Starting off with our Evaluation from 2024:
Perf. 90
Value 100
Prof. 61
Diff. 75
Overall --> 83

Our proffits took a hit in 3 areas: Salaries rose slightly, Coaching costs increased significantly, and even though we were at 100% capacity, somehow Ticket Revenue fell quite a bit.

We are going to raise tickiet prices some to compensate. We also submitted plans for a brand new stadium, with full capacity at every level, including VR boxes. We asked the tax payors to pick up the tab. Our previous proposal was renovations, which apparntly doesn't carry the 15 year limit like a new stadium does. Those VR boxes will be nice for bringing in the extra cash. I'm not too hopeful on this issue passing however, as we probably need a bit more support.

Please welcome the following players for induction into the Hall of Fame this season:
Bernard Francis - Dolphins DE with 178 career sacks
Gino Larimer - Panthers RB who ran more times then any other back, with 3545 carries, ran for the second most yards at 14,999 and was 4th in scoring with rushing 111 TD's.

And welcome to the Browns Team HOF:
RB Rico Rodriguez
- Made a Keeper by Darkiller -
Rico started all 16 games in each of his first 7 seasons. He started 11, and played in all 16 of the regular season games his 8th year. He saw little duty in his 9th year as management went with the younger legs of Casey Beyer. Like his predecessor Donnie Sheen, Rico was a great threat both rushing and receiving compiling nearly 13,000 yards and over 100 TD's. Rico broke 1100 yards rushing in each of his first 8 years, and averaged 4.4 yards per carry.

Again, we have no players retire, and no starters are unsigned. We do have two Very Good players shoping their wares on the free market. Injury fill-in TE Shawn Salaam, who we will not attempt to retain, and fan favorite LB Mel Dillon who was a fourth round draftee in 2020. He has seen very little action, but wanted too much $ last year to extend. If his demands come down he is welcome on the team, although he is currently number 6 on the depth chart, and his future potential is lower then the youngsters below him on the chart. I have no idea why he is a fan favorite.

We will not be designating a Franchise Player.

We are currently $6 million under the cap but need a projected $30 million to sign our 3 first rounders, and our 2 seconds and 2 thirds.

Our biggest need is a young DE superstar Stud. We have the 2nd, 12th and 34th picks in the first round of the draft from previous trades. I'll probably take a DE with the 2nd pick in the draft.

We have some tough decisions in re-negotiations as Beyer's contract is in it's last year, as is Clark's. Borders is currently the starting RB, and Beyer will wants a ton of cash. Roger Brentlinger, our second string QB, is a 5th year up and comer who will want the starting job very soon, his current ratings are all in the 70's (except 3rd down, scrambling and carrying which are currently in the 90's), his potentials are all in the high 90's.

Looking more closely though, there is probably enough room to keep the players I want. Especialy since after the draft, if I need to, I'll probably deal one of the current left DE's either Duncan or Copeland.

We ignore all the trade offers. And start the re-signing.

Looking ahead instead of behind.... the moto for 2025.

We trade bakup OT Frank Hutton (number 4 of 5 on the current depth chart for the Jets first round pick in 2026 and second rounder in 2027.

Looking at my cap situation, I don't think I can pay for all these picks. I am 15 mil under, but need about 30. I also still have 6 Excellent players only signed through this year, and 3 very good vets I want to keep as well, all of whom want more money then they are getting right now...

I decided to Re-up Clark and Beyers for a few more years. Clark had a great season last year (1st Team honors) and Beyers was outstanding when Border went down near the end of the year. Someone else can deal with this probelem in a few years.

After taking the second pick in the draft, I start trading off some of my remainging high picks for future picks. We are so solid right now, and I had such a great draft least year, I feel comfortable with where we are AND where we are going. I trade the number 34 pick this year to Arizona(owner of this years first pick) and our slot in 2026 for their number 1's in 2026 and 2027, plus a number 2 in 2026. This keeps us at 3 number 1's in 2026 (picks from teams that have the 1, 6 and 10 pick this year) and gives us two 1's in 2027

Trade - 1(12) and 2(34) to Las Vegas for 2026-2 2027-1 and 2
Trade - 3(2) and 2027-1 to San Fran for 2027 1,2,3
Trade - 3(34) and 2027-5,6 to Denver for 4(35) and 2026 3 to move down and get a backup CB later on in the draft then now

Draft Selections:
1(2) DE Reggie Ogden (potentials of 100/96/95)
2 WR Drew Francis
4 CB Alvin Arnold

We also signed an undrafted rookie CB Lincoln Lindsay, who we had been watching all draft and almost took in the fourth.

To make room on the roster for Francis, we trade off WR Emmitt Vance (along with a 6th and 7th) to Miami for their number 1 and number 3 in 2028. Vance was a pickup in 2023 to and played as our number 5 WR last year, he was in the last year of his contract and wanted to much to re-sign. Francis (who wants 5 Million less per year) is better now then Vance will ever be.

In an odd decision, I am keeping the CB I signed after the draft, and not signing my 4th round CB pick. He's not good enough to ever crack our starting line up, and won't sign for long enough to make him worth anything before he asks for stupid money. The other CB has better overall return skills and endurance, and just as good pass protection skills, although he doesn't measure up in INT's and run defense. I just don't think Alvin Arnold has a place on our team.

We also passed our stadium bill, we will have the top stadium in the league in 2030 with a completely new facility.

We renegotiated most of the remaining players who were in the last year of their contract. The only 2 left are T Scott Flemming, and Return specialst Gerald Stegeman who is signed for the vet. minimum. Flemming is a 10 year vet I drafted, who started every game he played in the last 6 seasons, but will be 3rd on the chart this year with the unexpected leap forward 2nd year T Rondell Finch has made. At the moment Flemming wants a sallary jump from that would make hm go from 5.6 mil on the cap to 10.6 mil, which is a little much for a backup tackle. I hope he'll reconsider later on in the season, but he may just get disgruntled instead.

Our cohesion is 97/82/98/100 near the top in all categories but the O-Line. Replacing our 2nd best G and T with our third best in each, the cohesion jumps from 82 to 94.
Starting Line Up
QB Clark 18 WebEwbank
RB Borders 17 WebEwbank
FB Lee 18 Syrinx
TE Pearson 17 Subby
WR Porter 17 Subby
WR Jeffries 17 Syrinx
WR Henderson 16 Syrinx (moving ahead of Cole)
LT Finch 16 Syrinx
LG Hanson 19 Subby
C Sheldon 17 WebEwbank
RG Page 16 Darkiller
RT Flemming 14 Syrinx

Starters not starting due to O-Line cohesion
OG Vanderclute 18 Darkiller
OT Sanderson 15 TheRoyalOne

P Norris 12 TheRoyalOne
K Riley 19 TheRoyalOne
PR Stegeman (92) Syrinx
KR Lindsay (86) Syrinx

LE Duncan 13 Subby
LE Ogden 9 Syrinx (Passing Downs)
LT Swift 17 WebEwbank
RT Kirk 16 WebEwbank
RE Wiese 18 TheRoyalOne
WLB Sapp 19 WebEwbank
MLB Gordon 19 Subby
SLB Tubbs 15 WebEwbank (Wheeler has finnaly left the starting line-up)
CB Mathews 17 WebEwbank
CB Whiting 16 Syrinx
FS Dunkelberger 16 WebEwbank
SS Storey 15 Subby (Replacing Foster as the starter)

We go through pre-season 2-2 with 2 starters questionable for the Season Opener G Page and LB Tubbs.

BUT the big news, is Lee Clark takes a shoulder injury on his throwing arm and needs surgery. He is out long term, and will likely never take another snap for the Borwns as a starter. His ratings fell considerably in many throwing categories.

For the regular season we will be going with Fan Favorite Roger Brentlinger at QB. Brentlinger has 7 starts, and experienc in parts of 25 games in his 4 previous seasons with the Browns. He has a career QB rating of 82.7 w/ and 14TD's to 10Int's. Brentlinger was the fourth overall pick out of the 2021 draft by TheRoyalOne.

This is a heavy blow for the Browns after Clark's great season last year including career highs in Yardage and TD's.

-2025 Regular Season (Part 1)-

Week 1
Cleveland(0-0)-9 vs. Detroit(0-0)
We start the Roger Brentlinger era with an odd but solid win
Brentlinger 7/7/104/1/0 - but then had to sit with a minor pulled hamstring
3rd QB Dwight 15/10/145/1/0
Borders 26/206/1 - running like a mad man for PotG honors
Jeffries 5/65/0
Porter 3/65/1
Whiting led with 6 Tackles
Storey had a pick that he took back all the way
Weise had a solo sack, and combined with Swift for another
Browns 34 Lions 21

We also had a slew of injuries including 2 LB's who are Doubtful, and both our Punter and Kicker, who are also doubtful.

Week 2
Cleveland(1-0)-10 vs. Chicago(0-1)
A close one, wich included 2 Bears TD passes in the last 3 min. of the game
Brentlinger 30/18/230/2/2
Borders 22/99/1
Porter 4/85/1
Dunkelberger had 8 tackles and a sack to lead the D
DT Swift had an INT off of a batted ball
Sapp and Wiese each had a sack, Kirk and Ogden combined for another
Browns 27 Bears 24

PK Riley is now out for the season, we pick up a halfway decent kicker to replace him for the year. That's the second of our '24 All-pros to go down.

Week 3
Cleveland(2-0)-2 @ Baltimore (0-2)
A solid team effort, that was locked up with 2 mid-range scoring passes by Brentlinger in the 3rd
Brentlinger 26/15/240/2/1
Borders 18/61/1
Jeffries 5/82/1
Henderson 4/80/1
Dunk, Storey and Bell got picks
Banks and Sapp each had 7 tackles
Kirk, Storey, Swift and Foster each got to the QB once
Browns 31 Ravens 10

Week 4
Cleveland(3-0)-6 vs. Tenn.(2-1)
The Browns pitch a shutout
Brentlinger 28/20/266/2/0 and a 4 yard scramble for another TD
Borders 27/170/1
Porter 6/96/1
Jeffries 5/74/1
Sapp led with 9 tackles
Whiting and Foster got picks
Dunk, Tubbs and Stoery each had sacks
Browns 32 Titans 0

Week 5
Cleveland(4-0)-10 vs. Pitt(0-4)
A big but costly win over a clearly inferrior opponent led by special teams and D
Brentlinger 6/3/52/0/0 went down early with broken ribs
Benson 9/14/138/0/1 was only decent in relief
Borders 21/117/0
Porter 2/45/0
Stegeman got the scoring going with a 72 yard punt return
Whiting returned an Interception 62 yards for another score
Tubbs led the swarming D with 5 tackles and a Sack
Swift Kirk and Wiese each had a sack a piece
And Duncan racked up 3 sacks, as the Steeler O-Line was overwhelmed
Pitt didn't even get on the board until 1:14 left in the game.
Browns 30 Steelers 3

With our first 2 QB's down for most, if not all of the rest of the season, I need to look into a free agent solution. There are 3 high caliber players available, but 2 of them want over $14 million to play, which is why they are on the sidelines this year. Part of the decision I need to make is who to start, Benson is young, but knows the system, anyone else we brought in may have a hard time leading the team, even if he has better skills. A trade of some kind is out of the question as the deadline has just passed.

An interesting note, acording to the Box Score, Pitt didn't register a single sack, meaning Brentlinger was injured on his only run, or some hit after he got rid of the ball. I can't even blame anyone on our O-line for this.

More to come in the continuing saga of kill the QB...

Durring the 8 years of the Non-Era in which Lee Clark was the full time Starter we made the playoffs each year (100%). Blaine Davies only reached the playoffs in 77% of the seasons he played. Clark compiled a career rating of 86.4 and threw almost 24TD's a year and 3682 yards per season. Which is higher then Blaine's 86.2 rating, 22TD's and a mere 3294 yards per season. Clark got a 1st Team League honors in 25% of his seasons, compared to Davies' making first team in only 22% of his seasons.

And Clark didn't do any of this with the help of League HOF RB Donnie Sheen.

So clearly Lee Clark is a better QB then Blaine Davies... And yes, statistics can be misleading.

Mr. Davies 4 rings tell a little different story.

This skewed many things in favor of Clark's 8 years as the full time starter vs. Davies 18 years of playing (including the year they split time and the first few building years.) This also doesn't include Davies's 2nd Team honor's, League MVP's, OPotY, and league records of which Clark has none. ...and of course the afore-mentioned 4 super bowl rings!

We sign 4th Year man Jon Walker. Walker started four games for Vegas last year, he was with the Cardinals his first 2 seasons but only threw 20 passes each year. He has 5 TD's to 4 INT's and a career rating of 70.4. Walker was the best talent available not asking for double digit millions. Clark hits IR to make room for Walker.

The scout says go with Walker and a cohesion rating of 73, but I'm going with Benson and the 76 rating. Benson has better short and long passes, and has a much higher potential for growth with this exposure. I am tempted to change the game plan a lot, but will only minorly tweak it for now.

Week 6
Cleveland(5-0)-5 @ Jax.(3-2)
An important conference game to test the mettle of this team, but the offense can't get it done
Benson 27/17/223/0/1
Borders 21/88/0
Porter 4/79/0
Gordon led with 9 tackles, in his return to the lineup
Dunk and Storey had 8, Storey also had our only Int
Wiese had our only sack
We out-gained them 328 to 234 but they out-scored us:
Jaguars 13 Browns 6

Week 7 brings the bye and a chance for us to collect our thoughts.

Week 8
Cleveland(5-1)-2 @ Tenn.(2-4)
We add a touch more focus on the run game, and that helps Benson calm down
Benson 27/15/176/1/0
Borders 34/105/2 and 2 catches for 19 yards and another TD
Jeffries 3/53/0
Dunk, quiet in the INT biz this year, led with 6 tackles
Bell had a pick
Swift had 2 sacks, Weise had 1
Browns 27 Ravens 14

Week 9
Cleveland(6-1)-10 vs. Pitt(1-6)
A rematch of the QB Blood bowl, their QB is back in the line-up
Benson 29/16/191/1/1 and a TD on the ground
Borders 21/51/0 - a dissapointing game
Jeffries 4/71/0
Henderson 4/51/1
Dunk led with 9 stops, and got his second Int of the season
Matthewes and Bell also grabbed Int's
CB Bell(5'9" 190lbs) also combined on a sack with DT Swift(6'7" 289lbs) (I can just picture Bell getting crushed this way)
Pitt QB Tormich was knocked back out of the game half way through
Browns 23 Bengals 13

Week 10
Cleveland(7-1)+3 @ Seattle(6-2)
Underdogs against the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year. We were up 15-14 in the middle of the fourth, but the Seahawks came up with 10 unanswered ponits to finish us off.
Benson 25/12/161/0/1
Borders 22/108/1 not quite enough to carry us through
Henderson 5/90/0
Banks led with 8 tackles
Gordon had 6 plus a sack
Wiese and Swift also had sacks
We forced no Int's, but did grab a fumble, and block a punt out of the back of the end-zone
Seahawks 24 Browns 15

Week 11
Cleveland(7-2)-5 vs. Jax.(4-5)
A re-match of the Benson debut turns out differently at home, although Benson missed most of the game with an upset stomach and it turned into the Nate Borders show
Walker 25/13/173/0/0 - doing a great job of not loosing the game
Borders 29/112/3 and 3 catches for 20 yards to lead receivers
Jeffries 2/43/0
Storey Whiting and Dunk each led w/ 5 tackles and a pick a piece
Kirk and Gordon had solo Sacks, Swift and Ogden combined on a 3rd
Browns 21 Jaguars 3

Week 12
Cleveland(8-2)-13 vs. Baltimore(2-8)
A game that was closer then it should have been, we won on a sneaky 13 yard draw to backup RB Beyer with :40 left in the game.
Benson 29/13/210/2/0
Borders 17/44/0
Porter 5/118/2
Gordon led with 7 tackles and a Sack
Swift had 6 stops up front and brought down their QB twice
Ogden added 2.5 sacks, Weise 1, and Sapp contributed another half sack to the mugging
Browns 24 Ravens 17

Dunk is going to sit out a week to rest a bruised shoulder, Brentlinger is also claiming he's ready to come back, but we'll give him another week or 2 as well.

Week 13
Cleveland(9-2)+3 @ Green Bay(9-2)
Two playoff contenders battle it out in a great Monday nighter
The packers roll-up a 20-0 lead before Walker is put in to put 10 on the board to late to matter
Benson 25/10/102/0/0
Walker 9/4/94/1/0
Borders 15/75/0 rushing
Henderson 5/80/0
Jeffries 4/51/1
Sapp had 9 tackles
Whiting had 2 picks, Mathews had 1
Weise added yet another sack to his resume
Browns 21 Redskins 13

Week 14
Cleveland(9-3)-5 vs Cincy(10-2)
Our first game against division leading Cincy marks the return of Brentlinger in a losing effort.
Bentlinger 35/18/263/1/2 - one of the INT's was returned for a momentum turning score late in the 2nd qtr.
Borders 14/121/1
Henderson 5/105/0
Gordon had 10 stops
Weise had the only sack
We caught no Int's
Bengals 19 Browns 14

The diviion lead is now almost out of reach, and the playoffs could be in doubt if we don't turn this slide around

Week 15
Cleveland(9-4)-1 vs. Charlottesville(8-5)
A much needed win over a quality opponent!
Brentlinger 18/12/126/0/0
Borders 29/105/2
Porter 3/48/0
Storey led with 8 tackles
Weise had 2 sacks, Kirk 1.5, Gordon 1, and DT Tubbs .5
Again no Int's
Browns 20 Spangels 13

Week 16
Cleveland(10-4)+0 @ New England(8-6)
This game needs no introduction
Brentlinger 35/23/316/3/0
Borders 28/137/1 rushing, 4/13/1 receiving
Jeffries 8/148/1
Gordon led with 7 tackles
Storey had the only pick
Wiese had 2.5 sacks, including one for 2 points
CB Lindsay assisted on one of the sacks
Browns 40 Patsies 30

With this win, we secure a spot in the playoffs, and deny one to New England

Week 17
Cleveland(11-4)-2 @ Cincy(12-3)
The division title is on the line, and Brentlinger's Int's give it to Cincy
Brentlinger 26/8/130/0/3
Borders 24/186/1
Sapp and Kirk had 8 stops
Wiese got another sack
And again none of last season's trademark Int's
Bengals 16 Browns 10

AFC Central
*Bengals 13-3
*Browns 11-5
Jaguars 8-8
Titans 8-8
Ravens 5-11
Steelers 2-14

See you in the post season...

-2025 Post Season-

Wild Card

Chicago 3
Green Bay 31

San Diego 7
Miami 17

Greensboro 12
Tampa Bay 17

Cleveland(11-5)-6 vs. Charlottesville(10-6)
A big time rematch of the week 15 thriller!
The cold rain didn't stop the fans from showing up to this great game, 99,900 screaming Browns fans were in attendance.

Charlottesville took the opening kick-off, and drove down most of the field, but their drive was ended with a missed FG. Cleveland took over and showed their game plan early going to Borders on the ground and in the air on 3 straight plays. Although in-effective on this drive, it was obvious they wanted to fully utilize their MVP from the week 15 win over the Spangles. After a 3 and out by Charlottesville, the Browns took over on their 45. Borders was bottled up on first down, Brentlinger then went to the air to take advantage of the Spangles cheating against the run. Cole for 24, then Porter for 9 down to the opponents 25. From their Borders, following a crushing lead block from 2nd year LT Finch, bounced outside and raced all the way in for a score.
Charlottesville responded with a 71 yard scoring drive of their own, to tie the game. Cleveland went 3 and out, and Charlottesville took a 3 point lead on their next drive.
Cleveland went back to the ground game, and on perhaps the play that broke it open for the Browns, on a first and ten from their own 41, Borders took another sweep around right end and was off to the races as he sprinted 59 yards down the sideline for another TD!
Charlottesville failed to respond on their next drive. On our next drive, Borders fumbled in Browns territory, but 2 plays later the swarming D got the ball back as the Charlottesville QB was sacked and coughed up the slick football. Cleveland took full advantage of this fortunate turn of events, drove to the Spangles 39, and from there Borders took it in on another long sweep, this time around left end.

At the half we lead 21-10.

We open the half with another TD drive, this one capped by a Brentlinger to Porter 15 yard strike. The rest of the third is a defensive battle, ending with Charlottesville on our 1.
They open the fourth with a TD, but fail to convert the 2 pointer; 28-16 our lead.
On our next drive Charlottesville scoops up another Borders fumble, and takes it in form the 8. Pulling to within 5.
Brentlinger moves us down the field, and sets up a long FG by Conley. 31-23
The ball goes back and forth. With 2:05 left Charlottesville takes over on their 46, after a missed Browns 56 yard FG attempt. They need a TD and 2-pointer to force OT. Their first play is a 45 yard bomb that takes it own to our 9, where Foster drags down the receiver from behind saving a TD. Our stalwart D then holds, as Charlottesville fails on 4 attempts to get the ball into the end zone! From there we run down the clock, and preserve the win.

Brentlinger 19/14/197/1/0
MVP - Borders 31/184/3 (and 2 fumbles on this rainy day)
Porter 4/76/1
Foster led with 8 tackles
LB Lamar Tubbs and DT Swift each got solo sacks
DE Ogden had 1 solo sack, and combined with reserve DT Riddick Tubbs on another sack
Charlottesville also committed 13 penalties, in this very close game.

Browns 31 Spangles 23

Quarter Finals

Green Bay 20
Dallas 17

Miami 10
Seattle 24

Tampa 10
St. Louis 13

Cleveland(12-5)+1 @ Cincy(13-3)
This is a playoff match-up many were expecting. Cincy is confident after the regular season sweep. Coach Joseph is promising something different, saying that he has identified a weakness in the Bengals after closely studying the game tapes from earlier in the year. We shall see...

Defense prevailed through the first quarter, surprising no one, as neither team even scored 20 points in either of their earlier games.
In the second qtr, Cleveland finally got a FG in, and Cincinnati responded in kind. just before the 2 min. warning, Brentlinger engineered a successful drive, and capped it with a nice 29 yard pass to the TE Pearson. Cincy went three and out, and the Browns came back with another scoring drive, this one for a FG 19 seconds before the half. On the last play before the kick (a run by Borders), Brentlinger went down.

The Browns hold a half-time lead of 13-3, but are concerned with the injury to Brentlinger.

Cincy's opening drive stalled, and Cleveland, led by Benson off the bench, took over. The Browns executed a beautiful 66 yard drive, that ended with another Pearson TD catch. Defense, and Cleveland clock killing ate up the rest of the qtr.
Going into the 4th we held a strong 20-3 lead, against a team that we knew had problems scoring big against us. Early in the fourth we added another FG to our lead, but then Cincy finally mustered a TD drive, to keep the game alive: 23-10.
With only half a quarter left, and the Bengals trying to revive themselves, we knew we had to continue to play mistake free football. We got a good return after the Cincy field goal. Then on a second and 10 from our 45, Borders caught a quick screen, and broke downfield for 29 yards to the 16! From there Benson hit an open Jeffries in the back of the end-zone.
From there Cincy got desperate. Then went for it on 4th, inside their own 20, and failed. We scored a FG as a result. They then failed on another 4th down inside their 20. This time we made them pay with a TD. Cincy then ran one more play, that ended with a fumble on their own 27. We downed the ball to end the game.

Brentlinger 20/11/163/1/0
Benson 12/9/102/2/0
Borders 25/102/0 rushing and 5/60/0 receiving for MVP honors
Porter 5/75/0
Jeffries 5/59/1
Pearson 3/45/2

Browns 40 Bengals 10

Coach Joseph after the game, "We knew that mistakes had cost us the 2 games during the season, so we went with a more high-percentage conservative game plan, taking advantage of mismatches we felt we had over them at TE and RB in the passing game. We had out-gained them in yardage in both of our previous games, and knew we just needed to stop beating ourselves."

Conference Finals

Green Bay 21
St. Louis 34

Cleveland(13-5)+3 @ Seattle(14-3)
Another rematch from the regular season. Seattle's starting QB Donald Wilson, and the league's top rated passer, is Doubtful and not expected to play. Wilson was one of only 2 QB's to burn our secondary for more then 300 yards in his MVP performance in week 10.
Brentlinger is unable to play, and Borders will get the start. Lee Clark is healthy, but unavailable due to his Injured reserve status. Clark and Brentlinger have both traveled with the club to Seattle, for another cold and rainy playoff game.

The Browns open with a 41 yard KO return. Starting in Seattle territory, we quickly take advantage and score 5 plays later with a 5 yard pass from Benson to TE Pearson. The rest of the quarter sees little in the way of offense until Seattle threatens near the end of the quarter. Bringing it all the way to the 4, our Defense stiffens and they have to settle for a FG late in the First.
We take over, and on the last play of the 1st quarter, Benson is forced out of the pocket, makes a great move juking Seattle LB Holmes, he scrambles 39 yards. Deep in Seattle territory Borders takes care of the last 26 yards with 3 runs and a 4 yard play action pass for the score. Seattle goes three and out, and with the help of a poor punt we take over with excellent field position. Borders carries us into field goal range, and a 35 yard chip shot makes the score 17-3.
Seattle gets the ball, but on a key 3rd and ten, DT Brendan Swift makes the Defensive Play of the Game when he bull rushes over Seattle's best lineman, G Leo Knievel and just levels QB Qualizza. The ball comes loose, and Swift quickly drops on it at the Seattle 5 yard line. Borders fails to get it in twice, but on 3rd down Benson goes to Henderson through the air and scores. The Browns take a 24-3 lead with 2:23 left in the half. Seattle goes 3 and out, and Stegeman responds with the Special Teams Play of the Game, returning the punt 60 yards down to the 9. And in Cleveland's second straight possession starting inside the 10, Borders takes it in on try number 3. Seattle can't do anything with their last possession of the half.
Taking a 31-3 lead into half time, spirits are high.
The third qtr. only sees a FG by each team.
Early in the fourth Seattle adds another FG, but clearly need more then FG's with the game nearly out of reach at 34-9 and only 9 minutes left to play. Late in the 4th Seattle threatens again inside our 20, but at the 2 min. warning they fumble and we recover. Beyers takes over clock-killing duties for the winded Borders. Seattle calls meaningless TO's to prolong the inevitable. Then in a bizarre play that epitomizes Seattle in this game, with 14 seconds left we punt, they fumble, and we pick it up and return 48 yards for a completely meaningless TD.

Benson 24/14/106/3/0
Borders 27/76/1 rushing and 3/25/1 receiving for another game MVP
Sapp had 5 tackles
Gordon, Kirk, Wiese and LB Tubbs got a sack a piece
Swift had 2.5 sacks, including the all-important sack, forced fumble and recovery.
Duncan had .5 sack
We had no INT's but forced a total of 3 fumbles.

Browns 41 Seahawks 9

FOF Bowl

Cleveland(14-5)+2 @ St. Louis(13-5)
The NFC West champion Rams had the 2nd highest scoring O, and the hardest D to score against this year. The Rams also have the best turnover margin at +20.

The game starts with us going 3 and out, St. Louis takes over on their 28, and go for it on a daring 4th and one. We stop them, and take over at their 37. This call by aging Coach Andy Cole will probably be analyzed all off-season. We take advantage of the shortened field and FB Clarence Lee scores on a 15 yard run behind TE Pearson. St. Louis recovers and drives down to score a TD on their next drive. 7-7
Both teams stall on their next drives. As the 1st period comes to a close Cleveland is driving towards mid-field. The second period opens with a 15 yard pass to Cole, then a 29 yard Borders run, and finally a flair pass to Borders that he takes in from the 11! 14-7
St. Louis can only manage to get to mid-field, and again are forced to punt. We take over at our 15. Benson completes a total of 5 of 6 and with the help of two 10+ yard runs by Borders the Browns put together a nice 85 yard TD drive, finished up with a scoring pass to Henderson. 21-7
St. Louis goes 3 and out, Thanks in part to a big sack by Wiese. After three plays we have the ball at their 36, where Borders slips past his coverage and grabs a 36 yard scoring strike from Benson. 28-7
With only a 1:33 left in the half St. Louis tries to go to the air, but manage nothing. Cleveland takes over at their 29 with 34 second left. A 40 yard bomb to Cole gets us into field goal range, and Conley connects on a 34 yarder as the half expires.

An unbelievable qtr. of football as the Browns now hold a 31-7 half-time lead.
Coach Joseph warns the team about keeping mistake free, as a big play by the opportunistic St. Louis Defense could turn the ball game around in the second half.

St. Louis comes out firing, burning CB Jumbo Bell (starting for the injured Charles Whiting) with a 40 yard completion to get to the Cleveland 24. 2 plays later they shoot for the end-zone, but Bell redeems himself by snagging an interception, only his 4th on the year. Both teams then go three and out. Cleveland takes over at their 20. 2 Penalties later we are looking at 1st and 25 from the 5. St. Louis is salivating at a chance to come up with a big play and try to get back into this game. The Rams stack the line, and come in hard. Borders takes the hand off and heads to the middle; he then bounces out to the left; FB Lee blocks one defender and Borders races around the end breaking through the arms of a closing Safety. With no one left to beat, Borders races down the field 95 yards for a score! The proverbial nail in the coffin. 38-7
The rest of the game is pretty much moot.
We engineered another TD drive in the 3rd qtr. And they did nothing all quarter. By the end of the third qtr, both teams had their backup QB's in. The fourth qtr. saw only a field goal by each team.

3 Benson 27/19/297/4/0
Borders 14/163/1 rushing, 5/85/2 receiving his fourth straight playoff MVP honors
TE Pearson 4/61/1

Dunk led with 8 tackles
Corners Bell and Mathews each made an INT
Duncan, Wiese and Ogden got QB Sacks

We outgained them 509 yards to 225
The Rams only managed 2.2 yards per rush on 27 attempts and completed only 44% of their passes

Browns 48 Rams 10

FOF Champs once again!!!!!!

Season Stats

Team:
Turnovers: +9 (3rd)
Offense
Passing 3340(27th) Rushing 2230(2nd) 3rd Down .283(36th) Points 364(9th)
Defense
Passing 3357(6th) Rushing 1588(3rd) 3rd Down .294(2nd) Points 240 (2nd)
Power Rating: 76(3rd)

Individual
QB Roger Brentlinger (9 starts) 124 out of 211 (58.7%) for 1727 yards (8.18 ypp, 2nd among QB's with at least 8 starts), 11TD's and 8 INT's for a rating of 86.7 (8th highest rating among QB's with at least 8 starts)
QB Dwight Benson (7 starts) 102 out of 192 (53.1%) for 1346 yards(7.01 ypp), 5TD's and 4 Int's for a rating of 75.5

RB Nate Borders (16 Starts) 368 carries(1st) 1785 yards(1st) (which is a Browns single season record) 4.8 yards per carry (4th) 15 rushing TD's (2nd) as well as 34 catches (4th among RB's), for 264 yards (6th among RB's) and 2 more TD's (tied for 2nd among RB's) Offensive Player of the Year, 1st Team RB, Bowl MVP

WR Burt Porter 41 Catches, 818 yards, 19.9ypc(tied for 1st), 5TD's
WR Robbie Jeffries 50 Catches, 773 yards, 15.4ypc, 4TD's - Jeffries now owns the Browns Franchise records for receiving yardage(9318) and receiving TD's(63)
WR Jim Henderson 50 Catches, 787 yards, 15.7ypc, 2TD's

OT Rondell Finch, in only his second season and the first with any playing time, started all 16 games at left tackle. He made an amazing 43.6% of his 71 block opportunities and allowed 8 sacks.
OG Ben Vanderclute also had an amazing season. With 14 starts, Vanderclute made 37.3% of his 75 block opportunities and didn't allow a single sack.

DE Kurt Wiese led the team with 15 sacks (tied for 6th in the league)
S Arnold Storey (in his first season as a starter) and CB Charles Whiting led the team with 5 Interceptions and 1 TD each

--

I'm tempted to make Borders my keeper, but I want to take one of the kids that I selected in the 2024 Draft, so I'm gong to select T Rondell Finch as my second keeper. I'd love to see him have the kind of long career with the Browns that 17 year vet. G Norbert Page has had. Barring Injury I think it's possible. He probably won't make any HOF's as O-Line rarely does, so I hope I can track down his final career stats from the last Zip file he was active in.

The team is in great overall shape, but the QB situation is quite muddled.