The Cleveland Browns have had a history of not winning many home openers, but they’ve had some classics nonetheless that have stuck in our memories
On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns welcome the New York Jets in their home opener, and they’ll be looking to go to 2-0 for the first time since 1993. Last week they got the opening season win against the Carolina Panthers and that helped break an 18-year drought of winning a first game of the season.
Winning home openers hasn’t happened very often either in the recent Browns’ history. Since 1980, the team has only registered 10 victories to open things up at home (1987, 1989, 1990,1993,1995, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2020, and 2021). That’s not exactly something to write home about and has been an embarrassment to the franchise.
Despite these losing trends, Cleveland has had some very memorable home openers regardless. Some of those have been wins while others have been heartbreaking losses so let’s take a look back at several that have stayed in our memory bank.
5 memorable Cleveland Browns home openers
No. 5: 1995 Browns vs. Buccaneers, win 22-6
This would be the last home opener for Cleveland in Municipal Stadium, but no one knew that at the time. The Browns would leave the city at season’s end and move to Baltimore to become the Ravens.
The team came into the year with a lot of optimism as they had made the playoffs the previous campaign behind the quarterback play of Vinny Testaverde. He would lead the charge in this game as the team built a 19-0 lead in the first half. Wide receiver Keenan McCardell would catch two touchdown passes and the Cleveland defense had a field day, sacking the Buccaneer quarterback Trent Dilfer seven times.
In an interesting historical twist, Dilfer would end up becoming the quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens in 2000 and win a Super Bowl with them. He then came to the Browns in a trade before the 2005 season and was their starter briefly (but hey, wasn’t everybody at some point).
After the 1995 victory, it would be almost a decade before the Browns would win another home opener, but they did have a few games in between that were definitely memorable and controversial.
No. 4: 2002 Browns vs. Chiefs, loss 40-39
This was a Cleveland victory before a very strange play occurred with the clock running out that left fans dumbfounded and frustrated. Dwayne Rudd, a defensive lineman for Cleveland thought he had sacked Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green at midfield on the last play of the game, however, Green was able to pitch the ball to his running back right before the takedown by Rudd.
The running back ran the ball for 28 yards but went out of bounds seemingly ending the game.
Happy Dwayne Rudd Day! 🤢🤮 #Browns https://t.co/R64rVbiR3y
— John Sabol (@John_Sabol) September 8, 2022
Not so fast, because Rudd threw his helmet off after he thought he sacked Green, it was called a penalty on the defense and gave Kansas City one additional untimed down where they kicked a chip shot field goal to stun Cleveland.
That Browns team would go on to have a successful season and make the playoffs despite the home opening loss, but it’s still one of the more shocking defeats for the team.
No. 3: 2020 Browns versus Bengals, win 35-30
This was at the start of the Kevin Stefanski coaching era and ended up being a highly entertaining offensive game where quarterback Baker Mayfield battled against Joe Burrow. The game was also played in the early stages of the Covid Pandemic so there were only a handful of fans in the stadium because of all the restrictions at the time.
The previous week, the Browns had been embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens 38-6 in Stefanski’s debut as the coach. It was a quick turnaround for this contest as it was a Thursday Night Football game.
Cleveland wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. made an immediate impact in this one and scored a touchdown on a 43-yard pass play. They had built a lead and then hung on at the end as the rookie Burrow made some nice plays to put pressure on the Browns.
Cleveland would take that win and run off four wins in a row helping them contend and then make the playoffs by the end of the season.
No. 2: 2018 Browns versus the Steelers, 21-21 tie
This game is remembered because it ended up being a tie and though for Cleveland it wasn’t a win, it was not a loss, which at the moment was a bit of a moral victory for the team. The Browns went 0-17 the previous season so it was a step in the right direction. Two weeks later Baker Mayfield would step in as the Cleveland quarterback and lead them to their first victory in over 600 days.
In this one though, Cleveland was able to tie the game at the end of regulation but was not able to win it in overtime. It was an ugly weather game as well, where it rained during much of the game Both teams had chances at a game winning field goal in the extra period but faltered. The Browns forced six turnovers too, which usually would spell victory but that didn’t happen.
No. 1: 2004 Browns versus Ravens, 20-3 win
It had been almost a decade between home wins and Cleveland was a renewed franchise that had returned to the NFL in 1999 after a three-year hiatus. Cleveland had veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia behind center, and he was able to provide just enough spark in the second half to claim victory.
Garcia scampered three yards to pay dirt to secure the game late in the fourth quarter. Little did anyone know at the time that it would be 18 years later before the Browns would win a season opener.
Now, we are ready to see if Cleveland can continue a nice new trend where they’ll go for their third straight home opener win with this game on Sunday against the New York Jets. They beat the Houston Texans last season and won that Bengals game back in 2020.
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