Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

There is no doubt about Graham's greatness but other than Buck Shaw's San Francisco team pushing the Browns in their own western division of the AAFC, there really were no other teams that could compete with Cleveland. It was kind of like the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL, though the Michigan Panthers and Chicago/Arizona Blitz provided some competition ...

[quote="RichardBak

If Mike Stratton hadn't busted Keith Lincoln's ribs in the '64 title game, Rote might have won back-to-back titles with SD. But that's another story.[/quote]

Losing Alworth to injury in week 14 is still another hard luck story.

Brian wolf wrote:There is no doubt about Graham's greatness but other than Buck Shaw's San Francisco team pushing the Browns in their own western division of the AAFC, there really were no other teams that could compete with Cleveland. It was kind of like the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL, though the Michigan Panthers and Chicago/Arizona Blitz provided some competition ...

You don't think the AAFC teams were just as good as those in the NFL?

TanksAndSpartans wrote:

Brian wolf wrote:There is no doubt about Graham's greatness but other than Buck Shaw's San Francisco team pushing the Browns in their own western division of the AAFC, there really were no other teams that could compete with Cleveland. It was kind of like the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL, though the Michigan Panthers and Chicago/Arizona Blitz provided some competition ...

You don't think the AAFC teams were just as good as those in the NFL?

Just for comparisons, the Brown's average margin of victory in reg season for '48 & '49: 17.09
For '50 & '51: 18

JohnR wrote:

TanksAndSpartans wrote:

Brian wolf wrote:There is no doubt about Graham's greatness but other than Buck Shaw's San Francisco team pushing the Browns in their own western division of the AAFC, there really were no other teams that could compete with Cleveland. It was kind of like the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL, though the Michigan Panthers and Chicago/Arizona Blitz provided some competition ...

You don't think the AAFC teams were just as good as those in the NFL?

Just for comparisons, the Brown's margin of victory in reg season for '48 & '49: 17.09
For '50 & '51: 18

Was there an AAFC equivalent to the Rams or Giants in '48 or '49 though? I know I'm in the minority, although I was curious what the OP thought, but I think the OP was looking for an analogy that isn't an easy one to find. As he alludes to, the Stars were 2-1, not 4-0. I don't see much suspense in the question whether the Browns were going to win in the AAFC. The pre-NFL Canton Bulldogs with Jim Thorpe were a bit closer of an analogy to me, but even they were less of a lock than the Browns in the AAFC, in my opinion.

JohnR wrote:[quote="RichardBak

If Mike Stratton hadn't busted Keith Lincoln's ribs in the '64 title game, Rote might have won back-to-back titles with SD. But that's another story.

Losing Alworth to injury in week 14 is still another hard luck story.[/quote]

I'd forgotten about Alworth.

7DnBrnc53 wrote:I am rooting for what SB I could have been: Bills-Packers. I hate KC (as a Denver fan), and I don't want to see Tom Brady in a tenth SB.

I didn’t even think of that at first - Chiefs not only maybe playing GB like in ’66, but KC having to get past Buffalo in the AFLCG that very year! The only other time it’d be KC/Buf for the right to go to the SB, it’d be Dallas instead of GB making it another 3 for 4 teams making the ’66 ‘final four’!

Three franchises that were in the 1979 ‘final four’ would also make it there in ’99 - with Steelers being odd-man-out, of course!

I had forgotten about the LA Dons of the AAFC ...
They were as popular as the Rams but ole Dan Reeves wasnt about to let them enter the NFL, which was a mistake.
The Colts were allowed as canon fodder in 1950 despite a loyal fanbase. Weeb Ewbank developed them quite nicely.

Later on, when the Colts were reconfigured in 1953.

Brian wolf wrote:There is no doubt about Graham's greatness but other than Buck Shaw's San Francisco team pushing the Browns in their own western division of the AAFC, there really were no other teams that could compete with Cleveland. It was kind of like the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL, though the Michigan Panthers and Chicago/Arizona Blitz provided some competition ...

Cleveland did win the AAFC Championship four straight years (1946-49), but I don't believe that it was as easy as people seem to think. Here is some evidence:

1946: In the championship game against the Yankees, the Browns were losing 9 to 7 in the 4th quarter. Despite going against a heavy wind, Graham led Cleveland on a scoring drive ending with a TD pass to Dante Lavelli. One of the heroes of that drive was Edgar Jones, who made a shoestring catch of a Graham pass for a first down. I think that play was on 3rd or 4th down.

1947: Cleveland had a tremendous comeback in a game with the Yankees after losing 28 to 0 at one point. Cleveland ended up getting a 28 to 28 tie. One play was a 99 yard pass completion to Mac Speedie. If the Yanks held on to win that game, then Cleveland and the New York Yankees would have both finished the season with 12 and 2 records with Cleveland winning the Western Division and the Yankees winning the Eastern Division. The New York Yankees head coach was Ray Flaherty, who had led the Washington Redskins to NFL titles in 1937 and 1942.

1948: The San Francisco 49ers only lost two games that year, 14 to 7 and 31 to 28. Trouble is, those two losses were both to Cleveland, who went undefeated that year. So, Cleveland ended up 14 and 0 and the 49ers ended up 12 and 2 in 1948. If the 49ers could have won either one of those close games, then the Browns would have had to play the 49ers again in a AAFC Western Division playoff. That was the year that the Browns had to play 3 games in eight days, on Thanksgiving Day and on the Sundays right before and right after.

1949: The Browns split their two regular season games with the 49ers, but the 49ers beat the Browns pretty badly in one game, 56 to 28, for Cleveland's only loss. Cleveland had some trouble with the Buffalo Bills playing them to two ties. There was a round robin playoff system that year. The Browns played Buffalo in the first round and had a tough game where the lead changed hands four times. Warren Lahr made a pick six to finally put the game away, 31 to 21.

Cleveland beat the 49ers in the final AAFC Championship Game, 21 to 7.

So again, the Cleveland Browns were very successful in their four years in the AAFC. However, it doesn't seem like it was always very easy to me.