Garrett Situation Just Gets Stranger

The longer the NFL off-season goes, the weirder and weirder the situation with the Cleveland Browns gets. On Friday it was reported that owner Jimmy Haslam refused to meet with All-Pro DE Myles Garrett.

Now, we understand organizational hierarchy and if say, Greg Newsome asked to meet with the owner, the request should be turned down and have the player talk to GM Andrew Berry.

But it is also true that superstars get different treatment, so to us, when the best defensive player the franchise has had in 65 years asks to meet with the owner, we think he has earned that right.

Now, let’s also remember right now, we would do exactly what the Browns are doing with Garrett, which is nothing. And to repeat what we’ve written before; we would let the situation play out throughout the summer and see what transpires.

We have also maintained the Browns need to fix this situation, and really, there’s only one person who can do that, Jimmy Haslam.

We know what has been published about Garrett’s issues with the Browns, but it is all in general terms. He doesn’t like the direction of the franchise; he doesn’t want to go through a rebuilding process. Those are generalities.

What exactly does he want? To repeat, if he wants Berry gone, we’d do it. Heck, he might want the Browns to change how they select players, feeling they need more guys who eat, drink, and breathe football.

He may also have some ridiculous demands, things the organization simply cannot agree to, and they will have to agree there is an impasse.

Remember that Garrett has no leverage. He is under contract for two more years and then the Browns can use the franchise tag for two more seasons. His only option is to retire, something older supporters of the team can relate to (see Jim Brown 1966).

We still think there is a solution that can be reached, but the way to do it is through communication. Garrett obviously feels more comfortable with speaking directly to the man who signs his checks, and perhaps, as some have pointed out, one of his issues is the GM, the guy Haslam wants him to talk to.

It would be kind of an odd dynamic if Garrett spoke to Berry and said, “yeah, I think you are pretty terrible at your job”.

Our gut feeling is Garrett has an issue with the leadership of the franchise, as in, he doesn’t know who is leading it.

Players know more than people give them credit for. We are sure the players looked at replacing Alex Van Pelt and Stump Mitchell and figure Kevin Stefanski didn’t really want to do that. So that creates a problem for the head coach.

Our other comment is about Garrett seeming to be putting more and more heat on the Browns. They literally could not have done anything yet. The league year doesn’t begin until this week. This leads us to believe the defensive end’s issue is with the front office.

He doesn’t trust them and frankly, most of the fans don’t either.

The Browns can talk about a collaborative process and a chain of command, but the man who can repair things with Myles Garrett is the man who doesn’t want to meet with him.

We will repeat what we said a couple of weeks ago. Fix it!

Browns Should Make Note. Running The Ball Is Getting Back In Vogue

Today’s NFL is a quarterback driven league. The stars of football are the guys who throw the football…Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud, Brock Purdy, etc.

They are in commercials and are recognized on a first name basis.

However, we saw over the weekend in the playoff’s divisional round that the running game is still important too. The Eagles beat the Rams behind 285 yards on the ground, led by Saquon Barkley, who gained 205 yards, while the Bills and Ravens played another “old school” game.

Buffalo ran for 147 yards (Josh Allen had just 127 yards through the air), while the Ravens ground it out for 176 running the ball.

As we all know, the Cleveland Browns need a quarterback, but perhaps they can lessen the reliance for getting their guy if they can develop an elite running game.

It is interesting to note of the top ten teams in running the football this past season, many made the playoffs: Baltimore was 1st, the Eagles and Commanders, who play in the NFC Championship game this Sunday, rank 2nd and 3rd.

Out of the balance of the top ten, all but three teams (Cardinals, Colts, and Falcons) made the post season, and even those teams all finished at 8-9. Running the ball keeps you competitive.

The year before, the Ravens (13-4) led the NFL in rushing, and five of the top ten teams in running the ball made the playoffs.

Makes it even more curious the Browns got away from running the football in 2024.

We still agree the Browns should use the second overall pick in this spring’s draft on a quarterback. Why? Primarily because the rest of the Cleveland roster is talented enough that the likelihood of the franchise picking this high again isn’t probably great. You have a chance to take one of the two best QBs coming into the league, so do it.

But there is no question Kevin Stefanski and the front office can lessen the burden on the rookie or preferably the veteran they will bring in as a stop gap until the rookie is ready but getting back to his offensive roots and running the football.

Besides, and we have said this before, running the ball is in the franchise’s DNA, the legacy of the franchise starts with Marion Motley, Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and leads all the way to Nick Chubb.

Use the Eagles as the model. They ranked 29th in passing yards this season and are playing Sunday with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Is that model sustainable? Probably not, but it does buy time for whoever Cleveland drafts to get used to the NFL game and become a productive NFL QB.

While the Browns’ defense may not be at the level of the 2023 season, that side of the football is still pretty good. Rebuilding the offensive line and drafting a solid running back so you move the football and protect the quarterback isn’t the worst idea.

And it might just speed up the clock to getting back to being a playoff team. We would all love to have Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jackson, etc. at the helm for the Browns. That doesn’t mean the organization should just give up if they don’t have one of those guys.

This QB Looked A Lot Like The One Who Started The Year For Browns

The ugly season authored by the Cleveland Browns continued on Sunday with another abysmal offensive performance in a 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Queen City dropping their record to 3-12.

It was the 10th time this season the Browns failed to gain 300 yards of total offense. Of the five games they exceeded that total, Jameis Winston was at the controls in four of them.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was the starting quarterback and frankly, the offense looked a lot like it did in the first seven games with Deshaun Watson at the helm. He was skittish in the pocket, looked to escape very early, not giving receivers a chance, and of course, running himself into sacks.

The game started promising for the Browns as Jerome Ford ripped off a 66-yard run on the game’s very first play. But true to the Ken Dorsey offense, Ford carried just nine more times on the day, gaining 92 yards on the ground as Cleveland felt the need to have a very inexperienced QB throw 34 passes.

The Browns rank 28th in rushing attempts and 27th in yardage this season, which is by far the worst ranking for any offense coordinated or guided as a head coach by Kevin Stefanski.

Until last year, his teams were always in the top ten in rushing, and last season finished 12th and that was with Nick Chubb being injured in the second game of the year.

And when you think about it, the identity of the Cleveland Browns is the running game, tough, physical football. The greatest running back in the history of the game, Jim Brown, played here.

So did Marion Motley, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both gained 1000 yards in the same season, and of course, Chubb has been one of the best runners of the last 10-15 years of NFL football.

It’s in the DNA to run the ball in Cleveland, and currently the Browns have an offensive coordinator who doesn’t like to run the ball.

Apparently, Stefanski’s success of running the football and using the play action pass didn’t figure into the decision in choosing the offensive coordinator because their ideas on offense seem to be at odds with each other.

To us, the first step to making this football team respectable when it has the football is to go back to the identity of the franchise and what the head coach clearly likes to do, and that is establish a solid running attack.

Back to Sunday’s loss. After that opening run by Ford, the Browns got no points because D’Onta Foreman fumbled on the one-yard line, presumably his last carry as a member of the brown and orange.

Cleveland’s biggest weapon of late, WR Jerry Jeudy was made useless by the switch in quarterbacks from Winston to Thompson-Robinson, who mostly dinked and dunked with short passes to Ford and David Njoku.

The turnover issues didn’t end with Winston’s benching as DTR threw two, and his career ratio now stands at one touchdown and nine picks in 180 attempts. We think we can all see he is not a legitimate starter in the NFL.

Congratulations to Myles Garrett on getting his 100th sack of his illustrious career. The front office has work to do in rebuilding this roster quick so Garrett will want to remain a Brown.

And of course, Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point, his only kick of the day. His confidence is clearly shaken, and he should not be kicking any more this year.

Not that these last two games really matter. It will be interesting to see at what point Stefanski pulls the plug on the DTR experience and goes to Bailey Zappe.

Merry Christmas! The Browns don’t play until Sunday!

RIP To The Greatest. #32

On Friday, the sports world and northeast Ohio lost a legend. Jim Brown, the greatest running back in the history of the NFL passed away.

We can only remember one season of Brown’s unbelievable career, his last season of 1965. That year, he led the NFL defending champs back to the title game, losing to Green Bay in a mud bowl 23-12. We watched that game in color, at a time when no one had colored televisions.

Brown was dominant in ’65, winning his eighth rushing title in his nine years in the league, gaining 1544 yards. He gained 677 more yards than his next closest competitor, the great Gale Sayers, who rushed for 867.

He was the NFL MVP that season.

Famously, he went to make the movie, The Dirty Dozen, in the off-season and when filming took long, and he missed the start of training camp, the Cleveland owner, who will not be named here, gave him an ultimatum. Brown simply retired. In his prime.

When Brown left pro football, he was the all-time leading rusher with his 12,312 yards. The great 49er runner, Joe Perry was second at 9,723. Now Brown is 11th, but there is still one rushing statistic the incomparable Brown still is the all-time leader.

Brown AVERAGED 104.3 yards rushing per game. No one in the history of the NFL has ever done that. The closest is Barry Sanders at 99.8. Nick Chubb, a player beloved by the current fan base in northeast Ohio and rightly so, because we recognize a great runner when we see one, comes in 9th all-time with 84.5 yards per game.

We believe Jim Brown is the greatest football player ever. And we say that because quarterback for us should be in a separate category. Tom Brady is the greatest QB ever, but does anyone really think he could play another position?

We believe Brown would have been a tremendous linebacker or safety, or tight end, or really, whatever the hell he wanted to be.

We would like to ask people who the greatest lacrosse player ever was, and folks would look quizzically when asked. The answer is most people consider that to be Jim Brown. Imagine being the greatest ever in two sports.

By now, everyone has seen the iconic picture of Brown with Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), Muhammad Ali, former Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes, Brown’s former teammate Bobby Mitchell and several other former teammates to support Ali’s refusal to enter the draft for the war in Vietnam.

That meeting took place on June 4, 1967 in Cleveland at 10501 Euclid Avenue, and was organized by Brown.

We have had many arguments over the years about Brown’s standing in pro football and where he ranks. As we said, we consider him to be the GOAT, the greatest. The only players who we believe come close are Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor.

Brown was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971, meaning he lived 52 years after being inducted, and other inductees say when Brown walks into the room, everyone, and these are the greats of the sport, stand up.

That’s the respect Jim Brown had among his peers.

We know the Browns will spend this season remembering their greatest player. On social media, we thought about putting “32” at the 50-yard line all year and highlighting the 32-yard stripes in brown and orange.

We also thought instead of “BROWNS” in the end zone, how about “BROWN” and putting “Jim” above it. A tribute to the greatest Cleveland football player ever.

It is not often we are sad due to the death of a non-family member or close friend. But sadness is what we felt on Friday. We know Jim Brown had some issues in his personal life and we are not minimizing those problems. But the city of Cleveland lost an icon.

And that makes us sad.

Browns Win, Still Have A Pulse

The Cleveland Browns live for another week.

A loss on Sunday to Tampa Bay would have pretty much put the final nail into the coffin representing the 2022 NFL season, but because David Njoku made a tremendous catch to send the game into overtime and the defense kept Tom Brady off the scoreboard in overtime, the Browns won it in the last minute to go to 4-7.

Now, nothing is for certain because it’s the NFL and you know, “Any Given Sunday”, but with the woeful Texans coming up on the schedule Cleveland should be able to get to 5-7, and then it’s a matter of winning division games if Kevin Stefanski’s squad have any chance at a playoff spot.

Again, the odds are heavily stacked against them, but there still is a chance.

Cleveland was able to win because the Buccaneers decided not to run the ball, probably because they have Tom Brady. In the first half, they had success (most teams do) on the ground, not ended the game with only 96 yards, albeit on just 20 attempts. So, they averaged almost five yards per carry. It was a situation similar to the first 20 minutes of the Buffalo game until the Bills remembered the Browns can’t stop the ground game.

They were able to dial up pressure on Brady in the fourth quarter. Myles Garrett, who some feel (we do not) doesn’t get “important” sacks, came up with one and a half late in the game and also drew a penalty for an offensive lineman having his hands in Garrett’s face.

He came up big in this one for sure.

Oh, and by the way, he now has 68.5 sacks in 78 career games. Since we go by the ProFootballreference.com statistics, that puts him 4th on the team’s all-time list behind Bill Glass (94 games), Clay Matthews (232 games), and Jerry Sherk (147 games).

They won because Martin Emerson played a tremendous game, holding Mike Evans to just two catches for 31 yards.

Last week, Denzel Ward took Stefon Diggs out of the game against Buffalo. Could the defense be beginning to realize their best option is to play man-to-man on outside receivers?

And they won because Nick Chubb was, well, Nick Chubb, gaining 116 yards on 26 carries, including a big run on the game tying drive.

It pushed Chubb over 1000 yards for the four straight year. The last Cleveland runner to do that? Try the GOAT: Jim Brown. He’s now 4th on the Browns’ all-time list behind Brown, Leroy Kelly, and Mike Pruitt. It’s not a stretch to think he could be #2 by the end of next season if he stays healthy.

Cleveland has six games left and likely needs to win all six, or at least five, but then the tiebreakers become an issue, and the Browns don’t have a lot, if any, advantages there.

The three non-divisional games are at Houston (1-9-1), home vs. New Orleans (4-8) and at Washington (7-5). And remember, Deshaun Watson is back for next week. The Browns have the talent to win those games, but the question remains as to whether or not they can.

And of course, there are the three divisional games, with Cleveland already at 2-1 against the AFC North. We know from the past, all of those games will be a dogfight.

It has been a disappointing season to say the least, but now they have their franchise QB back, a guy they committed a boatload of money to, and a player we believe is a top five quarterback in the NFL.

Could the Browns run the table? Probably not, but they have a chance, something they wouldn’t have without Njoku’s catch, Chubb’s running, and a defense that stepped up.

First Step To Help Guardians’ Attendance? Have Fun!

The Cleveland Guardians’ organization is very good in soliciting opinions. As a former season ticket holder (we guess), we are on their mailing list and we get surveys all the time regarding our feelings, usually about the experience at Progressive Field.

We have a confession too. We are probably not the demographic they really want to hear from. At the end of each questionnaire, we are asked for our age. Let’s just say, our favorite player growing up was Sudden Sam McDowell, so we bet our answers go into the “he’s get off my lawn” guy file.

We are often critical about the “game experience” at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, mostly because (we know, this is silly) we go downtown to watch a baseball game.

Most of the surveys have to do with the different types of food or beverages at the ballpark, although recent ones have dealt with the renovations which will occur over the next few years at Progressive Field and the latest had to do with game experience and the franchise name change, a bit late on that one, no?

The attendance for Cleveland baseball spiked under two separate times: The late 90’s when the team was dominant and the Browns did not exist, and the late 1940’s when yes, the franchise won its last World Series (1948) and it was owned by Bill Veeck, who was in touch with things people liked and was willing to take risks.

Many times in sports, the answer is right in front of you.

For instance, the Browns were successful in the late 50’s through 1970 with a running attack led by the great Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. The current edition of the team is following that path with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt (no, we didn’t forget D’Ernest Johnson).

The late 80’s Browns’ defense had two shutdown corners. The current organization is trying to do the same, although it’s a plus having Myles Garrett.

We doubt the Guardians’ front office can put together a lineup with potentially six Hall of Famers (Jim Thome and Eddie Murray are already there, and you can make very good cases for Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, and Omar Vizquel, while Manny Ramirez would be there if not for PEDs), so why not go the Veeck route in an effort to boost attendance.

Veeck spoke to the fans, asked them what they liked and what they didn’t, and then put that into action. Instead of announcing giveaway days and special promotions, he just did them, so fans didn’t know when they showed up if someone special was going to happen or not.

We greeting fans when they arrived and spoke to them as they departed. He was like a host at a party who wanted to make sure everyone had a good time.

We understand Paul Dolan doesn’t seem to be comfortable doing this sort of thing, but he could hire people who can do it.

This is not to say all of the folks who work at Progressive Field are uncaring robots. Many enjoy the people who attend the games, but it has to be universal.

Once you create fun, then allow people to experience it, lower ticket prices, which are among the highest in the sport. Get rid of dynamic ticket prices. Have ticket deals for the times when the weather is less than ideal in Cleveland.

Alternative jerseys? Fans love them, Cleveland hasn’t done this. When was the last time the franchise celebrated a former player by putting them in the team’s Hall of Fame? Those are just simple things? Why doesn’t the organization do them?

We have said it many times over the past few years, there is interest in the major league baseball team here, the television rating show it. Why don’t folks come downtown? That’s what the ownership should be trying to find out?

It’s not rocket science, but it is about fun. Make it fun to attend a Guardians’ game.

Maybe the front office doesn’t know what fun is?

Running The Ball Well Is A Tradition For The Browns

There is a theory that everything comes back into style eventually, and the Cleveland Browns are putting that axiom to the test.

Throughout the late 1950’s through the early 1970’s, the Browns featured a crushing running game. Starting in 1957, when Jim Brown was drafted in the first round, the brown and orange finally shifted from a passing team with Otto Graham at the helm, to a team that dominated on the ground.

They finished second in the NFL in rushing that year (the Rams led the league) and went to the NFL Championship Game, losing to Detroit.

The following season, Cleveland drafted Bobby Mitchell in the 7th round, and the combination of Brown and Mitchell, both Hall of Famers, vaulted Paul Brown’s team to the top of the heap running the football.

Mitchell was traded to Washington prior to the 1962 season, for Heisman Trophy Ernie Davis, who never played for the Browns due to leukemia, and Cleveland dropped in the running game. But outside of the ’62 season, Cleveland was in the top three in running the ball every year Brown was on the roster, until he was forced into retirement (by Art Modell) after the ’65 season.

Their record in that span was never worse than the 7-6-1 mark in ’62. They were always above the .500 mark, and won nine or more games (in a 14 game slate) five times.

When Brown retired, Leroy Kelly picked up the slack, and Cleveland led the NFL in running the football in 1966 and 1967, and finished third in the league in ’68. They won nine, nine, and ten games in those seasons.

That’s a 12 year period where the Cleveland Browns had a devastating ground attack. And they were winners.

Now, let’s flash ahead to 2020. The Browns are currently third in the league again in running the football, behind just the Patriots (2-1) and Green Bay (3-0). Note the Packers are running the ball even though they have perhaps the game’s best passer, Aaron Rodgers behind center.

Cleveland features Nick Chubb, who finished second in the NFL in rushing yards a year ago, and Kareem Hunt, who led the league in the same category with Kansas City in 2017.

Chubb trails the current leader, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry by 27 yards this season, despite the latter having 31 more carries in the first three games of this season.

Hunt is 13th in the NFL and none of the players he trails have less carries than he does, as Hunt only averages 13 carries per contest.

So, Cleveland has two of the top 13 runners in terms of yardage after three games. The only other team with two players in the top 20 is the Arizona Cardinals, who have Kenyan Drake (9th) and their quarterback, Kyler Murray (18th).

We know that new coach Kevin Stefanski has always been a proponent of running the football during his time as an offensive assistant in Minnesota, but the franchise is also reaching into its past as to what was successful when the Browns were an NFL power. And this may come as a shock to those under 30 years old, but they really were on of the best teams in the NFL from 1950-1972.

And let’s not forget where the Browns play. When it gets cold and the weather is less than ideal in November and December, this offense should still be effective, and it also takes pressure off the defense, because they should be able to control the clock.

People say you should learn from history. Finally, someone in the Cleveland organization looked at the proud tradition of running the ball in northeast Ohio and has decided it’s a good idea.

It may lead to winning football again, and that would be a welcome sight.

Retired Numbers Should Be For The Elite.

With Tristan Thompson perhaps (probably) playing his last game as a Cleveland Cavalier because the NBA season for the wine and gold is over, the subject of retired numbers came up regarding the franchise, and we wanted to weigh in with our thoughts.

First, let’s clarify a few rules. Much like Hall of Fame debates, you cannot use the fact that someone’s number has been retired and shouldn’t have as an argument to retire a number.

For example, Nate Thurmond’ s number was retired by Cleveland even though the big man played a shade of a season (114 games total) with the Cavs. That shouldn’t justify anyone else who played that short of time with the team having their number hanging from the rafters.

Second, a player should play the majority of his career with the team who is retiring his number. So, people who want the Indians to retire C.C. Sabathia’s number would be on the wrong side of this argument.

The lefty pitched here for eight seasons, but spent 11 seasons in pinstripes.

In our opinion, retiring a players’ number should be reserved for the elitist of players, the crème de la crème if you will.

So, Thompson will likely fit the longevity factor, but although he was a key piece of the squads that went to four straight NBA Finals, he’s never been an elite player. Heck, he’s never made an All Star team.

One of the reason’s the Cavs have so many uniform numbers retired was to draw people to games when they had bad records.

Austin Carr? He deserves the honor. He’s 6th all time in games played and still ranks 4th in points scored, and he was the franchise’s first marquee player. He’s called Mr. Cavalier, and with good reason.

Mark Price was the first Cleveland player to make first team All-NBA, and made four all star appearances, his teammate, Brad Daugherty, made five all star appearances.

We will agree to them, and of course, LeBron James’ #23 will be honored when his playing days end.

Larry Nance? Played more games with the Suns than with the Cavs (and we loved Nance as a player). And it pains us to say it, because his jersey retirement started bridging the gap between the team and James, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas’s number shouldn’t be retired either.

As for the future, the second clause would keep Kyrie Irving’s number in play, because he likely will play more games for another team than the Cavs.

The Indians got caught in the same attendance driven trap as well, so they started retiring too many numbers.

Obviously, Bob Feller’s #19 should get the honor. He’s the greatest player in the history of the franchise. And we would also agree with Lou Boudreau’s #5, Bob Lemon’s #21, and Jim Thome’s #25 never being worn again.

And Larry Doby’s historical significance, even though he’s ignored nationally, merit’s his #14 being taken out of circulation. The fact he was also a great player makes him even more worthy.

But Earl Averill? Most people outside of Cleveland don’t know who he is, even though he’s in Cooperstown. Mel Harder pitched here a long time, and was very good, but…

Frank Robinson deserves the statue commemorating him as the major league’s first African-American manager, but his number should not be retired in Cleveland. In Baltimore? Absolutely, but not here.

The Browns have retired five jerseys, although the number retirement is less prevalent in the NFL. Iconic players Otto Graham (#14), Lou Groza (#76), and the great Jim Brown (#32) will never have their numbers worn again, and we can understand retiring #45, commemorating the tragic story of Ernie Davis, who passed from leukemia before ever playing with the Browns.

The other retired number is another tragic story, that of Don Fleming (#46), who was a starting safety for Cleveland from 1960-62, and was electrocuted working construction during the off-season in June, 1963.

Our guess is the Browns will be retiring another number soon, when Joe Thomas is elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his #73 will not be worn again.

To us, the jersey retirement should be a very special thing, reserved for the greats of the great for each franchise.

Adding players who aren’t worthy cheapens the honor for those special players.

The Browns Used To Be Good. Real Good.

With no sports on the docket right now, we have become quite nostalgic about the state of Cleveland sports.

Today, we turn our attention to the Cleveland Browns.

Our first remembrances of the Browns was the 1965 season, a year in which, get this, Blanton Collier’s squad were the defending NFL Champions.

At that point in time, the Browns had been in existence for 20 years and had one losing season, a 5-7 mark in 1957. To that point, they had won four NFL and four more AAFC (All American Football Conference) championships.

They were arguably the crown jewel franchise of professional football, something my father said often and with pride.

We remember the ’65 title game, played in the mud at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, with the Browns coming up short, 23-12, in what proved to be Jim Brown’s last game in the NFL.

We watched at an aunt’s house, and she had a color TV, which was rare at the time. Talk about a great memory.

At that time, you won the Conference and you went to the championship game, they did have something called the Playoff Bowl, which matched the second place team in each conference.

Why? Who knows.

Even when the Browns didn’t win the Eastern Conference, they were still very competitive, finishing second three years, usually behind their hated rivals, the New York Giants, and finished third twice.

After dropping the title game to Lombardi’s Packers in ’65, the Browns finished second in ’66 to Dallas, and the following season, the NFL went to a four division set up, and the Browns won three straight Century Division (why? who knows) titles, advancing to the post-season.

They got lambasted 52-14 by Dallas in 1967 in the Eastern Conference playoff, but gained revenge, beating the Cowboys the next two seasons to advance to the NFL title game.

Jim Brown retired, but Leroy Kelly replaced him and became one of the top runners in pro football. Frank Ryan, the QB who led the Browns to their last title, was replaced by Bill Nelsen (acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh, of all teams), and he led Cleveland to within one game of the Super Bowl in ’68 and ’69.

Unfortunately, the Browns weren’t competitive in either contest, losing to the Baltimore Colts 34-0 in the first year, and then to Minnesota 27-7 the following year.

They still had one of the best receivers in the game in Paul Warfield, but the defense was mostly bend, but don’t break.

There was a reason the Browns played in the first Monday Night Football game in 1970. They were good, damn good, and for the most part, year in and year out.

Before that season, with Nelsen aging, the Browns traded Warfield to Miami so they could be in a position to take Purdue QB Mike Phipps, who finished 2nd in the Heisman Trophy voting, and followed NFL stars Len Dawson and Bob Griese in college.

Phipps never became what the Browns envisioned.

Cleveland finished 7-7 in 1970, the first year of the merger when they voted to the AFC to be in the same division as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Houston. For those younger readers, the Browns, Steelers, and Colts agreed to join the existing AFL teams.

Nick Skorich, the new coach, got the aging Browns into the playoffs in ’71 and ’72, the latter year with Phipps at the helm, but they lost to the Colts and the Miami Dolphins (with Warfield and on their way to an undefeated season).

Even then, they never collapsed. Yes, they finished 4-10 in 1975 and 3-11 in 1976, but by ’78, they were a .500 team at 8-8.

By the time the Kardiac Kids had their heyday in 1980, the Browns had played 30 seasons, and had just four losing seasons.

Hard to fathom that right now, isn’t it?