Top 5 Cleveland Browns games from Bill Belichick era to watch while social distancing
San Francisco 49ers at Cleveland Browns MNF 1993
Game two of the 1993 season was another Monday Night Football affair, this time with the San Francisco 49ers.
They came into the Monday Night Football game riding a nine-game regular season winning streak, dating back to the previous year. The 49ers featured Steve Young and Jerry Rice, who formed the greatest quarterback-wide receiver tandem since, uh, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.
John Taylor was the second wide receiver, and tight end Brent Jones had made the Pro Bowl team the previous year. Tailback Ricky Watters had joined Jones as a rookie. He was known as much for his receiving ability as his rushing ability.
Three offensive linemen were chosen for the Pro Bowl, guard Guy McIntyre and tackle Harris Barton and Steve Wallace. Barton, incidentally, joined Young and Rice as first team All-Pro.
On defense, first-round draft pick Dana Stubblefield was proving to be a force at defensive tackle. Don Griffin was a starting cornerback who would wind up playing for the Browns the following year. This game features classic Belichick defense, forcing Steve Young into throwing three interceptions and fumbling once.
It was also the last big win of Bernie Kosar‘s career, though no one thought so at the time. The very next week Belichick would pull Kosar in favor of second-string Vinny Testaverde who would rescue the team with a clutch win. However, though people realized that Testaverde was a credible talent, nobody suspected Kosar was in danger of being cut.
According to the account by Mary Kay Cabot in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kosar had angered the coaching staff by rejecting several play calls by Belichick and criticizing the offensive game plan in a loss to the hated Broncos.
More importantly, he had probably been banged up from the wear and tear of playing quarterback. Often times he had the game awareness to get rid of the football, but still took a hit from the oncoming pass rusher. That took a toll over the years, as Belichick famously summarized in the press conference, resulted in “diminished skills.”
As a young quarterback, Kosar had excellent accuracy with the deep ball, and his delivery was more or less straight overhand. By the end of his career, he had a much lower arm angle. In this video, you will see Kosar unload a few deep balls, but not with consistent accuracy.
As a backup quarterback, Kosar would earn a Super Bowl ring for Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys, so it was not all bad.
Video link: San Francisco 49ers at Cleveland Browns 1993