1958: Summerall FG Lifts Giants Past Browns to Force Playoff

The battle for the NFL’s Eastern Conference had come down to the season finale on December 14, 1958 as the New York Giants hosted the Cleveland Browns at Yankee Stadium. The Giants were 8-3 and a game behind the 9-2 Browns. Thus, New York needed to win in order to force a playoff with Cleveland for the conference title. A loss or tie would propel the Browns into the championship game.

New York’s head coach was Jim Lee Howell, but he had two highly able assistants in Vince Lombardi to run the offense and Tom Landry to direct the defense. They were a solid, veteran club on both sides of the ball, featuring QB Charlie Conerly, halfbacks Frank Gifford and Alex Webster, OT Roosevelt Brown, and C Ray Wietecha on offense and DE Andy Robustelli, MLB Sam Huff, and safety Jim Patton on defense. However, they had played poorly in the preseason and got off to a 2-2 start in the regular season games before winning six of their last seven contests (one of their wins had been against the Browns in Cleveland).

As for Cleveland, Head Coach Paul Brown’s club featured second-year FB Jim Brown on offense, who had already broken the single-season rushing record. If teams concentrated too heavily on stopping him, rookie HB Bobby Mitchell made them pay with his outstanding outside running ability. Second-year QB Milt Plum was still something of a project, but the offensive line was a good one and the defense contained Pro Bowl-quality players in tackles Bob Gain and Don Colo, LB Walt Michaels, and HB Don Paul.

The Browns wasted no time in taking the lead as Jim Brown ran 65 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. There was no further scoring until the second quarter, when Giants DE Jim Katcavage recovered a fumble at the Cleveland 38 by HB Lew Carpenter and the Giants capitalized as Pat Summerall kicked a 46-yard field goal.

The Browns responded with a 22-yard Lou Groza field goal that was set up by a 51-yard pass play from Plum to flanker Ray Renfro. Cleveland held a 10-3 lead at the half.

In their first possession of the third quarter, the Browns drove to the New York 13 yard line. But in a call that was heavily second-guessed afterward, Paul Brown chose to try a fake field goal. Holder Bobby Freeman attempted to run around left end but was tackled for a loss by LB Harland Svare. Instead of potentially taking a 13-3 lead (Groza had missed two earlier attempts, but this would have been from just 20 yards with the ball well placed at the center of the field), the margin remained seven points.

The teams traded punts after the failure on the fake. Now in the fourth quarter, and following a fumble by Plum that the Giants recovered on the Cleveland 45, New York came back with trickery of its own. End Kyle Rote had noted that the Browns were vulnerable to the halfback option pass because HB Don Paul and safety Junior Wren were quick to run up and defend against the sweep coming in their direction. On the first play following the fumble recovery, Conerly pitched to Gifford, who ran to his right on an apparent power sweep. The Browns defense shifted to stop the run, and Gifford fired a pass to Rote, who was finally brought down after a 39-yard gain to the six yard line. After two running plays into the line lost yardage, the Giants again ran the option play and Gifford threw to end Bob Schnelker in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown (pictured below). Following Summerall’s extra point, the score was tied at 10-10.


The Browns, playing conservatively to run the clock down since a tie was as good as a win for their purposes, punted the ball back to the Giants. New York proceeded to drive from its own 30 to the Cleveland 25, but Summerall missed a 33-yard field goal attempt with less than five minutes to play.

The New York defense again forced the Browns to punt, but punter Dick Deschaine, who encountered a heavy rush, got off a poor 22-yard kick that went out at the Cleveland 43. The Giants misfired on three passes, including a long throw to Webster at the goal line that the halfback dropped and one to Gifford that was ruled an incomplete pass (although the Browns insisted afterward that it was a fumble).

With just over two minutes left, Summerall, who had suffered a knee injury in the previous contest against Detroit and was listed as doubtful in the week leading up to the game, kicked a 49-yard field goal through the snow for the winning points (pictured at top). The final score was 13-10, setting up the rematch at the same venue the following week.


The game had been a tough defensive struggle, and the two Cleveland turnovers, against none by the Giants, played a key role. The Browns outgained New York, 257 yards to 226. Jim Brown (pictured at right) accounted for 148 yards on 26 carries (bringing his record total to 1527), but other than the game-opening 65-yard score, the great fullback had been well defensed. Cleveland passed for just 107 yards, to 162 for the Giants.

“Imagine having to heat the Browns three times in one season to even get into the championship game,” said Jim Lee Howell. “Once is tough enough. Twice, and now again.”

In the rematch of the two 9-3 teams for the conference title the following week, the Giants defense shut the Browns down even more effectively and won, 10-0. They lost the NFL Championship game to the Baltimore Colts in a 23-17 overtime classic.

Pat Summerall, in his first year with the Giants after a season in Detroit and five with the Chicago Cardinals, was successful on 12 of 23 field goals in 1958, none bigger than the kick to beat the Browns. As he returned to the sideline following the climactic field goal, Vince Lombardi said to him, “You know you can’t kick a football that far, don’t you?”

1959: Jim Brown’s 5 TDs Overcome 4 Unitas TD Passes as Browns Beat Colts

The November 1, 1959 game at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium featured a showdown between the defending NFL champion Colts and their great quarterback, Johnny Unitas, and the Cleveland Browns with dominating FB Jim Brown. If anything, both players exceeded expectations.

The Browns, under the guidance of the highly innovative and successful Head Coach Paul Brown, were 3-2 coming into the contest. They had just missed winning the Eastern Conference in ’58, and a big part of their success was the 6’2”, 230-pound fullback from Syracuse. Jim Brown (pictured above) had exploded on the NFL in 1957, leading the league with 942 yards rushing and setting a new single-game record of 237 yards along the way. In 1958, he ran up 1527 yards, breaking Steve Van Buren’s single-season rushing record by 381 yards (he also broke the AAFC record of 1432 yards set by Spec Sanders in 1947).

The Colts, led by Head Coach Weeb Ewbank, had won the NFL championship in an epic contest over the Giants in ‘58 and were off to a 4-1 start as they sought to defend their title. Unitas was the centerpiece of a talented offense and had thrown touchdown passes in a record 30 consecutive games entering the contest against the Browns. Baltimore also had a solid defense that would be keying on Cleveland’s fullback – mammoth (6’6”, 284-pound) DT Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb commented that he had been “waiting a long time to get my hands on that Cleveland cat.”

There were 57,557 fans on hand as the teams matched field goals in the first quarter, Lou Groza connecting first for Cleveland from 16 yards and Steve Myhra booting a 23-yarder for the Colts. However, Jim Brown got things rolling for the Browns in the second quarter as he took a pitchout, ran off tackle, shook Colts safety Ray Brown off without breaking stride 30 yards downfield, and continued for a 70-yard touchdown.

The Colts came back to tie the score on a three-yard TD pass from Unitas to HB Lenny Moore, but Brown ran up the middle for a 17-yard touchdown to give Cleveland a 17-10 lead at the half.

Brown extended the Cleveland lead to 24-10 in the third quarter with a three-yard run, and also reached the end zone on a one-yard plunge after Unitas had responded with an eight-yard TD pass to flanker Jerry Richardson.

The Colts again closed the gap to seven points in the fourth quarter when end Raymond Berry scored on a 10-yard pass from Unitas to make it 31-24. But Brown plowed in from a yard out for his fifth touchdown of the game, and while Unitas threw a fourth TD pass of five yards to end Jim Mutscheller, it was the Browns winning the game by a 38-31 final score.

Baltimore gained the most yards (426 to 397) and had more first downs (28 to 22), but while the Colts defense was unable to contain Brown and Cleveland QB Milt Plum made clutch passes on third down to extend drives, the Browns defense shut down the Baltimore running game (45 yards on 19 carries) and stopped the Colts inside the ten yard line on four occasions.

Jim Brown ran for 178 yards on 32 carries, with all five touchdowns coming on the ground. Milt Plum completed 14 of 23 passes for 200 yards with no TDs, and while two were intercepted, 11 of the completions for 147 yards came on third down plays.


For the Colts, Johnny Unitas (pictured at left) went to the air 41 times and had 23 completions for 397 yards with four touchdowns against three interceptions. The loss negated outstanding performances by Raymond Berry, who caught 11 passes for 156 yards with a TD, and Lenny Moore, with 5 receptions for 115 yards and a score.

Weeb Ewbank sought out Brown after the game to shake his hand and say “Jimmy, you’re even greater than we heard you were. You played a wonderful game out there today.” A frustrated “Big Daddy” Lipscomb told reporters, “I’m still waiting to get my hands on that cat.”

In discussing his performance, Brown said, “Actually, the way I played today didn’t have anything to do with my ability. We had good play selection and most of the time I was going through gaping holes opened by our line.” Few, if any, in attendance would have agreed that Brown’s ability had nothing to do with it.

“Jim Brown was tremendous and Milt Plum did a really fine job,” summed up Paul Brown.

The loss dropped the Colts behind the San Francisco 49ers in the Western Conference, but, after losing the following week at Washington, they recovered to win five straight and closed out the regular season back atop the conference with a 9-3 record. They defeated the Giants once again for the NFL Championship. Cleveland won two more games before losing three straight (two of them by a single point) and finishing in a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with Philadelphia at 7-5.

Jim Brown had 737 yards rushing following the big performance against Baltimore and led all NFL rushers once again in 1959 (as he would for eight of his nine seasons) with 1329 yards on 290 carries (4.6 avg.), including 14 touchdowns.

Johnny Unitas, with the four TD passes, had 17 for the year thus far and his consecutive game streak stood at 31, on the way to an eventual all-time record 47. For the ’59 season, he led the NFL in pass attempts (367), completions (193), yards (2899), touchdowns (32 – a record at the time), and percent of TD passes (8.7). He was named league MVP by The Sporting News and UPI, and received the Bert Bell Award from the Maxwell Club.

1960: Late Walston Field Goal Gives Eagles Key Win Over Browns

The Philadelphia Eagles were off to a good start in 1960, but faced their toughest test in traveling to Cleveland to face the Browns at Municipal Stadium on October 23. The Browns had beaten the Eagles decisively in the season-opening game at Franklin Field and were undefeated at 3-0. Philadelphia had recovered to win three straight games and arrived in Cleveland with a 3-1 tally (the Browns had already had a bye week).

The Eagles had a veteran head coach in 61-year-old Buck Shaw and were led on offense by the tough 34-year-old QB Norm Van Brocklin, in his 12th season overall and third in Philadelphia after being obtained from the Rams. The running game was average, at best, and it was the passing game that made the difference thanks to The Dutchman having outstanding receivers in flanker Tommy McDonald and ends Pete Retzlaff and Bobby Walston (pictured above; he was also the team’s placekicker).

The Eagles came into the game as 13-point underdogs and had not won in Cleveland since 1952. Head Coach Paul Brown’s club had the best one-two running back punch in pro football with FB Jim Brown and HB Bobby Mitchell, and also featured the precision passing of QB Milt Plum.

Eagles LB John Nocera was out with an injury, and his replacement Bob Pellegrini went down early in the contest. As a result, 35-year-old Chuck Bednarik, once one of the top linebackers in the game but now the starting center, had to return to linebacking duty in addition to his role on the offensive line.

Less than four minutes into the first quarter, after stopping the Browns on their opening series, Philadelphia scored on its first play from scrimmage as Van Brocklin threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Walston that gave the Eagles the early 7-0 advantage.

Cleveland drove down the field but came up short of a touchdown thanks to a goal line stand by the Eagles defense. They settled for a 12-yard field goal by Sam Baker. Baker, who had been obtained from Washington to replace the retired Lou Groza (who would return the following year), booted another field goal, of 23 yards, early in the second quarter to narrow Philadelphia’s lead to 7-6.

Plum put the Browns ahead later in the period with an 86-yard scoring pass to flanker Leon Clarke, who was substituting for the injured Ray Renfro. Baker’s extra point attempt failed, but he added a 44-yard field goal to extend Cleveland’s lead to 15-7 at halftime.

The Browns led by 22-7 early in the third quarter after Jim Brown took off on a 71-yard touchdown run. The Eagles came back, though, as FB Clarence Peaks ran up the middle on a draw play for 57 yards to put the Eagles in scoring position. Van Brocklin followed up with a six-yard pass to Walston and HB Billy Barnes plunged into the end zone for a touchdown from a yard out.

Shortly thereafter, Philadelphia struck again as Van Brocklin connected with McDonald for a 57-yard TD that cut Cleveland’s margin to 22-21 after three quarters.

Van Brocklin put the Eagles in the lead at 28-22 early in the fourth quarter with a swing pass to Barnes that covered eight yards for a touchdown. But the Browns responded with an 88-yard drive the ended on a three-yard TD pass from Plum to Mitchell. Cleveland was back in front at 29-28 with just over six minutes remaining to play.

The Eagles again drove into Browns territory, but safety Don Fleming intercepted a Van Brocklin pass. The Eagles defense held the Browns and forced them to punt, giving the Eagles one more shot.

With time running down, the Eagles took over at their 10 yard line. Van Brocklin passed to Retzlaff for 27 yards and then McDonald for 12 to just short of midfield. However, it appeared that Cleveland would win when safety Bobby Franklin came up with an interception, but LB Vince Costello was flagged for pass interference and the Eagles, instead of losing the ball, now had a first down at the Browns 30.

With 15 seconds remaining, Walston kicked a 38-yard field goal and the Eagles came away with a big 31-29 win.

Both teams put up plenty of yards, with the Browns outgaining Philadelphia by 451 yards to 428; they also had more first downs (21 to 18).


Norm Van Brocklin (pictured at left) completed 17 of 26 passes for 292 yards with three touchdowns and the one interception. Thanks to the long run in the third quarter, Clarence Peaks had a season-high 102 yards on 13 carries. Billy Barnes, who ran for 25 yards on 9 attempts and a TD, caught 7 passes for 48 yards and another score. Bobby Walston, in addition to kicking the winning field goal, also led all receivers with 94 yards on four catches. Pete Retzlaff and Tommy McDonald contributed significantly, with the former gaining 80 yards on three receptions and the latter 66 yards and a TD on two catches.

Jim Brown, as usual, put up big numbers for the Browns with 167 rushing yards on 22 carries, including the long touchdown run, and added another 57 yards on four pass receptions. Bobby Mitchell, who had devastated the Eagles in the opening game with 156 yards on 14 carries, was held to 35 yards on 14 rushes this time, although he still caught 7 passes for 70 yards and a TD. Milt Plum had 16 completions in 22 pass attempts for 289 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Costello, who was flagged for the interference call, was angry afterward. “I didn’t think there was any interference.” Coach Paul Brown avoided controversy, saying “You couldn’t tell anything from the bench. Vince was pretty hot about it.”

But Van Brocklin insisted the call was correct, saying “(Halfback) Ted Dean had been knocked down and I had to throw to the other side. The call was made right away. Two of the Browns linebackers seemed to sandwich Dean and he went down.”

Regarding the performance by the Eagles’ quarterback, Coach Brown summed up after the game, “As for Van Brocklin, he is one of the finest football players of all time.”

The Eagles were able to rest up with a bye the following week and then kept on winning to end up atop the Eastern Conference with a 10-2 record. They defeated the Green Bay Packers for the NFL Championship. Cleveland went 2-2-1 over the next five games and finished second with an 8-3-1 tally.

Norm Van Brocklin received unanimous MVP recognition (AP, UPI, NEA, and the Bert Bell Award) in his greatest – and last – season. He ranked second in the league in pass attempts (284), completions (153), yards (2471), and touchdowns (24).

Bobby Walston finished second in the league in scoring with 105 points. He had the best field goal percentage (70 %) as a result of connecting on 14 of 20 attempts. Walston also caught 30 passes for 563 yards (18.8 avg.) and four TDs.


Chuck Bednarik (pictured at right) played 59 minutes against Cleveland and led the club with 15 tackles, 11 of them unassisted. With the injuries plaguing the linebacking corps, Concrete Charley showed the critics who said he was too old to play linebacker that they were wrong, and did so while playing both ways (the last NFL player to do so regularly) all the way to the title game (he averaged over 50 minutes per game).

Jim Brown led the NFL in rushing for the fourth consecutive season with 1257 yards on 215 attempts (5.8 avg.) and nine touchdowns. Milt Plum was the league’s top passer - by the current system, his 110.4 rating was the best until Joe Montana’s 112.4 in 1989.

1963: Jim Brown Gains 209 Total Yards to Propel Browns Over Giants

The October 13, 1963 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants at Yankee Stadium was a key showdown in the race for the Eastern Conference crown. The Browns, under new Head Coach Blanton Collier, were off to a 4-0 start while the Giants, winners of the conference the previous two seasons, had a 3-1 record.

The big story in Cleveland during the previous offseason had been the firing of Head Coach/GM Paul Brown, who had been an innovative and winning coach since the club’s founding in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1946. However, the team had not won a title since 1955 and some players on the talented club – most notably star FB Jim Brown – bridled under Brown’s strict coaching methods. Young owner Art Modell also clashed with the legendary coach, and finally dispatched Brown and elevated Collier, a long-time Browns assistant who had returned after a hiatus as head coach at the University of Kentucky. Collier brought a more relaxed style to coaching the team, and the players responded with the strong start.

Head Coach Allie Sherman’s Giants were a talented veteran team seeking to win an NFL championship – something the club hadn’t done since 1956 despite making it to the title game four times in the previous five seasons – before time ran out. QB Y.A. Tittle had directed the offense brilliantly in the previous two seasons since coming to New York in a trade with the 49ers, and the defense was regularly among the best.

As was to be expected in a game between these teams, the contest was intensely physical. The Giants scored first when CB Dick Lynch intercepted a pass by Browns QB Frank Ryan and ran 47 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. However, Cleveland came right back with an 11-play drive that culminated in a one-yard scoring leap by Brown.

The Giants responded with an 11-play drive of their own that covered 75 yards and was helped along by two personal foul penalties on the Browns. FB Alex Webster plowed into the end zone from a yard out to regain the lead for New York at 14-7.

In the second quarter, a poor 11-yard punt by Cleveland’s Gary Collins gave the Giants good field position, but they settled for a 25-yard Don Chandler field goal. DB Jim Shorter returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to midfield and the Browns followed up six plays later with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to split end Rich Kreitling. The score was 17-14 in favor of the Giants at halftime.

Jim Brown had a relatively quiet first half, by his standards, carrying the ball 13 times for 47 yards as the Giants defense – in particular MLB Sam Huff – keyed on him. But he broke loose in a big way early in the third quarter when Ryan tossed a screen pass to him and the great fullback sped 72 yards for a TD. The Browns were ahead for the first time at 21-17.

Before the third quarter was over, Brown struck again with a 32-yard touchdown run that all but nailed down the win for Cleveland. While the Giants scored once more on a 14-yard pass from Tittle to HB Phil King in the fourth quarter, the Browns countered with Ryan connecting once again with Kreitling for an 11-yard TD. The final score was 35-24.

Cleveland piled up 340 total yards to New York’s 211. Of that total, Jim Brown accounted for 209 yards as he gained 123 on 23 carries with two TDs and 86 on four pass receptions and another touchdown (he was the team’s leading receiver as well as rusher). Frank Ryan completed 12 of 16 passes for 169 yards with three touchdowns and the lone interception. HB Ernie Green contributed to the Browns’ total of 210 rushing yards with 69 on 12 attempts.

“It was a very rough game,” said Brown afterward. “No, I wouldn’t say dirty. I think they were just a little overanxious.” Sam Huff summed up Brown’s performance when he said “if he had run any harder, he’d have killed one of us.”

Y.A. Tittle was harassed throughout the game by the Cleveland defensive line but completed 17 of his 31 passes for 178 yards with a TD and none intercepted. Split end Del Shofner led the Giants with 5 catches for 54 yards. New York gained just 72 yards on the ground, with FB Joe Morrison leading the way with 38 yards on 9 carries.

The Browns remained undefeated for one more week before being dominated by the Giants in the re-match in Cleveland, 33-6. New York lost just once more the rest of the way and again came in first in the Eastern Conference with an 11-3 record; they lost the NFL title game to the Chicago Bears. Cleveland tailed off in the second half of the year and finished in second place at 10-4.

After just five games, Jim Brown had 787 yards rushing and went on to break his own single-season rushing record with 1863 yards on 291 carries (6.4 average per attempt) with 12 touchdowns. As the game against the Giants showed, he could also be effective as a receiver out of the backfield and added 268 yards on 24 catches with three TDs. He was named NFL MVP by UPI and the Newspaper Enterprise Association and received the Bert Bell Award.


Frank Ryan (pictured at left), in his seventh NFL season and second with the Browns, made great strides at quarterback. The fourth-ranked passer in the league (second by the current rating system, at 90.4), he ranked third in touchdown passes (25) and was tied for first with Tittle in percentage of TD passes thrown (9.8). He was also one of the most intelligent quarterbacks in the game – the product of Rice University earned a Ph.D. in mathematics.