1989 Week 1 - Cleveland at Pittsburgh

sellout crowd nearly 60 000 at three rivers stadium in pittsburgh on a hot muggy afternoon as these two great old rivals the steelers and browns get together chuck noll who was born in cleveland back for his 21st year as steeler head coach nearly lost his job a year ago after winning only five games and bud carson who was born near pittsburgh in his first season as head coach of the cleveland browns this is the 79th team time these two teams have met and the browns have won the last six in a row gary anderson is set to kick off with his theaters and the grounds who won the toss will receive with all of that standing down near the goal line there's anderson with the kick all of that midway through the end zone will down a thing so the browns will begin at their own 20-yard line let's take a look at the starting base offensive lineup for the browns on the offensive line two-time pro bowl tackle cody ryzen battling a knee injury he didn't practice all this week the grounds begin with this lineup in the backfield kozar the sixth acting passer in the nfl newsom the top receiving tight end in nfl history back for his final season when the browns go to four wide receivers newsome and jones go out brennan and mcneal come in first down [Music] yards for webster slaughter he's driven back to about the 24 yard line by dwayne woodruff here's the pittsburgh defense now the base 3-4 defensive lineup willis is back after missing all of 1988 little among linebackers the top tackler last year in the secondary woodson developing into a top player rookie carnell lake from ucla gets his start in his first pro game passing situations the seaters go to their dime defense and will give them six defensive backs second and six eric metcalf into the game [Applause] [Music] [Applause] lake the rookie being picked on by bernie kosar and it was eric metcalf in his first play as a pro joe making an excellent catch excellent catch a good pass by kozar because he was under good pressure that time from keith willis and greg lloyd kozar never ceases to amaze me the man knows where to go with the ball and he is accurate as you can find [Music] i'm happy to join stadium opening game of the season metcalf again of about three before carnell the second round draft choice for the theaters out of ucla where he was an all-american linebacker makes the stop now i like what cleveland's doing they're putting metcalf out wide and forcing cornell lake the former linebacker at ucla now the strong safety to get out there on a quicker faster man in single coverage you'll see cleveland come back to that set we were asking kosar yesterday if you would try to pick on the rookie in the secondary he says well why wouldn't you pick on a former linebacker he knew all the details about late jones and manoa now behind kozar on second and seven and this one complete again on the sideline webster slaughter just beyond the 40-yard line and short of the first down doing woodruff defending for the steelers i want you to watch kozar on this replay if we have it he looks to his left first and sees that the receiver or the defense has it covered now he'll come back to this side and throw the quick out that's a very difficult thing to do going from left to right and hitting an eight yard out third down coming up for the cleveland browns this is the opening drive of the football game third and two [Music] yards in motion manoa driven back at the 40-yard line hardy nickerson and carnell lake the rookie meeting manoa at the hole and driving him back for a loss on the play well that's what the steelers want to do when it gets down to tough yardage they want to dominate that line of scrimmage and nickerson did just that getting some help from cornell lake sure they gave up the quick outs to the right side but here it is fourth down so it's a job well done by that steeler defense fourth down for the cleveland browns brian wagner is on to punt second in the nfl averaging 41.5 yards a year ago and woodson is deep for the steelers and there's the punt by wagner woodson takes it on the fly trying to spin away he can't he's at about the 32-yard line spun down there by stephen braggs after a 34-yard punt by brian wagner so the steelers hold on their first defensive possession now they get the offensive unit onto the field well i'm excited to see bobby brister play he makes things happen he's matured quite a bit as a quarterback the offensive coordinator tom moore told me that during the last six-game stretch last season bobby became a big-time qb there you see the starting line ricketts and rookie will watch him and wrister the quarterback that's his lineup in the backfield and quickly worley the rookie and now georgia the all-american first straight ahead for a steeler first down 12 yards as thane gash who came in there on the strong safety spot makes the tackle on tim worley after his first pro carry here's the cleveland defense now the base is a 4-3 under bud carson the defensive lineman lovett and they become the dominant unit on this cleveland defense in the secondary minifield remains one of the best corners in the game pro bowler hanford dixon moved to free safety but he couldn't go back to the corner if blaylock gets in trouble there merrell hodge as a fight breaks out as you see white stone battling uh against hanford dixon and the game's only four or five minutes old and already a fight's broken down and brister says get back in the huddle that's that leadership role we heard the coaches talk about on brister's park yes it is he's become more confident he knows the offense we have a cleveland browns down right now i didn't get his number tom did you no not yet well bristol is certainly more confident he's making things happen these days and we've got a timeout we'll be back to three rivers in just a moment [Applause] and for dixon on the field and joe at his customary cornerback spot not the free safety where they experimented with him in the preseason well they didn't think he could keep up with the wide receivers uh in his eighth year so ninth year i guess and he came on in training camp he improved his quickness they have the four best defensive backs on the field they have thane gash back there at the free safety position number 30. so what they've done is put their four best players that they're confident with on the field and blaylock had been burned in the preseason two or three times brister hands it to hodge and hodge fights his way forward into cleveland territory to about the 48-yard line before robert banks can make the stop before that time out carl big daddy hairston was shaken up and had to go out of the cleveland grounds defensive lineup replaced by marlon jones in his second year out of central state of ohio well you lose a lot of experience when big daddy goes out of the game he's a wily veteran and he also has the quickness deal to get to that passer there's hairston number 78 on the sideline rodney carter into the game along with jason johnson for the steelers on third and two and here's the shotgun for the first time under chuck noll brister pass knocked away incomplete a flag down intended for lips there's a penalty marker down as minute field and right converged on lewis lips [Applause] it'll be interference against the browns johnny greer is the referee for today's game as bud carson sees a pass interference penalty put the steelers down in the browns territory well the steelers not showing much respect for frank minifield the all-pro cornerback i was surprised that they would go in his direction as quickly as they did because he is their best cornerback he looked like he had good coverage but he bumped the wide receiver too early there's minifield the all-pro rodney carter in the backfield stone was wide to the left first down at the cleveland 40. carter in motion mr thompson then is taken down at midfield robert banks got through to sac brister for the first cleveland sack of the game these two teams played in the pre-season and the steelers won the game but while the first units were in there the brown defensive line played havoc with the steelers well here you have robert banks an unrestricted free agent on the left side of your screen number 97 will come into view right there on the left he kind of crawls back there and gets a hold of bobby's leg right here good effort by robert banks he came from the houston oilers and uh he's changed from his line back in days at notre dame to a darn good defensive end hairston now back in the cleveland defense at second and 19 rookie worley gets across the 50 to the 49-yard line before banks makes the tackle on the running play there's banks one of the eight plan b free agents that made this browns team they've found a way over the years the cleveland browns have joe to rebuild their team by uh sometimes unorthodox methods this time the plan b free agency here's our first 10-minute ticker of the 1989 season as the bears have regained the lead against the bengals san francisco ahead on the road and detroit putting it to [Music] trailing phoenix 16 13. jason johnson rodney carter into the game for the steeders they face a third and 19. brister going deep intended for stone and he can't get there and a flag down again it was 10 for dixon that grabbed his arm just as the pass was sailing by dixon argues this case but it'll be the second pass interference call against the browns well hanford dixon is probably arguing the patch wasn't catchable anyway uh we'll have the officials talking over here [Applause] well i don't know what language that was but i sure couldn't understand that we had some audio problems joe i think they said germany dawson who is the starting center for the steelers taking the place of mike webster guilty of a hold a pass interference on dixon of the browns offsetting penalties well it did appear big daddy harrison was tackled from behind on that last rush and i guess the referee saw it as as well as i there's bubby brister in three games against cleveland he has completed only 39 of his passes no touchdowns and five interceptions [Music] brister heaves it intended for i don't know who there wasn't anybody close white stone may have been the closest dealer to it he was 20 yards away rister felt the pressure and just threw it away well the big problem for the steelers coming into this game and talking with coach no was bobby brister's protection during the exhibition season they had 18 sacks and they have their offensive line uh in a disarray right now because of injury so throughout the course of this game that offensive line is going to have to start finding ways to give bobby brister some time harry newsom led the nfl in punting over 45 yards a kick last year but had six blocked and the ice coupe gerald mcneil deep for the browns first one are particularly good does get a great roll though mcneal picks it up on the fly and is immediately upset down at about the seven yard line tyrone stowe down in a hurry to kick the legs out from under the ice cube after nuisance punt rolled for 43 yards newsome will take it he's happy with it anytime one of the fellas back there receiving punts allows that ball to bounce you're taking a big chance mcdale fielded it nicely the ball may have gone in the end zone but by that time mcneal had nothing else to do except catch the ball he felt good coverage down there by david arnold number 25 of the steelers second possession of the afternoon for cozar and company kozar hasn't missed on four passes but only for 21 yards he's backed up here in his own eight eric metcalf is in the game now set wide to the right [Applause] ozar has his past knocked down at the line of scrimmage batted down by tim johnson number 78. well there's good penetration by that front of the steelers gerald williams is getting good penetration watch number 93 keith willis get his arms up well i don't know who knocked that ball down but tim johnson 78 had good penetration johnson leather steelers in sacks last year though he only had four that's one of the reasons the steelers didn't have much of the pass rush second and ten as the rain starts here at three rivers stadium [Applause] jones tries to get to the corner met at the 10 and driven down by a host of black shirted steelers with dwayne woodruff and cornell lake leading the charge [Applause] there's jones he won a job this year as an unrestricted free agent in this cleveland backfield certainly a change of pace from what the cleveland fans have recognized over the years the big strong backs welcome to those of you who saw the bears defeat the bengals 17 to 14 in chicago here at three rivers stadium were scoreless with 8 15 left in the first quarter and the browns facing a second and five deep in their own territory tom hammond and joe namath with you as the rain has just started at three rivers stadium each team putting after its first possession bernie kozar and the cleveland browns on their second possession of the afternoon [Applause] double wide receivers to the right now wing left formation manoa the only setback newson went in motion and manoa gets the handoff nothing there the steeders awfully tough against the run today that time david little the steeder's leading tackler in 1988 met manoa and drove him back and then thomas everett got a piece of it well the steelers especially on the left side of your screen they're creating a style mate there you see tim johnson come inside and no place for manoa to go he goes outside and david little is waiting on him the front three of the steelers right now are coming off the ball better than we've seen them in the last couple of seasons cedars go with their dime defensive package aaron jones is in on the defensive line hall and griffin in the backfield six defensive backs browns [Applause] delivers quickly and brennan makes the catch for a cleveland first down at about the 25-yard line brian brennan beat delton hall on the play with a clutch first down grab just a marvelous throw by bernie pozar to brian brennan at the top of your screen brennan makes a little swing out moved and uses all hands as he nearly had to leave his feet to get it all delton hall gets there a little late brilliant pass by kozar who was under pressure from aaron jones there's brennan who last year caught 46 goes on with the passes down in the little breathing room now out to the 28 yard line manoa and jones now move to the split back position those are the way down that interception was made by everett but he was out of bounds gerald williams was putting the pressure on kozar and there's a penalty marker on the play offensive pass interference against the cleveland browns that's the third often or third interference call against cleveland the first two defensive calls here's an offensive pass interference well they caught the old wizard of oz ozzie newsof in the middle of the field pushing off a linebacker and trying to get open interference 82 happened [Applause] johnny greer indicating as you said joe that the call was against ozzie newsom who's back for his final year in the nfl the number one receiving tight end in nfl history has gone 143 consecutive games for the reception none yet today kozar was confused by the coverage on that last play tom that's rod russ the new defensive coordinator with pittsburgh told us yesterday that rust is a defensive coordinator that always makes you think eric metcalf the rookie from texas looks for a block can't find much of one taken out of bounds just beyond the 21-yard line of the browns as dwayne woodruff the veteran quarterback in 10 years out of the university of louisville up to force metcalf out of bounds with such quick moves and quick speed he hasn't grasped this entire offense yet that's one of the reasons he's being shuttled in and out but when he gets the mental part of this game of coach carson's he's going to be out there in that field a lot more metcalf first round draft choice of the browns the 13th player taken second and 16 for cleveland scoreless game 6 42 left in the first quarter kozar wide open to slaughter across the middle he's short of the first down to the 36-yard line where he's covered by thomas everett the free safety there's everett fourth round draft choice out of baylor now in his third year and started 21 of the 26 nfl games that have been played and it looks like webster's slaughter is injured on the play we'll take a timeout while they tend to slaughter no score from three rivers stadium crowd nearly sixty thousand at three rivers stadium and what was uh a rainy afternoon for a moment the rain has now stopped here's that injury joe this slaughter makes a nice catch and then he kind of slips on a turf and takes a hit in a very sensitive place and he'll be back i'm sure brown's facing a third down third and two they've converted one of two third down so far in the game [Applause] kosar right back to pass almost intercepted woodson had it and couldn't hold on to it it's like he was surprised the ball came and he had it in his hands and saw it drop away brian brennan was the intended receiver but woodson almost had the interception well he has excellent coverage there in the middle of your screen on brian brennan kozar relies on brennan so often to be able to break away from these defensive backs even on the short hooks and turns in and out but woodson was in excellent shape that time brian wagner on for his second punt of the day his first one covered 33. [Applause] todd woodson beat for the cedar woodson back pedals and lets it hit at about the five and the browns down it inside the five yard line [Applause] wagner saw his punt downed inside the steeler five as the special teams did a great job of coverage 57-yard kick so the steelers now backed up into the shadow of their own end zone we're scoreless at three rivers from three rivers stadium in pittsburgh tom hammond and joe namath 5 47 left in the first quarter the browns and the steelers nothing nothing first down pittsburgh get their own five yard line pits is in motion the ball is free and the browns have it for a touchdown clay matthews the veteran linebacker pounced on it in the end zone and bud carson's browns get that defense going for the first touchdown of the game just excellent penetration by number 97 robert banks the free agent acquisition the cleveland browns made in this offseason he knocks it loose and there's lay matthews right there on the spot a big play by bank banks the free agent coming over from the oilers making the play as worley fumbled well he came untouched that time folks warlier excuse me woefully blocked down no one laid a hand on robert ranks he came untouched to get in the backfield to cause that fumble here's matt barr on the ground to attempt the extra points and it's good so the cleveland browns score off their defense 5 42 left in the opening quarter now 7-0 browns robert banks made the play that led to the touchdown shaking the ball loose from tim worley and cleveland with a 7-0 lead after clay matthews recovered the fumble for the touchdown wagner with a kickoff for the browns woodson takes it at the five he's got a penalty flag down clifford charlton downfield to make the tackle for the browns with help from mike oliphant and there is a penalty marker but carson was talking to us joe yesterday offside against cleveland about his philosophy as a head coach and he said he didn't want to waste all that defensive knowledge that he brought as a defensive specialist as an assistant coach and he said that his new scheme certainly the defensive lineman loved it well that last play that led to the touchdown illustrated that very well they do uh have a new defensive line coaching john kearly [Applause] who came to bud carson on a high recommendation from george allen and he has these fellas penetrating the line a great deal but i want to see how bud carson adjusts and deals with mark tressman the offensive coordinator is he going to let tressman continue to call to plays and run the offense or will bud carson start having some input into that offense if it staggers a bit i asked carson how he would describe his defense and said he said it's a more penetrating type defense an aggressive pass rush and it eliminates the two gap technique he said and the down lineman certainly like it but he said it was also dangerous against pittsburgh because they run so many traps with their offensive line here's the kickoff again by wagner five yards further upfield woodson again from the five yard line woodson twisting his way forward he is tackled at about the 23-yard line 5 24 left in the first quarter here's worley kind of sweet not much blocking there he gets a couple of yards before he's bumped out of bounds by frank minnefield here's worley the all-american out of the university of georgia tom moore the offensive coordinator was saying he does everything you want to back to do he runs the football well he blocks well he said he even catches the ball well which he didn't do at georgia because they had that very conservative offense under vince dooley he's definitely a big playback also he has the kind of speed that could break the long gainer as well as the power to run over these defensive backs i have to tell you clay matthews the outside linebacker quickly did a terrific job of stringing out that last play to enable minifield to make the tackle rookie derrick hill into the game for the steelers said wide to the left second and six looks in motion maybe a yard fumbled again and the browns have it again let's see if the whistle is blown [Applause] mike johnson jarred the ball loose again from whirly and they say it's cleveland's football and whirly is angry two fumbles in the first quarter on consecutive possessions for worley and the steelers [Applause] well let's see if we can see if it's but when the fumble occurs really comes up in the hole and a good hit by eddie johnson and the beast strips the ball loose actually uh mike johnson excuse me actually just puts his arm in there and rips the ball away from worley worley was lying on a defensive player but he hadn't hit the ground yet tom well fumble's a problem for pittsburgh a year ago and it's a rookie that's popped it up twice david grayson recovered for the browns to have it for the first down at the steeler 24. play action pass kozar's pass nowhere near a receiver manoa perhaps but he was 10 yards away and that one was just mistiming it appeared joe and kosar not on the same page as his receiver well if you look to the right of the screen you may see manoa have some trouble getting out of the backfield you see he doesn't know whether but he tend to run around willis number 93 and manoa never got deep enough nor open in time for cozar to get to him so kozar smartly threw the ball away there's tim manella out of penn state and second and ten [Applause] ozar fires a strike in the middle of the field and it's complete making the catch reggie langhorne who is playing today despite having an appendectomy on august 23rd langhorne with that tough catch across the middle as kozar drilled at home well he'll just go down and cross the middle and leave woodson kind of in his weight and david little number 50 right there doesn't get over quickly enough to help knock the pass out i'm a little surprised to see langhorne out there he's recovered very quickly from that appendectomy has he ever numbers on kosar seven of ten he's got a first down at the steeler 10-yard line cleveland already with a 7-0 jones takes it to the six a gain of four before he stopped by greg lloyd one of the outside linebackers for the steelers yeah just a good effort by the front line of cleveland for enzo jones you know that's his nickname ben zone jones i like that anyway ted banker another unprotected free agent that cleveland got during the uh off season helped that unprotected free agent jones gained four yards that time those plan b free agents making a big impact already in the first quarter here at pittsburgh second and six for the rounds newson is in motion [Applause] greg lloyd came up to take cozar down his protection started to break down when tim johnson had a good rush going from the defensive end spot kozar scrambled but couldn't get free well kozar is looking for langhorne again but rod woodson is all over him that rush by tim johnson certainly forced kozar up through the pocket but he didn't have anyone open that time excellent coverage back there by the steelers third down coming up for cleveland they've converted one of three on the afternoon the ball at the nine yard line cleveland leads seven nothing three minutes 12 seconds to go first quarter four wide receivers for the browns two to either side kozar flips it for the end zone brennan can't get there rod woodson covering brennan but kozar just let it fly hoping brennan could run under it that's exactly it tom right now he's just trying to drop it in the dead area to brennan's left or over his head where rod woodson couldn't get to it it had to be a perfect pass and it wasn't i think rod russ with his defensive schemes have caused some confusion in kozar's mind or in their passing attack so far ozar goes to the sideline and bar is on to attempt a 27-yard field goal [Applause] and it splits the uprights so far connects from 27 yards and the browns taking advantage of two tim whirly fumbles break on top of the steelers number 38 in the black jersey tim worley the all-american rookie first-round draft choice out of georgia he's fumbled twice in the game so far after he fumbled the first time which led to a cleveland touchdown they went right back to him he fumbled again what's that due to his to his head joe what breaks his concentration he's thinking about those fumbles he's not thinking about the plays that he needs to run now and i can't blame him it would happen to anyone here's the kickoff by wagner woodson will take it at the goal line [Applause] flips in the speedster to the 25-yard line you know in defensive whirly little tom not that he really needs it but robert banks from uh came from the right end position to cause that first bumble no one had blocked him and then this last time i'll tell you mike johnson just made a brilliant play any upsets there i don't see any upsets except that chicago maybe tampa bay wins a big one huh they were on the road for that one and here are the four o'clock games the oilers and the vikings locked up for the good one at the metro first down for the cedars from their own 25 brister has only attempted one pass that one fell incomplete and they give it to worley again then it's a reverse to lips lips looks for blocking and he doesn't fool the cleveland defense they take the ball away this is grayson grayson for the cleveland touchdown [Applause] david grayson 29 yards for the cleveland touchdown and that defense is wrecking havoc on the steelers well i can understand how this could happen to worley being a rookie having mike johnson steal the ball from him or eddie johnson here to have a veteran louis lips just have it stripped and taken away from him by grace and the fans have to wonder if his progress wasn't stopped shouldn't the whistle blown but i don't think so tom that was a good steal extra point by bar is good the cleveland defense has taken over the game but carson said he might be a head coach he had geared to be a head coach but he told us that he wasn't going to waste that defensive knowledge and chuck knoll knows that bud carson his former assistant knows the defense and that defensive unit of the browns is dominating the game three pittsburgh fumbles have led now to 17 cleveland points and with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter bud carson's browns are up 17 zip [Applause] well you can try to make excuses for lips on this last bumble even worley but these guys are supposed to know they need to wrap that football up you'll see louis lips get hung up a little bit now look at mike or dave grayson david is grabbing the ball right out of his arms lips can't go anywhere and uh chuck knows what do you do i mean i can't hold on to the ball for the guys they have to keep it themselves it's very frustrating chuck noll told us yesterday that despite all the unpleasantness of a year ago when a lot of people called for his resignation after winning only five games and a forced shakeup of his coaching staff that the enthusiasm was still there he might be changing his mind after this first quarter there's noel in his 21st year as the steeler head coach woodson this is a familiar scenario spins forward to the 26-yard line you know tom i can relate to having that ball taken away a little bit the only time it ever happened to me was a fumble right in front of me and i got on the pile and i had the ball in my arms and darn if one of those big defensive guys just took it right out of my arms before the referee could get to me and what a what a bad feeling you know having someone just take the ball away from you i mean helpless feeling there's grayson who scored the touchdown after ripping the ball away from lips bubby brister needs a big play right here joe to get some confidence back from his top mints he pitch it to whirly bounces outside hit down at the 32-yard line pretty good run by the rookie worley who hung on to the ball that time to the cheers of the south crowd at three rivers well the defensive distillers has been playing fairly well and they just had those big turnovers that have put those 17 points on the board and so i guess the fans are a little frustrated but what whirly judge showed us one of the things he's capable of doing he made a little nod up inside and bounced outside with his speed he's able to go inside then jump outside which the steelers need back he rushed for 1200 yards as a senior cops in the sec brisker attempting to pass bounces out of the pocket looking downfield and fires it incomplete wide open all the way down field was mike malarkey the tight end the pass was intended for hill number 82 what brister didn't see was that malarkey was all alone down at the brown 20-yard line with not a defender within 30 yards well i know bristol's looking for an open receiver he's going to get hit in the head here a little bit someone kind of grabbed his helmet here but he's able to shake that loose and get away and he appears to have all the time a guy would need to find somebody but he just can't i think the steelers are being tested now they're going to show what kind of maturity they've reached for this state they have a young team and they've fallen behind like this and we'll see what they're made of from the shotgun brister intended for her lips and a flag down that'll be the third pass interference call against the cleveland defense frank minifield draws his second yeah well minifield did get his arm on the receiver before the ball got there that time it probably would have gone incomplete anyway had he not filed him because it was so high bud carson thinks that frank minifield is in a class all his own at the cornerback spot but his three-time pro bono draws his second pass interference call of the day well bud carson was upset because if you look at this you'll see minifield on the left side of your screen whenever they get turned to the inside he'll just bump him with his left side here you see that he kind of gets his hand in there that's a tough call and i can see why carson was upset first down for the steelers at their own 45-yard line trailing 17-0 christmas goes deep stone can't get there he was double covered brister let it fly deep but dixon and gash running right with stone in the past too far oh stone may have learned something that time because hanford dixon climbed up on on stone held him up bumped him around and stone was never able to get down field he's going to up against one of the best corners in the past and i guess people are curious to find out if hanford dixon has lost anything at the corner at this point of the game it looks like dixon is his old self and back to the cornerback spot after that experimented free safety second and ten for the speeders brister oh for three running play nothing dropped back at the 40 as merrell high five-yard loss on the play as marlon jones comes in to make the stop on hodge just a second after he received the handoff well we'll see marlon jones get in there get penetration to throw hodge for the loss marlon jones of course you cleveland fans may remember him he went to central high school and he's from wilbervor wilberforce ohio i guess they're happy to have that hometown boy there huh he's made a big play as had many members of this cleveland defense so far bristol in the shotgun he's got plenty of room to run he's gonna go deep for the end zone and it will be intercepted in the end zone intercepted by the browns jason johnson was streaking for the end zone mark harper was covering him and it was harper that came up with a football as brisker throws his first interception of the 89 season and the browns will take over at their own 20-yard line on the touchback well harper has pretty good position but what just burst the speed right here look at harper's burst of speed he's kind of pulling away a little bit and plays the ball beautifully right here he just leads the ground and makes a brilliant interception [Applause] so an interception and three fumble recoveries for the cleveland defense in the first quarter [Applause] bobby brister throwing his first interception talking to tom moore the offensive coordinator first down for the browns just 34 seconds left in the opening quarter jones stopped for no game everett came up from the free safety spot and drove jones out of bounds for no gain on the play bobby bristero for four and has had one interception on that last series though it didn't do too much damage it was all the way in the zone what about that haircut joe well i talked about it puppy about that haircut and asked him why and uh he said it's just a change of pace he went to get a haircut the barber asked if he could try something bubby being a free spirit and willing to take chances yeah go ahead give it a shot last year last year he shaved his head going to training camp he said his mom asked him to just leave a little this year so he did that's the end of the first quarter the browns leading 17 nothing [Applause] as we get ready to start the second quarter the browns by virtue of some tough defense lead the steelers 17 to nothing well joe welcome back home to western pennsylvania beaver fall is just 28 miles away this pittsburgh team is a young team falling behind 17 nothing in the first quarter what's that do to their confidence and what do they have to do to recover well it nearly shatters their conference or certainly can what the defense has to do is pick up the momentum the defense played well early on then the offense had the turnovers let's hope they don't fall apart for pittsburgh's sakes i i know coach noah wants to see how they're going to react under this sudden circumstance certainly rather not be in this situation but his offense has got to get it together cleveland with a second and nine from its own 21-yard line koshar scrambles and completes the pass to manoa manoa across the 25 to the 26-yard line where brian hinkle makes the tackle bernie kozar he's able to find an open receiver better than any quarterback that bud carson's ever worked with that's what bud told us it's amazing how he can buy time back in that pocket he looks gangly he doesn't look quick he doesn't look fluid but yet he finds a way to buy time and go to the open receiver in a thinking man's quarterback he always finds a way and that familiar staggered stance under center we asked him about that joe and he said it gives him a little head start and keeps his feet from being stepped on his offensive line there's that stagger that right foot set way back third down play pass complete langhorne makes a first down catch across the 30-yard line dwayne woodruff immediately takes him down but it's a cleveland first down well pittsburgh tried to get all the people back there on kozar not give given any time langhorne right there 88 just crosses the field and well you can see woodruff was so far away had no chance really to stop that pass whenever the steelers are sending uh the linebackers and blitzing you'd think that the corner would want to get up and crowd that receiver a little more first down for the browns from their own 32-yard line they lead 17-0 ozar pumps once and then goes deep and the pass is complete to brennan brandon out of bounds just short of the 30-yard line brennan was all alone woodruff and woodson had to recover to make the tackle but not before it went for 38 yards to brennan well it starts with that offensive line protection up front you can see banker bracosi fight doing a good job in there kozar gave the punt and punk and rob what rod woodson just bit on it i don't think he has much respect for brian brennan's speed but this man can put down a move and leave you obviously he was wide open in the browns again threatening to score already leading by 17. first down from the steeper 30. jones gets a couple of yards before he's stacked up by the center of the pittsburgh defense cleveland lead 17-nothing now to bob costas at nfl live all right tom i'm sure broadway joe would have appreciated the opportunity to throw to the likes of steve margin of course joe had don maynard but here's largent 23 yards from david craig it's his 98th career receiving touchdown one shy of the league record that stood for 44 years held by the former alabama and packer great don hudson all right joe would you have liked to had a chance to throw to steve larsen yes i would any quarterback would but as he mentioned uh don maynard a hall of famer was a treat for me to work with penalty markers down it appeared the steelers were offside [Music] eric metcalf carries for short yardage before tim johnson who looked like he jumped offside will cause the play to come back johnny greer signals offside against the steelers joe kozar off to a great start 10 of his first 14 passes today let's see if we can find the penalty here tom on number 78 tim johnson he's on the bottom right well not quite the bottom there he is jumping a little bit getting into that neutral zone before the snap of the ball had he been able to back up there wouldn't have been a penalty but he was caught right in the neutral zone second down play rounds already have piled up 120 yards total offense to only 28 for the steelers there's our chase out of the pocket let's fly sidearm and there was a bump in the end zone if that pass had been catchable it might have been another interference langhorne was in the end zone and got a bump but the pass was not catchable once again bernie kozar shows us some niftiness back there in the pocket is able to avoid a sack you see if kozar gets sacked back here he may take his team out of field goal range let's take a look at the statistics after the first quarter neither team doing much on the ground and the steelers was zero yards passing ozar had 66 and of course turnovers were the big story of that first quarter as the browns converted three fumbles by the steelers into 17 points they still lead 17-0 11.5 minutes left in the second quarter first down grounds the ball spotted at the 19th of pittsburgh jones stopped at the 16-yard line by aaron jones and brian hinkle jones won this job earlier from number 21 eric metcalf you see who just entered the game of course metcalf missed most of the camp tom and that was a big advantage that enzo jones had over eric metcalf here's eric metcalf the first round draft choice from texas 13th player taken in this year's draft he's lined up as the tail back in the i formation swings it to metcalf dodge is out of bounds after a short pick up on the play about a yard or two taken out of bounds by dwayne woodruff what a reminder to our viewers we will be selecting the budweiser most viable player in today's game that'll come up at the conclusion of the contest third and eight coming up for cozar and company bud carson's team on top 17 nothing the steeders come with their dying defense delton hall and larry griffin come in in the secondary giving them six defensive backs aaron jones is on for pass rushing purposes on the line the wide receivers to either side [Applause] pass complete down to the three-yard line langhorne with another catch across the middle splitting woodruff and griffin for a first down grab well i don't know whether dwayne woodruff is expecting inside help or not the langhorne just flat ran downfield and broke in away from woodrick right here woodruff could never catch up wide open good catch excellent pass once again from kozar but woodruff's been caught in that chase position a few times this afternoon that one went for 14 yards and the browns have a first and goal at the three yard line of the steelers jones and manoa the setbacks [Applause] tight formations now nuisance motion manoa thrown back at the three yard line david little the inside linebacker the top tackler for the steelers with help from greg lloyd throwing manoa back well that statistic right there tom may be one of the reasons that they uh traded viner i guess to uh washington i never have been able to understand that trade finer was an excellent all-around back and olefant certainly hasn't developed yet in this cleveland offense second and goal the spot the ball just short of the one yard line now and it's metcalf in monoi in the backfield osar will throw for it hit from the blind side still got rid of it incomplete derrick tanell the tight end had a hand on it at the corner of the end zone but couldn't hold on as brian henkel came in to put the pressure on bernie kozar good defense that time kozar is going to get harassed here from number 26 for rod woodson and finnell almost makes the catch he's trying to but henkel is close enough to jar loose it was hinkle defending as woodson came in forcing kosar to throw in a hurry third and goal now from the one a little light rain coming [Applause] down [Applause] often in the end zone and incomplete the pass intended for mcneil and carnell lake the rookie who has drawn a lot of attention from cozar today makes the play for the steelers same kind of pass kozar tried to get to brian brennan earlier he just lays it over the hole but cornell lake will have none of it the rookie strong safety's in close enough position to cause some problems for mcniel now mcneil had a chance to catch that ball cleanly tom had he caught it in the first place it could have been a touchdown blake the rookie out of ucla has forced the browns to settle for a field goal barr's attempt is up and from 20 yards it's good so the cleveland browns drive down the field to add to their lead it's now 20 to nothing browns the story of the game so far the turnovers four of them buy the steelers including three fumbles tim wurley number 38 the pittsburgh rookie had two of them and the browns with a 20-nothing lead tom hammond and joe namath from three rivers stadium wagner set to kick it off for the browns woodson deep and woodson feels it at the three try has to turn the corner he's got some room and is taken out of bounds at about the 32-yard line mike olefant who came over from the redskins does manage to get downfield and stop woodson who had some room down the sideline now joe it's time for the steeder offense to get cranked up well bubby's got to calm those sellers down back there and just go back to the drawing board do the things that they had planned to do earlier the score is 20 nothing it's not a reason for them to change their game plan drastically brown's dominating the time of possession the steelers need a drive or a big play they need something tries to give it to them passes it complete the lips he's out of bounds just short of the 40-yard line a pickup of about seven yards on the play lewis lips gives brister his first completion of the game well frank minifield 31 isn't going to give up the cheap one right now he's not going to give up the big one he lets lips take that eight yard out just gives it up says all right you're not going to get an easy touchdown on me you might complete a few outs but you're not going to get the deep pattern louie there are the numbers on lips a year ago he's now caught a pass in 26 straight games [Applause] second and three for the sneakers lips is up to the right field covering him man the man keep it on the ground to whirly and he gets nothing stopped in his tracks by clay matthews the three-time pro bowl linebacker of the browns clay matthews has a different responsibility uh this season than he's been used to they're playing matthews over the tight end most of the time and in the past he was always lining up on the right side as a weak side linebacker for the right side linebacker he hasn't uh really liked the adjustment but he certainly has made the adjustment and performing brilliantly dealers looking for their first third down conversion this is their third attempt i snap on the shotgun brister pulls it down but that's all they could do as he is sacked back at the 30-yard line by clay matthews brister told us yesterday that this shotgun used by the steelers for the first time was an adventure he got some snaps like that and he got one at an inopportune time there well he's trying to hand the ball off to mero hodge number 33 but the snap doesn't allow it maybe he was trying to hand it off the snap killed the play it was a good catch by brister just to save the field position in this case newsome will punt on fourth down there's new and the ice cube daryl mcneil mcneal will take it at the 39. spun around and taken down good special teams coverage cardel lake quickly downfield to stop mcneal after newsome's punt only covered 36 yards we've got a timeout 7 23 left in the first half it's been all cleveland here at three rivers stadium with producer tommy roy and director j.d hanson tom hammond and joe namath from three rivers stadium in pittsburgh 7 23 to go first half the browns leading 20 to nothing with a first down play and keith jones rambles forward to the 35-yard line there's a penalty flag on the field aaron jones made the tackle it'll be a holding call against the browns brown's dominating the game thus far greg riccosi the center the 73 is guilty of the whole there's ricosi in his third year out of miami a second round draft choice in 1987. saw a sports psychologist over the off-season and said it'd really improve his play didn't make as many mistakes helped his confidence a great deal rounds have piled up 143 yards to just 17 total offense for this deal [Applause] on the draw play this is keith jones again for the 20-yard line very little if any gain on the play is hardy nickerson and david little the two fine inside linebackers of the steelers get jones to the turf well you see what cleveland wants to do now is make sure they don't turn the ball over in this end of the field their defense has been playing brilliantly or pittsburgh's been rather gone offense and they have a 20 point lead so you won't see kozar taking too many chances right now sticking to the running game that's long guarding so he won't throw anything dangerous at this point to metcalf metcalf tries to get a block and can't he's taken down for a loss of the yard of a play carnell lake number 37 the rookie being picked on again and again being up to the challenge he played that one like a linebacker he shed the interference and took metcalf down well carnell lake on the left of your screen reads metcalf as he drops back then he just plays off the block by ozzy newsom my goodness i don't know who delivered the lick there whether it was aussie or cornell lake it looked like carnell lake knocked ozzy down it did indeed as the rookie made the stop on metcalf and there's a third down play coming up the browns have converted four of eight there's a look at lake the rookie from ucla dime defense on the field for the steelers six defensive backs [Applause] kozar buying some time now flips it complete to manoa manoa has a first down all the way to midfield tim manoa who was the safety valve on the play lost his helmet but picked up a crucial first down on third and 20 as he took it for a gain of 24 yards well we talked about bernie kozar being able to find a way to buy time he's not quick he's not leaked not agile but he's smart and he knows when to unload it he knew where the line of scrimmage was manoa is smartly waiting out by the sideline well he picked up a big first down i'll tell you pittsburgh to me hasn't been playing that poorly on defense especially but cleveland has certainly had things go their way manoa at 240 yards head up ahead of steam and they'll mark him down at the 45-yard line first down for the browns there ozark looks deep slaughter's got it at the five slaughter had beaten rod woodson on the play and the browns will have it first and goal at the five after a 50-yard pass kosar to slaughter well it's not a dangerous pass and it's the same pattern that brian brennan ran earlier you'll see kozar may be pumped nope he doesn't have to and okay slaughter just turned inside then left rod woodson uh in his wake or the old stop and go pattern once again fernie kozar had not looked so good the last couple of pre-season games and coach carson told us it was a matter of timing having his regular receivers well he looks good with his regular receivers today and he's hit 15 of his first 22 and is knocking on the door of a 200-yard first half jones gets a couple to the three david little on the tackle well you can't say enough for cozar's protection that offensive line of the cleveland browns has given bernie sometime bernie's blood time on his own by moving around but uh i'll tell you this cleveland browns up front is just doing a great job farron appeared to be a little shaken up there but i guess he's staying here i think that's the recosy that's down greg ricozzi of the cleveland browns a little shaken up we'll take a break the browns on top and threatening greg crosby not seriously injured out of the game replaced its center by tom baugh second down the ball at the three yard line as the browns threatened the steelers again already leading 29 [Music] and it was intended for slaughter who couldn't get there those are now 15 of 23 for the game slaughter with four catches 75 yards couldn't quite get there for that one it was preparing for this game joe kozar and the browns offense looked at kansas city chiefs defenses of a year ago because that's where rod russ was the coordinator is that right that's right and in their game with kansas city earlier last year their 6-3 victory that's the game that bernie kozar was knocked out by the cornerback blitz so they wanted to see what rod rush did with his defenses and expected the same from pittsburgh third and goal for the browns at the steeler three [Applause] on the ground stumbling forward and getting in for the touchdown yes or no yes tim manoa manoa just broke the plane of the goal line with the football as he went to the turf and the browns have scored again manoa he's been injured had some knicks this preseason hasn't fared well but he's given a good second and third effort here he runs into his own man and bounces outside and keeps his balance now did he break the plane of the goal line it appeared he did well the cleveland browns turning this one into a first half route and rod rush's debut as a head coach rod russ and bud carson's debut as a head coach we've got defense on the mind there's the hole mike pagle the backup quarterback for matt barr who boots it through the cleveland browns drives 70 yards in seven plays less than four minutes elapsed on the clock and the cleveland browns turning it into a route with a 27-0 lead and 3 28 left in the first half but cleveland's caught pittsburgh at their worst i guess cut coach noel knows that his team is not that bad the offensive line sure they've had some injuries and they haven't worked together often so they're hurting a bit but the turnovers who would expect uh i know bud carson may expect those kind of things to happen but to steal the ball and score touchdowns uh i haven't seen that happen twice tom i don't remember the last time i saw it happen twice in one game let's check the ticker joe there are the finals from the early games again the new look cowboys look like the old look cowboys in the last year or so who all did a number on them and we'll see the late starting games minnesota with a 21-7 lead on the oilers and i was surprised at that new england score uh big lead over the jets new england you know lost three defensive starters at pippett flipping barris and here they are shutting the jets out can you say that again real fast jason johnson downs the ball in the pittsburgh end zone the seeders will have it first and ten from their own 20. now do you throw the game plan out the window and start to scramble and improvise if you're the steelers i would yes it's 27 points you're down and i'd have to go to the passing game almost exclusively mix in the screens and the draws to worley get him the ball as much as you can but it's a good time to let bubby brister get back there and run some of his magic maybe break out of the pocket of course none of that will work if his offensive line can't contain the rush of the crowd wrister said this is the biggest game of my life it could lead to something big the rest of the year right now it's been a disaster for he and the steelers that one too low and behind hogs the intended receiver and brister hears the boos come down but joey's a tough kid as he said to us yesterday it's been a bumpy road to get here a lot of adversity along the way a lot of times he questioned whether it was worth all the sacrifices he had to make and he feels like he has something to prove and he feels that he's up to the task well as i mentioned earlier the last six games of last season convinced the offensive coordinator of the steelers tom moore that probably barista is a big time quarterback on that last play it appeared to me that big daddy harrison made a good play in deflecting that pass barely gets the handoff to worley who shows that the knights that are running lowers his head and pounds across the 25 to the 26 yard line with pain gash of the browns hanging on to it michael dean perry almost got the handoff from brister well d michael dean perry just shoots the gap and beats dawson in the center bobby brister's got to wonder my goodness if i'm going to get hit on a regular handoff what's the season gonna hold for the future michael dean perry comes clean uh demonte dawson the center just didn't get over there to get in front of carter and johnson in for four wide receivers on third down brisker is psyched again taken down at the 15-yard line carl big daddy hairston joe as we looked at the tape of the pre-season meeting between the steelers and the browns which the steeders won but while the first teamers were in there this brown defensive line dominated they're doing it again here well big daddy harrison just threw tom ricketts the rookie guard number 71 from pittsburgh down harrison put a good spin move on him got his hands on the rookie and forced him to the ground to make the big play the defensive line of the browns dominating the offensive line of the steelers newsom to punt again illegal procedure against the steelers cents still fourth down [Applause] lake with the false start will force newsome to punt it again nothing has gone right for chuck noll in the opening game of his 21st season as the steelers coach you see that they've had success in opening games in those tenure coming off the worst season for the steelers in 20 years 5 and 11 a year ago well the crowd cheers for the first time in the first half they cheer the two-minute warning we'll be back right after this tom hammond and joe namath once again from three rivers stadium two minutes left in the half the browns leading harry newsome has punted twice has only averaged 39 yards well below his nfl leading average of 45 plus a year ago the ice cube gerald mcneil will field it for the browns well nothing has gone right for the steelers in this opening game and there was a lot of enthusiasm among the coaches and the players even the fans in the pittsburgh area that this young pittsburgh team starting three rookies today would turn around the misfortunes of a year ago chuck noll almost lost his job was forced to shake up his coaching staff some of the coaches he had to fire went to cleveland as a matter of fact and was also forced to open up his offense a little bit he said he had the tools now to do that but so far nothing offensively or defensively has gone very well for the steelers in the first half producer's punt is a high punt mcneil from the 45 dodges one tackler and has got some room mcneal to the 30. stumbles forward and is out of bounds inside the 15-yard line gerald williams made a saving tackle for the steelers as mcneal took it back upfield and the browns will threaten again before halftime 43-yard kick mcneal brought it back 42. well stone number 20 just couldn't bring down the elusive mcneil and i'm surprised that newsom made a good play here because mcneil in the open field is very tough to get a handle on newsome just took enough out of them for the backup steal of gerald williams to make the tackle and you know bud carson is just as happy as can be right now how you saying this head coaching stuff is easy i think bud knows a little bit more than that i mean he he knows things are going in brown's way today from the 14 cleveland with a first down a minute 45 left full complement of timeouts for cleveland jones at the 12. thomas everett the free safety notice how many tackles the defensive backs are having to make for the steelers well i think that's an indication of this cleveland uh front line doing an excellent job and that ought to tell you a story about the defense of pittsburgh last year but you know what folks what that doesn't show is the offenses play the offense can put the defense in an awful position many times during the game those points that go up on the board aren't always given up by the defense but by the offense i don't think the steelers defense is as bad as they're looking right now second and eight for the browns those are incomplete off the hands of metcalf the intended receiver eric metcalf first round draft choice the son of terry metcalf who was an all-pro running back with st louis in washington he held out and reported to camp late how much does that hurt a rookie joe in getting into the offensive scheme of things well you can't be comfortable if you're a rookie for the first three or four weeks and here it is the regular season starting there's no way that metcalf could grasp the entire offense and know it as well as he will in another month plus in metcap's case he has to learn the wide receiver position as well as the half back position third down for the browns third and eight from the 12 yard line of the steelers 58 seconds left tough piece of running by jones he coached it inside the 10 down to the eight yard line rod woodson gets him down finally jones was hit behind the line scrambled forward for a gain on the play so a fourth down play coming up and an injured steeler down as aaron jones or is it carnell lake let's see aaron jones either 97 or 37. at halftime we'll have bob costas and o.j simpson with scores and highlights on nfl live it is aaron jones the first round draft choice in his theaters last year who is injured on the play we'll take a break 43 seconds left in the first half cleveland knocking on the door again 27-0 we have 43 seconds left fourth down and bar is on to attempt a field goal about a 27 yard field goal make it officially 28 and it's good matt barr connects on another field goal and the cleveland browns continue to pile up the points but carson in his first game as a pro head coach sees his team jump out to a 30 to nothing lead in the first half as great as it's been for bud carson it has been a nightmare for chuck noll and company well pittsburgh didn't come out flat tom they they came out uh with some fire they showed well on defense early on but geez those turnovers just just nearly killed him and may have uh taken this game away from pittsburgh the turnovers normally uh indicate which team is going to win and i just can't believe pittsburgh's as bad a looking football team is uh as bad a team as we see right now a lot of common coaching knowledge in the browns but carson was the defensive coordinator of the steelers jed hughes and hal hunter going over to the brown staff on that staff of a year ago radakovich and taylor also coasted one time with the steelers and we asked the coaches of both sides if that would make a difference and the steelers people said well maybe in audibles it might make a difference but generally the players will decide the outcome and right now it's the browns players that are deciding the game as cleveland has taken a big first half league jason johnson with a 30-yard line of the steelers only blaylock and mark harper cover him there and pittsburgh with 35 seconds left will have a final attempt to get something going in the first half they've been held to at last count under 20 yards total offense in the first two quarters of play brister has hit only one of six for seven yards well two schools of thought now do you run the clock out take your team in and regroup or you give it a shot on the big one i believe they have to go downfield if they try to run the clock out now and regroup these fans here in the stadium will go nuts he's got to take a long shot and he will if he completes at the hodge podge you're going to try to get out of bounds and does at about the 47-yard line that's a steeler first down felix wright knocks hodge out of bounds fox stops at 26 seconds a long shot or a medium range shot really you know that's right anything get the ball going that's the best play of the first half for the steelers well you wonder why i worked uh the cleveland defense certainly had dropped back to take away the deep pass the linebackers got good depth that time and they gave up the underneath pass brister's second completion of the day [Music] scrambles and throws it behind the intended receiver stone was down there and brister as he scrambled through the ball behind him stone playing wide receiver now converted from a running back spot stone has excellent speed they say it's 4-2-5 in the 40-yard dash their fastest player and he hasn't been playing wide receiver at least not often in the past he'll have to have 4-2 speed to get down field fast enough for this offensive line to give bubby enough time to get it to him 20 seconds left second down play for this demon at the 40-yard line blaylock came on a blitz and brister is sacked for the third time in the first half the young pup got the brister that time you'll see from the left side of your screen number 24 coming clean on the backside we call it and as we mentioned tony blaylock is the young pup at least that's how he's referred to by the the dogs of that deep uh cleveland defense he had the starting position actually up until today and uh i'm not sure he actually started the game i saw dixon in there in the second series and i don't know where the blaylock started tom do you can you recall well we were told that dixon was started free safety blaylock at the corner and then if things change dixon would go to the corner but it looked to us like dixon was there from the outset well we invite you to join us next sunday for more great nfl football on nbc starting at 12 30 with bob costas oj simpson and nfl live and then we'll have the steelers taking on the bengals at riverfront stadium and the jets against the cleveland browns four o'clock game indianapolis at the rams check the local listings for the game and time in your area nbc football a whole new ball game third and 18 coming up for the steelers who have not converted on third downs and four tries so far the half [Music] brisker completes it across the middle the pass is complete to rodney carter who's thrown back by clay matthews as brister signals for a timeout with five seconds left on the clock bobby brister will come to the sideline and you may know the story on brister after high school in louisiana he signed with bear bryant at alabama but instead chose to play professional baseball in the detroit tigers organization as a matter of fact played for the current pittsburgh pirates manager jim leyland in the tigers organization he left baseball after a pitch broke his thumb and then enrolled to play football first at tulane then wound up at northeast louisiana and finished seventh in the nation in passing in his only year as a starter at northeast louisiana was drafted in the third round back in 1986 and as he described it yesterday to us a bumpy road to get to a starting quarterback spot in the nfl a bumpy first half also in the opener of the 89 season [Applause] [Music] tom moore the offensive coordinator though said that each day brister matures and he has a greater command of his game he said in the last six games of 88 he was a big time quarterback and as he grew he lifted the team with him this is the last play of the half for the steelers penalty and bristol throws it as far as he can up for grabs and intercepted by the brown [Applause] second interception of the first half i think it was mark harper that came down with it and the booze rained down as the steelers head to the dressing room the home opener has turned into a sour note here at three rivers stadium before a sellout crowd the cleveland browns dominating on both sides of the football halftime at three rivers stadium in pittsburgh and the home team suffering through a first half marred by mistakes as the cleveland browns open up a 30 to nothing lead joe i think cleveland was a two-point favorite we expected a close game nearly everybody did what went wrong for the steelers well it was obvious the turnovers certainly opened the floodgates we knew early on that pittsburgh's offensive line would have trouble because of the injuries but i don't think anyone envisioned the steals i mean by dave grayson taking the ball away from louis lips by mike johnson taking the ball away from worley and then of course the fumble before by worley cleveland has played a brilliant game pittsburgh's played hopefully their worst half of football that any of you steeler fans will see this season bud carson certainly has to feel good about his start and there's your second half kickoff as is taken by jason johnson after he let it bounce a time or two and gets it back to just uh the tanner a little beyond and the speeders are backed up as they start the second half a familiar refrain for the crowd of three rivers in this game anyway but carson in his first half as an nfl head coach seeing his team pile up a 30-point lead and they've done it really with good offense and good defense although the defense set the tone early spot the ball at the 10 the steelers have it with the first down bubby brisker our dragon first half the offensive line struggling this is whirly fumbles again the third combo of the day for tim worley and the browns have it at the steeler 15-yard line well worley is getting his feet wet here in the nfl i mean he's going to learn some lessons from this game one's to hold on to that fall you saw him hit up in that hole worley hit that hole beautifully he hit it hard worley keeps driving but he forgets to hold on to the ball and his enthusiasm to try and get something going here he just gets stripped of the ball by who is that that looks like mike johnson once again number 59. we'll see another angle and mike johnson 59 will get his hand in there right here and just strip the ball away you know tom moore the offensive coordinator of the steelers said worley in his first preseason game against philadelphia was in shock maybe he didn't realize the difference between college and pro if he didn't then he certainly does now the third fumble he's lost in this game grounds with a first down from this leader 15. jones tries to turn the corner gets only two or three yards hardy nickerson managed to string the play out and brian hinkle came in to help him get the tackle total domination in the game the cleveland browns dominating the scoreboard and the numbers in the big stat the turnovers five in the first half of the steelers including a three that led to quick cleveland points after each team had punted i believe on their first two possessions of the game well actually it was four you know five turnovers that last pass the brisket two at the end of the half is no big deal but the other four turnovers hurt the skill there's no doubt second and eight for the cleveland browns behind their ads from the 30-nothing lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter [Music] completes it to the 5-yard line again he picks on the rookie carnell lake as ozzie newsom makes the grab newson now with a catch in 144 consecutive games that consecutive record second in nfl history only to steve largent who had 169 including a catch today left side of your screen you see 82 just breaking outside cornell lake cornell lake's in good position but bernie kozar puts the ball right on the numbers ozzy newsom who's headed for the hall of fame he's been to the pro bowl three times this is his last season in his 12th year out of alabama and once he catches the ball joey holds on to it he's gone now 506 consecutive possessions without fumbling the football i wonder how much it charged warley for a little bit of information and how to hold on to that rock well they're both former sec players you know after the game maybe you'll go over and give him a little tip or two he won't tell him until after the second time they play they play again in week six in cleveland first down goal to go from the five yard line one thing we have to worry about is the noise that's cold that's very cold blooded manoa straight ahead a couple of yards nickerson makes the tackle in the middle of the pittsburgh linebacking core with help from david little we may hear that noise come up tom but it might be a chorus of boos for their own team that's a little bit tough to take but i wonder if there's a season ticket refund window here spot the ball at the two yard line second and goal for the browns manoa cleveland touchdown [Music] well the fans are hungry to cheer for something and a lot of them share the cleveland's well i'll tell you that may have been the worst defensive effort i've seen by these dealers so far when you see a running back hit that hole get in there standing up in the end zone against your goal line defense there's something wrong they've lost their enthusiasm you might say the steelers are just oh boy i don't know whether they've fallen apart or what but it sure does look like they've got to suck it up they've got to get mean coach noel wants to see them at least play this second half with with some enthusiasm fight back i mean they don't want their faces to rub into this artificial turf and that's what's happening barr adds the extra point again a pittsburgh turnover leads to cleveland points tom hammond and joe name at the three rivers stadium we thought this would be a close one shows you what we know here's wagner ready for yet another kickoff and jason johnson of his theaters 928 at free river stadium at least that's what we started with brisker pass through the hands of white stone and incomplete yeah bobby i don't blame you and i know dwight stone is upset too brister had the time to do a perfect pass but stones forgot to hold on to it i don't know he could have heard some footsteps coming out of that secondary by one of those safety that saw phoenix right coming up there quickly joe can this set the tone for a whole season an opening game route like this can this in effect ruin your whole season it could if uh if you didn't have chuck know as a leader or a coach that would know how to get these guys together they're too good i believe they're professionals that are gonna fight back though they'll play much better than this they wouldn't be here in the first place if they played like this every week one thing for sure they couldn't play much worse big daddy hairston sacks bubby brister and he went right through the attempted block of the rookie tom ricketts well ricketts has his hands full if you look on the left side of the screen actually right side big daddy just runs a nice loop around tom ricketts and rod ricketts clean plate get in front of him he's got a right here in the middle of your screen you'll see big daddy just running around number 71. now ricketts true has a broken left thumb and that may hamper him some especially on that move i'm not sure this looks like that time fourth sack of the day for the brown flags down that'll whistle the play then well that's been one of the highlights of the game so far for the steelers to have one whistle dead before the browns could do any damage that's how complete this route has been false against the steelers craig wolfley guilty of the false start chuck noll was he talked about the enthusiasm for the coming season the challenges solving the problems yesterday man he never expected this i feel certain not only 37 nothing it's third down and 27 yards to go for a first down from their own five things aren't looking up and they haven't converted a third down in the game that one is intercepted intercepted for another cleveland touchdown david grayson has his second touchdown of the game earlier he took the ball away from lewis lips ran it in from 29 yards out this time he intercepts a pass off the hands of merrell hodge and rambles into the end zone for his second touchdown this one from 12 yards out well folks you saw it i mean the ball is just gonna go through hodges hands and into graces i'll tell you who this does make happy david grayson's daddy is here at the game uh it was an excellent free safety for the old oakland raiders san diego team that i played against he made the trip from san diego so his son is doing a heck of a job out there for him today brister has had his third interception that was really wasn't his fault off the hands of meryl hodge as the steeders had just fallen completely to pieces and still 11 14 to go in the third quarter wow where's the eject button 44 nothing it's 44 love cleveland over the pittsburgh steelers wagner to kick again jason johnson lets it bounce it on the first hop he works his way as the flag goes down woodson excuse me and not uh johnson that time woodson finally tackled by olefont and there's a penalty marker 44 points the most ever scored by cleveland in an opening day game the previous high 41 against philadelphia back in 1960 i have to believe coach knowles just gonna get this team now say look let's go back to trying to run the football do some blocking we're 44 points down now 44 points down let's see if we can see 99. [Applause] i think he's the third one on the left on the bottom oh look what he's doing he grabbed the guy that's not fair i think pittsburgh is just going to have to establish some kind of uh running game if they want to get out of this half folks they're not going to catch cleveland go back to the basic stuff and save your players a lot of the fans have gotten out of this half we're down to about uh half the capacity we began with 6000. like you said joe just back to basics and the basics not even working well no one to find out these guys got the heart out there now they're going to start blocking i mean they're not going to get fooled by the defense now they know they're coming uh the offense just wants to get some kind of continuity going just one drive please that's all the coaches asking for that's all coach noel wants one drive looked like an offense bubby brister's completed three of 13. three completions three interceptions that one knocked down right back to brisker who's tackled at the two hey but things go bad buddy they're going bad i mean bobby probably look i'm going to catch a pass let me gauge the yardy no he takes a loss catching the pass right he almost got a safety that time he wins michael dean perry was the man doing the damage this time i believe number 92 for the cleveland browns big bubba baker on their left side number 60 gets that big hand up there and knocks the ball back and bubby caught it now what do i do with it and michael dean took brister down at the two yard line well but carson everybody at cleveland said the defensive line has been playing gangbusters in the preseason and in practice and they've been the dominant force today took charge of the game in the first quarter christopher completes one to carter carter is to the six yard line rodney carter on the fourth completion of the day for bubby brister and newsome will have to come out of his own end zone [Music] we're seeing a team as slack as flat as i've ever seen a team newsome had a lot blocked last year coach noel told us yesterday wish he kicked the ball a little higher as mcneal gets ready to receive the punt that one was a rather low kick but mcneal takes it the flag down he's at the 45 into kilo territory and out of bounds at about the 47 run out there by david arnold we've got a flag down a 49 yard knew some pump that time and not too high but a sailing kick of 49 yards johnny grier indicates a hold against the browns kozar says well what difference it make go ahead and hey tom i'm surprised kozar is in for this series or will be in i i see a lead of 44 nothing mike pablo paygo is a good backup quarterback 36 on the return team we're penalized from the spot of the catch first day off hey good backup i'm sorry frags was guilty of the whole all right we'll take a break right now we have 8 47 left in the third quarter but carson says this is easy 44 to nothing with 8 47 left in the third quarter still a few people here yeah the ones that don't have any place to go tonight that's about it just to add to the situation there's a big heavy storm cloud right over three rivers stadium now literally and figuratively it's been one over the steelers sideline this entire game manoa gets the call for the grounds bernie kozar is still in that quarterback a bit surprising here's our 10-minute ticket still on the field yeah i am surprised at that you know quarterbacks he doesn't get a chance to work much at this stage of the year here's a whole quarter and a half and i can see or i think they should have paigel in the game right now i couldn't see any upsets on that ticket tom of you here are late starting games i'm surprised minnesota has that big elite over the oilers and the jets are coming back against new england [Music] first unit still on the field for the cleveland browns they lead it 44 keith jones endzone jones with the first down run across the 45 to the 46 where he's tackled by flinders and greg lloyd well here we'll get a look at bernie kozar's head you see how far his right foot is caught back there he feels like that helps get him away more quickly and he doesn't get his right foot stepped on as much did you ever have your feet stepped on by your own men oh man every training camp i'd lose my big toenail every time right foot and left foot sure quarterbacks getting stepped on all the time by your own offensive lineman there's that staggered stance who by the way came into the game as the sixth active nfl passer with a rating of 84.5 [Applause] percent two more scores to get your way jim mcmahon not having a very good debut with the chargers against the raiders that's a surprise i'll say both the raiders and the dolphins were winless in the pre-season and both leading in their opening season game the dolphins had looked very bad [Music] second down play for the cleveland browns [Applause] gerald williams the nose tackle david little the linebacker get credit for the stop that cap has been used primarily as a wide receiver today and he'll get some balls at running back but i imagine they want to get him the ball in the open field he's just not big enough 510 185 now but he's taken a lot of hits over the years he's a strong running back he's proven to be durable that's for sure that's right eric the offensive coordinator third and six for the browns [Music] jones shook a couple of tacklers eric metcalf at the university of texas was the southwest conference career all-purpose yardage leader with 5700 in his texas career and his dad terry was an nfl standout an all-pro running back to play primarily for the saint louis cardinals and wore the same number as his son eric terry number 21 here in action for the saint louis cardinals and you know erica joe was was also quite a track performer twice was the ncaa long jump chat you know when i think of fairy metcalf i think you're very sweet and pretty [Applause] [Music] wagner's punt was not a very good one either partially blocked or shanked eric metcalf in his pro debut has seen his cleveland brown team build a whopping lead over the pittsburgh steelers chuck noll begins his 21st season on an extremely sour note 4 42 left in the third quarter and the browns so far showing no quarter giving no quarter to the pittsburgh steelers who have been their own worst [Music] enemy first down with the ball on the 29-yard line of the steelers brister's completed five of 14 three interceptions chased and dropped again another sack i believe that's the fifth everybody getting in on the act this time andrew stewart the rookie out of the university of cincinnati and he beat the all-pro-tuned childhood well doing chill can uh has only given up to two and a half sacks the last 42 games right now bobby brister can't find the receiver and he's kind of scrambling out of the pocket and that's how andrew stewart the rookie gets to him play just took a long time he's good coverage downfield second and 27 now for the pittsburgh stevens [Music] [Music] and off to whirling worley who's fumbled three times has a few words with mike johnson who made the tackle he's got to be a frustrated young man and over on the cleveland sideline bud carson he said we're going to be a good football team when he was talking to us yesterday it's just a matter of when we put it all together based on this performance it's going to be sooner than he thought [Music] chuck knowles team facing another third down they're old for seven in that department today worley in his first game in the nfl 10 carries 36 yards three fumbles christopher pumps once completes at the high high back in the backfield will be short of the first down across the 20-yard line well cleveland will get the ball the blowout continues the pittsburgh steelers have really not been in it since the first quarter mcneil takes newsome's punt at the 35. and just slides out about about the 40-yard line newsome's punt covered 45 yards that time david johnson nudged mcneil out of bounds let's see if bernie kozar comes back out on this series for the cleveland browns well you know cleveland right now is in a great position with 44 points on the board none to the defense i don't expect cleveland will show anything special for their upcoming opponents they'll just stay with basic things that second half don't forget more football week two of the season coming up next sunday the steelers must go in to play the bengals and the cleveland browns will take on the new york jets you'll see them here on nbc barry redden is in the game for the first time for the grounds and redden gets the handoff redden coming over in a trade from the san diego chargers with his first carry in a brown uniform thomas everett on the tackle well they felt like they needed a veteran to come here to three rivers stadium they weren't sure about tim minnow and his health he had been nicked up in the preseason so they went for the proven veteran in retin even though redden doesn't have what you call fullback size he's more of a half back but he can play that pullback position second and five mozart quarterback let us joe pointed out taking no chances every play a running play in the last couple series stops short of the first down by david little and a fight slaughter of the browns fighting with someone and there has to be a lot of frustration on the part of the steelers although i don't know who initiated this one look at bernie kozar he doesn't want slaughter in there like get him out of there that's my top receiver buddy did you ever you ever get in the fight yeah but not on the football field yes there's those are waiting right into the middle of the pile up as woodson and slaughter went after it and now slaughter tried to go back again after the fight had been momentarily broken up and a flag goes down why would why would the browns be out there fighting you think they just laugh it off with a 44 nothing lead well i didn't see what happened exactly but slaughter certainly is fired up i mean just point to the scoreboard yeah that's all johnny greer well here you see webster slaughter throwing a punch in the rod woodson's face mask and wilson trying to retaliate i mean they have helmets on it it's about stupid to me it's really a lack of discipline to see webster slaughter any of these players lose their cool out in the field that's not a good example i don't care how fired up you get your professional you have to have a certain amount of discipline and that just shows a tremendous lack of discipline woodson and slaughter ejected from the game woodson's already taking off the jersey webster slaughter was really angry almost tried to start the fight up again woodson joe is developing into a fine cornerback hey he had a great exhibition season but he was beaten badly twice today on stop and go patterns i can understand how he's frustrated but i didn't see him throw the first one but woodson had a bad game today he did have a bad game he had a lot of company too all wearing black and gold still 220 to go in the third quarter in case you're interested [Music] and they just announced that [Music] 74 is an eligible receiver that's paul ferran who is normally an offensive tackle or guard and he's going to line up in a tight end spot we presume oh for a minute i thought he was taking zlata's place it would be interesting anyway it's third and two so we've got two tight ends in the game maybe three actually if you count to barrett [Music] good drive block by that time by number 68 getting up off the ground here ted banker had a good visit with ted you know he's with the jets last year you watch him he'll be in the left guard position and he fires straight out look at here he gets across that line of scrimmage and hits david little and by that time of course barry written has the first down had a good chance to visit with ted's wife rose yesterday and they're expecting the second child tom they had little christopher over there at trading camp and uh we had a nice chat and she surprised me said she's gonna have that second one in the off-season well the reigns are coming down now clearing out what crowd we had left we may be the only ones here when the game's over now these people really don't have anywhere to go or are they real die hard stealer fans they're looking for a comeback you can't really see it on your screen but it's coming down pretty hard now now you can get a better look at it but you got to be die hard to sit through this 44 to nothing and in this range i think they changed their minds tom there's bernie kozar joe what about the contrasting styles of kosar and brister the two quarterbacks we've seen today brister the kind of shoot from the hip guy and pros are the very analytical uh into the 90s sort of quarterback the biggest contrast in their styles is one has a fine team to work with at this stage and the other one's not getting any help at all i mean brister has all the ability physical ability but he's not been getting any help from his offensive line it's frustrating for bobby christopher he's not the analytical type quarterback that bernie kozar is yet who's over there visiting with mark pressman the offensive coordinator along with bud carson i'm surprised that bernie is still in the game they've called a timeout have the browns with 43 seconds left in this game if you're just joining us turnovers spelled the doom of the steelers early in the game it was 30 to nothing browns at halftime it's now 44 to nothing with 43 seconds left in the third quarter total yards 274 for the browns and only 10 for the pittsburgh steelers but carson told us as a head coach he was going to devote a lot of time at least at the outset to the defense and i don't know whether it's his scheme his coaching the players are a combination of all those factors but if this first game is any indication the cleveland defense will be among the best in the nfl pittsburgh is just not as bad i don't believe what we've seen today i hope not anyway those are in the rain the grounds haven't turned it all over today metcalf turns the corner out of bounds at the steeler 40. there's a flag down and in addition to the quarterback contrast today we've seen two highly paid all-american first-round draft choices at running back worley and metcalf the penalty will be a hold against the browns and what a contrast in the games they've had worley [Applause] vernon joins the rookie from maryland holding on the grounds as i was saying worley has fumbled three times for the steelers today and metcalf while not having a spectacular first game as a pro at least has made a couple of nice plays that's right he sure has made a couple of nice plays but tell you what worley i think in the long run you'll see is going to pan out to be the workhorse and the big game big play maker that the steelers [Applause] play keith jones gets the call keith willis makes the tackle we haven't heard much from willis today who is coming back after missing all of 1988 with a neck injury they fused a couple of vertebrae but he's back he says he feels good and they're starting the game today clean on the first quarter club pete was back there in kozar's face a couple [Applause] and we've reached the end of the third quarter even the band is heading home here at three river stadium that's the end of the third quarter the brown's still pitching a shutout [Applause] the rain continues the route continues 44-0 the browns as we're ready to start the fourth quarter and yes we're still here not many of us left but we're still here what do the steelers look for now this one is uh literally a washout what happens when the steelers and chuck know get together to look at this uh this game film well i have to believe that coach noel's going to be very upset it's one thing to fall behind have some breaks go against you be out played as the steelers were in the first half and then look like they almost quit i mean they didn't fight back hard enough the second half they didn't show that they had any fire to regain any kind of momentum so i think the biggest uh one of the biggest things coach noel's going to be upset with is the second half of football that the distillers have played and for the cleveland browns of course this opening game should be something to build on for them they had a few question marks and this certainly will be a positive influence on the grounds as they get ready to prepare to meet the jets next week a lot of folks have thought that the browns who have been the dominant force in this division in the 80s weren't quite be up to their normal standard this year but perhaps off this opening game route maybe they will be a force to be reckoned with in the afc central there's no doubt that defensive line has improved as far as getting some pressure back there on the quarterback i know the steelers offensive line with the injuries isn't a great test there hasn't been a great test but cleveland's defense uh in general has looked superb today well we're in the fourth quarter now joe and bernie kozar still in there just handing off granted but still in the game is olefin almost broken for a touchdown knocked out of bounds short of the 30-yard line oliphant hasn't had a much of a chance this uh preseason and now to show his stuff as a half back because of course he has enzo jones as heck to contend with but you look at this cut that he makes to get outside here look here you see that nice little change of pace and then he puts on some speed that's all speed and some strength too olaf won't be running from that half back position a lot but it's nice to know that you have a man there that can uh make this kind of a play i don't know why kozar is still in the game i said that the quarter a quarter ago almost rosary still in there as we begin the fourth quarter wrestled down by his jersey tim johnson got a handful of number 21 and wrestling down [Applause] there's mike pagel in the ball cap walking along the bench area now this is a mike's got a stronger arm than bernie kozar he's not as accurate a thrower uh he probably has as much control of that offensive command of it but kozar is something very special but they don't miss a whole lot when pagle goes in the game looks like he might be getting ready to come in as he shed his raincoat picked up his helmet [Applause] another nice run he's got a first down inside the 25 of the steelers wayne woodruff had to stop hold of father he was going to make it to the end zone oh this is the kind of thing i know it's just going to infuriate the coaches of pittsburgh i mean sure they're 44 nothing's down but the defense passes gotta have more pride than what they're showing out there right now you know oliphant's a pretty good story he didn't play high school football he graduated from high school he was a welder and played some semi-pro football up in the northwest finally decided to go to college at puget sound and set a lot of records there made all-american and now in the pros in his second year first down from the 23 metcalf spins for a couple tackles at the end of the third quarter we expect the domination of the browns to be very evident and it is look at the yard's passing by the steelers minus 23 to over 200 for kozar well i guess you would have to start thinking about the entire offensive velocity philosophy of this pittsburgh steeler team i mean they're not doing anything with the passing game last season they didn't do anything with the passing game maybe it's the entire pass and gave us a fault quarterback prior to christopher mark malone certainly was at a low completion percentage as well draw play olefonte spins in for a touchdown mike oliphant 21 yards for another cleveland score they're all padding their stats today [Applause] elephant just up the middle here a little delayed draw david little number 50 gets blocked by minoan there you see oliphant spinning and breaking tackles broke lakes tackle and was able to get in the end zone darn good running by olefun well we have passed the half century mark now and barr tries to make it one more as olive gets a touchdown the kick is good and with 11 34 left in the fourth quarter it's 51 to nothing we'll be right back to three rivers stadium after these messages from your local station the downpour continues at three rivers stadium and i'm not just talking about the weather as the pittsburgh defense dejectedly sits on the bench after a very very long afternoon was still 11 and a half minutes left white stone is going to take a chance on a kickoff there's been a lot of practice on the kickoff returns today and stone who doesn't feel that cleanly has to down it in the end zone ray wallace is in the backfield along with rodney carter for the first time for the speeders as brister completes a pass to derrick hill hill the rookie out of aries arizona and the few fans that are left cheer the loudest [Applause] they're going to make a comeback well you see he's getting a plenty of cushion up at the top of the street from blaylock villa has a good future ahead of these coaches really like right now cleveland secondary is certainly going to give up those underneath completions hill and ouija thompson now the wide receivers for the steelers third round draft choice out of arizona overthrown pass intended for ray wallace [Applause] see brister with a little pat there for craig wolfley his starting left tackle and is it brister's job now to try to salvage something out of this to keep his offensive unit together absolutely he has fire he should be showing a little bit more of that fire right now you know i'm surprised they haven't gone back to the shotgun i mean we saw the one bad snap by the center and now pittsburgh hasn't used a shotgun often since i don't recall abusing it again in this situation you'd expect him to be using the shotgun more brister is seven for 17 he's had three interceptions almost had another sack got rid of it nicely to carter carter caught and dropped at about the 36 37 yard line and another fight flags fly and this is a good one michael dean perry was taking on all comers and at one point he kicked somebody in the head it was chuck lanza the pittsburgh center [Applause] we've already had a player on each team ejected woodson of the steelers and slaughter of the browns [Applause] and this crowd reacting as if it were big time wrestling [Applause] a lot of frustration over there in the black and gold right now i don't know who started this last little allocation but uh i can understand how pittsburgh is [Music] [Applause] frustrated [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well the fans obviously didn't think it should have been offsetting brian blankenship of the steelers and michael dean perry of the browns become the third and fourth players to be ejected from the game at one point i saw perry kick somebody let's see if we can spot what happened [Applause] there's the kick it wasn't didn't amount to much they're trying to get their money's worth out of the cheering today anyway blankenship and michael dean perry thrown out joining slaughter and woodson on the sidelines you know i see blankenship still trying to stay out there in the field i don't know whether he's gotten the news yet but he's still out there in the huddle there he is appeared to me someone had blankenship's face mask and uh he got a little upset about that the cleveland browns had called a timeout which stops the clock with 10 25 left in the game let's check some scores gives us a chance to update you on another opening day nfl action minnesota really putting it on the orders a team many people picked to go to the super bowl this year and to be the afc champion not so off that game anyway although it's a long season just the first of 16 weeks so there's an update on the scores we'll take a break right now and back to three rivers right after these words [Applause] tom hammond and joe namath again from three rivers stadium this one is turned ugly not only are the browns leading 51 to nothing but we're in a driving rainstorm and four players have been thrown out for fighting steelers have the ball with a third and six on their own 37-yard line here's the shotgun and throws it complete to the 40-yard line nope they say he was out of bounds no completion stone caught it out of bounds so another punting situation for the steelers oh there's a flag down in the field and uh it goes against cleveland pittsburgh will have another chance i'm not sure they want another chance brister was across the line of scrimmage when he let the ball go why not they're down 51. nothing they should allow them to throw it from anywhere on the field now it's getting a little picky isn't it i'm sure the browns are declining the penalty and make the steelers punt he said that too as we take a look at that cleveland defense which has been superb today pitching the shutout against the steelers we had a chance to talk to frank minifield yesterday we'll get the call from johnny greer [Applause] so it is fourth down and uh wrister to the sideline knew some defunct do you think that haircut of bubbies is going to become a fad or no no i think maybe the one of metcalf we haven't seen it today but he has a lightning bolt shape in his head gets a good punt which is down inside the 10-yard line there's the bristol as we said his mom said please leave some hair this time last year at camp he shaved it all off eight of 18 48 yards three picked off for brister who told us yesterday this was the biggest game of his life well you know two of those interceptions tom one went through merle hodges hands and the other was at the end of the first half so actually there was only one interception of bristol group that uh in my opinion mattered i can't tell you that brister had a good game i wouldn't dare say that but certainly uh this 51-00 score isn't indicative of the way christopher has played mike pegle at quarterback now for the cleveland browns pagel replaces kozar with 10 minutes left in the game [Music] [Applause] very ready with the carry i started to tell a story about frank minfield in our visit with him yesterday there's a flag on the play and it's against cleveland and his preparation for the game really took me by surprise you think of quarterback quarterbacks being [Music] mentally against uh paul ferran of the browns you think there's 31 minifield of them being just very athletic they just go out and cover but he really had a very very intricate preparation process including using a computer to break down the films and to catalog tendencies and this is what he said when we hit the field it's like taking a final exam and we have all the answers and i think it's very good certainly what minifield and the rest of his teammates are doing uh all of the studying we used to study a great field but you certainly didn't have computers there was a lot of paperwork a lot of field work you know another thing these guys get to watch their performance and practices in color we used to have to watch it in black and white all the time you had to wait to get the film developed too right now it's on tape you can look at it right away and minifield was telling us instead of friday getting the tendencies from the other team that they're going to play on sunday they get them now wednesday because they put it in the computer and the computer does all the busy work instead of doing it long hand and they get a chance to practice it during the week watch mcneil and dalton hall here in the center of your screen whoops let's see how uh mcneil reacts there there you go dalton hall knows it's just a game i don't know if he does the 21st season for chuck knowle as head coach of the pittsburgh steelers metcalf is almost taken for a safety deal marcus forward progress i believe out of the end zone tim johnson wrapped up metcalf in a hurry and tried to haul him back into the end zone let's see where they spot it here again is chuck noll first home loss was 34 to nothing and 86 worst loss anywhere 45-3 so this will be a history-making defeat for the steelers under chuck knowle he told us yesterday we have a lot of changes in coaching and in defensive style but he said the young kids they have on this team have assimilated the changes at least he thought they had they want to change back [Music] [Applause] very ripped it's maybe [Applause] with the steelers last year to bud carson's right and with the towel on his head is ricky feature used to be the wide receiver for the cleveland browns now in charge of player personnel but jet hughes the man on the left in charge of the secondary for the cleveland browns right now still doesn't know why pittsburgh decided to let him go he is obviously doing a good job with this uh cleveland secondary and this is a pretty big home coming for jed and you know he's got to feel good about this league [Music] just off the top of my head i think this is the first browns punt since the first quarter taken by johnson can't get outside michael the fan who's had a good game wrapped him up just a 37-yard kick but oliphant's done a good job offensively and on special teams today for the cleveland browns to enjoy the big lead [Applause] i know there'll be a lot of people clamoring for footage of this one so we'll remind you that this telecast is presented by authority of the national football league and is intended for the private use of our audience any rebroadcast or other use of the telecast without the express written consent of the pittsburgh theaters and the national football league is prohibited this game the property of the nfl the cleveland browns and the pittsburgh steelers all rights reserve [Music] first down for the pittsburgh steelers at the brown 26 yard line best scoring opportunity of the day for pittsburgh and the pass incomplete rodney carter had a hand on it couldn't pull it in good pass by buddy grister carter usually a reliable receiver runs a little what we call fan pattern you'll see him break to the top right of the screen brister puts the ball in the right place just to rodney forgets to catch it it's a good hit back there by felix wright but certainly carter should have made the catch he knows it [Applause] clifford charlton gets a sack he beat ray wallace the back who is held in to try to block and for the sixth time today the cleveland defense gets a sack on bobby brister well this cleveland defense right now would like to preserve a shutout it's not often in the nfl that you can register those big goose eggs up on the board and cleveland would certainly love to have a shutout we talked to chuck knowle about the youth on the team starting three rookies today he said a lot of our old guys are in the hall of fame our last they said our draft was good the previous overhaul didn't work and how quick we developed the potential of these young kids is the key to success well what's that old story is saying you can lead a horse to water or whatever you can't make them drink they can show these fillers all the place to run and give them all the x's and o's but it still takes the people that go out on the field and do the job this is a fourth down play christopher again has good time and he finds his target inside the 20-yard line ouija thompson gets his first reception but he's going to be short of the first down and the ball will go over to the browns [Applause] mark harper's down on the field he is the one that put the hit on luigi thompson but uh harper appears to have the wind knocked out of him mike pagel is the cleveland quarterback replacing bernie kozar who rang up some pretty good numbers on the opening game of 1989. bobby brister has not been quite so fortunate he could have used a little help from his friends as the pittsburgh attack broke down completely i would say bernie kozar had a pleasant trip to pittsburgh cozar is an interesting study as you mentioned very unorthodox in his delivery of the passes and his ability to escape the rush and there's a theory that most quarterbacks were always the best athlete on their team and they got things done by sheer superior athletic ability bernie kozar was not the best athlete growing up in youth football and so on so he developed these ways devised these ways improvised these ways of getting the job done and it served him well as he rose to the highest level of football it certainly has served him well but one thing we shouldn't overlook and that's the basics bernie kozar will throw the ball aside our three-quarter arm but he also knows how to throw the ball from over the top too he has the unique ability of changing his throwing motion many times throughout the course of the game but his basics are good so you youngsters at home when you see kozar do the things he does don't try to emulate him just yet learn those basic things first the correct footwork and the correct release a little bit higher when you get to b65 like bernie and no football as well as he knows it then you can make those adjustments you saw mark harper leave the field apparently not seriously injured very written good run by redden to the 30 and uh enough for a first down check out the other scores now delton hall making the tackle for the steelers here are the games in progress or we'll start with the final start with the finals from the one o'clock games today san francisco of course had to win at indianapolis eric dickerson went over 10 000 yards in that game and a losing cause phoenix had detroit now look oh my goodness new england did beat the jets after losing three first stringers and i can't believe minnesota scored 38 points on houston look what the raiders are doing to san diego 40 to 14. the 32-yard line stopped there by aj jenkins the rookie out of cal state fullerton he plays both on the defensive line and at a linebacker does spot remind you of the elder metcalf terry well i can see a lot of quickness there very much similar to terry but i don't know i don't think he is quite as quick as the old terry metcalf that i remember now he was something special i know this young eric metcalf we're expecting a lot from him but we know for sure that terry metcalf was very special and eric is going to try to show that he is also he's not there mike yet has not yet attempted to pass as the rounds are content to just keep the clock going it's down close to four minutes now there's mike pagle hagel in his eighth year out of arizona state came over to the browns in a trade with the colts in 86. he had been a fourth-round draft choice of the then baltimore colts back in 1982 started 47 games for the colts and is just some 1600 yards shy of the 10 000 yard mark in his passing career last year remember started four games for kozar when bernie was injured and then he was injured himself making a tackle as i recall yeah that's right on an interception he hurt his shoulder as he stretched out to try to make it tackle up in cleveland against seattle i believe hagel does have a pretty good arm in fact he was an outfielder on the arizona state national championship baseball team strong arm in fact he set seven passing records when he was with the sun devils of arizona state yeah i look at these steelers i can't help but remember what coach paul bear brad at alabama used to tell us about losing say fellas you know when you lose your game you go home your girlfriend just isn't as pretty as she used to be the food just doesn't take as good as it as it used to take well right now we have a lot of steelers that aren't going to have big appetites and there's no telling what the girlfriends are going to look like tonight because things are really bad at fifty one to nothing wagner to punt on fourth down to the browns andover end kick taken at the 25 yard line by johnson johnson out of bounds a 39-yard kick tackle made by vernon joynes on special teams well joe we started the day by talking about the two coaches in this game something old who had been under fire last year with only a five win season for the pittsburgh steelers coming back and facing one of his old assistants bud carson in his first year as the cleveland browns coach carson when we talked to him yesterday appeared to me a little uncertain about what would happen today and i think his questions have been answered and chuck knowles certainly has twice as many questions today as he did yesterday well bud carson the old freeport pennsylvania native seemed a little nervous to me yesterday at our meeting last night i i know that this is a big game for him and i know that he felt that pressure coming into this game but boy what a major uh relief the score is for oh boy another fumble picked up by the browns derrick hill fumbled it and it was picked up by thane gash and brister said i can't believe it his worst nightmares have come true well derek hill does a good job of getting open does a good job of catching the ball and then it gets jarred loose let's see if derrick hill loses it on his own or does somebody come in here and stick a head gear on it whoop that left hand right there number 40 got his hand in there kyle kramer a rookie defensive back for cleveland to knock the ball loose and another rook not a rookie but a second year player thane gash lugs it back up field that's the fifth fumble of the game for the steelers they've also had three interceptions eight turnovers and that just about tells the tale right there looks like they're going to review it on instant replay to see if the ball came out before hill was down well they got a lot of nerve holding this game up get the hook give the ball let somebody have the ball let's forget about the replay huh well let's see you judge for yourself is he no he's not down before that ball hits i'll tell you what i was looking over my notes tom and in the preseason you know that instant replay rule was enforced only four times out of 59 games they had reversal there's the replay booth the replay official today is al sabato four reversals in 59 games that's not bad that's good officiating well we got a moment we want to thank our spotters tim fogerty mike mcginley and george jordan and john rooney on stats [Applause] so the fifth fumble of the game for the steelers stands eight turnovers to none for the browns [Applause] i wonder if that's approaching a record the browns already have scored the most points ever in an opening [Music] i've never heard of one like that four super bowl wins and this is what his 21st season begins with a two minute 51-0 [Applause] back at three rivers stadium mercifully only two minutes left in this one 51 to nothing the cleveland browns who built a 30 to nothing lead at halftime and have coasted to victory over the pittsburgh steelers just a shadow of the team of the seventies here today new joke in there wondering what went wrong well there are eight turnovers to none for one thing too greg wolfley starting left tackle the steelers may be wondering what went wrong but i think he knows i mean he started all 16 games last year for the steelers at left very versatile player but i don't think in his career he had this kind of a game by his team i mean 51 nothing this will be the seventh consecutive win by the browns over the steelers and until three years ago they'd never won a game at three river stadium but now they've won seven in a row cleveland has sacked pittsburgh six times they've recovered five fumbles and intercepted [Applause] he's inside the 20-yard line you know there might have been a few hard feelings when bud carson left the staff of chuck noll after helping them gain those great super bowl victories and went to be the defensive coordinator with the rams and we asked carson and noel if there were any hard fittings left and they said no not anymore but at the time perhaps things were a bit touchy well you know coaches develop close relationships with one another for the most part and you know there's a certain camaraderie and when another guy gets a job offer and it has to [Music] the last two exhibition games cleveland looked horrendous and the players have to be wondering what is this staff going to do for us i think we've played maybe playoffs last four years in a row we've won a lot of games and here we are playing poorly well i think now that uh the team's going to have full confidence in that carson's staff will just kill the clock and to the relief of all this one will come to an end eight turnovers today but the pittsburgh steelers helped seal their demise as bud carson in his first game as an nfl head coach waves to chuck noll and celebrates a victory as the browns overwhelmed knowles pittsburgh steelers the biggest victory in cleveland opening game history and the worst defeat in noel's career the final score cleveland 51 pittsburgh nothing

Channel: Sports !

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Id: apU1s6oue0E

Length: 139min 17sec (8357 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021