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Nostalgia for old foe

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  • I was looking for highlights of it but could not find it, so I found the boxscore for what I consider one of the best games that took place between the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Oilers. The game took place on December 23, 1989 with the Browns winning in the last minute on a Kevin Mack run 24-20.

    I recall it vividly because I was at my in-laws in South Carolina at the time, and I was watching the game with some other in-law types who came from Houston:

    1 2 3 4 Final Cleveland Browns (9-6-1) 10 7 0 7 24 Houston Oilers (9-7-0) 0 3 7 10 20
    Game Info Stadium Houston Astrodome Start Time (ET) 8:00pm Roof dome Surface astroturf Vegas Line Houston Oilers -3.5 Over/Under 43.0 (over)

    Scoring

    CLE HOU 1st Browns Matt Bahr 32 yard field goal 3 0

    Browns Eric Metcalf 68 yard pass from Bernie Kosar (Matt Bahr kick) 10 0

    2nd Browns Webster Slaughter 40 yard pass from Bernie Kosar (Matt Bahr kick) 17 0

    Oilers Tony Zendejas 30 yard field goal 17 3

    3rd Oilers Drew Hill 9 yard pass from Warren Moon (Tony Zendejas kick) 17 10

    4th Oilers Tony Zendejas 37 yard field goal 17 13

    Oilers Drew Hill 27 yard pass from Warren Moon (Tony Zendejas kick) 17 20

    Browns Kevin Mack 4 yard rush (Matt Bahr kick) 24 20

    Team Stats
    CLE HOU First downs 21 28 Rush-yards-TDs 26-105-1 19-102-0 Comp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 18-36-228-2-0 32-51-414-2-1 Sacked-yards 1-9 5-33 Net pass yards 219 381 Total yards 324 483 Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1 Turnovers 1 2 Penalties-yards 7-41 12-77 Time of Possession 29:46 30:14
    Passing, Rushing, & Receiving
    Passing Rushing Receiving Player Tm Cmp Att Yds TD Int Lng Att Yds TD Lng Rec Yds TD Lng
    Bernie Kosar CLE 18 36 228 2 0 68 3 7 0 5
    Eric Metcalf CLE 4 14 0 9 2 74 1 68
    Webster Slaughter CLE 3 66 1 40
    Kevin Mack CLE 12 62 1 12 1 3 0 3
    Reggie Langhorne CLE 5 38 0 9
    Brian Brennan CLE 4 34 0 11
    Barry Redden CLE 6 23 0 8 1 6 0 6
    Gerald McNeil CLE 1 6 0 6
    Ozzie Newsome CLE 1 1 0 1
    Tim Manoa CLE 1 -1 0 -1 P
    Passing Rushing Receiving Player Tm Cmp Att Yds TD Int Lng Att Yds TD Lng Rec Yds TD Lng
    Warren Moon HOU 32 51 414 2 1 37 4 20 0 12
    Drew Hill HOU 10 141 2 37
    Allen Pinkett HOU 8 63 0 27 4 36 0 13
    Curtis Duncan HOU 7 85 0 19
    Ernest Givins HOU 6 75 0 18
    Alonzo Highsmith HOU 4 14 0 12 3 40 0 16
    Chris Verhulst HOU 2 37 0 21
    Mike Rozier HOU 3 5 0 4
    Defense & Returns
    Def Interceptions Fumbles Kick Returns Punt Returns Player Tm Sk Int Yds TD Lng FR Yds TD Rt Yds Y/Rt TD Lng Ret Yds Y/R TD Lng
    Al Baker CLE 1.5 0 0 0 0
    Robert Banks CLE 1.5 0 0 0 0
    Mark Harper CLE 1.0 0 0 0 0
    Clay Matthews CLE 1.0 0 0 0 0
    Gerald McNeil CLE 0 0 0 0 4 61 15.3 0 0 2 8 4.0 0 0
    Eric Metcalf CLE 0 0 0 0 1 21 21.0 0 0
    Felix Wright CLE 1 22 0 22
    Def Interceptions Fumbles Kick Returns Punt Returns Player Tm Sk Int Yds TD Lng FR Yds TD Rt Yds Y/Rt TD Lng Ret Yds Y/R TD Lng
    Kenny Johnson HOU 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.0 0 0 3 4 1.3 0 0
    Tracy Johnson HOU 0 0 0 0 1 11 11.0 0 0
    Robert Lyles HOU 1.0 0 0 0 0
    Lorenzo White HOU 0 0 0 0 1 29 29.0 0 0
    Kicking & Punting
    Scoring Punting Player Tm XPM XPA FGM FGA Pnt Yds Y/P Lng
    Matt Bahr CLE 3 3 1 1 0 0 0
    Bryan Wagner CLE 6 265 44.2 0
    Scoring Punting Player Tm XPM XPA FGM FGA Pnt Yds Y/P Lng
    Greg Montgomery HOU 4 172 43.0 0
    Tony Zendejas HOU 2 2 2 3 0 0 0

  • If anyone can dig up highlights of this game and post it, muchos gracias

    Also, here is the Oilers fight song. Oilers should never have been allowed to leave.

    👍

  • a tony zendejas sighting? gtfo

  • i wish i had ur memory, i hardly remember the score of the game i went to a few weeks ago.

    1st Ezekiel Ansah, DE, BYU 3rd Darius Slay, CB, Mississippi State4th Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma5th Earl Wolff, S, N.C. State6th Lucas Reed, TE, New Mexico

  • When we occasionally play the titans it kind of feels nostalgic. I do miss the Oilers kind of, though.

    Early man walked away as modern man took control. Their minds weren't all the same and to conquer was their goal. So He built his great empires and he slaughtered his own kind, and he died a confused man and killed himself in his own mind...

  • I remember that game. A friend and I watched it at the old Quinns Pub on Lakeshore Blvd in Euclid.. Mack carried the team that day.

    Nickers...."There are no old running QB's in the NFL "~Sam Rutigliano~
    Bob806B 1 Reply
    👍

  • Gipper, I think I have that game in full on DVD courtesy of MarkO. I'm pretty sure it's that game - I'll have to make a copy and send it to you or pack it in my case when I come back for the playoffs.

    Tailgate loving, Steelers hating, Trans-Atlantic Browns fan. Annually disappointed since '88. Annually optimistic since '88. GO BROWNS!

  • I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
    Tour2maT The GipperT Bob806B 3 Replies
  • Nuckin FutzN Nuckin Futz

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    Was that the Saturday nite game?

    @nuckin-futz said:

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker.

    Only time ever that it snowed in the Astrodome...

    "When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196
    The GipperT 1 Reply

  • The GipperT 1 Reply
  • Nuckin FutzN Nuckin Futz

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    @nuckin-futz said:

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    Uh, the game I referenced was in the Astrodome. No snow in sight. You must be thinking of another.

  • Tour2maT Tour2ma

    Was that the Saturday nite game?

    @nuckin-futz said:

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker.

    Only time ever that it snowed in the Astrodome...

    @tour2ma said:

    Was that the Saturday nite game?

    It very well may have been. It was a night game.

    Only time ever that it snowed in the Astrodome...

  • Z Zombo

    Zombo said:

    Yea, I found this game's highlights, from the previous 1988 WC game.....lost by Browns at home. But I couldn't find the 1989 final regular season game.

  • Nuckin FutzN Nuckin Futz

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    @nuckin-futz said:

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    Yeah, you're thinking of the season finale where Don Strock had to come in, and we rallied for a 28-23 win to put us in the playoffs.

    Then, we hosted the Oilers the next weekend in a playoff game, and effing Jerry Markbreit ruined our Christmas Eve with one of the worst calls in NFL history. Warren Moon threw a lateral to Haywood Jeffires around the Houston 5. It fell incomplete and Clay Matthews recovered it. Markbreit disallowed the recovery, said the whistle blew and killed the play.

    Perhaps you old-timers remember that game-Earnest Byner committed I think 3 personal fouls. That, combined with the prior year's "Fumble," lead to his trade to Washington-yikes.

    Karlis Missed
    The GipperT 1 Reply
  • nickersN nickers

    I remember that game. A friend and I watched it at the old Quinns Pub on Lakeshore Blvd in Euclid.. Mack carried the team that day.

    @nickers said:

    I remember that game. A friend and I watched it at the old Quinns Pub on Lakeshore Blvd in Euclid.. Mack carried the team that day.

    Indeed he did. I think Mack came back from a drug suspension, and the last drive the Browns just kept feeding it to him, he would not be denied.

    I also think this game had the infamous lateral by Clay Matthews to Big Daddy Hairston- it nearly cost them the game.

    Karlis Missed
  • Bob806B Bob806

    @nuckin-futz said:

    I was there. Snowing like a motherfucker. Packed house. One of my fondest memories as a Browns fan. Clay Mathews was a beast that game.

    Yeah, you're thinking of the season finale where Don Strock had to come in, and we rallied for a 28-23 win to put us in the playoffs.

    Then, we hosted the Oilers the next weekend in a playoff game, and effing Jerry Markbreit ruined our Christmas Eve with one of the worst calls in NFL history. Warren Moon threw a lateral to Haywood Jeffires around the Houston 5. It fell incomplete and Clay Matthews recovered it. Markbreit disallowed the recovery, said the whistle blew and killed the play.

    Perhaps you old-timers remember that game-Earnest Byner committed I think 3 personal fouls. That, combined with the prior year's "Fumble," lead to his trade to Washington-yikes.

    @bob806 said:

    Yeah, you're thinking of the season finale where Don Strock had to come in, and we rallied for a 28-23 win to put us in the playoffs.

    Then, we hosted the Oilers the next weekend in a playoff game, and effing Jerry Markbreit ruined our Christmas Eve with one of the worst calls in NFL history. Warren Moon threw a lateral to Haywood Jeffires around the Houston 5. It fell incomplete and Clay Matthews recovered it. Markbreit disallowed the recovery, said the whistle blew and killed the play.

    Perhaps you old-timers remember that game-Earnest Byner committed I think 3 personal fouls. That, combined with the prior year's "Fumble," lead to his trade to Washington-yikes.

    Three personal fouls? I only remember one......and it was a total bullshit call.....but it did help the Oilers win that game.

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