After 11 years, Phil Dawson is only Brown still kickin'

[NewEraDawg]

http://www.cantonrep.com/browns/x882507013...wn-still-kickin

 

The end of another training camp can make the expansion era pass before one’s eyes.

 

Flash back to 1999.

 

There was that surrealistic scene in which Chris Spielman, his spinal column shaken by a freight-train collision with Tarek Saleh, reappeared on the practice turf long after practice, by himself. He walked slowly across the darkening fields, alone with his Cleveland Browns dream that would never be.

 

There was veteran quarterback Ty Detmer, trying to make rookie QB Tim Couch laugh off some of the pressure of being a No. 1 overall pick.

 

There was Central McClellion, an undrafted rookie who hadn’t even started at Ohio State, taped to a goal post by ornery veterans on the last day of camp.

 

Spielman retired. McClellion got cut.

 

Phil Dawson wondered every day if he would be an ex-Brown tomorrow.

 

“That was extremely tough,” he said, standing in the August heat 11 years later.

 

Longevity is a laugh. Dawson is the only current Brown who has lasted from the start of the expansion era until now.

 

He keeps kicking. The team keeps partying like it’s 1999 — celebrating nothing. The Browns lost big that year, and they put up records of 6-10 or worse seven times in the decade of the 2000s.

 

Most of last year was as bad as it gets. A 4-0 finish and Dawson’s own ever-present resolve leave him hoping.

 

Maybe, he tells himself and others, this will be the year the whole team figures out how to turn a good camp into a good season.

 

“All that matters is how you play on Sundays,” he says. “If you have a great week of practice but go lay an egg on Sunday, those great packages don’t do you any good.”

 

Dawson is a Cleveland fixture. No other current Indian, Brown or Cavalier comes close to his longevity with his team.

 

Kickers can last and last. Lou “The Toe” Groza kicked for Cleveland until he was 43. Dawson, 35, isn’t 100 percent sure he’ll want to do this when he’s 37.

 

“I love football,” he said. “I enjoy kicking the ball. At this point, a lot of it is ... how is the team?

 

“I want to win. I want to play in big games. I want to have a chance to make really big kicks.

 

“In that sense, it will go year to year.”

 

After 11 years of going kick to kick, most of Dawson’s 229 field goals run together. Some of the moments glitter like gold in his and Browns fans’ memories, though.

 

A game-ending field goal to win at Pittsburgh in '99 ... four field goals in his first game at Dallas, his hometown, in 2004 ... the 51-yard bank shot at Baltimore in 2007.

 

The Browns seemed doomed in a game at Tennessee in 2002. Dawson deftly punched a long onside kick that had the same effect as a sideline completion to Dennis Northcutt. The play set up a win and a playoff trip.

 

“That was pretty sweet,” he says.

 

Saturday’s game at Green Bay wasn’t real. Dawson’s late 58-yard bomb applies only to a practice victory. Or was it more?

 

After Thursday morning’s practice, Sam Rutigliano — head coach of the Browns’ beloved Kardiac Kids — told Dawson it was more.

 

The Browns trailed 24-21 with a minute left. It seemed they would have to settle for giving a strong team a nice game. Then Dawson hit that moon shot, leading to a win.

 

“You have no idea,” Rutigliano told Dawson, “how much that is going to help this football team.”

 

“Thanks,” Dawson said. “I really appreciate that.”

 

Dawson has thought and planned life after his playing career. He will be part coach, part businessman. He will operate a firm whose mission is not only to teach kickers how to kick, but help coaches better understand how to coach kickers.

 

The foundation of the business will be positive thinking, building on strengths.

 

“For whatever reason,” Dawson said, “this league is real quick to say what you can’t do.”

 

It should be a credible business. Its boss ranks eighth all-time in NFL field goal accuracy, at 83.3 percent. The number was 89.5 percent (17-for-19) in 2009.

 

The Browns’ 12th season since they came back as an expansion team is almost here.

 

“My kids come to practice, and they run around with me,” Dawson said. “When I came to Cleveland, none of them had been born. That’s one perspective.

 

“In some ways, it seems like forever. In other ways, I can’t believe it’s been 12 years.

 

“I’m still working to get better. I’m by no means just trying to hold on and ride off into the sunset.”

 

 

 

LAST MAN STANDING

 

Selected mainstays on the 1999 Browns, and what became of them:

 

• Tight end Irv Smith was out of the league in 2000.

 

• Defensive end Derrick Alexander retired during the 2000 training camp.

 

• Guard Jim Pyne, the first pick in the expansion draft, played 18 games before fading away.

 

• Linebacker Jamir Miller blew out an Achilles in the 2002 preseason and never played again.

 

• Quarterback Tim Couch threw his final NFL pass in 2003.

 

• Wideout Kevin Johnson was traded in 2003 and last played with Detroit in 2005.

 

• Cornerback Daylon McCutcheon started nearly 100 games as a Brown before hanging up his spikes in 2006.

 

• Place-kicker Phil Dawson kicked two long field goals in the closing moments at Green Bay Saturday.

[Gips]

Looks like dawson is at 100% and in form now lets hope he stays mentally healthy and dont go emo on us!

[NewEraDawg]

He's been the steadiest player I have ever seen . I feel totally comfortable with him as our kicker . Totally

[roach]

i hated him for his first few years. Dawson couldn't get a kickoff to the 15 yard line. Now he's kicking 50 yarders like they are extra points. But truth be told, the real secret to his success is Ryan Pontbriand.

 

Lou Groza lost it after he lost Bobby Franklin as his holder. Pontbriand has the same effect as the snapper. Dawson gets the headlines (and i'm fine with that), but there is an unsung hero on our roster.

[MudratDetector]

i still cannot understand why dawson jerseys aren't marketed. i would buy one in a heartbeat. he's been the best and most consistent player in the expansion era and aside from a few idiots, i've never heard a bad word muttered about phil. i hope that our team can give him the chance to show off his skills in the post-season when the entire country is watching. no special teams player is more overlooked and underrated in the NFL than phil dawson.

[Browns57]

This is the second time in the last two days that I have read that a player made a statement regarding coaches or the NFL in general always focusing on what a player can't do (I think Jerome Harrison was the other). I wonder how much of this is the culture in the NFL and how much of this is just our players feelings after having to suffer through playing for Romeo Crennel and his staff? I always hated Crennel as our coach. Even more then I hated Butch Davis or Mike Brown with the Cavs. But it seems to me that maybe Crennel really di something to these players minds that Mangini and his staff are still working on fixing. And if that is the case then I will give Mangini even more kudos for the job that he has already done with this team.

 

I think we have a great one in Phil Dawson and I think we have a really good coach in Mangini. I hope that this year he can show some of these players like Phil Dawson that there is a promised land just up ahead and that will be enough to keep Phil and others with the team. And help encourage others to come and play in Cleveland without having to offer outragous deals for them to join the team.

 

When I look at where we are now vs. where we have been since 1999 I am extremely happy and optimistic, I can only hope that Phil Dawson and others on the team feel the same way. Or will soon enough. Lets go Browns!

[jrb12711]

i still cannot understand why dawson jerseys aren't marketed. i would buy one in a heartbeat. he's been the best and most consistent player in the expansion era and aside from a few idiots, i've never heard a bad word muttered about phil. i hope that our team can give him the chance to show off his skills in the post-season when the entire country is watching. no special teams player is more overlooked and underrated in the NFL than phil dawson.

 

i'm right there with you man. the way I look at that is at least with a dawson jersey you're going to be able to wear that for years and not have to worry about it being a bad purchase (quinn, anderson, edwards, winslow ring a bell?)

[ballpeen]

i hated him for his first few years. Dawson couldn't get a kickoff to the 15 yard line. Now he's kicking 50 yarders like they are extra points. But truth be told, the real secret to his success is Ryan Pontbriand.

 

Lou Groza lost it after he lost Bobby Franklin as his holder. Pontbriand has the same effect as the snapper. Dawson gets the headlines (and i'm fine with that), but there is an unsung hero on our roster.

 

 

 

Old Butch took some heat for that pick.

 

I don't think many are worried about that pick now.

 

 

Butch hit the nail on the head with that pick.

 

[mopaji]

i hated him for his first few years. Dawson couldn't get a kickoff to the 15 yard line. Now he's kicking 50 yarders like they are extra points. But truth be told, the real secret to his success is Ryan Pontbriand.

 

Lou Groza lost it after he lost Bobby Franklin as his holder. Pontbriand has the same effect as the snapper. Dawson gets the headlines (and i'm fine with that), but there is an unsung hero on our roster.

 

 

I'm not sure I agree with Pontbriand being a majir factor in Phil's progression but I will agree I used to get really nervous if Phil was attempting anything over 40 yards. Now, he seems to have gotten better and better. I hope he will end up being our Morton Anderson and he stays here for 20 years.

[Brownsfan_Althaus]

dawson will forever be a browns player. If we were ever to get rid of him, it would be so completely dumb.