The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
1980 Browns regular season recap
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the “Kardiac Kids,” here’s a look back at the Browns’ regular season of 1980:
SEPT. 1 » Before the Browns play a game, they make a blockbuster trade for Bills All-Pro offensive guard Joe DeLamielleure 15 minutes before the noon trade deadline in exchange for two draft picks.
SEPT. 7» Cleveland opens the season at New England with an ugly 34-17 loss. At one point in the second half, it’s 34-3. For the first time in five seasons, Browns lose their opener, as the defense allows 452 yards.
SEPT. 15» It’s “Monday Night Football” in Cleveland against AFC Central foe Houston Oilers but the Browns again struggle in a 16-7 loss. The 80,243 fans in attendance boo them off the field. Two games in, nothing seems magical about this season.
Adding to the team’s early woes, the Browns’ 1980 second-round pick Cleveland Crosby, a defensive end from Arizona, is released after the Oilers’ loss. “Unless Sipe and Co. prove otherwise, this is going to be boring season,” writes former News-Herald columnist Hal Lebovitz, who at the time was sports editor at The Plain Dealer.
SEPT. 21» It’s the first win of the season at home, a 20-13 victory over Kansas City. Keith Wright’s 50-yard kickoff return jump starts the victory. Later, Wright catches a TD for a 13-6 lead the Browns would not relinquish.
SEPT. 28» The Browns win a shootout at Tampa Bay, 34-27, in 95- degree heat and 74 percent humidity. Before the game, QB Brian Sipe denies rumors of having a sore right arm, then goes out and throws for 318 yards and three TDs. The Browns lead, 31-13, in fourth quarter but a furious rally by Tampa ended when Doug Williams’ pass to Jimmie Giles in-bounds at the Browns’ 15 ended the game. Williams threw for 343 yards and three TDs. Bucs All-Pro defensive end LeRoy Selmon is limited to three tackles by Doug Dieken.
OCT. 5» The Browns lose at home to Denver, 19-16. Trailing by that score with two minutes to play, the Browns — facing fourthand-5 — opt for a 54-yard field goal attempt by Don
Cockroft, but then call a time out. It’s decided to go for it instead, but then after another time out, Cockroft is send back out to attempt the field goal. The kick comes up three yards short.
OCT. 12» The defense, led by future head coach Marty Schottenheimer, has its best game of the year at Seattle in a 27-3 victory. Defensive end Lyle Alzado registers three sacks.
OCT. 19» A 26-21 come-frombehind win at home against Green Bay is the Browns’ most improbable win of the season. Two TDs in the game’s final seven minutes, including a 46-yard pass from Sipe to wide receiver Dave Logan with 25 seconds remaining cause heart palpitations. Sipe finishes with 391 yards and two TD passes.
OCT. 26» The Steelers are without QB Terry Bradshaw, running back Franco Harris and receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallwoth, and linebacker Jack Lambert (all injured) but a win over their rivals is a win over their rivals for the Browns. Final score is 2726, as Sipe has another big game with 349 yards and four TDs. The Browns are in the playoff hunt at 5-3.
NOV. 3» Browns Hall of Fame QB Otto Graham pens a congratulations letter to the team prior to Bears’ MNF game for the win over the Steelers. Sipe enters third on Browns’ all- time passing yards list with 13,236 yards and passes Graham’s previous record of 13,499 on a 22yard pass to Ozzie Newsome in a 27-21 win over the visiting Bears. Mike Pruitt rushes for 129 yards and two TDs. Bears Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton is held to 30 yards on 11 carries, his lowest total since his rookie year in 1975. Linebacker Bill Cowher, starting in place of injured Robert Jackson, leads
the Browns in tackles.
NOV. 9» The Browns storm to a 14-0 lead in rainy conditions en route to a 28-27 win at the Baltimore Colts. At 7-3, Cleveland is tied with the Oilers for first place in the AFC Central.
NOV. 16» The Three Rivers Stadium jinx (the Browns had major struggles there in the 1970s and 80s) strikes again in a 1613 loss at Pittsburgh. Bradshaw, Lambert, Harris and Swann are all back from injury, and Bradshaw’s 3-yard TD pass to Swann with 11 seconds remaining is the game-winner. The Oilers’ win at Chicago puts them in first in the division at 8-3 with Browns and Steelers at 7- 4.
NOV. 23» Sipe throws for 310 yards and four TDs in a rare easy win for the Browns, 317, at Cincinnati. With the Steelers and Oilers losing, the Browns and Houston are 8-4 and tied for the division lead with a showdown looming at the Astrodome.
NOV. 30» Clarence Scott’s interception of a Ken Stabler pass late in the game clinches the 17-14 victory over the host Oilers. For the first time in a decade, the Browns are in sole possession of the division at 9- 4. Upon the team’s arrival at Hopkins Airport, thousands of fans are waiting in the concourse to greet the team. Kardiac Kids mania is at a fever pitch. Longtime employees at the airport say it’s the largest group at Hopkins since 1966, when The Beatles arrived for a concert at Municipal Stadium.
DEC. 7» The visiting 3-10 Jets should provide no resistance for the Browns, right? New York instead leads, 1410, in the fourth quarter but Sipe’s 5-yard TD pass to Greg Pruitt with 9:27 remaining put Cleveland on top, 17-14, and that’s the final. At 10-4, the Browns are first in the AFC Central.
• The “12 Days of Cleveland Browns Christmas” song becomes an instant hit in town, and reportedly sells 40,000 copies. Radio stations play it seemingly non-stop. Another 100,000 45 vinyls are reportedly ordered.
DEC. 14» A 28-23 loss at Minnesota is the most memorable game from the regular season but not for reasons Browns fans like to remember. That’s because Tommy Kramer’s Hail Mary TD pass to Ahmad Rashad on the game’s final play gave the Browns a taste of their own medicine. The Vikings trail, 23-9, in the fourth quarter but score three touchdowns in the final seven minutes to get the stunning victory. Minnesota’s last chance began at their own 20 with 14 seconds remaining. A trick play in which Kramer threw to tight end Joe Senser then lateraled to Ted Brown went for 34 yards to the Browns’ 46 with five seconds on the clock. On the next play, Kramer (456 passing yards, four TD passes) heaves a pass to a mass players, the ball was tipped and fell into the arms of Rashad in the end zone. A win would have put the Browns in the playoffs. Instead, the stunning loss puts the 10- 5 Browns in a situation in which they need to win at Cincinnati to clinch the division and make the playoffs.
DEC. 21» On this day, it was mission accomplished. Sipe, eventually the 1980 NFL MVP with 4,132 passing yards and 30 TDs, throws for 308 yards and three touchdowns, two to Ricky Feacher in the third quarter.
The game wasn’t decided until Cockroft’s 22yard field goal with 1:25 remaining in the game, and a completed pass by the Bengals at the Browns’ 13 ends with :00 on the clock and a 27-24 win.
The Kardiac Kids are 11-5, AFC Central champions and Coach Sam Rutigliano enjoys a victory ride off the field by his players. Cleveland was set to host an AFC divisional playoff game in two weeks. Life as a Browns fan could not be sweeter. That would change in two weeks against the Raiders in the playoffs.