rich4eagle Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 1964 Cleveland Browns When All The World was Brownstown............what a year 1964! After the great start in 1963 and weak ending the 1964 season started with modest expectations as the Browns had now missed playing a Championship game six years in a row. Unheard OF! Blanton Collier however had solidified his position as head coach and the fine season of Frank Ryan in 1963 finally solidified the QB position and of course they had the great Jim Brown(coming off his greatest year ever) and his running mate Ernie Green. Two super things happened in the 1964 draft. They drafted Paul Warfield with the first pick and little known Leroy Kelly with the eight round pick. Those who ever watched the game and understand it know that Paul Warfield was one of the greatest WR's to ever play the game. Warfield was a TD machine with a career average of 19 yards a catch who blocked like a linebacker and leaped like a high jumper. In fact he was an Olympic broad jumper. Kelly was a special teams player that year. The table was set for an offensive powerhouse in 1964....and wow was it! Gary Collins, Paul Warfield at WR and Johnny Brewer at TE and the tandem of Jim Brown and Ernie Green at RB. Jim Brown gained 1442 yards and averaged 5.2 yards a carry but only scored nine TD's as Collins scored 8 and Warfield 9 and amazingly Ernie Green scored the most 10 TD's as the Offense rolled all year scoring 50 TD's. The offensive line was Dick Schafrath at LT, John Wooten at LG, John Morrow at C, Gene Hickerson at RG, and John Brown at RT The defense was called the rubber band defense bending but never breaking. They had two excellent pass rushing ends in Bill Glass and Paul Wiggin. The DT's were Jim Kanicki and Dick Modzelewski. The linebackers were Jim Houston OL, Vince Costello MLB, and Galen Fiss OL. The dbs were CB's Bernie Parrish and Walter Beach. The Safeties were Bobby Franklin and Larry Benz An interesting tidbit was the Browns gave up more first downs (275) than they achieved (255) and were outgained 337 yds per game to 320 yds per game. But they were a scoring machine putting up 415 points in those 14 games and allowing 293 thus the bend don't break. The offense was just explosive. Check out the scores of the games...........the season started beating the Redskins 27-13 and then an offensive shootout 33-33 tie with the St. Louis Cardinals, then a 28-20 win at Philadelphia, then smacking the Cowboys around 27-6. Next was the rival Steelers at home on Saturday night...the first ever night game on Saturday....a Modell innovation before 80,000 fans looking for win number four. What a shocker, the Steelers John Henry Johnson, who was a bruiser of a running back much like Kevin Mack, ran over the Browns for over 200 yards and the Browns suffered a terrible 23-7 loss. It would be the worst loss of the season......... The Browns then reeled off five straight wins.....whipping in succession at Dallas 20-16, the Giants 42-20, at Pittsburgh 30-17, Washington 34-24, and the Lions 37-21. They were racking up big numbers of points weekly. With the record now 8-1-1 they went to Green Bay and lost to the Packers 28-21. Then they beat the Eagles 38-21, lost at St. Louis 19-28 and then in the crucial season ending game massacring the defending Eastern Champ Giants 52-20 finishing the season 11-3-1. Thus winning the Eastern Division of NFL and earning the right to play the vaunted Baltimore Colts in the NFL Championship game. On a cloudy day, the game started out a defensive struggle as the two best offensive teams in football scored zero points in the first half. The Colts offense was even better than the Browns, they set an NFL scoring record in regular season. Lou Groza, the kickoff kicker and field goal kicker and Browns great repeatedly made the tackle downfield on the kickoffs something you will never see again. In the second half, the Browns offense went into high gear, Jim Brown ran wild and Frank Ryan repeatedly connected downfield on passes and hit Gary Collins three times for TD passes. Groza kicked two field goals. The Defense went out of body from bend don't break all year to terrorizing Johnny Unitas and vaunted Baltimore offense. The defense was lead by Galen Fiss who played the greatest game of his career in the biggest game of his career. The picture of his smashing Unitas on one play is a landmark Browns photo. When the overcast day ended the uniforms were dirty and the beloved Browns were World Champs by a score of 27-0. I was one happy young man. The greatest game of a lifetime. The Browns combined a perfect half of offensive performance with complete domination and defensive shutout. What a day. BTW, that score 27-0 was the last time the NFL Championship game ended in a shutout including all the Super Bowls. The Browns were indeed an offensive juggernaut...........and to this day I still believe that opposed to popular opinion in the end it is offense that wins championships. I cannot tell you how many times that year the Browns offense answered every time an opponent took a lead or threatened for a lead. see ya…..we need déjà vu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUNSofSTEEL08 Posted November 27, 2008 Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 BTW, that score 27-0 was the last time the NFL Championship game ended in a shutout including all the Super Bowls. {quote} So that is the Date the NFL Ice Age ended !!! Thanks dude is had always wondered about that ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich4eagle Posted November 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 Well, thanks, and I must admit the story was quite good and totally accurate and it is quizzical that a Steeler dude was the only response to date. But yes indeed NO NFL Championship Game ended in a shutout since the great 1964 Browns waxed the vaunted record setting offense of the Baltimore Colts and that is what it is and it is indeed a great piece of football history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUNSofSTEEL08 Posted November 27, 2008 Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 Very True...You guys ruled the Roost BIG Time back in the Day !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darubes Posted November 27, 2008 Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 1964 Cleveland Browns When All The World was Brownstown............what a year 1964! After the great start in 1963 and weak ending the 1964 season started with modest expectations as the Browns had now missed playing a Championship game six years in a row. Unheard OF! Blanton Collier however had solidified his position as head coach and the fine season of Frank Ryan in 1963 finally solidified the QB position and of course they had the great Jim Brown(coming off his greatest year ever) and his running mate Ernie Green. Two super things happened in the 1964 draft. They drafted Paul Warfield with the first pick and little known Leroy Kelly with the eight round pick. Those who ever watched the game and understand it know that Paul Warfield was one of the greatest WR's to ever play the game. Warfield was a TD machine with a career average of 19 yards a catch who blocked like a linebacker and leaped like a high jumper. In fact he was an Olympic broad jumper. Kelly was a special teams player that year. The table was set for an offensive powerhouse in 1964....and wow was it! Gary Collins, Paul Warfield at WR and Johnny Brewer at TE and the tandem of Jim Brown and Ernie Green at RB. Jim Brown gained 1442 yards and averaged 5.2 yards a carry but only scored nine TD's as Collins scored 8 and Warfield 9 and amazingly Ernie Green scored the most 10 TD's as the Offense rolled all year scoring 50 TD's. The offensive line was Dick Schafrath at LT, John Wooten at LG, John Morrow at C, Gene Hickerson at RG, and John Brown at RT The defense was called the rubber band defense bending but never breaking. They had two excellent pass rushing ends in Bill Glass and Paul Wiggin. The DT's were Jim Kanicki and Dick Modzelewski. The linebackers were Jim Houston OL, Vince Costello MLB, and Galen Fiss OL. The dbs were CB's Bernie Parrish and Walter Beach. The Safeties were Bobby Franklin and Larry Benz An interesting tidbit was the Browns gave up more first downs (275) than they achieved (255) and were outgained 337 yds per game to 320 yds per game. But they were a scoring machine putting up 415 points in those 14 games and allowing 293 thus the bend don't break. The offense was just explosive. Check out the scores of the games...........the season started beating the Redskins 27-13 and then an offensive shootout 33-33 tie with the St. Louis Cardinals, then a 28-20 win at Philadelphia, then smacking the Cowboys around 27-6. Next was the rival Steelers at home on Saturday night...the first ever night game on Saturday....a Modell innovation before 80,000 fans looking for win number four. What a shocker, the Steelers John Henry Johnson, who was a bruiser of a running back much like Kevin Mack, ran over the Browns for over 200 yards and the Browns suffered a terrible 23-7 loss. It would be the worst loss of the season......... The Browns then reeled off five straight wins.....whipping in succession at Dallas 20-16, the Giants 42-20, at Pittsburgh 30-17, Washington 34-24, and the Lions 37-21. They were racking up big numbers of points weekly. With the record now 8-1-1 they went to Green Bay and lost to the Packers 28-21. Then they beat the Eagles 38-21, lost at St. Louis 19-28 and then in the crucial season ending game massacring the defending Eastern Champ Giants 52-20 finishing the season 11-3-1. Thus winning the Eastern Division of NFL and earning the right to play the vaunted Baltimore Colts in the NFL Championship game. On a cloudy day, the game started out a defensive struggle as the two best offensive teams in football scored zero points in the first half. The Colts offense was even better than the Browns, they set an NFL scoring record in regular season. Lou Groza, the kickoff kicker and field goal kicker and Browns great repeatedly made the tackle downfield on the kickoffs something you will never see again. In the second half, the Browns offense went into high gear, Jim Brown ran wild and Frank Ryan repeatedly connected downfield on passes and hit Gary Collins three times for TD passes. Groza kicked two field goals. The Defense went out of body from bend don't break all year to terrorizing Johnny Unitas and vaunted Baltimore offense. The defense was lead by Galen Fiss who played the greatest game of his career in the biggest game of his career. The picture of his smashing Unitas on one play is a landmark Browns photo. When the overcast day ended the uniforms were dirty and the beloved Browns were World Champs by a score of 27-0. I was one happy young man. The greatest game of a lifetime. The Browns combined a perfect half of offensive performance with complete domination and defensive shutout. What a day. BTW, that score 27-0 was the last time the NFL Championship game ended in a shutout including all the Super Bowls. The Browns were indeed an offensive juggernaut...........and to this day I still believe that opposed to popular opinion in the end it is offense that wins championships. I cannot tell you how many times that year the Browns offense answered every time an opponent took a lead or threatened for a lead. see ya…..we need déjà vu I remember the game vividly. Gary Collins beat Bobby Boyd on several post patters and the picture of Galen Fiss nailing Unitas is a classic. Fiss would have been penalized if he made that hit today. He hit him will a double forearm to to chops. The Browns were a physical team then unlike the modern version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich4eagle Posted November 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 Yeah that picture of Fiss hammering Unitas was used for years.........he played the greatest game of career that day...........and yep those post patterns were so cool..........especially with the goal posts on the goal line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.