The 1964 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 19th season, and 15th season with the National Football League. The Browns won the NFL Championship, despite having not made the playoffs in six seasons.Last playoff appearance, 1958
Regular season The regular season was a success with the Browns finishing with a regular season record of 10–3–1. They were coached by Blanton Collier who had replaced Paul Brown the previous season. The team had a tremendous amount of heart, which was demonstrated by the fact that they had key commanding wins throughout the season. For instance, they swept their arch rival New York Giants, who the previous year had edged them out as the eastern conference champion. Not only did they win both times that they played against the Giants but both wins were very convincing, the first being a 42–20 home victory and the second being a 52–20 away victory. The second victory over the Giants was a clutch, season ending game that clinched the eastern conference title. Many of the Browns' wins during the regular season were in a very commanding manner, with a 37–21 win over the Detroit Lions being a prime example. The win over the Lions carried extra significance due to the fact that the Lions had been the team that knocked them out of the conference champion hunt the previous season by beating them 38–10 in the second to last regular season game.
The Browns were led by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, who rushed for 1,446 yards with a 5.2 yards/carry average. The quarterback, Frank Ryan, threw for 2,404 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. The top receivers were Paul Warfield and Gary Collins, the second of whom is known for catching three touchdowns in the championship game against the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.
Championship Game Leading into the game, the Browns were huge underdogs. Most experts had them losing by double digits. Baltimore was so heavily favored that after the Browns won the game, Sports Illustrated had to scramble to find a picture of a Browns player (in this case, quarterback Frank Ryan) to put on its cover. Baltimore had the league's best offense and had a league best record of 12–2. They were stacked with future Hall of Famers such as Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, and John Mackey. The Browns though, were unfazed by the apparent talent disparity and Jim Brown was reported stating before the game, "we're going to kick their [butt] today." The game-time temperature that day was 34 degrees and felt much colder in 15- to 25-mph winds whipping under gray December sky. The Municipal Stadium crowd of 79,544 was the second largest in NFL title-game history at the time. The Browns knew that if they wanted to be in the game they had to make a statement early on, and they did just that. Galen Fiss, the Browns team captain, broke up a screen pass from Unitas to Moore, sending Moore airborne for a loss. The Browns tenacity on defense is what got them to the half time score of 0–0. Brown's running back Ernie Green reported after the game about half time, "We cleaned ourselves and sat down, and it seemed like something came over all of us. I think we all kind of looked at each other and concluded, 'Hey, we can beat these guys.'" Not only did the Browns "beat" the Colts in the second half, They destroyed them, scoring 27 unanswered points. Gary Collins became a Cleveland Browns legend by catching three touch down passes, the third one being a 51-yarder with Colts defender Bobby Boyd all over him. The biggest story of the game was how well Cleveland's defense played against Baltimore's heralded offense. Cleveland was able to hold Unitas to just 95 yards while intercepting him twice.
Lasting value This was the last major sports championship won by a Cleveland-based team until 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that was formed in 1970, defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors in a seven-game NBA Finals. Not only is it remembered in Cleveland but ESPN ranks the '64 title game as the second-greatest NFL postseason upset, behind only Joe Namath's guaranteed win over the Colts in Super Bowl III four seasons later.
Offseason
1964 draft class
Exhibition schedule Week Date Opponent Result Score Record Stadium Attendance Time (ET) Local TV Radio 1 August 9 at San Francisco 49ers L 7–26 0–1 Kezar Stadium 4:30 PM EDT WGAR–AM 2 at Los Angeles Rams W 56–31 1–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 11:00 PM EDT WEWS-TV WERE–AM 3 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (at Akron) W 42–7 2–1 Rubber Bowl 8:00 PM EDT WERE–AM 4 at Detroit Lions W 35–14 3–1 Tiger Stadium 8:00 PM EDT WEWS-TV WGAR–AM 5 Green Bay Packers W 20–17 4–1 Cleveland Stadium 9:00 PM EDT WGAR–AM Notes:
All times are Eastern time.
There was a doubleheader on September 5, 1964, Giants vs Lions and Packers vs Browns.
Regular season schedule Week Date Opponent Result Score Record Stadium Attendance Time (ET) Network Radio Recap 1 September 13 at Washington Redskins W 27–13 1–0 District of Columbia Stadium 1:30 PM EDT CBS WGAR–AM Recap 2 September 20 St. Louis Cardinals T 33–33 1–0–1 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EDT CBS WGAR–AM Recap 3 September 27 at Philadelphia Eagles W 28–20 2–0–1 Franklin Field 1:30 PM EDT CBS WGAR–AM Recap 4 October 4 Dallas Cowboys W 27–6 3–0–1 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EDT CBS WGAR–AM Recap 5 Pittsburgh Steelers L 7–23 3–1–1 Cleveland Stadium 8:00 PM EDT Sports Network Incorporated (SNI) WERE–AM Recap 6 October 18 at Dallas Cowboys W 20–16 4–1–1 Cotton Bowl 2:30 PM EDT CBS WERE–AM Recap 7 October 25 New York Giants W 42–20 5–1–1 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 8 November 1 Pittsburgh Steelers W 30–17 6–1–1 Pitt Stadium 1:30 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 9 November 8 Washington Redskins W 34–24 7–1–1 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 10 November 15 Detroit Lions W 37–21 8–1–1 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 11 November 22 vs. Green Bay Packers (at Milwaukee) L 21–28 8–2–1 Milwaukee County Stadium 2:00 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 12 November 29 Philadelphia Eagles W 38–24 9–2–1 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 13 December 6 at St. Louis Cardinals L 19–28 9–3–1 Busch Stadium 2:00 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap 14 at New York Giants W 52–20 10–3–1 Yankee Stadium 2:00 PM EST CBS WERE–AM Recap
Note: All times are Eastern time. (UTC–4; UTC–5 starting October 25)
Game summaries
Week 1: at Washington Redskins
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Week 2: vs. St. Louis Cardinals
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Week 3: at Philadelphia Eagles
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Week 4: vs. Dallas Cowboys
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Week 5: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
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Week 6: at Dallas Cowboys
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Week 7: vs. New York Giants
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Week 8: at Pittsburgh Steelers
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Week 9: vs. Washington Redskins
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Week 10: vs. Detroit Lions
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Week 11: at Green Bay Packers
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Week 12: vs. Philadelphia Eagles
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Week 13: at St. Louis Cardinals
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Week 14: at New York Giants
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Playoffs Round Date Opponent Result Score Stadium Attendance Time (ET) Network Local Radio National Radio Recap NFL Championship Game December 27 Baltimore Colts W 27–0 Cleveland Stadium 1:30 PM EST CBS WERE–AM CBS Recap Notes:
All times are EASTERN time.
1964 NFL Championship Game: vs. Baltimore Colts
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Standings
Personnel
Staff
Roster
"1964 Cleveland Browns Starters, Roster, & Players". Pro Football.
Media
Radio
Flagship station Play-by-play Color commentator WERE–AM 1300 (main)WGAR–AM 1220 (backup) Gib Shanley Jim Graner
Pre season TV Local TV Play-by-play Color commentator WEWS-TV 5 Ken Coleman Warren Lahr
Awards and records Jim Brown, NFL Rushing Leader, (1,446 yards) Frank Ryan, NFL Leader, Touchdown Passes, (25)
Milestones Jim Brown, Seventh NFL Rushing Title
1965 NFL Pro Bowl (1964 NFL season), January 10, 1965 Pro Bowl Jim Brown, FB, NFL Eastern Conference Bill Glass, DE, NFL Eastern Conference Jim Houston, OLB, NFL Eastern Conference Dick Modzelewski, DT, NFL Eastern Conference Frank Ryan, QB, NFL Eastern Conference Dick Schafrath, T, NFL Eastern Conference Paul Warfield, SE, NFL Eastern Conference Blanton Collier, NFL Eastern Conference head coach Howard Brinker, NFL Eastern Conference defensive coordinator Fritz Heisler, NFL Eastern Conference offensive line coach Dub Jones, NFL Eastern Conference offensive backfield and ends coach Nick Skorich, NFL Eastern Conference defensive assistant coach Ed Ulinski, NFL Eastern Conference linebackers coach
References
External links 1964 Cleveland Browns season at Profootballreference.com 1964 Cleveland Browns season statistics at jt-sw.com 1964 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com at DatabaseFootball.com