Videos: Browns of Leroy Kelly, Bill Nelsen and Gary Collins top Joe Namath's Jets, 31-21, on Monday night, Sept. 21, 1970, on ABC.
Browns quarterback Bill Nelsen, with tackle Dick Schafrath trailing, scrambles against the Jets during the Sept. 21, 1970 Monday Night Football game.By Mike Peticca, Plain Dealer Reporter
Cleveland, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns play the New York Jets on Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
The teams first met on Sept. 21, 1970, in the first telecast of the landmark "Monday Night Football" series. Previously, there had been a few Monday night games played in the NFL, some of them televised, but this game was the first scheduled as part of the weekly series on, then, ABC.
It was also the first season of the merger between the National Football League and American Football League. The leagues had given up their separate identities, in effect after the 1969 season.
The Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts moved from the former NFL to join former AFL teams in the American Football Conference. It was assumed the Browns would dominate the AFC Central Division, but age and injuries contributed to their 7-7 finish to the 1970 campaign. The passing game was stung by the loss of future Hall of Famer, receiver Paul Warfield. He had been traded to the Miami Dolphins for, essentially, the draft rights to Purdue All-American quarterback Mike Phipps.
Agonizingly for owner Art Modell, Cleveland finished one game behind the upstart Cincinnati Bengals in the Central. The Bengals were in just their third season, and were owned and coached by Paul Brown, who coached the Browns for their first 17 years before being fired by Modell following the 1962 season.
The Jets went on to a worse season than the Browns, going 4-10.
But, that Sept. 21, the Browns-Jets matchup made total sense as Monday Night Football's kickoff game. The Browns were coming off two straight NFL championship game appearances, though both were defeats, and were regarded as a flagship franchise.
The Jets had established the legitimacy of all AFL teams in the 1968 Super Bowl, upsetting Baltimore, 16-7, after the Colts had routed the Browns, 34-0, in the NFL title game. And, they were led by football's biggest personality at the time, quarterback Joe Namath.
ABC announcers for the first Monday Night Football season were Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and former Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Don Meredith, who had retired after the Browns upset Dallas, 31-20, in a 1968 playoff game.
Following are videos, from youtube.com, from the Browns-Jets game. Following the videos, from The Plain Dealer's Browns history database, reporter Chuck Heaton's game story.
Video: The Browns' first scoring drive, capped by Bill Nelsen's 8-yard touchdown pass to Gary Collins.
Video: The Browns' second touchdown drive, ending with Bo Scott's 2-yard run, for a 14-0 lead.
Video: Former Giants great Frank Gifford, who joined Monday Night Football's broadcasting team in 1971, introducing a Monday night game this season with video of Browns linebacker Billy Andrews returning his interception of a Joe Namath pass 25 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.
Plain Dealer reporter Chuck Heaton's game story follows:
Browns 31, New York Jets 21
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
September 21, 1970
By Chuck Heaton
Plain Dealer Reporter
The battling Browns survived the heroics of Broadway Joe last night and supplied enough of their own to defeat the New York Jets, 31-21, at the stadium.
Blanton Collier's team jumped off to a two-touchdown lead to the delight of home rooters in the all-time club record crowd of 85,703 and then held on to win this getaway game of the 1970 season.
The decision still was in doubt with less than a minute to play as the Jets had the ball and Cleveland led by only three points. Then Billy Andrews, who had replaced Dale Lindsey at linebacker, intercepted one of Joe Namath's passes and raced 25 yards for a touchdown that put the game out of reach of the Super Bowl champions of 1969.
Broadway Joe more than lived up to his notices as a pinpoint passer. He simply took the Cleveland defense apart through much of the game.
THERE WERE THREE big Cleveland interceptions. Earlier ones by Walt Sumner and Jim Houston stopped threats. And then the one by Andrews climaxed things.
The third Cleveland touchdown-the one that actually put the Browns ahead for good- was scored on a 91-yard runback of the second-half kickoff by Homer Jones. The fleet former star of the New York Giants went up the right sideline, moved to the middle near midfield and outran the last two defenders.
That gave the Browns a 21-7 lead. Then a 10-yard dash up the middle by Emerson Boozer put the Jets back in the running.
Don Cockroft kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 24-14 as the third quarter ended. Don had a chance to practically clinch matters early in the fourth quarter but missed a field goal from 18 yards out.
Then Broadway Joe began his late dramatics. He moved the Jets 80 yards in just four plays. All were passes. The last to George Sauer was good for 33 yards and a touchdown.
JIM TURNER CONVERTED and the former American Football League rulers trailed by only three points. Over three minutes remained and the Browns couldn't move the football.
So Cockroft punted and the Browns got a big break. Mike Battle called for a fair catch but let the ball bounce about the New York 30. It rolled all the way back to the Jets' four-yard line for a 65-yard boot.
Namath managed one first down to the 18-yard line. Then Andrews intercepted.
Cleveland also got a big break early in that last quarter when the Jets drove to a first down on the seven-yard line.
Matt Snell, who had a great night with 17 carries for 108 yards, fumbled as he went into the line.
JACK GREGORY FELL on the football at the seven and the threat was ended. And the Browns' offense, which clicked well at the start but had trouble in the last three periods, used up about six minutes of the clock.
The Browns didn't get a score out of that march but used up six minutes. That helped to make time run out on Namath.
It was the third-straight opening victory for the Browns and one of the wildest in the team's history. Both clubs had rookies playing and there were mistakes.
Bill Nelsen, who completed only 12 of 27 passes but had none intercepted, took early advantage of rookie cornerbacks Steve Tannen and Earlie Thomas. And the Jets seemed to be picking on Cleveland's newcomer-defensive tackle Jerry Sherk.
BOTH CLUBS WERE heavily penalized. The Jets were assessed 13 times at a cost of 161 yards. The Browns had eight infractions for 101 yards.
That the final score doesn't tell the whole story is underlined by the statistics. The Jets had 31 first downs to 20 for Cleveland.
Total yardage was 455 to 221 in the New Yorkers' favor. And they got off 70 offensive plays to 57 for the Browns.
The Jets didn't move the football after taking the opening kickoff. So they punted and Nelsen led the Browns 55 yards in nine plays. The touchdown payoff was a pass of eight yards from Nelsen to Gary Collins in the end zone.
The second time the Browns took the ball they went 84 yards in 11 plays. There were successive pass interference calls against the Jets in this drive.
BO SCOTT WENT around left end for two yards and the touchdown. So Cleveland led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Sparked by a 38-yard kickoff return by Battle, the Jets moved back into contention in the second quarter. Namath needed only eight plays to go the 61 yards, with Boozer going the last two.
The Jets moved to the Cleveland 17 later in the period but that thrust was blunted by Sumner's interception. He leaped high to pick off a pass intended for Sauer.
There was still time for a touchdown before the half when Houston also made a great grab of a throw intended for Pete Lammons. Thus Cleveland had its 14-7 halftime bulge and the lead was hiked to two touchdowns on Homer Jones' touchdown return of the second-half kickoff.
THEN CAME THE BATTLE against the clock, the Jets threatening and the Browns for the most part giving ground but somehow still making the big play.
And the biggest ones of the second half were Gregory's recovery of Snell's fumble and Andrews' interception and touchdown return.
The crowd of 85,703 bettered the old mark of 85,532, who saw the doubleheader in 1969. And no matter which team they were rooting for, they saw quite a football game.
The Jets, a team Collier believes could be the toughest the Browns will face all season, will be better once their rookies get some experience. So maybe it's well to have caught them at the start.
THE BROWNS GAVE a spotty performance but get a gold star for effort. And they didn't quit even when Namath continued to pick them apart the second half.
So now Namath is out of the way for the regular season. The way the two teams battled, though, it's just possible there could be a rematch with the American Football Conference honors at stake.
That's a long way off, however.
Right now the Browns must think about a visit to San Francisco next Sunday. A fellow named John Brodie will be doing the flinging for the 49ers and the Cleveland defense needs some work before meeting him.