’60s Browns-vs-Cardinals discussion

[74_75_78_79_]

A forgotten rivalry, of sorts. Not so sure how much it was seen as one even during this decade; perhaps some of you who remember can chime in. When you tally things up, Cleveland still had the noticeable decade advantage at 11-6-3. However, it’s the ’64 campaign, Cards going 1-0-1 vs them only to finish half a game behind, that may lead one into thinking that the decade series would have been closer. Also, there’s the Cardinal (2-0) sweep over them in ’68 (also ending a half game out), but of course that second win was the finale, Browns having already clinched the ‘Century’ (remember, no wild cards; just division-winners). Thoughts?

PS - I like that old logo with the giant Cardinal carrying a football beneath the Arch!

[NWebster]

Throwing you a bone here. The Browns were clearly the more talented team throughout the decade, not to say the Cards may not have had some underrated talent - and we all know about Wilson. But interestingly, the Cards were - for that era - one of the more experimental teams, Safety Blitz, Zone Blitz - no Bill Arnsbarger did not "invent" it - they really made well of their talent, the Offensive talent and the O Line stunk for the early 60's.

[RyanChristiansen]

In the attached article, perhaps a little sarcasm in the quotes from Blanton Collier and Charley Johnson.

[74_75_78_79_]

Good responses! Didn’t know the ’60s Cards were experimental. Nice little article; Browns tying the final week would have made for a nice tie-breaker game. I can only imagine it would have (fairly, due to 1-0-1 H2H record) been held in StL.

1964 and 1970 would have to be the two most disappointing seasons for Cardinal-fans beneath the Arch. Very close they were to hosting a Colts team who did underachieve, 0-27, at Cleveland in the NFLCG. Do Colts underachieve vs Cards as well in such an event? And then six years later, en route to that 8-2-1 start, winning three in a row (Wks 7-thru-9) by a combined 113-0, third game 38-0 at Dallas on MNF (looking like a Super Bowl team), only to then...

[Saban1]

From 1963 through 1969, the Cards always got up for the Browns. They would often beat the Browns in Cleveland early in the season, then lose or tie a mediocre (or bad) team, like the Giants or Pittsburgh. A loss and tie to the Giants cost the Cards the title in the Eastern Conference in 1964, and a tie with Pittsburgh did them in in 1968.

In 1970, it looked like the Cards had their division just about wrapped up, but lost their last 3 to allow the Cowboys to back into winning the Eastern Division that year. Dallas ended up going to the Super Bowl that year.

[BD Sullivan]

That '64 tie came in Week 2, with the Cardinals leading 30-26 and the Browns facing 4th-and-19 at the St. Louis 45 with less than 90 seconds left. Frank Ryan connected with Gary Collins at the 2, with Jim Brown then scoring with 1:07 left. Charley Johnson then managed to drive the Cardinals yards in roughly a minute, with Jim Bakken getting the tie with five seconds left.

The start of the game had Frank Ryan getting picked off by Larry Stallings (thanks to a Joe Robb deflection) on the first play. On their first play, Johnson hit John David Crow for a 22-yard touchdown pass 50 seconds into the game.

[Saban1]

That '64 tie came in Week 2, with the Cardinals leading 30-26 and the Browns facing 4th-and-19 at the St. Louis 45 with less than 90 seconds left. Frank Ryan connected with Gary Collins at the 2, with Jim Brown then scoring with 1:07 left. Charley Johnson then managed to drive the Cardinals yards in roughly a minute, with Jim Bakken getting the tie with five seconds left.

The start of the game had Frank Ryan getting picked off by Larry Stallings (thanks to a Joe Robb deflection) on the first play. On their first play, Johnson hit John David Crow for a 22-yard touchdown pass 50 seconds into the game.

The Cards had two ties in 1964, one to Cleveland and one to the Giants, who had a record of 2 wins, 10 losses, and 2 ties in 1964 to finish in last place. Their final regular season records in 1964 were 10-3-1 for Cleveland and 9-3-2 for the Cards.