Browns vs. Titans: 5 best games of all-time
By Thomas Moore
Of the 62 previous meetings between the Browns and the Titans/Oilers, only once have they matched up in the playoffs.
But, boy, was it a game to remember.
Fresh off of consecutive trips to the AFC Championship Game, the Browns came into the 1988 season with expectations at an all-time high.
Those expectations took a major hit in the second quarter of the season-opening game in Kansas City, however, when quarterback Bernie Kosar went down with an elbow injury, setting off a chain reaction that would see the Browns start four different quarterbacks during the season. (File that one under the “more things change, the more they stay the same” when it comes to this team.)
Even though the Browns went through a quarterback rotation of Kosar, Gary Danielson, Mike Pagel and Don Strock, the team still managed to post a 10-6 record and claim a playoff spot as a Wild Card team. (Still one of the most under-appreciated seasons in franchise history.)
The Browns hosted the Oilers on Christmas Eve for the Wild Card game, with Strock making his third start of the season. Befitting the way the season went, Strock left the game in the second quarter due to an injury, forcing the Browns to turn to Pagel – who had been activated off the disabled list just a day before – in an attempt to save the season.
After falling behind 14-3 in the second quarter, the Browns battled back to take the lead following a pair of Matt Bahr field goals and a touchdown pass from Pagel to Webster Slaughter.
The Oilers controlled the fourth quarter, however, scoring 10 points to retake the lead. A late Pagel to Slaughter touchdown pass cut the final margin to one point with 31 seconds left, but in a season of unpredictability, the Browns did not have a final miracle in them.
While the Browns did not play particularly well that day – they had just 260 yards of offense – they may still have been able to pull out the win if not for an unforgivable mistake by the officials.
In the third quarter with Houston on its own 12-yard line, quarterback Warren Moon attempted a screen pass to running back Alvin Pinkett, who was clearly two yards behind Moon. The pass bounced off Pinkett and picked up by Clay Matthews, who ran into the end zone for what should have been a Cleveland touchdown.
Even though replays clearly showed that Moon’s pass traveled backward making it a lateral, referee Jerry Seeman refused to make the correct call and, to make matters worse, offered a puzzling explanation.
“It was determined that it was a backward pass and not a forward pass,” Seeman announced to the crowd, according to the 2006 book Sundays in the Pound. “The covering official, signaling incomplete, blew the whistle, so the ball in on the five yard line. It will be Houston’s ball.”
Needless to say, the call did not go over well with the Browns or the home fans.
The loss marked not only the end of the season, but also the end of Marty Schottenheimer’s tenure as Browns coach.
Of course, none of what transpired that day at Municipal Stadium would have been possible if what took place six days before had never happened.
Next: No. 1: The old man comes to the rescue