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November 24, 2017The rules for today are quite simple. Feel free to play along here in the comments or on social media as every Cleveland Browns fan can be thankful for any positive memory that can be shared on this holiday weekend. Just write 100 to 300 words about your favorite Browns post-1999 victory. Include a YouTube video of the game or highlights at the end if you can find one so that we can all share in memories that might have faded a bit after watching the current iteration redefine losing streaks.
If possible, please try to find a unique win from what others have posted. Ah heck, it’s hard enough to find a Browns win anymore. Feel free to add onto the game descriptions we have below with any memories you had about it too.
We’ll go first…
Bode:
Browns 20, Ravens 3
September 12, 2004
In some circles,1 the Browns victory over the Ravens in 2004 is known as the Dodo Bird Game. In the rarest of feats, the Browns claimed victory in Week 1 of a season. As WFNY has cataloged, the victory is the ONLY time the Browns have begun a season 1-0 since returning to the NFL in 1999. Jeff Garcia would start his only season at quarterback for the Browns by rushing and throwing for a touchdown (Quincy Morgan 46 yard bomb!) and being efficient with the football as the defense dominated the Ravens offense.2 After forcing punts on seven of their first eight possessions, the Browns would take the ball away on the last three when the Kyler Boller led team was desperate to force the action. One of those takeaways being on a fumble by Boller after back-to-back sacks by Kenard Lang, who finished with three.
The game was so magnificent because it was a mirror image of so many brutal contests the Browns have lost. They faced a hated division rival, dominated them in all phases of the game, and pulled away late when the Ravens got desperate. It was beautiful. Then again, if it’s not on YouTube, then did it actually happen? No video evidence seems to exist for the Dodo Bird Game, which is fitting.
via clevelandbrowns.com
Gerbs: In 2008, I was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attending Bible school. I had moved 1,000 miles away from my family and any support system I had had previously. Living with a roommate I barely knew, in an apartment we could barely afford, working a job I didn’t necessarily like, going to school four-to-five hours a day. I was desperate for something from home, and on my birthday, October 13th, I got to watch my beloved Cleveland Browns play on national television. Browns games don’t come on that often in Oklahoma, where high school games are played in 20,000 seat stadiums and college games are even crazier, so I was ecstatic to watch my boys take on reigning world champion Giants. It was going to be a butt whooping, but I didn’t care. Little did I know, it would be a butt whooping…but for the Giants. I don’t remember much of the game, the years have faded away much of the play by play, but I somehow knew I could count on the Browns to give me the best birthday present I could get: a win.
Gage:
Browns 29, Titans 28
October 5, 2014
A Will family tradition was born in 2013. My father, brothers, and I would venture to one Browns away game each year. The first trip was a cold, meaningless loss to the Steelers in which Rob Chudzinski rode the bus home jobless. We vowed to make the next trip a warmer, earlier occasion. We settled on Nashville in early October. Entering the contest off a bye week and with a 1-2 record with two losses by a field goal, the 2014 Browns were primed for an interesting game against a poor Titans team starting Jake Locker. The Browns Brownsed early, permitting the hapless Titans to take a 28-3 lead in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the fifty something year old man in front of us decked out in a Titans jersey, under armour pants and sleeves, wide receiver gloves, and titan blue face paint was borderline insufferable with his first down motions. It looked like yet another colossal Brownsian disaster. When Locker found Justin Hunter for a 75 yard touchdown to balloon the lead to 25, all hope seemed lost. The Browns countered with a quick 90 yard scoring drive to make the score seem a little more reasonable heading into halftime. The second half is still a collective blur. The Browns had two third quarter drives stall out on downs deep in Tennessee territory, with the second leading to a Tank Carder blocked punt for a safety. At 28-15, the ready-to-play Titans fan in front of us was nervously pacing, and much, much quieter. Two Travis Benjamin touchdown receptions from Brian Hoyer later, the Browns had somehow clutched victory from the jaws of defeat, in a nice change of pace. While descending the the ramps to leave what was then LP Field, Browns fans took over the volume level with Brian Hoyer chants and choruses. The experience was surreal and the short-lived Hoyer legend was born.
Joe:
Browns 24 Falcons 16
December 29, 2002
Run, William, Run! Those were the words of Browns radio play-by-play announcer Jim Donovan in the Browns game clinching play that resulted in the Browns final regular season win of the 2002 season, which also catapulted them into the playoffs with some help from around the league. The game had it all. Michael Vick, a big run play, a goal line stand and playoffs on the line. The Browns were up 17-16 with around four minutes to play. The Browns needed to run the clock out to seal the win. On a 2nd-and-3, quarterback Kelly Holcomb handed the ball off to the much-maligned William Green. Green, though, was the hero in this circumstance, taking the handoff and running 64 yards to the endzone. But, even with this momentous play, as Browns fans, most knew that the game was not over from there and it was not. The Falcons, behind quarterback Michael Vick, marched down the field to get into a 1st-and-goal situation from the four yard line. Though, this would not be another named loss for the Browns. The defense stood strong and halted the Falcons from scoring on four straight plays, cementing the win.
But, the win was only the first part. I then remember following on my radio the New York Jets versus Green Bay Packers game. I remember rooting for Chad Pennington and Jets and being so happy that the Browns were finally reaching the playoffs, the first time I could fully appreciate a playoff game in my lifetime. It was the first time the Browns made the playoffs since 1994. It was one of my favorite moments in my life as a Browns fan.
Jake:
Browns 21 Saints 16
October 31, 1999
There have been more important wins, that’s for sure. But to me, there hasn’t been a win I remember more than this one. I was too young to truly understand the Browns move after 1995 and what it meant to everyone. I knew people were upset, but I was too sheltered in central Ohio to understand the true ramifications. I struggled the next three season to find a team to follow, then they came back. I had my rooting interest back as I was coming into an age when I was falling in love with the game and cared about it more than ever. Then they drafted Tim Couch and I was hooked for good.
I was so excited for NFL football again that I could really care about. I can’t quite put that into words. After the initial honeymoon period wore off, things were bleak for the 99′ Browns. I was beyond excited to have the Browns back, don’t get me wrong, but after starting 0-7, I didn’t find my young self too enthralled about going 0-16. It seemed all to plausible that this destiny was happening. Enter Tim Couch and Kevin Johnson to save my football life, and provide as memorable a win as I can remember seeing in my young life.
The Browns, who finished 2-14, and the Saints, who finished 3-13, were in the midst of an ugly mid-season battle between two really bad teams. Midway through the third quarter the Browns had a 14-10 lead, but two Saints field goals–the final one with 21 seconds left–put the Saints up 16-14. Then a miracle happened in the final seconds. Kevin Johnson found his way to the receiving end of a last-second 58-yard Hail Mary from Tim Couch to give the Cleveland Browns their first victory in 1,409 days, a 21-16 win over New Orleans on this date, Oct. 31, in 1999. It was the first win for the new Browns, and I feel in love all over again.
9 Comments
I’m with Joe. That Falcons game with the goal-line stand at the end is my fave as well. When the defense ran off the field with their arms upraised after holding Atlanta and the crowd was going nuts, it was just like the old days. But since that one’s taken, I’ll take a game strictly for the personal experience I had.
Oct. 28, 2012
Browns 7, Chargers 6
It was a dark and stormy night. Well, actually, it was a cold, rainy, and miserable Sunday afternoon. A buddy and I had lower-deck seats on the 2-yard line down on the GPODAWUND end. Did I mention it was cold and miserable? And wet?
Rookie Trent Richardson scored on a 26-yard run on the Browns first possession. That was back when we thought he was good (122 yards on 24 carries that day). And that was it. San Diego got a couple of FGs along the way, and it was 7-6 going into the fourth quarter.
But obviously, the memorable thing wasn’t the game itself, it was how soaked we were. My buddy bailed at some point in the third quarter and watched the rest of the game in one of the stadium’s bars. I love the mental challenge of overcoming the elements, so I remained in my seat getting drenched. The view was good, however, as there weren’t too many folks left in front of me.
When the rain turned to sleet in the fourth quarter, I did relent and climbed to the top of my section, where the top three or so rows are under a little bit of cover. But then in a little while the guy whose seat I was in returned, and so it was back to my seat for the rest of the game.
Afterward, we walked back to my car at W. 6th and Superior. Thoroughly soaked. But I know the Chargers felt worse all day than I did.
Good times.
so funny that in ’08 our QB was Derek Anderson and the Giants’ was … Eli, who’s still there.
I know what you’re doing and why, guys, but cannot play along. It just supports the Haslam Despicable Complex, albeit indirectly. No, until competence again reigns I will note what is. I will attend the parade should it happen, But cannot reach into the bag marked “Warm/Fuzzy” while the next round IED’s in this latest battle of dunces are still being planted by the principal ninkompoops.
sure, sure. but, take the long weekend off and enjoy yourself for a bit.
Well if the Thursday night against the yinzers and Run William Run are off the board, then I’m going with one I was there for in person:
Browns 34 Bengals 17
October 17, 2004
Not only did we put up 34 and double up the kitties in a Battle of Ohio, but we were fun doing it. Four—four!—touchdowns, including a 59 yarder from Lee Suggs and, to open the scoring that day, a 99 yard strike from Jeff Garcia to Andre Davis. Phil Dawson was Phil Dawson. The team moved to 3-0 on the season at home, and Chad “Not Yet Ochocinco” Johnson was left looking foolish for sending the Browns DBs bottles of Pepto in the days leading up to the game. A younger, far more foolish me thought maybe every game I flew back to Cleveland for could be like this.
https://youtu.be/pD9NVjQos1g
The snow bowl against the Bills in 2007. It was a blizzard and you could barely see. Plus I was 10 rows from the field. The Browns were still contending for the playoffs until they pulled a Browns and blew it the next week.
I was at that Titans game in ’14 too. Seemed like there were more Browns fans in attendance than Titans – especially at the end!