1973 Steelers at Browns Game 11

Cleveland Browns head coach Knicks courage was quoted as saying we have to go to the river they have to come to the lake despite appearances the lake he referred to Lake Erie was outside not inside Cleveland's Municipal Stadium last Sunday scorch was simply underscoring the fact that in this fierce rivalry called the turnpike tournament the home team usually wins despite the rabid support of Steeler fans that drive the 90 miles that separates the two cities Pittsburgh has not won in Cleveland since 1964 eight games ago conversely the Browns have lost four straight at the river Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium [Music] as is their tradition the Browns are making their typical late run for the playoffs this year Cleveland's consistency in winning year after year is one of the more remarkable achievements in sport considering the feast or famine histories of most NFL franchises what is unusual is that the Browns are relying not on their offense but on a vastly improved defensive squad ranked number one in their conference most of the year the heart of the unit is the fine pair of tackles number 71 Walter Johnson and number 72 Jerry shirt [Music] the biggest reason for improvement is the acquisition of hometown hero Bob Babbage at middle linebacker he cost Cleveland the number one choice in next year's draft then to Joe Jones is back in the lineup at defensive end after missing the entire season last year with a knee injury turkeys always been a terror on the pass rush but this season has excelled at playing the run also the Cleveland Defense's finest moment came only last week when they shut out the explosive Oakland Raiders until the final minute of play when a field goal was kicked against him so Cleveland went into this game with the momentum of their big win over the Raiders Pittsburgh on the other hand was upset for the Denver Broncos the week before still the Steelers hold a one-on-one half game lead over the second place Browns who have the league's toughest schedule ahead of them all of them road games [Music] so the scene is set for a battle between two very tough defensive football teams in one of football's bitterest rivalries the Cleveland Browns versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL game of the week [Music] pittsburg had first possession and starting quarterback Terry Hanratty first pass was a big one it was perfectly thrown between three Cleveland defenders to John McMakin the second year tight end Hanratty first pass turned out to be the last pass of the day for him watch his right wrist as he tried to break his fall after being hit by Jerry shirt [Music] Monday morning x-rays would disclose no fracture merely a severe sprain of the wrist nevertheless Hanratty the number two quarterback like Terry Bradshaw the number one passer was out of the game [Music] enter quarterback number three Joe Gilliam on his first pass it was as pretty and successful as Hanratty had been Ron Shanklin was the receiver in two tries Pittsburgh had burned the Cleveland secondary twice from the Cleveland 13 Joe Willie Gilley as he calls himself with plenty of time to throw speared Ron Shanklin in front of Clarence Scott in the end zone and Pittsburgh had a touchdown Shanklin had two big catches on Scott Cleveland's best defender in Pittsburgh third string quarterback Joe Gilliam had put them in the lead seven nothing [Music] now it was the Browns turn to get the ball and their offensive debut was auspicious to say the least [Music] scatback Billy Lefever had bobbled the ball to the 22 but Cleveland got no further against the Steel Curtain of Pittsburgh's defense Tom Keating starting today in place of Ernie Holmes led the assault on Leroy Kelly and Pittsburgh soon had the ball again on third down despite a ferocious rush by Jerry shirt Joe Gilliam unloaded a perfect pass to Frank Lewis who had beaten Ben Davis Louis's hands beat him and Pittsburgh hunted this time Cleveland's offense clicked Mike Phipps rocketed a pass to Kenny Brown who had beaten jack ham on a circle route and Brown was off and running [Music] three plays later tips found daylight on the right flank and gained a first down on the Steeler three [Music] from the end zone watch Center Bob DeMarco and guard Jean Hickerson moved their men just enough for Fitz to sneak in behind them with a touchdown that even the game at 7:00 [Music] perdy in the second quarter an exchange of punts had given cleveland good field position and fullback both Scott improved it on two successive runs in this quarter Cleveland was employing its number two backfield with Scott and Greg Pruitt replacing Kelly and Brown this depth in the backfield is something new for Cleveland although season-long injuries to both Scott have thwarted an ex Courreges plan for alternating starting back fields from the 15 Mike Phipps fake to Scott and had Greg Pruitt alone in the end zone for Cleveland's second touchdown of the day this is another dimension the diminutive Pruett brings to the Cleveland attack his speed and extraordinary moves are well-documented but Pruett has excellent receiving ability as well as being a devastating blocker for such a small man Cleveland has broken the rookie and slowly but as the second half of the season progressed through its role has increased in importance a repeat of the score in slow motion shows the fake to Scott took number 53 middle linebacker Henry Davis out of the play while the Browns line cleared out all Steelers in the area the result was Mike Phipps had plenty of time to let Pruitt out race his defender all-pro linebacker Andy Russell number 34 the perfect pass found through it two steps in front of his man once again the little scatback showed the fans that Truett could do it and the Browns were out in front of the Steelers 14 to 7 now with their backs to the wall thus tutors Joe Gilliam came out throwing but Turkey Jones came in fast to drop in for 13 yard loss [Music] but on third and 23 Gillian pulled off another big-play reserved tight end Larry Brown number 87 took the past 45 yards to the Browns 23 [Music] they repeat shows the play from the vantage point of number 29 the strong safety Walt Sumner playing the zone Sumner had dropped deep and could not recover in time to stop Brown from infiltrating the empty seam in the zone coverage between cornerback Ben Davis number 28 and himself but here's Sumner usually a sure tackler missed completely and Brown was on his way toward pay dirt only a great effort by Bob Babbitt saved the touchdown [Music] several plays later number 80 Joe Jones jumped offsides and ruined Sumner's chance for redemption when he intercepted Gilliam's toss [Music] the Browns defense did however force the Steelers to go for three points instead of six which they got from Roger Allen despite the poor footing the score at the half was Cleveland 14 Pittsburgh 10 [Music] leading 14 to 10 Phipps began the second half by throwing and very nearly got stunned John rousers near-miss began a half of almost total frustration for Pittsburgh the Steeler second half gameplan was much more basic as Gilliam handed off six straight times to Preston Pearson on his set of six straight Pearson gained 59 yards with the big one a 31-yard carry after Gilliam's diving handoff which carried to the cleveland 14 yard line [Music] the Pittsburgh offensive line was opening huge holes in the Cleveland defense and on Pearson's last carry of the drive he gained six more yards to bring up a second and four from the eight yard line but this was to be the start of the Steelers offensive frustrations they could not get the first down Gilliam tried Franco Harris twice and on a third and two Nick Roman and Bob Babbage dropped him for a loss the Steelers would have to settle for Roy joella's three pointer to trail 1413 but three points was better than nothing as the Steelers would soon find out the Steeler defense seemingly never tires of setting up the offense in Super field position and Mike Wagner's interception did just that on the Cleveland 33 but the Steelers second drive of the half would end even more dismal e than their first after a pass for first down Pierson pierced for eight yards to bring a second and two on the Browns 10-yard line - plays gained with one yard head on fourth and one Gilliam again wanted Harris for the second time in the second half Pittsburgh had been inside the Cleveland 10 they had gotten three points on their first drive on their second they were shut out but they had not yet reached the full height of their frustration for the third time in the half the Steelers defense stopped the Cleveland attack nearly trapping Fitz for safety and forcing a punt from deep in Cleveland territory after a short punt the Steelers started their third possession of the half on the Cleveland 32 but this drive would yield -2 yards as number 50 John Garlington held his ground and trapped Harris for a loss to make matters worse Durrell then missed a 41-yard field goal and the Steelers had used up three excellent scoring opportunities and still trailed by a point going into the fourth quarter at the start of the fourth quarter the Browns made their first significant gain when Phipps hit Detroit Kelly swinging out of the backfield for 36 yard gain Phipps - Kelly moved the Browns into Studer territory for the first time in the half but then they added a third man to their act Elsie Greenwood pressured Phipps into a high toss that became Phipps - Kelly to James Thomas and the Steeler rookie carried to the pittsburgh 40 for the Steelers again had great field position but after moving to the Cleveland 39 Gilliam through to a double covered Ron Shanklin with the predictable results [Music] Clarence Scott's interception ended Pittsburgh's fourth scoring threat as the Browns put on a textbook display of the bend but don't break theory of Defense somehow the offensive frustrations of the Steelers did not take the life out of the defense three plays after Scott's interception Greenwood again pressured Phipps this time got a piece of his arm and forced another interception this time by John rousers [Music] browser returned the theft of the Cleveland 21 the Steeler defense had now given the ball to the offense on the Pittsburgh 44 and the Cleveland 33 32 and 21 yard lines [Music] with such great field position it was only a matter of time before the Steeler offense capitalized but not in the way they would have liked they reached a third in one situation on the Cleveland 12 but when Gilliam again tried Harris middle linebacker Bob Babbage number 60 plugged the hole and Harris was again stopped short of the first down [Music] middle linebacker has long been a sore spot in the Cleveland defense but when they obtained babitch this season for a number-one draft pick next season the sore spot was healed Babich has become the band-aid that gives the cleveland rubberband defense its snap though they had held the Steelers without the touchdown they could do nothing about Roy Joe Ellis field goal and though playing magnificently the Browns trailed 1614 with eight minutes to go [Music] the Steeler defenders weren't playing badly themselves and their lead seemed safe especially after Frank Pitts dropped what might have been a touchdown if the Steelers could now hold on to the ball their inability to score wouldn't matter they had been able to move outside of scoring range and if they could do it again they could use up much of the remaining time but when faced with a 3rd and 7 Gilliam tried to pass he could find no one open and rather than take his loss Gilliam hung tough in the pocket for too long John Garlington recovered Gilliam's fumble and a repeat reveals that a super effort by Turkey Jo Jones created the break Jones number 80 hurdle Gordon Gribble to get his shot at Gilliam but Gilliam stepped up in the pocket and though this forced Jones to overrun him Turkey Joe was still able to get stopped get back in the play forcing the fumble as Gilliam tried to pass guarding tenacity outracing both ray Mansfield and John Kolb for the ball the browns recovery came with four minutes to play there was enough time certainly but the Browns offense had been held to just 78 yards thus far in the half 36 of that on one play but then they got 43 yards on one of the most remarkable plays of this or any season you [Music] no fewer than nine Steelers missed opportunities to make a tackle on the play only the super slow camera can accurately describe what happened number 74 Tom Keating nearly ended the play before it got started miss tackle number one Elsie Greenwood Joe green and white white collided in their efforts to get the FIPS miss tackles 2 through 4 with the linemen now out of the way safety Glenn Edwards number 27 came flying through missed tackle number 5 but keep Edwards in mind we'll get back to him later [Music] Phipps Espace came to rest in Gregg Pruitt's hands and the fun continued mystical number six was James Thomas John rouser and Mike Wagner took their shots and were victims number seven and eight [Music] Kru it made Mel Blount the ninth victim but his trip ended when Glenn Edwards remember him returned 50 yards downfield and finally ended the play the play gained 43 yards and though Pruitt should have been winded he stayed in the game and on the very next play went 19 yards for the touchdown to put Cleveland ahead 21 16 [Music] [Music] on two successive plays Greg Pruitt had been the big man and was justifying the additional playing time he was receiving on a repeat we can see how Pruitt got such a flying start the Steelers were in a blitz and when Andy Russell number 34 was cut down his area was wide open all that was left was for Gene Hickerson number 66 to kick out the corner and when he did threw it was winging it was spitting that Hickerson would throw the big block for the 16-year veteran from Ole Miss was playing before the hometown crowd in his last regular season game his block enabled through at the score with just 75 seconds left but the game was far from over [Music] or once the Steelers did not have good field position but perhaps bad field position was what they had needed all along first Gilliam found Ron Shanklin 434 yards to the Cleveland 47 and with his next pass he hit Frank Lewis for 19 more to the 28 yard line [Music] for his third consecutive completion Gillian went back to Shanklin and his leaping grab dropped the ball to the Cleveland 15 [Music] three consecutive passes three consecutive completions three consecutive first downs with 29 seconds left the steelers had reached the 15 and Gilliam then went with his fourth pass of the drive Frank Lewis had broken by his man but Gilliam's pass was inches too long [Music] three more passes followed but none was even close and Lewis lay in the end zone symbolizing the frustration that the entire Stuart eehm was feeling as the inability to score when presented the opportunities led to Pittsburgh's downfall a 2116 loss to the Browns when it was over Cleveland players and fans mobbed their tiny hero Greg Pruitt his touchdown was a margin of victory for Cleveland a victory that brought the Browns to within just a half game of the Steelers in the AFC Central Division in two weeks the Browns have made up two full games on the Steelers whose once fat cushion is now an uncomfortable thrown at best a half game lead with three games to play the AFC Central Division has a pennant race once again [Music]

Channel: Comrade Dobler

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Id: 5-7K2pgHXwU

Length: 21min 22sec (1282 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 29 2016