1991 Cleveland Browns Team Season Highlights "Restore The Pride"

this film is brought to you by new york life and its dedicated agents proud sponsors of the nfl's team highlight films new york life the company you keep so packed by blue skies and an opening day aerial show witnessed by 78 860 fans the bill belichick era began on a sunny september afternoon against dallas coastal throw on first down has time throwing deep slaughter wide open got it if the dallas 20. he's going for a touchdown and certainly the stadium has come alive on a 62-yard bomb but belichick's debut was a losing one as a depleted defense with six db sidelined with injuries fell victim to the cowboy's superior firepower the next sunday in the lush new england countryside the bronze threw a blanket of defense over the patriots brown's followers were afforded their first look at the belichick coach defense in fine form as right cornerback replacement randy hilliard number 39 stepped in and stole the spotlight playing like a 160-pound lawrence taylor hilliard had two sacks forced to fumble and intercepted an end zone pass intercepted by randy hilliard there we saw randy hilliard's feed he came from all the way across to the other side of the field on the other side of the ball another youngster made a big impression the thriller rookie receiver michael jackson flashed past his defender to pull in his first nfl touchdown pass wide open jackson 40 35 30. there he goes goodbye touchdown michael jackson a 65-yard touchdown play his first national football league touchdown and that puts the cap on this one a first score for a rookie receiver a first win for a rookie coach and cleveland had its first shutout since 1989's opening game the 20 to nothing win evened the team's record at 1-1 and gave the browns backers and foxborough ample reason to cheer their heroes hey that looks like cleveland football right there yes seven days later belichick's defense was at it again it will take the snap a yard deep in the end zone handoff for a safety he's there for a safety by stephen braggs three yards deep in the end zone and brooks never had a chance besides the safety cleveland's only other points were provided by place kicker matt stover who kicked four field goals including the winner with just seconds left in the game this will be a 46-yard attempt from the left hash marks kick is underway it has the distance it is gone stover's performance was not an isolated one for all season both kickers operated at lofty levels hunter brian hansen was a model of consistency you know the longer they have to go the the fewer or the less chance they have of scoring that's where i come in to play the special teams unit the punt team as a whole we work together to get maximum distance between them and the goal line hanson nailed 20 punts inside opponent's 20-yard line while stover hit on 16 field goals in 22 tries stover missed a few potential game winners but he's a youngster who should only get better with time the season's fourth game took place in giant stadium a kind of homecoming where bill belichick was welcomed back to the meadowlands appropriately it was a hard-hitting affair with both defenses determined to out-punch the other in front of their past and present coach the giants built a 13-0 lead in the first half then in the second eric metcalf helped turn the tempo up a notch or two now he's going to throw the ball across field at frank minnefield at the 30. into giants territory unbelievable play by eric metcalf cleveland's defense held new york scoreless the second half and kevin mack's touchdown brought the browns to within three but with the game on the line a former belichick protege made the play of the day number 58 carl banks sniffed out cozar's rollout and the brown's chances were over bernie cosar left the field not having thrown an interception for the fourth consecutive game but it was small consolation for a narrow defeat it would not be the last two weeks later after a bye the browns hosted the jets on what proved to be a rather unpleasant afternoon eric metcalf's mental mistake when he down the ball outside the end zone symbolized the team's frustration on this second straight heartbreaking defeat behind by three cleveland nearly pulled it out on a final drive with under two minutes remaining coasts are to throw with time now he runs out of the pocket courtney pumps once he's going to try and run for the first down tackle at the 40. doubles the ball james hasty of the jets has it and new york just recovered the football and the browns offense standing on the field in disbelief the following sunday in washington's rfk stadium the browns threw a scare into the future super bowl champions flatter wide to the right side they don't see him here's brian hansen throwing to slaughter all alone at the two and he's in for a touchdown doug deacon you saw it all the way it's out of the sandlot playbook but webster slider made like he was going off the field hung around the sidelines the redskins had no idea he was over there nobody around western slider webster slaughter's shady subterfuge piggybacked with a big play from belichick's defense kept cleveland close and riggs tries to steamroller forward ball is loose and picks up by vince deusser by the grounds inside the 20 to the 15 and the five four three two one touchdown rounds good snoozing with his fourth fumble recovery of the season but this was the nfl's most explosive attack the bronze were facing griffin wants to throw looking to the end zone firing for monk diving kids for a touchdown in the far corner hard with a splendid catches rip and hit him over the shoulder the browns had lost three straight two by a total of six points and their record now stood at an unglamorous two and four the comeback began in san diego in front of what seemed like a stadium full of brown's backers as was their custom cleveland quickly fell behind and the charges appeared to have the game in control it was here that belichick and his staff made a major strategy change going to a hurry up second half offense that took the brown swiftly down the field mixing plays brilliantly bernie cosar used his full array of receivers in the frenzied rush downfield the no huddle fast break attack was so successful it produced three touchdowns in three possessions to tie the game ghosts are in trouble rolling right gets away from one charger throws on the run horde has a touchdown what a throw an unbelievable throw by cosar leroy hoard punted at the two and went in for his second touchdown in the game take that friend tarkington in sudden death overtime the defense stepped to the four led by one of the san diego connection three plan b x charges playing for the browns each made big plays against their former mates david brandon's was the biggest by far second and tab mcewen in motion fake hand off the butts bootleg action passes intercepted and the dogs are going to win the game david with the interception for the touchdown welcome home david the browns have won the game on a dramatic overtime interception by david brandon as pio sancopulately was all over john freeze and forced the bad throw and dug the third time today the winning touchdown took place directly in front of the throng of southern california browns backers who made jack murphy stadium sound more like cleveland stadium for the browns in general and david brandon in particular it was the most exciting win of the entire 1991 season with this third victory cleveland had equaled its total from the year before next in chuck knowles final game in cleveland david brandon continued where he left off the previous week and it's intercepted intercepted by david brandon shades of san diego he's back to the 50 and left out of bounds at the pittsburgh steelers 43. and while the offense wasn't exactly good it was good and lucky cosa takes a handoff wants to throw throws on the run past deflected 10. touchdown by leroy america's funniest home videos doesn't have anything like that the ball was tipped twice at the goal line and leroy hoard flat on his back in the end zone caught his third touchdown pass of the season on one of the strangest plays seen in years leroy horde's certa perfect touchdown offered a preview of coming attractions for the second year halfback what's more cleveland had its second straight win and evened its season record at four the next week in windlass cincinnati kevin mack scored a trio of touchdowns which accounted for all the brown scores but for the first time under belichick's reign the offense self-destructed in an explosion of errors on plays that could have salted the game away in the final minutes of the game the browns had four chances to win and failed on all four will not be too careless here goes to the end zone brennan open can't hang on it would have been a touchdown brian brennan had the ball go off his shoulder pads incomplete unbelievable but brennan had plenty of company among snap his teammates good stover's kick is underway it has the distance it hits the upright and bounces back into the end zone no good incredibly after stover missed his first field goal in 11 tries he had another chance with just one second left in the game 35-yard field goal at 10. there is a mob scene at the 50-yard line the clock has hit zero and cincinnati has won the football game first on a miss from 47 yards away by stover that hit the upright and then on a block the following week against the eagles number one ranked defense the team jumped out to a 23 to nothing lead coaster under pressure throws out to leroy horde at the 35 he's across the 40. breaks a tackle at the 50. horn's still going he might go all the way for a score touchdown river hoard goes 65 yards for a brown touchdown the saga of leroy hoard continues in the early going cleveland's dog defense played its bone jarring best in just his second game off injured reserve top draft pick eric turner paid a big dividend at the 40. back inside the 30 to the 25 turner at the 20 the 15 to 10. 5.321 big with his first national football league interception taking it back 42 yards for a touchdown you can't do any better than that tell that to webster slaughter the browns attack had punctured philly's proud defense for 30 points in the first half however in the second they would score none and a masked man named mcmahon turned in a mcmasterpiece the fiercest competitors often make the worst mistakes webster slaughter's combativeness keyed the eagle's comeback high booming spiral slaughter all the way back grabs it at the one he'll have to come ahead slaughter's in big trouble he's back in the end zone and gets out to the one fumbles the ball it's loose at the three yard line and the eagles have it webster slaughter committed the cardinal sin of trying to field a punt at the one-yard line the team with the league low turnovers made a major mistake and mcmahon capitalized on it for the winning score the browns had suffered their second straight two-point defeat but now had lost four games by a total of merely ten points but this one to the eagles was by far the toughest to take a visit to the astrodome was next on the schedule and it appeared the losing streak might end when bernie kosar threw a fourth down touchdown pass late in the final quarter but cleveland's euphoria was short-lived warren moon brought the oilers back seconds to go moon will take one crack at the end zone he is looking left rosen to run touchdown blue hill and the oilers are going to win the football game we played tight games all year so it's nothing new to play a tight game hopefully we'll have that you know to our advantage that we've played in close games all year long and that we'll start to be able to pull those out because of the experience that we've had in those tight game situations after three heartbreakers the bad news was the team played yet another close game the good news was they won against the chiefs although they had a narrow escape kosar turns and hands off the kevin mac there's a bubble in the end zone and bernie lands on it for a safety oh boy the chiefs get a safety and they almost had a touchdown the big gun for the browns was leroy horde with plays of 52 and 71 yards plus a pair of touchdowns flags are down as kosair is scrambling hit as he throws leroy chief's territory inside the 30 25 20. down the sideline all the way it's a touchdown 71 yards for leroy cleveland's losing streak was broken 20 to 15. next week in the hoosier dome they won again burying the colts to the left the coaster gets the handoff on the shotgun gets the first down across the 40. against indianapolis it was defense that took center stage pounding jeff george with four turnovers and six sacks three by number 58 david brandon but it was michael dean perry the only veteran on a rookie-filled defensive line who created the play of the day under severe pressure touchdown rounds and michael d perry made it happen perry was all over jeff george as he threw the ball to james jones and there's a liveman's dream the 31 to nothing shutout was cleveland's second of the season and as the players exited the field victorious both they and the browns backers cheering in the stands could not have known it would be the team's final victory of the season week 14 brought the broncos and the rifle right arm of john elway the 17-7 loss to denver was as big a disappointment as the team suffered all year we just didn't play very well in the 7-7 game in the third quarter and we had a number of chances to make some plays and we didn't make them and they did and that's pretty much it in the home finale the browns trailed late in the fourth quarter 17 14 oilers and we have a winter wonderland at the stadium right now snow swirling everywhere with time running out the browns went to the wire third and 19. one last 81-yard drive to salvage the game to the 12-yard line a 30-yard gain and only 23 seconds to go i think the oilers on third and 19 thought they have the game one struggling against the clock the oilers and the elements kosar's desperation run put the ball solidly in front of the uprights to the five hit at the three to the two yard line ten seconds to go nine eight here comes the field goal unit matt stover will kick it but it'll be almost like an extra point snap and holder good the kick is shaked off to the left no good and the oilers are going to win the game stover lost his footing he slipped as he kicked the ball and it wasn't even close the oilers have escaped here on the treacherous stadium turf with a 17-14 win the gun sounds and the browns are stunned a valiant effort here in the closing minutes has gone awry it was the sixth loss of the season by four points or less in this turnaround season the trademark of bill belichick's browns was never give up his team commanded attention until the final play of nearly every game cleveland fans might not like the final score but they were never bored and fans responded by popping up in stadiums all over the country wherever the browns played they were there in droves it was this astonishing support for a team with only six wins that impressed bill belichick more than anything else that happened during his debut season belichick also believes in tradition he instituted the ritual of introducing former brown stars before home games in order to emphasize the franchise's winning history to its current players there is clear confidence that this team is on the right track according to owner art model the new coach and his cadre of assistance have returned discipline and organization combined with solid teaching techniques and an astonishing work ethic to the browns for bill belichick is building a foundation while ignoring the quick fix he's established a philosophy and stuck to it for this he gets high marks for his first year and high hopes for his second for this is a man driven to succeed and determined to restore the pride and glory of the cleveland browns hi i'm steve sable with the departure of vice president in charge of football operations ernia corsi this spring the cleveland browns in 1992 have come full circle for owner art model has given young head coach bill belichick more power than any coach in cleveland history save one of course the man the team is named for its founder paul brown but make no mistake about it this is belichick's ball club and he is quickly molding it into his image in bernie kosar bill belichick has a low-risk field general who knows how to throw strikes as evidenced by his nfl record-breaking 308 passes without an interception set last season as usual kozar's main target will be number 84 webster slaughter who caught 59 passes last season several of the spectacular variety with both reggie langhorne and brian brennan gone from the team the browns are counting on long lean number one michael jackson to surface as a starter in 1992 a summer camp sensation last year jackson looked good right from the beginning his 65-yard touchdown bomb against the patriots was the longest of the season for the browns unfortunately jackson soon began to fade from view with typical rookie problems the team's weakest area is the offensive line which has to protect bernie better if the browns are to make a move in the central division they will also have to block better for the ground game belichick is a strong proponent of power football and for cleveland to move the ball up the gut the line has to dramatically improve especially for the team to survive the december weather when playoff spots are really decided and ball control is a key element cleveland continues to count on bruising kevin mack at fullback and hopes that elusive but brittle eric metcalf returns to form at halfback even if metcalf crashes cleveland will have plenty of help for the browns are really loaded up in the backfield number 33 leroy hoard proved to be a big playmaker last season horde ran infrequently but he really made his mark out of the backfield as a receiver scoring 11 touchdowns on pass receptions in plan b the browns reached in their thumb and pulled out a plum named james brooks few bats have ever caught the ball as well as this superbly conditioned veteran add to this mix cleveland's number one draft choice stanford university's powerful fullback touchdown tommy bardell and you have a backfield that will be deep and potentially dangerous the biggest change on defense is the coaching staff where former giants coordinator al grow joins the team as a position coach this will allow belichick to spend more time on the other side of the football but the coach's imprint is already on a defense which led the entire league and giveaway takeaway ratio until the season's final week the dean of the defense is number 92 michael dean perry who made all pro a tackle for the third consecutive season despite constant double teaming a pair of rookie lineman number 96 third round pick james jones and fourth rounder pio sagapulitelli number 75 both became starters and both should inhabit the lineup for many years but the big story on defense last season was the extraordinary string of injuries that eliminated key players like middle linebacker mike johnson corners frank minifield raymond claiborne and mark harper and both safeties thane gash and eric turner when first-round pick turner number 29 returned for the second half of the season he quickly showed why he was the second player picked in the entire draft its young talent like turner on which the brown's future success is dependent while it's obvious the 1992 browns have renewed confidence under bill belichick it doesn't compare to the to the swagger shown by the team when it first entered the league 32 years ago in 1950 the cleveland browns marched confidently into the nfl fresh from five years of domination in the rival all-american conference now it was no coincidence that the league schedule makers pitted this new entry against the nfl champion eagles who who literally were licking their chops in anticipation well what took place is football history as the browns went on to dominate the older league much like they had the younger in fact they reached the nfl championship game five consecutive years so return with me now as we take a look at the cleveland browns first game ever in the national football league for four years it was part football park carnival and at times part travelogue but in the end the ill-fated all-american conference was better at staging circuses than competitive football games the cleveland browns were the jewel that would be plucked from the wreckage by the rival nfl but though the browns completely dominated their conference year after year their minor league status afforded them little respect in the eyes of the big boys of the nfl in 1950 the philadelphia eagles were at the vanguard of nfl superiority they were hailed as the titans of pro football having won back-to-back world championships in 48 and 49. any challenge to that was scoffed at by the football world nonetheless when paul brown signed his team into the nfl in 1950 the stage was set for the inevitable showdown between the two powers in effect the very first super bowl the battle lines were drawn well it had been several years that we were in the all-america conference and the national league people would say is we didn't even have a football all that kind of stuff that they made a lot out of nothing and we were really upping the bit for the game i believe this was the highest most dedicated football one game experience i had ever seen a team in but the laid-back eagles convinced of their invincibility viewed the upstart challengers with a jaundiced eye you know if you could feel cocky before game we we felt cocky this was a team from what we thought was maybe a bush league but they weren't eagles coach grizzy neil fed this overconfidence maintaining the popular view that the bronze were nothing more than bush league bullies neil thought the cleveland browns were not as good as they really were we didn't scout them he thought paul brown was a high school coach they got some team from the all-america conference and we didn't have to do much to beat them for eagle quarterback tommy thompson neil's miscalculation was uncharacteristic i played for griezer for quite a few years he made very very few mistakes but i think neil made a mistake on there on this uh on scouting this ball club the prevailing move that doubted the bronze was ultimately used to their advantage the psychological preparation of a team was something paul brown strongly believed in when he came across some negative articles about his team he pioneered bulletin board psychology i really think that was our motivation when we got to philadelphia reading this paper for two weeks newspaper we just was ready to hit anything that the eagles had ironic as it may seem pro football's world series takes place the first week of the 1950 season as the cleveland browns champions of the all-american conference take on the defending kingpins of the nfl the philadelphia 85 000 fans gets a thrill in the opening period as cleveland's don phelps has long gone on a 70-yard scamper to the end zone the opening minute set the tone for a game in which the browns in a word overwhelmed the complacent and unprepared eagles the vaunted eagle defense proved no match for the brown's aggressive passing game cleveland attacked with such lightning efficiency that its effect on the eagles was akin to shellshock the browns rendered the eagles into a trance-like state as ball carriers bounced off of day's tacklers for big gains in perhaps the greatest team debut in sports history the browns route of the world champions stunningly demonstrated they were not only worthy of the nfl but they would be a giant of the league for years to come not bad for a bush league team with a high school coach this was a great football team and paul brown will go down in history as one of the great all-time nfl coaches and the cleveland browns were for real and we found this up 30 years after that first game the 1980 cleveland browns made history of their own winning their division by playing beat the clock each week now because of this exciting heart-stopping brand of comeback football they became nationally known as the cardiac kids are we going to go down to the wire or are we going to go down to the wire yeah why not done it all year it is coming down to the final nail-biting second time to get nervous cardiac kids are at it again and work your way right into that in 1979 and 1980 the cleveland browns prepared for each game in much the same manner as the teams they were about to play however the results they achieved with the game on the line in the final seconds were something that nobody could have prepared for we can win it it's going to be a dog fight and we know that it literally can come down the very last play of the game and regardless of what happens just hang in there together 52 seconds to play and the cardiac kids are at work today site back to throw he throws it in the end zone it is a touchdown cleveland with 52 particularly at the end of the game if you give me four downs to throw in those we can throw on fourth down uh i'm gonna i'm gonna complete one of those and make a first down so particularly at the end of the game like that i'm gonna be throwing all the time we're in sudden death back to throw cyprus looks and throws it deep to rocker he's open touchdown it's over richie rucker i don't think that brown's team ever panicked so many games came down to the last two minutes and we were extremely confident we were almost cocky in terms of what we felt like we could do and it was a combination of excellent play quarterback with bryan site and a number of receivers who just enjoyed being in situations like that during two dazzling seasons the browns won 14 games in the final two minutes or in overtime cleveland constantly stretched their abilities and the sense of humor of their head coach to the limits you have two timeouts in overtime there's no carrot you have two pittsburgh heads too do we get anything to eat we'll get that kneecape each week sam rotigliano reviewed game films that had more improbable twists and turns than a hollywood movie what we do best is throwing a football and beside anything else that you would do would be increasingly boring in 1980 the cleveland bronze were a lot of things but boring was never one of them this team was exciting even when they lost brown's lead by one point framer to throw there goes the alley-oop deflected however the browns won more games than they lost at the wire come on baby one time one time one time baby one time one time clock down to 34 seconds oh it's time to get nervous skype third and 20. throwing to logan he got it on the 20. touchdown dave logan i don't believe it cleveland's ability to beat the clock earned them 11 victories and appropriately they won the afc central division championship on the last play of the last game of the regular season this emotional rollercoaster lifted the browns into the afc playoffs where they would host the oakland raiders on a sunday better suited for penguins late in the fourth quarter the browns desperately needed one more miracle i can remember in the huddle of the final drive of the raider game it was virtually the same as it had been the entire year we knew we were going to win i mean we there was no doubt in anybody's mind that we were going to go down and score starting on their own 14-yard line the browns raced the clock battled the raiders and fought off the freezing elements in one last gallant attempt to rescue victory so cleveland rolled to the raider 13-yard line but though they needed only a field goal to win the browns elected to roll the dice one final time that's not right the red spot right fx say 88. the ball on the 13-yard line of the raiders who lead 14-12 but with cleveland needing only a field goal the browns appear to be in the driver's seat an electrifying season had come to a shocking end in the years to follow the comeback magic that once made the cleveland bronze one of pro football's best in the crunch never returned if you look at what happened in 1980 without question we lived in the crunch it turned out we died in the crunch you

Channel: Sports Odyssey

Views: 585

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: rpNKF_0iIhw

Length: 42min 32sec (2552 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 21 2020