Cleveland Browns to have three games on NFL YouTube channel
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns will have three games featured on the NFL’s YouTube channel, including two memorable playoff victories.
The NFL has announced the classic games that will be featured on the league’s YouTube channel starting in August and the Cleveland Browns earned three spots on the list.
The league started with a list of 160 classic games selected by NFL Media/NFL Films and the league’s 32 franchises. Fan voting determined the three most memorable games for each franchise and the full network broadcasts will be available to coincide with the opening of the preseason.
The top choice for the Browns was the double overtime victory over the New York Jets in the 1986 playoffs – Cleveland’s first playoff win since beating the Dallas Cowboys following the 1969 season.
The Browns rallied from a 10-point deficit with just a little more than four minutes left in the game to force overtime, eventually prevailing in the second overtime on a 27-yard Mark Mosley field goal.
“I think we all had an opportunity to experience one of the finest games in the history of the sport,” Schottenheimer said in Classic Browns: The 50 Greatest Games in Cleveland Browns History. “I have never experienced or seen a comeback like that. After it was over, in the locker room, I told the players to listen. You could still hear the people cheering for us.”
The second game is the 2014 road victory over the Tennessee Titans when the Browns from a 25-point deficit to pull off the largest comeback in league history by a road team. Cleveland won that day when Brian Hoyer hit Travis Benjamin with a six-yard touchdown pass with just 1:09 left on the game clock.
The win was also the Browns largest comeback in franchise history, surpassing the 1966 game against the New York Giants, which the Browns won 49-40 after trailing 34-14.
The final game on the list is the 1989 playoff win against the Buffalo Bills, the last hurrah of the late-1980s’ Browns teams.
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Bernie Kosar threw three touchdown passes that day – including a 52-yarder and a 44-yarder to Webster Slaughter – and Eric Metcalf returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to give Cleveland a 10-point lead.
The Bills rallied back in the fourth quarter and had the ball on Cleveland’s 11-yard line with 14 seconds remaining and needing a touchdown to win. But running back Ronnie Harmon dropped a potential game-winning pass and on the next play Clay Matthews intercepted Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly to secure the win.
It’s not a bad list of games, although the comeback win against the Titans is an odd one to include. There is no doubting the historical aspect of the game, but it was just played two seasons ago, making it fresh in the minds of fans.
Certainly the 1964 NFL Championship Game against the Baltimore Colts would have been a better choice, as would the two playoff wins against the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1960s, the first road at win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium, the 1994 playoff win against the New England Patriots, the 1979 Monday Night Football win over the Dallas Cowboys and the 1988 home win against the Houston Oilers to earn a playoff spot are just a few that quickly come to mind.
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What do you think of the games the NFL chose for the Browns? What other memorable games would you like to see featured?