Cleveland Browns: Top 10 passing games of all-time
By Thomas Moore
Brian Sipe is a bit of an underrated quarterback in franchise history.
A 13th-round draft choice in 1972, Sipe didn’t take over as the full-time starter until 1976 (no worries about “seeing what you have” with quarterbacks back in the day). He was good enough to be named the NFL’s MVP in 1980, but was just 13-of-40 with three interceptions in his lone playoff appearance with the Browns.
But on Oct. 29, 1978, Sipe was perfect, as he posted a quarterback rating of 158.3 in a win over Buffalo. On the day, Sipe was 12-of-15 for 217 yards and three touchdowns as the Browns rolled the Bills by a score of 41-20.
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A week being held to just three points and 162 yards of offense in a loss to Kansas City, Sipe and the Browns rebounded against the Bills, totaling 532 yards of offense (including a ridiculous 309 rushing yards.)
Sipe twice hit Reggie Rucker with touchdown passes (16 yards and 44 yards) and also tossed a scoring pass to Calvin Hill.
Thirty-two years after playing his last game for Cleveland (fittingly a home win over the Steelers where Sipe threw four touchdown passes), Sipe is still the only Cleveland quarterback to surpass 4,000 passing yards in a single season, holds three of the top four slots for single-season passing yards, and has the most 300-yard passing games (18) in franchise history.
And just look at those beautiful uniforms.