The (3-0) Atlanta Falcons visit Municipal Stadium to play the (1-2) Cleveland Browns. I think this was the final game between Vin Scully and John Madden calling a game together. The 1st Qtr has edited huddles but still enjoyable.
I was at this game!!!! My Sr. yr of HS and we had just won our 3rd game of the season and me and 3 players went to this game as a celebration. We scalped tickets for 7 bucks each... and sat in the Dog Pound by trading the tickets we bought lol
Amazingly, this was the last time Madden called a Browns game until going to Monday Night Football. Somehow, Pat & John never called a game from Cleveland--the only active team in the league where that was the case. And the Browns spent most of the Pat & John years being a pretty darn good team--they were a far cry from your '00s and '10s Browns.
I was a 16 year old junior at Benedictine High School that year and I was at this game, section 51, row 38, seat 8. My late father had seat 7 and my late uncle had seat 6
Section 51 would've been in the Bleachers. As I recall, the rows at Municipal Stadium were not numbered; they were lettered. The first 26 rows were rows A to Z, then beginning with row 27, if necessary, they were Rows AA through ZZ. So Row 38 would've been Row LL. Unless they used a different nomenclature in the bleacher sections. I sat everywhere throughout that stadium in my youth; dozens and dozens of football and baseball games. But I must confess that I only sat in the bleacher section 1 time; it was for a Tribe game and there were, like, only 50 people sitting in the bleachers. So nobody ever bothered to look at their seat location, since it didn't matter and you could sit wherever you wanted.
I remember watching this in elementary school - then, fourteen years later, in college - watching Clay Matthews take the coin toss for the Falcons (Week One, OT, vs Carolina). It seems like an eternity between ‘81 and ‘95….but 1995 seems like it was just the other day. Crazy. Thank you for posting!
At this point in the season, the Browns were at exactly the same point they were in the previous season. And after this game was over, most experts probably thought they were going to have another winning season. But instead they self-destructed. Why I don't know. It just happens sometimes.
After winning the division the previous season this was a very frustrating and disappointing season for the Browns. They began the season by losing 2, then winning 2, then losing 2, then winning 2, then losing 2. They just couldn't string any good football together that year. But it was an aging team that ended up getting too old in 1981. And like a lot of old teams eventually the injuries piled up & they ended up losing the final 5 games of the season. As a result of the disappointments of '81 the Browns began an extensive rebuild starting in '82, especially on the defensive side of the ball. This rebuild began bearing fruit a few years later and the rebuilt team would make the postseason '85 thru '89, winning the Division in '85, '86, '87 & '89, going to the AFC Championship in '86, '87 and '89. Unfortunately they never got to the Super Bowl. Browns fans are still waiting for that.
Thanks again, Richard. Love your channel. Of course after growing up a tortured Browns fan, I especially appreciate the Cleveland games from the 1980s. So I’ll just make one more annoying request... Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns 11/23/1986. It was an overtime thriller that an 11-year-old me was lucky enough to attend. We even stayed for the whole game! Haha!! Surprisingly that full game footage is nowhere to be found online. The NFL GOTW version of that game has been on RU-vid for a few years, but the game itself has never surfaced.
That's a Jerry Glanville defense the Falcons have - not necessarily big, but fast and aggressive. There are always 3 or 4 of them flying in on the ballcarrier. Glanville units played edgy.
As I recall, Glanville made a name for himself a few years earlier when he was the Special Teams Co-ordinator for the Lions, where had some special team units known for edgy, hard hitting play
This game might've been closer had it not been for that bogus fumble call on Jenkins near the end of the first half. Had that not happened, and even with the Browns scoring again with their opening 2nd half drive, the Falcons would've been down only two touchdowns with plenty of time left in the game. But being down 28-10 pretty much nixed the Falcons running game after Andrews had a productive first half, forcing Bartkowski to throw most of the 2nd half, which the Browns defense mostly took care of. And the Browns offense was pretty much able to control the ball and play keep-away with that lead, with very effective running by Pruitt and White, and the occasional third-down pass from Sipe. Had the Browns not been gifted that last touchdown of the first half by the officials, the Falcons offense could've made things a lot closer.
Thanks for posting these old games from the 81 season! I created a 1981 roster file on nfl2k5rosters.com a few years ago and occasionally make adjustments after seeing these videos.
Thank you so much, Richard. Once again great upload 👍. For curiosity, do you have the 1981 week 8 Colts-Browns game or any of these games?: Both Saints/Falcons games from the 1981 season 1981 Week 7 Cardinals vs Falcons 1981 Week 12 Vikings vs Falcons 1981 Week 15 Rams vs Falcons
I don't have Saints-Falcons from 1981. I may be able to get Cardinals-Falcons & Colts-Browns from same year. It's real difficult to find Saints/Falcons games.
