoffs. The first round game was at home and featured a regular season rematch against Bill Parcells, Drew Bledsoe, Ben Coates and the New England Patriots. It had been an incredible two year turnaround for the Patriots under Parcells. He took them from a two win team, to finish 10 – 6 in 1994.
He also led them on a courageous seven game winning streak to close out the season and sneak into the playoffs. In fact, they hadn’t lost since week at 10 against the Browns in Cleveland. The Patriots were red hot and this matchup provided a classic rematch of student versus teacher as once again it was Bill Parcells versus Bill Bellichick.
The first half was tight as expected and ended in 10 – 10 tie. Both quarterbacks tossed a touchdown pass in the process, Testaverde connected with Mark Carrier from five yards out Bledsoe hit Thompson from 13 yards away. Both field goal kickers, Matt Bahr and Matt Stover hit field goals as well. Cleveland would break the tie in the third quarter when Leroy Hoard scored on a handoff from 10 yards away, giving the Browns a 17 – 10 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Browns were clinging to a seven point lead late in the game when Matt Stover gave them a little extra breathing room with a 21 yard field goal. Matt Bahr answered with a 33 yarder for New England but they never got any closer, despite recovering an on-side kick late in the game to get the ball back.
The game plan of the Browns worked to perfection as they kept the pressure on Bledsoe and never let him get comfortable despite a whopping 50 pass attempts. The Browns defense picked off Drew Bledsoe three times in route to the 20 – 13 victory. The Patriots were never able to establish any running game either as their top rusher Corey Croom had 36 yards on 9 carries. Like they had done all season, the Browns defense carried them to a victory.
The following week on the road in Pittsburgh, they would get one more chance to beat their hated rivals the Steelers and knock them out of the playoffs. Sadly, for the Browns and their fans, it was never close and the Steelers crushed the Browns 29 – 9. The Steelers led 24 – 3 at the half and never looked back. Vinny Testaverde was held to 144 yards and picked off twice in a lackluster effort. Barry Foster ran all over the Browns, rushing for 133 yards on only 24 carries. Pittsburgh backup running back Bam Morris rushing for 60 yards on 22 carries. Their third string running John Williams even looked good as he went for 43 yards on just 2 carries, including a 26 yard touchdown run.
It was a disappointing way for the Browns to end a great season. Pittsburgh would get knocked off the following week to the San Diego Chargers at home in the AFC Championship Game in a major upset. The Steelers lost on a very late 43-yard touchdown pass from San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries to Tony Martin. Many NFL pundits assessed that if the matchup would have been Cleveland versus San Diego, the Browns would have won and went to the Super Bowl based on the way both teams were constructed.
It was a great season with tremendous improvement for the Browns, despite not being able to get past their hated rivals in the regular season and postseason. Exactly half of their losses came against Pittsburgh. Still, they won a playoff a game and everything looked golden heading into 1995, few would have ever imagined, their next Playoff appearance wouldn’t come until 8 years later in January of 2002 and their next playoff win wouldn’t come until January of 2021, which was an insane 26 years later.
The 1995 season began with so much hype, as the Browns went out and signed All Pro Wideout Andre Rison from the Atlanta Falcons. Sports Illustrated picked them to win the Super Bowl and the red hot 3-1 start had a lot of local fans thinking the same thing. Then, on November 5th, after their 4th loss in 5 games dropped them to 4-5 on the season, Art Modell dropped the bomb that they were moving to Baltimore, and a black cloud began to set in over Cleveland.
After a rich 49-year history that saw multiple Championships, NFL Hall of Famers and millions upon millions of fans, the Browns were leaving, and it almost seemed unreal.
