1978 Browns Highlights

what we need right now and then is what I talked to you about many times through the course to the end we've backed up a little bit we just need to flush it all out we just need to flush it all out so let's just go out there today and just have fun [Applause] let it go there you go that's the way to kill the right way to go play ready to go bad let it go Rick listen we can throw all day longer we can run - we got to score a lot of points that's what we got to do okay Reggie Reggie Brown left 72 win closer [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Mike Mike Mike wait how long have you been in a week we failure you know at that place plan we're not gonna sit oh you're not gonna sit you know now you got from the peel they never cover 94 here's what I want you to think up from his flat get the ball to Ozzie on the flag he's got a new guy in there 20 to go talk to you about it but keep running Mike and a good good rhythm with Gregg hold it all day long you see the opposite he literally tackled a strong safety he tackled him for crying a lot open your eyes I can't believe that for some reason we're getting a hell of a lot of blitzes we're getting a lot of blitzes right let's just sit everybody down we're getting a lot of blisters gotta do a better job of blocking then [Applause] now we're out of field goal range be patient that's all chopped just be patient right now George screams oh let's go let's go come let's go come on let's stop them let's get interception let's go use that with your torch in camp do you think you're cold now you better go home because about December you're gonna be frozen you're anything yet the Cleveland Browns and a new coach Sam Rutigliano found football could be fired pro football is a profession where tension can be as piercing as a winter wind off flaky but amidst the stormy seas of high emotion that affects all athletes and throughout the travail of the NFL's longest season the new head coach was customarily cool and calm he kept his team on an even keel despite the fact the final roster contained the largest crop of rookies in team history talented youngsters who would experience a roller-coaster ride in their first season a season that began before the usual massive crowd in Municipal Stadium the Rutigliano era dawned on the upbeat led by the running of Greg Troy it behind the crisp blocking of number 30 Cleo Miller the brown easily defeated San Francisco Prewitt scored the season's first touchdown and in gaining over a hundred yards outdistance OJ Simpson by a large margin the opening marked the debut of the team's brilliant rookie Ozzie Newsome who completely fooled the 49ers on a tight end reverse for the winning touchdown [Music] for the rookie coach and his young team it was an impressive stock one that had the huge home crowd yelling played against and the next week against Cincinnati the Browns did just that with a rousing display of teen tackling that had 75,000 cheering fans on their feet much of a sun-drenched afternoon the offense battled back on big plays by Brian sight and that old smoothy reggie rocker number 33 it was a partnership that would be productive all season long late in the fourth quarter a perfect pass from sight and a spectacular catch by Rucker tied the game and sent it into overtime [Music] the Browns won the coin toss and now in sudden death another raw rookie paid his first dividend Larry Collins gave the hometown fans heart failure then number 23 tick-tock the overtime kickoff and burned it back 41 yards to midfield the rookie speedster has the distinction along with Tony Dorsett of being the only collegiate in NCAA history to rush for a thousand yards each of his four years with a Cobb screaming for victory Sam called on Don Kafka for the winning field goal the league's most dependable kicker came through again splitting the uprights for an exciting overtime victory the second straight win of a due season the Sam Rutigliano regime was off to a flying start [Music] the third week the Browns offense picked up the blitzing Falcons and burned its ladder through the air the result was that the Browns were three and Oh having handed Atlanta hits only home defeat all year the moment of poop human a bruising battle with archrival Pittsburgh safety Tom Darden's two fests help hold the Steelers to nine points in regulation time the Browns outplayed Pittsburgh all day but two scoring strikes were negated by penalties and the fourth quarter ended in a nine nine time on the overtime tick off a play occurred that will be remembered in Cleveland for a long time Pittsburgh's Larry Anderson tripped over a teammate got up and fumbled the ball riki feature recovered nearly a chip shot away for Don khakhra the league's most accurate place kicker but cock-crow never got his chance in a monstrous mistake the officials ruled Anderson down at his 21 one look at Anderson leaves no doubt he thought he lost the ball and the game Cleveland finally succumbed in sudden death but this defeat to the Super Bowl champions proved the Browns could play with anyone the following Sunday another controversial call this one involving the simultaneous catch rule when against the Browns it led to a tie breaking field goal in the final seconds of the game and a tough to take three-point loss to the playoff bound oils the team's fortune turned around the next week in the Superdome where newly acquired Calvin Hill and Cleo Miller beat a steady tattoo on the ground as Cleveland literally marched over the Saints for their fourth victory in six tries but the roller coaster resumed its downhill descent with losses to Pittsburgh and Kansas City against the Chiefs rookie Keith Wright took the opening kickoff 86 yards but the resultant Tiago but the only points Cleveland could manage in a disheartening defeat to the Chiefs it was the low point of the season for Sam and the Browns the first four weeks you haven't fun doing it and the reason you haven't fun doing it is because we were winning now the last four weeks Phil little adversity we had some problems we could complain about the officials and wouldn't do us a world of good we could talk about a lot of things we could point the finger at each other we could point the finger at the coaches and the coaches to do that to the players but we never did that and we don't intend to do that all I can tell you is this is what I told you when we first lined up to have a first scrimmage together against Buffalo same team that we're playing today let's do what we're capable of doing that's the nice thing of all and while we're doing it let's have a lot of fun in a poorer performance reminiscent of the great Jim Brown fullback Mike Pro it exploded for 173 yards it sparked one of the biggest offensive shows in team history 532 young Brian Sykes threw for three touchdowns won a sensational one-hander by Calvin Hill it was one of two scoring receptions for the old fro the second coming on rookie quarterback mark Miller's first touchdown pass in the NFL in this forty one point blowout of the bills the roller coaster ride appeared to reach its peak a difficult thing to to really evaluate because you know last week we weren't very prolific and this week all of a sudden I'll fullback runs 172 yards but that's I guess you know when you get the air through that you can bottle it it wasn't fun the following two games the offense mysteriously disappeared and the Browns lost to agonizingly close contest two playoff teams Houston and Denver but the next week brian site passed for over 300 yards and four touchdowns three of them DeKalb and Hill has the brown stampeded the Colts for a season-high 45 points the defense chipped in on the scoring spree with quarterback Oliver Davis's touchdown interception but amid the celebration of a landslide victory a disquieting note was sounded a defensive unit which had played well all year have been riddled through the air by bill truth a second string quarterback indeed the Colt game marked the decline of the defense and emphasized the glaring need for a quarterback hungry defense event Rutigliano compensator using a variety of blitzes in passing situation by sending linebackers and safeties flying in the face of enemy quarterback Sam gambled and often won but he well knows a blitz is a dangerous tactic one that contains many pitfalls next year with former all-pro Jerry shirt fully recovered from the surgical knees the Browns hope to put some fire into their front for veteran Earl Edwards may give way to young Mickey Sims to tackle while Mike st. Clair is projected to be a starter at end along with the pass rusher the Browns hopefully will bust from the draft one unit that needs no health is lying back in for the trio of solid veterans backed by two number-one draft picks Robert Jackson and Clay Matthews Matthews was injured early but came on strong the latter part of the schedule number 57 has the speed and ability that should see him challenged for a starting spot next year though drafted number one two years ago because of an injury number 56 Jackson played as a rookie and lived up to his nickname Stonewall the Browns bona fide star on defense is Tom Darden their all-pro free safety last year Darden led the entire NFL in interceptions with 10 breaking a 29 year old Cleveland record in the process three times the freewheelin safety kicked off a pair of passes in a single game the most dramatic development came from the special teams their improvement was a primary goal of Rutigliano 's and it paid off as the bomb squad is hustled and hit all over the field [Music] Sam increased the emphasis on this vital area bringing in new talent like second round draft choice Johnny Evans who had dual ability as a punter and quarterback but the star the special teams was keep right the rookie took advantage of his blocking wedge so well he became the premier kick returner in the American Conference right also was devastating at the other end of the field tough little keep right dazzling special team performance made him one of the most valuable players on the Browns in the seasons 13th week against LA's number one ranked defense the Browns attack ran roughshod over the raft [Music] despite the RAL fireworks the outcome was in doubt until Greg Pruitt popped into prominence for the first time in two months another and Greg breakfast gets at the 45 back inside [Applause] [Music] port with an incredible run that was pure Pruitt the monkey was off the Browns back by completely dominating a league power their status in the NFL and with their own time soared to new heights [Music] on this play right here go brown right nasty Brown right nasty slant 135 94 full bag banana hot right dive 32,000 double slide in pitch 38 double dive 22 trap flag give it flag give it read right peel 81 flat flag Brown right flag 245 under its new coach the Cleveland defensive playbook was a bag chuck full of tricks from their new open huddle to formations such as flanker floods and the full house backfield Cleveland showed an assortment of shifts between the set and snap to the ball a few seconds of camouflage designed to confuse the details this season the Browns attack was more interesting more innovative and never predictable one effective play was the tight end screen made possible due to the immense talents of rookie Ozzie Newsome with a speed of a flanker and a heart of a tight end Newsome turned the reverse from an occasional trick play to an important staple of the Browns attack Cleveland's prized rookie receiver is probably the best first round draft tech since Paul Warfield 15 years ago Ozzy has the ability to go deep then there's the hands and leaping ability that earned him the appropriate nickname The Wizard of Oz Newsom was one reason the Browns ranked third in passes Brian sight was another Brian passed for nearly 3,000 yards 21 touchdowns and pulled his arm is strong for last year the bomb was back in Cleveland along with Reggie Rucker Cleveland had Dave Logan had wide receiver with his long reach and supple hands at 6'5 Logan was like King Kong among quarterbacks it was only his first year as a starter another area of strength was the offensive line of Tom Daley old Doug Deakins berry Darrell Henry Shepherd and Bob Jackson because of their cohesive skills the Cleveland ground game ranked an impressive third in the American Conference this was the year muscular Mike Pruett finally blossomed paired with Calvin Hill the two gave the Browns a bull elephant backfield of tremendous proportions Hill came out of retirement and gave the Browns a huge emotional lift in the absence of Greg through a victim of a leg injury for almost half the season the smaller Pruett just missed his fourth straight 1,000 yard year with an amazing late season sir the exciting scatback had five 100-yard games an averaged a whopping five and a half yards every time he touched the ball his twisting turning sideline romp that beat the Rams will go down as a classic in the art of broken-field running [Music] in the home finale the Browns and jets hooked up for one of the year's most exciting spectator shows Cleveland squandered a 17 point lead and fell behind by seven late in the fourth quarter but Brian Sipe was brilliant hitting 5 of 6 passes on a desperation Drive that ended with a perfect strike to Calvin Hill with only 14 seconds showing on the stadium club from sudden disaster the game went to sudden-death with Sam springing a surprise when the Browns won the toss and received the opening kickoff back deep for the return for the first time in many years number 34 and Greg Perla kickers short hood comes up under takes it on the run in the middle as some blocking gets into the wedge he's into the open he's going all the way to midfield what a pressure run back by Greg Bruin the Browns are well into Jets territory now on two consecutive carries by Pruitt site flips to Pruitt Greg sweeps left and he breaks loose thrown into 30 the 25 the 20 15 10 and goes on the jet six yard line Greg Pruitt what a performance and the ball is now set up perfectly for Don Cochran here's the step the spot the kick gets up it is good it's all over the ground beat the Jets 37 34 their second overtime victory of the season and what a season this team has been up and down like a yo-yo all year but they saved the best for last in the home finale one of the most exciting wins in Cleveland Browns history hold up a second here congratulations to every guy you just can't go to enough spots to see how many people help in this football game but here's what the most important thing of all you know we had to climb a virtual mountain this week okay and the thing that's important is that everybody needed each other it's a favorite saying of Sam's that the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes is an approaching train but in the case of the Cleveland Browns with their firm bedrock of young talent the team prefers to think the beam lights the path to a brighter future [Music] you

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Id: _R6a1ozGCWk

Length: 23min 10sec (1390 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 09 2017