Cleveland Browns: Top 10 passing games of all-time
By Thomas Moore
The Browns had a rare (at least at the time) bye week early in the 1954 NFL season.
After dropping their opener to the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland’s Week 2 rematch with Detroit, which had beaten the Browns in the previous year’s NFL Championship Game, was rescheduled due to the Cleveland Indians being in the 1954 World Series. The Tribe would need Municipal Stadium for a potential Game 5 that never happened, forcing the schedule change. (Something that would never be a problem again after that season.)
Cleveland returned to action on Oct. 10 for a home game against the Chicago Cardinals and quarterback Otto Graham showed that the extra time off had done some good.
Graham and the Browns put up 31 first-half points against the hapless Cardinals on their way to a 31-7 victory.
Graham completed his first nine passes on the day and threw for three touchdowns. He finished the game 14-of-18 for 266 and a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3.
The 33-year-old Graham would go on to earn First Team All-Pro Honors while leading the Browns to their sixth championship in nine years.
Next: No. 1 (tied): Brian Sipe matches the master