Browns vs Cowboys Thoughts

[JuggernautJ]

All week I've been thinking to myself how "right" the upcoming Browns/Cowboys game felt, no doubt reflecting back to the alignments I grew up with.

So, I went back and looked up the last time the Browns and the Cowboys were in the same Division (NFL East)...
...and damn, I'm old.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/y ... /index.htm

This weeks Colts/Packers game also rehashes a common match-up from the pre-merger days (from when both were in the NFL West).

As I've said before, I always enjoy the rare Giants/Steelers and Browns/Lions games, once common.
Any other favorite old rivalries you enjoy?

[JohnH19]

Browns - Cowboys strikes a chord with me. I started watching the NFL in the late 60s when they played for the Eastern Conference title three years in a row. Cleveland's decisive upset victories in '68 and '69 are memorable for me as are the Browns' regular season 42-10 victory in 1969 and Dallas' odd 6-2 win late in the 1970 season.

The Vikings and Rams also played a lot of memorable regular season and playoff games from '69 to '78. The best of all of their meetings was the classic 23-20 Minnesota win in the 1969 Western Conference Championship game as detailed in the current issue of the Coffin Corner. Then there were the Minnesota wins in the '74 and '76 NFC Championship games and the 1977 Mud Bowl playoff game.

Also in '69, the 11-0 Rams lost 20-13 to the 10-1 Vikings in the Coliseum and in '73 the two teams met with 6-0 records at the Met, with Minnesota again winning, by the score of 10-9. There was also the 45-41 shootout win by the Vikes in the 1972 regular season.

Minnesota really had L.A.'s number for the lengthy period of nine years until the Rams finally knocked off the Vikings, 34-10 in the 1978 playoffs; Fran Tarkenton's last game. Even that game was tied 10-10 at the half.

[Saban1]

Browns - Giants was a pretty good rivalry, but being a Browns fan, I didn't always enjoy it, especially during the Jim Brown/Sam Huff years (1957-63).

Speaking of the Browns-Dallas rivalry, I saw the 1968 Eastern Conference championship game at Cleveland Stadium in 1968.

[BD Sullivan]

The 42-10 Browns win over the Cowboys in 69 knocked Dallas from the unbeaten ranks-they had been 6-0. One week after this game, the Browns got destroyed in Minnesota, 51-3.

[74_75_78_79_]

As for 'Browns vs Cowboys thoughts', some notable games later on even after they were no longer in the same league (conference). You got Browns beating 'Boys, 26-7, in that '79 MNF-convincer (Rutigliano's bunch purposely wearing their whites at home). Belichick (and Nick Saban) pulling the upset at Big D in '94. A shame we didn't see Jimmy Johnson on the opposite sideline in that one for he and Hoodie's only ever meeting was in the '91 opener, Belichick's first year as a HC ('91 also had the only Noll-JJohnson matchup which was Noll's final year).


As for other rivalries lost, how about Seahawks vs any of the four AFC West teams? This brings it all back to my wishing once again that the NFL simply placed expansion Texans in NFC (East, with Dallas) in 2002 and continued on with the three-divisions-per (6-5-5) format.

Colts rivalry with Pats was actually better after they left the AFC East after 2001 thanks to You-Know-Who vs You-Know-Who, but same can't be said between they and Bills, Dolphins, or Jets.

Dungy coming to Tampa and posting four playoff teams was too-little-too-late for nothing was missed by they leaving the cold-weather Central (North). Same with Cards leaving East after '01. Perhaps in the event of that hypothetical Texans joining NFC East actually taking place in 2002, maybe Cards (now in Zona anyway) move on over to West making that division the 6-teamer instead - or maybe Cards could have moved there in '88 already. Despite not actually being 'western' teams I was already used to Falcons & Saints being with Rams & San Fran. Carolina seemed to already be gaining some rivalry-momentum anyway so fine if they stayed in West as well IMO.

[BD Sullivan]

As for 'Browns vs Cowboys thoughts', some notable games later on even after they were no longer in the same league (conference). You got Browns beating 'Boys, 26-7, in that '79 MNF-convincer (Rutigliano's bunch purposely wearing their whites at home).

It was commonplace for the Browns of that era to wear white at home, especially early in the season--this game took place in Week 4.

[JuggernautJ]

Speaking of the Browns-Dallas rivalry, I saw the 1968 Eastern Conference championship game at Cleveland Stadium in 1968.

Damn.
You're old, too.

As for other rivalries lost, how about Seahawks vs any of the four AFC West teams? This brings it all back to my wishing once again that the NFL simply placed expansion Texans in NFC (East, with Dallas) in 2002 and continued on with the three-divisions-per (6-5-5) format.

Any team that came into existence during my lifetime is too new to evoke feelings of nostalgia in my mind.
Sorry.

The change I would have made to the 2002 re-alignment would have been to move the Colts to the AFC North and put the "new" Ravens in the AFC South.
This makes more sense to me historically (in a couple of ways) as it would have re-united the teams that left the NFL in the merger (Browns, Colts, Steelers) and rekindled those rivalries.
Also, Civil War-wise, Indiana was a Northern State while Maryland, technically aligned with the Union, had serious Southern sympathies... which, no doubt, is only pertinent to my way of thinking about NFL alignment....

Browns - Giants was a pretty good rivalry, but being a Browns fan, I didn't always enjoy it, especially during the Jim Brown/Sam Huff years (1957-63).

Those were also great games from my youth.
Its strange how just seeing the colors of the teams of my childhood NFL rivalries fills me with nostalgic melancholy.
Steelers/Giants, Browns/Cowboys, Cardinals/Browns, Steelers/Lions... when I see those colors on the tv screen I'm 8 years old and at my dad's side once again...if only for a moment.

[ChrisBabcock]

The change I would have made to the 2002 re-alignment would have been to move the Colts to the AFC North and put the "new" Ravens in the AFC South.
This makes more sense to me historically (in a couple of ways) as it would have re-united the teams that left the NFL in the merger (Browns, Colts, Steelers) and rekindled those rivalries.

These were my thoughts exactly in 2002 regarding the Colts and realignment. It seems like the Ravens/Titans/Jaguars had a little budding "triangular rivalry" going on in the late 90s and early 00s that I was disappointed to see broken up.

Though it worked out well since some of the Ravens/Steelers matchups have been some of the greatest games of the 21st century so far IMO.

[Rupert Patrick]

The change I would have made to the 2002 re-alignment would have been to move the Colts to the AFC North and put the "new" Ravens in the AFC South.
This makes more sense to me historically (in a couple of ways) as it would have re-united the teams that left the NFL in the merger (Browns, Colts, Steelers) and rekindled those rivalries.

These were my thoughts exactly in 2002 regarding the Colts and realignment. It seems like the Ravens/Titans/Jaguars had a little budding "triangular rivalry" going on in the late 90s and early 00s that I was disappointed to see broken up.

Though it worked out well since some of the Ravens/Steelers matchups have been some of the greatest games of the 21st century so far IMO.

Steelers vs. Ravens has been the second best rivalry of the past 15 years, behind Colts-Patriots of course. I would say the rivalry has cooled off since Ray Lewis retired, but for about ten years before that it was a heated rivalry with a lot of key games.

[lastcat3]

Lol. And here I looked at the thread title and thought it was going to be a discussion about todays game.