| Cleveland Browns |
Article Index for Cleveland |
Articles about Cleveland Browns |
Website Links For Cleveland Browns |
Information AboutCleveland Browns |
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American Football team based in Cleveland, Ohio . They are currently members of the Northern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Browns began play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC folded. The team won all four AAFC titles and had one undefeated season (1948 - 15-0), as well as four NFL Championships. HISTORY 1946-1949: The AAFC years The Cleveland Browns were founded in 1945 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference , under businessman Arthur B "Mickey" McBride . Not long after gaining the franchise, McBride named Ohio State Buckeyes coach Paul Brown as vice president, general manager and head coach. A fan contest was conducted to determine the name of the team, with the most popular choice being "Panthers." However, Brown objected to the name after finding out it had been used by a semipro team in the city--one that had a reputation as a chronic loser. This prompted a second contest to choose a name befitting a champion.1 The Browns say this contest yielded the nickname "Brown Bombers"--after reigning heavyweight champion Joe Louis --and was shortened to "Browns" for the convenience of headline writers. However, to this day, rumors persist that the team was named after Paul Brown himself. Brown parlayed his ties to the Buckeyes and the Navy (where he'd coached a base football team during World War II ) into the most extensive recruitment network that had ever been seen at the time in pro football. He used it to assemble a team that, in terms of talent, would have been more than a match for any NFL team--including Quarterback Otto Graham , Kicker / Offensive Tackle Lou Groza , Wide Receiver Mac Speedie , Fullback Marion Motley and Nose Guard Bill Willis . Interestingly for a team that claims to have been named for an African-American boxer, Motley and Willis were the first African-Americans to play in a pro football game in 13 years. The Browns dominated the AAFC, winning all four of its championships including the 1948 season in which they became the first unbeaten and untied team in professional football history- 24 years before the NFL's 'first' perfect team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins . Cleveland's undefeated streak (including ties) reached 29 games including 18 straight wins. During the AAFC's four-year run, the Browns lost only four games. The Browns issued occasional challenges to NFL teams, only to be turned down almost out of hand each time. Thanks in large part to McBride's promotional efforts, the Cleveland area showed terrific support for the Browns from the moment they were created. The team saw a record setting average attendance of 57,000 a game in its first season. Neft, David S., Cohen, Richard M., and Korch, Rick. ''The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the Present.'' 1994 pg. 194 The Browns unexpectedly had Cleveland to themselves; the NFL's Cleveland Rams , who had continually lost money while in Cleveland despite winning the 1945 NFL championship, moved to the booming area of Los Angeles after the 1945 Season (the team is now located in St. Louis ). 1950-56: NFL The AAFC dissolved after the 1949 season, due largely to the Browns' near-absolute domination of the league. Jim Crowley , the AAFC's first commissioner, later said that if the AAFC had held a draft rather than simply encourage its teams to sign as many top players as possible, the league may well have survived. When the NFL agreed to take in three of the AAFC's teams for the 1950 Season , it was a foregone conclusion that the Browns would be included. The Browns' first NFL game was against the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Eagles . The overwhelming consensus at the time was that the Eagles would blow the Browns off the field; there were still many who thought the Browns were merely the dominant team in a minor league. However, the Browns were determined to prove they belonged. They shredded the Eagles' vaunted defense for 487 yards of total offense en route to a 35-10 blowout. Behind a potent offense that included future Hall Of Famers Graham, Motley and Dante Lavelli , the Browns picked up right where they left off in the AAFC. After going 10-2 in the regular season, the Browns defeated the New York Giants 8-3 in a playoff game and then beat Cleveland's previous NFL tenants, the Rams (who were now in Los Angeles), 30-28, in the NFL Championship game. Since the NFL does not recognize the AAFC's records, this technically makes the Browns the most successful expansion team in league history. However, the 1950 Browns were not an expansion team in any sense of the term. During the next season, the Browns went 11-1, facing the Rams in a rematch of the previous year's title game. A 73-yard touchdown pass by Norm Van Brocklin to Tom Fears in the fourth quarter put Los Angeles in the lead for good. The 24-17 loss was the Browns' first in a championship game. Cleveland also advanced to the 1952 NFL championship game, finishing 8-4 to face the Detroit Lions . A muffed punt, several defensive stands, and a 67-yard touchdown run by Doak Walker combined to help the Lions win 17-7, frustrating the Browns for the second consecutive year. On the upside, Ray Renfro became a star with 722 yards receiving and 322 yards rushing. The Browns then started the 1953 season winning 11 straight games, but finished with a loss to the Eagles in the final week, and then lost the 1953 Championship game in a rematch with the Lions. The game was, however, closer than the year before. With the score tied at 10 going into the final quarter, Lou Groza kicked two field goals to put Cleveland up 16-10. But Detroit's Bobby Layne threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jim Doran with under two minutes left and the Lions won 17-16. In 1954, the Browns finished 9-3 and met up with Detroit in the championship for a third consecutive year. This time, however, the Browns were relentless on both sides of the ball, intercepting Bobby Layne six times and forcing three fumbles. Otto Graham threw three touchdowns and ran for three more, en route to a 56-10 thrashing and the Browns' second NFL crown. The Browns kept rolling along in 1955. Chuck Noll had a productive season at linebacker with five interceptions, Graham passed for 15 touchdowns and ran for six more, and the team, who finished 9-2-1, won their third NFL Championship game in six seasons 38-14, against the Los Angeles Rams. In 10 years of existence, the Browns reached the title game every year (four in the AAFC, six in the NFL) and won seven of them. Graham retired before the 1956 season due to injuries, and the Browns floundered without him behind center. Three quarterbacks ( George Ratterman , Babe Parilli , and Tommy O'Connell ) were used, none of them throwing more touchdowns than interceptions. The team's 5-7 record was the team's first losing season ever. 1957-70: The Jim Brown/Blanton Collier years The Browns responded in 1957 when they drafted fullback Jim Brown out of Syracuse University , who easily became the NFL's leading rusher (and NFL Rookie Of The Year ) with 942 yards in a 12-game regular season. Once again at the top of the division at 9-2-1, they advanced back to the championship game against Detroit. But the Lions dominated from start to finish, causing six turnovers and allowing the Browns' two quarterbacks (Tommy O'Connell and Milt Plum ) only 95 yards passing in a 59-14 rout. In 1958 Jim Brown ran for 1527 yards, almost twice as much as any other running back. In his nine seasons in the league, he crossed the 1000-yard barrier seven times. The only snag in their getting back to another championship was the New York Giants. They lost to New York on the last week of the season after a spirited fourth-quarter comeback, then, due to their equal 9-3 records, faced the Giants again in a tiebreaker game with the winner going to the finals. However, the Giants limited Jim Brown to eight yards and the team committed four turnovers as they were shut out 10-0. In 1959 the Browns started 6-2 but finished 7-5, out of championship contention, despite Brown once again leading the league in rushing with 1329 yards. In 1960, Plum threw for 21 touchdowns and Brown's 1257 yards was still best in the NFL, but the team still finished second at 8-3-1. Art Modell purchased the team from David Jones (who had bought the team from McBride in 1953) in 1961. The beginnings of a power struggle between Paul Brown and Art Modell took its toll. Journalist D.L. Stewart recounted in Jeff Miller's book on the AFL, ''Going Long'', "As you well can imagine, Jimmy Brown and Paul were not thick. The buzz was that Jimmy had Modell working for him, and Paul took exception to that."2 The season otherwise was typical: a fifth consecutive league-leading season from Jim Brown and a half-decent performance in the standings, but again, at 8-5-1, they were two games out of a berth in the championship. After a 7-6-1 record in 1962, Modell fired Brown and replaced him with longtime assistant Blanton Collier . Many of the Browns' younger players--such as Jim Brown and Frank Ryan had chafed under Brown's autocratic coaching style. Collier rode his team with a considerably looser rein. He also installed a much more open offense and allowed Ryan to call his own plays. In his first season, the Browns went 10-4 and finished a game out of the conference title. In 1964, the Browns went 10-3-1 and reached their first title game in 10 years, led by Jim Brown's record 1,863 yards rushing. The Browns throttled the heavily favored and 1969 , after Jim Brown retired. After the 1970 Season , Collier retired due to increasing deafness; that same year the Browns finished 7-7 and was replaced by Offensive Coordinator Nick Skorich . The Collier era is still fondly remembered by Browns fans as a golden age rivaling that of Paul Brown's great teams. 1974-84: The Kardiac Kids Skorich led the Browns to a division title in 1971 and a wild-card berth in 1972 . In the latter year, the Browns nearly defeated the Dolphins in the second round--the closest the Dolphins would come to losing a game that season. They barely missed the playoffs in 1973 . However, the Browns' era of success came to a crashing halt as the team dropped to 4-10 in 1974. Neither Mike Phipps nor rookie QB Brian Sipe was effective; they threw 24 combined interceptions to only 10 touchdowns. The Browns allowed 344 points, most in the league. It was only the second losing season in franchise history, and it cost Skorich his job. Assistant coach Forrest Gregg took over in 1975 , but the Browns stumbled out of the gate with an 0-9 start that finally came to an end on November 23 in a 35-23 comeback victory over the Cincinnati Bengals . Three weeks later, third-year running back Greg Pruitt paced the team with 214 yards rushing in a rout over the Kansas City Chiefs , helping the team finish the season 3-11. Cleveland showed marked improvement with a 9-5 mark in 1976 as Brian Sipe firmly took control at quarterback. Sipe had been inserted into the lineup after a Phipps injury in the season-opening win against the New York Jets on September 12. After a 1-3 start brought visions of another disastrous year, the Browns jolted the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers with an 18-16 victory on October 10. Third-string quarterback Dave Mays helped lead the team to that victory, while defensive end Joe "Turkey" Jones 's pile-driving sack of quarterback Terry Bradshaw fueled the heated Rivalry between the two teams. That win was the first of eight in the next nine weeks, helping put the Browns in contention for the AFC playoffs. A loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season finale cost them a share of the division title, but running back Greg Pruitt continued his outstanding play by rushing for exactly 1,000 yards, his second-straight four-digit season. The Browns continued to roll in the first half of the 1977 NFL Season , but an injury to Brian Sipe by Pittsburgh 's Jack Lambert on November 13 proved to be disastrous. Cleveland won only one of their last five games to finish at 6-8, a collapse that led to Forrest Gregg's dismissal before the final game of the season. Dick Modzelewski served as interim coach in the team's 20-19 loss to the Seattle Seahawks . On December 27 , 1977 , Sam Rutigliano was named head coach, and he aided a healthy Sipe in throwing 21 touchdowns and garnering 2,900 yards during the 1978 NFL Season . Greg Pruitt and Mike Pruitt led a rushing attack that gained almost 2,500 yards, but problems with the team's dismal pass defense resulted in the Browns finishing 8-8 on the year. The 1979 Campaign started with four consecutive wins, three of which were in the final minute or overtime. Four more games were won by less than a touchdown. This penchant for playing close games would later earn them the nickname " Kardiac Kids ". Sipe threw 28 touchdown passes, tying him with Steve Grogan of New England for most in the league, but his 26 interceptions were the worst in the league. Mike Pruitt had a Pro Bowl season with his 1294 rushing yards, while the defense was still shaky, ranking near the bottom in rushing defense. The team finished 9-7, behind division rivals Houston and Pittsburgh in a tough AFC Central. The 1980 season is still fondly remembered by Browns fans. After going 3-3 in the first six games, the Browns won three straight games with fourth-quarter comebacks, and stopped a late comeback by the , Tom DeLeone and Joe DeLamielleure . The "Kardiac Kids" name stuck. A fourth-quarter field goal by Don Cockroft in the final game against the Cincinnati Bengals helped the Browns capture the division with an 11-5 mark, with the Oakland Raiders their opponent in the team's first playoff game in eight years. However, a heartbreaking end of this dramatic season came in the closing seconds when Sipe called what became known as " Red Right 88 " and passed toward the end zone, only to watch Oakland's Mike Davis intercept the ball. The Raiders went on to win the Super Bowl , and "Red Right 88" has numbered among the list of Cleveland Sports Curses ever since. If 1980 was a dream season, then 1981 was a nightmare. Sipe threw only 17 touchdowns while being picked off 25 times. The Browns went 5-11, and few of their games were particularly close. Tight end Ozzie Newsome , their only Pro Bowl er, had 1,004 yards receiving for six touchdowns. In 1982 Sipe split quarterbacking duties with Paul McDonald , and both put up similar numbers. The Browns had little success rushing or defending against it, finishing in the bottom five teams in both yardage categories. Despite going 4-5, Cleveland was able to make the playoffs due to an expanded playoff system in the strike-shortened year. They were matched up with the Raiders in the playoffs, but were easily defeated 27-10. Sipe and the Browns got some of their spark back in 1983 . Sipe had 26 touchdown passes and 3566 yards, while Mike Pruitt ran for 10 scores on 1,184 yards. Cleveland even won two games in overtime and another in the fourth quarter. A fourth-quarter loss to the Houston Oilers in their second-to-last game dashed their playoff hopes. At 9-7 the Browns finished one game behind the Steelers, and lost out on a wild-card spot due to a tiebreaker. 1984 was a rebuilding year. Brian Sipe defected to the upstart USFL after the 1983 season, and Paul McDonald was named the starting quarterback. Mike Pruitt missed much of the season and later ended up on the Buffalo Bills . Coach Sam Rutigliano lost his job after a 1-7 start as Marty Schottenheimer took over. The Browns coasted to a 5-11 record. 1985-90: The Bernie Kosar years In 1985 , the Browns selected University Of Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar in the Supplemental Draft. As a rookie, Kosar learned through trial by fire as he took over for Gary Danielson midway through the 1985 season. Progressing a bit more each Sunday, the young quarterback helped turn the struggling season around, as the Browns won four of the six games Kosar started. Two young rushers, Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack , played a large part in the team's success as well; each ran for 1000+ yards. The Browns' 8-8 record gave the team the top spot in a weak AFC Central, and they looked poised to shock the heavily favored Miami Dolphins in the 1986 Divisional Playoff game with a 21-3 lead at halftime. It took Dan Marino 's spirited second-half comeback to win the game for Miami 24-21. While the Browns faithful may have felt the initial sting of disappointment, there was tremendous upside in the loss: Schottenheimer's team, with Kosar at quarterback, reached the playoffs each of the next five seasons, advancing to the AFC Championship game in three of those years. The Browns broke into the ranks of the NFL's elite -- particularly on defense -- with a 12-4 showing in 1986 . Behind Kosar's 3,854 yards passing and a defense with five Pro Bowlers ( Chip Banks , Hanford Dixon , Bob Golic , Clay Matthews and Frank Minnifield ), the Browns dominated the AFC Central with the best record in the AFC, and one of the NFL's stingiest defenses. With these on their side, the Browns clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. In the 1987 Divisional Playoff game, the Browns needed some serious heroics (and a bit of luck) to overcome the New York Jets. The Jets were leading 20-10 with less than four minutes to play, with the Browns in a dire 3rd and 24 situation. As fate would have it, Mark Gastineau was called for roughing the passer, which gave Cleveland a first down. The drive ended with Kevin Mack running into the end zone for a touchdown. After going Three-and-out the Jets went back on defense, but allowed the rejuvenated Browns to again drive the ball deep into their end of the field. With 11 seconds remaining in regulation, Mark Moseley kicked a field goal to tie the game. In the first of two ensuing overtime periods, Moseley missed his next attempt, but later redeemed himself by ending what had become the second longest game in NFL history. Final score Browns 23, Jets 20. The 1986 AFC Championship game saw the "). With 37 seconds on the clock, Elway's 5-yard touchdown pass to Mark Jackson tied the game at 20 apiece. The 79,973 Browns fans in attendance were silenced when Rich Karlis ' field goal attempt just made it inside the right-side upright to win the game for Denver early into overtime. The Browns success was replicated in . The Broncos recovered what became known as " The Fumble ". After taking a safety, the Broncos shocked the Browns again, 38-33. Injuries to Kosar and two of his backups sidelined them for much of the 1988 season, but the Browns still finished 10-6. A final-week comeback victory in a snowstorm at Cleveland Stadium over the Houston Oilers clinched them a wild-card playoff spot, and a home game rematch against the Oilers in the first round. After Mike Pagel , in for Kosar, threw a touchdown pass to Webster Slaughter late in the fourth quarter to pull the Browns within a point at 24-23, the Browns had three chances to recover an Onside Kick (due to penalties), but the Oilers recovered and stopped the Cleveland comeback. Schottenheimer left the Browns by mutual agreement with Modell shortly after the loss to the Oilers. Modell was tired of losing in the playoffs, and Schottenheimer was tired of what he perceived as Modell's interference with his coaching personnel and game strategy. Schottenheimer was quickly hired by the Kansas City Chiefs for the 1989 season. Bud Carson was his replacement in Cleveland, but his tenure was short - only one and a half years. The 1989 season, headlined by Slaughter's Pro Bowl-worthy 1236 yards receiving, was a success at 7-3 until a 10-10 tie with Schottenheimer's Chiefs in November led to a 3-game losing streak. Two comeback wins over the Minnesota Vikings and Houston Oilers in the season's final two weeks kept them in the playoff race. The tie ended up being the Browns' saving grace, with their 9-6-1 record winning them the AFC Central title and first-round bye over the Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers at 9-7. The Browns narrowly survived a scare from the Buffalo Bills in their divisional playoff game, when Scott Norwood missed an extra point that would have pulled Buffalo within 3 points and, later, when Jim Kelly 's desperation pass to the End Zone on the final play of the game was intercepted. Cleveland's 34-30 win set them up for a rematch with the Broncos in Denver for the AFC Championship. While their two previous matchups went down to the wire, this one was never in doubt. The Broncos led from start to finish, and a long Elway touchdown pass to Sammy Winder put the game away in the fourth quarter. Denver easily won 37-21. In 1990 things began to unravel. Kosar threw more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (10) for the first time in his career; and the team finished last in the league in rushing offense, and near the bottom in rushing defense. Carson was fired after a 2-7 start, and the team finished 3-13, second-worst in the league. After the season Bill Belichick , defensive coordinator of the then-Super Bowl champion New York Giants, was named head coach. 1991-95: Bill Belichick and Modell's move |
|
|