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When the Browns trashed the Steelers 51-0


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Moment 49 - The 51-0 rivalry win

Steve King, Staff Writer

09.25.2006

Long before the game was played, Bud Carson already knew he was going to be between a rock and a hard place -- even if everything happened just right for him.

 

He realized that back in the spring when the 1989 schedule came out and he discovered that the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers were opening the season against each other in Pittsburgh on Sept. 10.

 

To make matters worse, though, after what happened in that game, Carson felt on one hand as if he had escaped that dicey situation and was in the clear -- home free, as it were -- while on the other hand feeling as if that rock, now bigger and heavier than he could have ever imagined, was setting right on top of him.

 

When Carson was hired as head coach of the Browns shortly after the 1988 season ended, he was charged by team owner Art Modell with making sure the club secured that long-awaited Super Bowl berth. To a large extent, that meant figuring out a way to get past quarterback John Elway and the Denver Broncos, who had beaten the Browns in both the 1986 and '87 AFC Championship Games in close, excruciating fashion and looked to be the team to beat again -- at least for the Browns -- as the 1989 season approached.

 

At the same time, however, meeting Denver in the AFC title game, Part III, would not happen if the Browns failed to take care of their other business along the way. Included in that, of course, was beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although head coach Chuck Noll's club was having its problems at the time, the Steelers were still a hated arch rival and beating them was high on the priority list for any Browns coach.

 

Carson understood that -- thoroughly -- and he intended to do everything in his power to make it happen. After all, he had waited a professional lifetime to be an NFL head coach, and, since he was 58 years old by the time the 1989 season started, he knew that if he failed in Cleveland, he'd probably never get another chance.

 

There was just one problem, though.

 

Carson was a Pittsburgh guy through and through. He had grown up in that general area, got his coaching start on the high school level there and, as defensive coordinator, been the architect of those great, Super Bowl-winning Steelers defenses of 1970s. It was his work in Pittsburgh that built his coaching resume and, more than anything, catapulted him to Cleveland and the Browns job.

 

And the man responsible for giving him that opportunity with the Steelers was Noll, who would be staring across at him from the opposite sideline Sunday.

 

Carson bled black and gold. One time during his tenure in Cleveland, when he was recalling one of those Browns-Steelers WWE-type brawls that made the rivalry what it is, he said with matter-of-fact disdain, "Well, they started the whole thing."

 

When he was asked for a clarification, it was discovered the "They" he was referring to was the Browns, not the Steelers.

 

Old habits die hard.

 

Yes, Carson wanted to win, but he didn't want to embarrass Noll or Dan Rooney, who owned the Steelers. And he especially didn't want to do it in Pittsburgh, at Three Rivers Stadium, his old haunt.

 

So how about a nice 7-6 slugfest? Or 9-7? Or 10-9?

 

How about a game where both teams walked away feeling like winners?

 

Instead, how about 51-0 Browns? How about the Browns handing the Steelers their worst loss in team history? How about Carson trying to keep the score down and still not be able to do it? How about everything the Browns touching turning to gold, and everything the Steelers touching turning to stone?

 

A big, monstrous stone that was wedged against Carson, causing him to gasp and wheeze. A student never goes to the master's house and embarrasses the master, but that's exactly what Carson had just done.

 

Some way for Carson to show his gratitude, huh?

 

But at the same time, he was being feted like a king in his new home, Cleveland. He hadn't just beaten the Steelers. He had thrashed them -- humiliated them, rubbed their nose in it.

 

Talk about mixed emotions.

 

If Bud Carson had run for mayor of Cleveland or even supreme dictator of Northeast Ohio, he would have won in a landslide.

 

And a landslide was exactly what happened at Three Rivers Stadium that day as Carson's 3-4 defensive scheme buried the Steelers.

 

The Browns bolted to a 17-0 first-quarter lead on a three-yard fumble return for a touchdown by outside linebacker Clay Matthews, a 28-yard fumble return for a TD by the other outside linebacker, David Grayson, a former strike replacement player for the Browns in 1987, and a 27-yard field goal by former Steeler Matt Bahr.

 

In the second quarter, Bahr kicked two more field goals, again from 27 yards and another from 20, and fullback Tim Manoa ran three yards for a TD. That made it 30-0 at halftime. As such, the Browns had scored more points in one half of play than they had in their first four games at Three Rivers -- combined.

 

The Browns lost their first 16 games at Three Rivers from 1970-85. It had been a house of horrors for all kinds of Cleveland teams for a decade and a half. And in just one-half of one game, Carson and his troops had done everything humanly possible to help Browns fans eradicate that horrible taste from their mouths.

 

It was more of the same in the second half. The Browns went ahead 44-0 after three quarters as Grayson returned an interception 14 yards for a TD and Manoa scored from two yards out.

 

The Browns got their final points when Mike Oliphant, obtained from the Washington Redskins in the Earnest Byner trade in the offseason, raced 21 yards for a TD early in the fourth quarter.

 

When the dust had finally cleared, the Browns had amassed 19 first downs to just five for the Steelers; 357 total yards to 53; 152 rushing yards to 36; and 205 passing yards to 17. The Browns also had a 40:50 to 19:10 advantage in time of possession and had kept the Steelers from converting any third downs in 10 attempts while making good on 8-of-16 themselves.

 

It was, in every sense of the world, a manhandling.

 

If only meeting Noll at midfield and having to look him in the eye, trying to explain how and why it all happened, had been that easy for Carson.

 

 

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Kosar on the 51-0 win

Bernie Kosar

09.25.2006

In a rivalry, you never know what is going to happen. It's cliché, but it's the truth. But rivalries are personal, and when it's a personal thing, the records don't matter. We knew every player on that Steelers roster. We saw them everywhere in the offseason, and we just didn't want to lose to them.

 

But one of the guys I knew best was Rod Woodson. As great as he was, he never picked off one of my passes. Because he was my friend, I never wanted him to get anything on me. I didn't want to have to listen to it in the offseason.

 

Woodson, like many of the Steelers, brought out the best in me. He was so good that I would lay in bed at night and develop passing routes that I thought could beat him. We would run something once, have a little success, and he'd never give it up again. I'd sit in the meeting room and have to convince guys that Rod would be sitting on a certain route, so we had to change it. That's a rivalry, and it brought out the best in all of us. We were consumed by it.

 

On Sept. 10, 1989, Woodson and the Pittsburgh Steelers ran into Murphy's Law. For them, everything that could have gone wrong, certainly did - and then some. I've always said that when you start pressing, you start compounding your problems. The Steelers has a lot of problems that day.

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Actually, I really like the spirit of the team now. We'll see Sunday.

 

But more than anything else, the Browns secondary and lb's have to play tight coverage, or

 

it will be more pitch and catch and lol for the squeelers offense.

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...it's kind of sad this is the best thing we have to thump our chest over.

 

And honestly the spirit of that team? Totally not in these Browns. It sounds like some alternate timeline to current reality.

 

The only way you get the old blood boiling is to get motivated. Not stew on your negative thoughts. Got to get positive and believe we can win. Otherwise, why bother being a fan?

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The only way you get the old blood boiling is to get motivated. Not stew on your negative thoughts. Got to get positive and believe we can win. Otherwise, why bother being a fan?

 

 

Seen it..was Horrific. Back when the Browns were still a Pain to play. The Game 51-0 featured 8 (yes EIGHT) Steeler Turnovers and 50 some Total yards of Offense and yes IN Three Rivers Stadium.Steelers of note , Bubby Brister , Louis Lipps , Worley and Merril Hodge , Lloyd and Woodson with Carnell Lake .The Browns went 9-6-1 to win the Division. Pittsburgh at 9-7 was a wildcard . Pittsburgh Beat the Browns a few weeks later 17-7 . The Steelers Beat the Oilers in the Wildcard round and Lost to Denver 24-23. The Broncos Beat the Browns in the AFC Title game 37-21.

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That was a hell of a thumping. I remember it well. I don't blame you for falling back to good memories like that. Keep it in mind. You will need that this weekend and I fear for the browns through the season with the management decisions being made there. It seems that even though you have a head coach with previous NFL experience (the first one the browns have had since 1971) he sucks almost worse than the previous coach. I thought when you guys picked up Mangini you might have a chance to return to the browns of od when we were a real rivalry. I no longer think Mangini knows what he is doing. Good luck this weekend.

 

 

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You think Tomlin is somehow a genius of a coach? More Steeler arrogance. He would tell you in an honest moment that he fell into a great situation and just let it ride. He is a tremendous LEADER, which is vital, but he would be wallowing in losses, the same way Mangini is, in Cleveland without the taklent and Lebeau as a DC.

 

The stability of the Steeler organiztion is the only thing that separates them, and other successful franchises, from poor ones.

 

Most of the so-called "busts" the browns drafted would have been successful in better organizations. Anyone the Browns draft generally under achieves due to the lack of stability, continuity and general incompetance of the organization.

 

The NFL is full of under and over achievers based on the teams they play for.

 

Wimbley would be a star on the Ravens or Steelers.

 

Woodley and Harrison would be average on the Browns

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You think Tomlin is somehow a genius of a coach? More Steeler arrogance. He would tell you in an honest moment that he fell into a great situation and just let it ride. He is a tremendous LEADER, which is vital, but he would be wallowing in losses, the same way Mangini is, in Cleveland without the taklent and Lebeau as a DC.

Exactly. I played basketball as a kid in the little leagues and i could coach the cavs to the playoffs. Its all about talent you have it or you dont. Sure we could be decent/good with a bunch of average players working together and executing but without those game changers were not going to the playoffs. i think Mangini will get us there eventually though.

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You think Tomlin is somehow a genius of a coach? More Steeler arrogance. He would tell you in an honest moment that he fell into a great situation and just let it ride. He is a tremendous LEADER, which is vital, but he would be wallowing in losses, the same way Mangini is, in Cleveland without the taklent and Lebeau as a DC.

 

The stability of the Steeler organiztion is the only thing that separates them, and other successful franchises, from poor ones.

 

Most of the so-called "busts" the browns drafted would have been successful in better organizations. Anyone the Browns draft generally under achieves due to the lack of stability, continuity and general incompetance of the organization.

 

The NFL is full of under and over achievers based on the teams they play for.

 

Wimbley would be a star on the Ravens or Steelers.

 

Woodley and Harrison would be average on the Browns

 

Sorry O ignorant one but Tomlin took a team that did not make the post season the year before and turned it into a Superbowl bound team. The team that Tomlin took to the Superbowl is totally different than the one Cowher took.

 

Not really sure what your point is though unless it is to convince yourself that Mangini is somehow a great coach but is failing because of other coaches decisions. The team you have there with that offensive line should have succeeded. Instead you have a coach that chose to fracture the team with a QB controversy that he created.

 

Woodley and Harrison by themselves could kill the browns offense. You have to be joking if you think they would be average if they were on your team. The only reason they would ever be average is if YOUR COACH did not know what to do with them. But you are right about one thing. The NFL is full of under and over achievers. This is directly related to the team chemistry and that is in the hands of the head coach.

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