Wild Cards
Atlanta 16
Philadelphia 13

Milwaukee 23
Cincinnati 41

Pittsburgh 23
Oakland 17

Tampa Bay 38
Greensboro 20

Quarter Finals

Atlanta 19
St. Louis 24

Cincinnati 28
Indianapolis 24

Tampa Bay 30
Minnesota 21

Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
A cool breeze blows across the field on this January afternoon. The Steelers come in looking for an upset, and revenge for their 2 regular season losses. Both teams battle to a near stalemate, as the only score in the first quarter is a Chandler FG.
Early in the second, the Steelers got on the board, with a solid TD drive, including a daring 9 yard pass play on 4th and 8. Cleveland answers, but only with a FG. The quarter keeps moving with no scoring action. Cleveland’s ball, 2 minute wanring before the half, down by one. 3rd and 8, Ainsworth takes it up the middle for 12, following a crushing lead block by C Carlson. 1st ad 10 at the Pitt. 19. McKnight drops back , and finds Lyon near the goal line, Lyon makes in the catch, and lunges into the endzone for the score. Ainsworth then carries the ball in for 2. The Browns take a 14-7 lead into the half.
The third quarter starts with a Cleveland drive that ends with Chandler drilling a 56 yard kick. (17-7) Cleveland stops the Steelers on their next drive. But Cleveland starts to stall as well, feeling cocky they go for it on 4th and 3, but come up short. The Steelers take over on the Brown’s 38, but can’t convert as the D holds them to 7 yards, and their kicker shanks it wide right. The Browns take advantage of their luck and pass their way down the field(16 and 26 yarders) for a 14 yard scoring strike to Lewinsky.
Holding a 24-7 lead going into the fourth, the game is essentially over. The quarter starts with us blocking a punt, leading to an easy 7 points for Ainsworth. Later in the fourth their QB coughs up the ball as Freitag and Woodson slam into him. Ward drops on the ball. This leads to Ainsworth TD run. A fumbled Steelers punt return allows us to put a final 3 points on the board, inside the two minute warning.
Ainsworth 19-190-2
McKnight 27-17-235-2-0
Lyon 6-88-1
Lewinsky 5-76-1
Woodson combined with Freitag for one sack and with LB Ekstrom for another
Blair had the only pick
Cleveland 41 vs. Pittsburgh 7

League Finals
Tampa Bay 18
St. Louis 21

Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals
It comes down to the game everyone was expecting. Cincinnati had to fight through two 11-5 teams to get here, but they made it. They are five point underdogs, due to their week 4 loss here in Cleveland, and their 12-4 record. But they hope to capture the magic of their week 8 victory, where they forced 5 Cleveland turnovers. For the 99,900 fans the game didn’t live up to some expectations. To others it was the sweetest kind of game of all.
The first quarter started with a negative 8 yard Cincinnati drive. Followed by a 58 yard TD drive by Cleveland capped by a McKnight pass to Henderson. The scoring stopped until the middle of the second quarter, when the Browns got the ball at their own 30 yard line, gave the ball to Ainsworth and watch as he bobbed and weaved through Bengals’ defenders in a beautiful 70 yard TD run! With only 7 seconds remaining in the second quarter, a pass got away from McKnight and Bengal CB Jennings grabbed it out of the air at mid-field. Jennings began to run as the final seconds ticked away… to the 45… the 40...35...30 past all the Browns players… to the25, the 20…, then comeing in from behind, 4th wideout Byron Armour raced in and shoved the ball carrier out of bounds, saving what looked to be a sure touchdown.
At the half the Browns held their 14-0 lead.
Neither team could make anything of their first drives, but on Cleveland’s second attempt, they managed a FG. Then came the final nail in Cincy’s coffin. On 2nd and 10, RB Sanders made a brilliant 8 yard run, but as LB Still managed to strip the ball out of his hands while tackling him. LB Briggs dropped on the ball as we took over at their 24. Two McKnight passes later it was 24-0 and the Bengal’s where completely deflated. A late 3rd quarter Int led to one final Brown’s scoring drive.
Ainsworth 20-88-2
McKnight 38-20-2-1
Henderson 5-90-1
DE Ward led with 5 tackles
Freitag and Swift had our only 2 sacks
Berosik 1 Int
Cleveland 31 vs. Cincinnati 0

FOF Bowl
Cleveland Browns vs. St Louis Rams
The fans are ready for a rematch of the thrilling 3 point Cleveland victory in St. Loins during week 13. The Rams have the number 1 passing offense, the Browns the number 2. The Rams hope to win in the air. If this turns into a ground war, the Browns have the advantage with their first place rushing game, against the Rams’ last place rushing D (how did they get to the Bowl in the first place??)
Cleveland started slow, managing a first down on their opening drive, then loseing 9 yards on 3 plays and punting from the 17 yard line. The result was terrible as St. Louis started on our 24. Our defense held, and they only came away with 3. Again the Ram’s stopped us cold, forcing a punt from our 16. This time Reese got off a nice kick that was covered quickly. Both teams exchanged a punts. The Rams then drove deep into Cleveland teritory, only to be stopped short as LB Duane Lies picked off a pass intended for Rams TE Irving Rogers at the 14. As time ran out in the first quarter, Cleveland was finnaly coming to life, as they advanced into St. Louis territory.
The second quarter opened with a Cleveland FG to tie the score at 3. The Rams came back, only to wind up missing a go ahead 46 yard FG. Capitalizing on their mistake, Cleveland’s air attack brought them to the Rams’ 35. From there, on 2nd and 15, Ainsworth took over, and 2 plays later he was dancing in the Endzone. Browns move ahead 10-3. The Browns defense holds the Rams’ to only one first down on the next drive, forcing a punt. The Browns used two big passes from McKnight to Lewinksy (10 and then 31 yards) to move to the 6 yard line. From there it took Ainsworth two attempts to drive it in and close the half 17-3.
Both teams managed nothing on each of their first 2 drives in the second half. It took the Rams the final 6 minutes of the third quarter just to fight through the Browns defense and manage a field goal. The Browns then started the 4th with a 4 min. 30 second, 75 yard TD drive, that was ignited with a 20 yard Ainsworth run and capped by a 5 yard Ainsworth run for the score. Again the teams exchanged punts, followed by another St. Louis FG. With the score at 24-9 and only 7 minutes left, things looked bleak for the Rams. Things looked worse as the Browns proceeded to run another 4 min. off the clock (although not producing any more points). With 2:15 left, the Browns defense finally slipped, being called for unnecesary roughness on 4th and 9 (when the receiver had dropped the ball down field ) The Rams then got a 44 yard pass down to the goal line, and plunged in for their first TD on the next play. Down by 6, with only 1:13 left, it was obvious they would have to go for the onside kick. Cleveland had their “hands” unit on the field, and WR Herman Vance managed to recover the kick. (ok so it’s a little unfair when your 5th wideout is good enough to be the first WR on ANY other team.) From there the Browns simply ran out the clock, making one first down in the process to burn up St Louis’ time outs.
Ainsworth 23-97-3 Game MVP
McKnight 31-17-0-0
Lewinsky 7-88-0
Briggs led a dominating D with 7 tackles (St. Louis RB’s averaged only 1.7 yard per carry)
Lies had 6 tackles and an Int
Bennink and Ward each made one sack
Cleveland 24 vs. St. Louis 16

Browns Win! Browns Win!

Individual Stats
QB Sammie McKnight(16 starts) 438-279-63.6%(1st) - 3868 yards(3rd) 8.83avg(1st) 20TD 19Int 89.0Rtg (5th) and surprising League MVP, 2nd Team All-League QB honors in what is a statisticly disapointing season for him with his second lowest rating as a starter.

RB Derek Ainsworth(16 games/13 starts) 256-1115 4.3avg 9TD’s Championship MVP
WR Dana Lyon (16 games/15 starts) 68-1007 14.8avg 5TD’s
WR Stanley Lewinsky(16 games/14 starts) 60-998 16.6avg 6TD’s
WR Jim Henderson (16 games/3 starts) 43-694 16.1avg 5TD’s
C Burt Carlson (15games/15 starts) 29-77blocks (37.6%) 2 sacks allowed
K Blaine Chandler 48-56FG’s(85.7%) 44-44PAT’s 1st Team All-League K making a single season record number of FG’s
DE Gene Woodson 32 tackles, 14.5(6th) sacks
LB Duane Lies 90 tackles 3 sacks, 1 Int
LB Dale Still 74 tackles 1.5 sacks, 1 Int, 1 Fumble Recovery
CB Darryl Hutchins 50 tackles, 5 Int’s 1 TD
S Henry Berosik 76 Tackles, 5 Int’s 1 TD
S Clay Banks 66 Tackles, 4 Ints, 2 Fumble Recoveries

Team Stats
Turnovers +4 (10th)
Offense
Rushing:2405(1st) Passing:4052(2nd) Thrid Down:.354(18th) Points For:464 (1st)
Defense
Rushing:1627(4th) Passing: 3143 (8th) Thrid Down:.301 (1st)Points Against: 269 (2nd)