ST. LOUIS, MO – DECEMBER 1: Frank Ryan #13 of the Cleveland Browns hand the ball off to Ernie Green #48 against the St. Louis Cardinals during an NFL football game December 1, 1963 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. Ryan played for the Browns from 1962-68. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Browns, 1966
After the Browns lost the championship to Green Bay by a score of 23-12, Jim Brown was cast for MGM’s film “The Dirty Dozen,” which was a war movie about 12 convicts who were assigned to assassinate Nazi targets in occupied France. The film was shot on location at a castle in France. No problem, MGM agreed to schedule the filming so that Brown would be able to return to the Browns training camp.
However, the film fell behind schedule, partly because of bad weather, which meant that Brown was going to have to miss time in training camp. Well, Arthur Bertam Modell was having none of this. Modell issued a press release, which threatened to suspend Brown without pay
Wow, that Modell was a bad, bad man, was he not? No doubt he imagined Brown would capitulate in the face of this show of iron determination.
But Jim Brown announced his retirement. Oops.
Sportswriters took a dim view of the Browns’ chances after that. The New York Times insisted that the Browns had no depth behind Brown.
"“Behind Brown, Cleveland has Charlie Scales, a 5-foot-11 inch 215-pounder who carried the ball only 19 times for 72 yards last year, and Jamie Caleb, who spent most of last season on the reserve squad.” – New York Times"
Arthur Daley of the New York Times wrote:
"“There is no other way to appraise the situation. Jimmy Brown was their attack and it was his ball-carrying that made Frank Ryan an effective passer. But the Brownless Brownies will sag in every attacking direction, shorn of their running strength and crippled in their passing because the aerial arm needs the ground game to give it both surprise and substance.” – Daley, New York Times"
William Shakespeare could not have said it any better. But what they did not realize is that the Browns had a kid named Leroy Kelly, who was at the beginning of a Hall of Fame career. They installed Kelly at halfback, with Ernie Green shifting from halfback to fullback. Kelly would deliver 1,507 yards from scrimmage (plus another 507 yards on kick and punt returns), and Green would add 1,196 yards from scrimmage. Both made the Pro Bowl, and Kelly made All-Pro as well. So much for being “shorn of their running strength.”
In the video, you can see the team beginning to formulate the new running attack. Kelly and Green actually outgained the Packers’ Hall of Fame duo of Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung. Bart Starr had a better game than Frank Ryan, and both performed well against top-notch defenses.
Even though the Browns did not come away with a W, the fact that they could play even-up with the NFL champions shows they were going to pick up where they left off. The Browns went 9-5, finishing second in the division behind the Dallas Cowboys, who were 10-3-1. Green Bay would go on to win Super Bowl I versus Kansas City.