'The next chapter':              Cleveland Browns honor past success with change to white facemasks

@orion said:

https://www.dawgsbynature.com/2024/4/25/24134303/browns-helmet-third-option-logo-colors

.....actually, I don't mind it as a 3rd hat.

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I'm off to band rehearsal.  Enjoy round 1.

it's ugly as sin. Are the haslems just trying to piss us off ?

@syd said:

APRIL FOOLS WAS OVER 3 WEEKS AGO

https://www.dawgsbynature.com/2024/4/25/24134303/browns-helmet-third-option-logo-colors

.....actually, I don't mind it as a 3rd hat.

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I'm off to band rehearsal.  Enjoy round 1.

@orion said:

Third Helmet possibility?  

APRIL FOOLS WAS OVER 3 WEEKS AGO

@orion said:

Third Helmet possibility?  

For the love of everything holy, I hope not. 

@ballpeen said:

I saw where Roman just passed away.

R.I.P. Roman.

Oh yes,  one of the older QB legends we liked back in the day.   RIP Roman.

R.I.P. Roman.

@flugel said:

In 68, I was only 4 years old. Any 1st impressions I had of Bill Nelsen thru 1972 were from whatever my dad saw and said.  I got the sense he liked Bill Nelsen and appreciated him trying to play despite the 2 bad knees.  

That's pretty much how it was for me.. My Dad had a lot of great stories and facts we loved as kids.. We enjoyed personalities like Jim Otto, Art Donovan and other players around the league that made the league great.. And fun.... I see that lost on the league today. Even if you weren't a fan of their team.. You loved and rooted for guys like Alex Karras, Roman Gabriel, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. Kenny Stabler and over acheivers like Fred Biletnikoff and Steve Largent and even Danny Abramovitz who overcame the odds..

@nickers said:

Pretty damn good numbers until Skorich took over but like I said.. By that time like Namath.. His knees went to hell.. Then we made one of the dumbest trades ever sending Paul Warfield to Miami for the right to draft Mike Phipps.. I'll never forget how pissed my old man was when we made that deal.. But my fathers hatred of Modell stemmed from firing Paul Brown. I did get to see Bill Nelson once at a signing once at the now defunct Richmond Mall.. My stepbrother and I ran into Ozzie Newsome quite a lot. He lived down the street from us in East Cleveland. Browns players were often seen like regular joes in the community back then. How time sure has changed things is mind bending.

In 68, I was only 4 years old. Any 1st impressions I had of Bill Nelsen thru 1972 were from whatever my dad saw and said.  I got the sense he liked Bill Nelsen and appreciated him trying to play despite the 2 bad knees.  

Just a comment on completion percentage.  DB's could mug up on receivers a bit more back then.  No doubt that through training QBs are more accurate, but it's not like QBs of old weren't accurate.  The rules have changed to help increase the percentage. 

@flugel said:

He had some good records in Cleveland when he played. Fans seemed to like him. After 1968 you could see the drop-off in his TD/INT ratio.  Here's his record each season played & TDs/INTs:

1968: 11-2 & 19 TDs 10 INTs

1969: 10-3-1 & 23 TDs 19 INTs Pro Bowl

1970: 6-6 & 16 TDs 16 INTs

1971: 9-4 & 13 TDs 23 INTs

1972: 0-1 & 0 TDs 3 INTs

Pretty damn good numbers until Skorich took over but like I said.. By that time like Namath.. His knees went to hell.. Then we made one of the dumbest trades ever sending Paul Warfield to Miami for the right to draft Mike Phipps.. I'll never forget how pissed my old man was when we made that deal.. But my fathers hatred of Modell stemmed from firing Paul Brown. I did get to see Bill Nelson once at a signing once at the now defunct Richmond Mall.. My stepbrother and I ran into Ozzie Newsome quite a lot. He lived down the street from us in East Cleveland. Browns players were often seen like regular joes in the community back then. How time sure has changed things is mind bending.

@flugel said:

He had some good records in Cleveland when he played. He threw a lot of INTs.  Here's his record each season played & TDs/INTs:

1968: 11-2 & 19 TDs 10 INTs

1969: 10-3-1 & 23 TDs 19 INTs Pro Bowl

1970: 6-6 & 16 TDs 16 INTs

1971: 9-4 & 13 TDs 23 INTs

1972: 0-1 & 0 TDs 3 INTs

It definitely is a different game now.

Kind of funny to go back to the "old days" and look at stats of the good quarterbacks... A top QB pre-1980s might complete 52-55% of their passes and throw slightly more touchdowns than interceptions. 

Now, QBs routinely complete 60%+ of their passes with a 3 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio - or better... 

@dutch-oven said:

Nelsen was with the Browns between 1968-1972. 

Blanton Collier was his head coach for Nelsen's first three seasons in Cleveland. 

He had some good records in Cleveland when he played. Fans seemed to like him. After 1968 you could see the drop-off in his TD/INT ratio.  Here's his record each season played & TDs/INTs:

1968: 11-2 & 19 TDs 10 INTs

1969: 10-3-1 & 23 TDs 19 INTs Pro Bowl

1970: 6-6 & 16 TDs 16 INTs

1971: 9-4 & 13 TDs 23 INTs

1972: 0-1 & 0 TDs 3 INTs

@nickers said:

Honorable mention goes to Bill Nelson who got his knees so banged up in Pittsburgh by the time he go here all he had left was a great arm and not much else... He very much was the Carson Palmer of his era... Too bad he had Nick Skorich for a coach and not a real guru like Blanton Collier was.

Nelsen was with the Browns between 1968-1972. 

Blanton Collier was his head coach for Nelsen's first three seasons in Cleveland. 

@flugel said:

Easily my 2 faves leading both versions of Kardiac Kids in the 80s.   

Honorable mention goes to Bill Nelson who got his knees so banged up in Pittsburgh by the time he go here all he had left was a great arm and not much else... He very much was the Carson Palmer of his era... Too bad he had Nick Skorich for a coach and not a real guru like Blanton Collier was.

@mjp28 said:

And of course .....

Easily my 2 faves leading both versions of Kardiac Kids in the 80s.   

When I think of the whitemasks, I think of my watching games with my Dad, cheering until we were hoarse and crying until there was nothing in the tank...The Drive, The Fumble, the loss in Denver in the '89 AFCC. It reminds me of Mike Baab saying, "I've never met John Elway and if I did, I'm not sure if I'd shake his hand or punch him in the face." The white facemasks make me think of Clay Matthews intercepting Jim Kelly, Eric Metcalf's two punt returns against the Steelers, Brian Brennan getting yards after the catch, Reggie Langhorne going over the middle and Webster Slaughter spiking the ball between legs after sprinting into the end zone and Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield locking WRs down. They make me think of beating Dallas in Dallas and the magic of the 1994 season.

For me, there are great nostalgia with both and I would have embraced either as a nod to my childhood heroes of both eras.

None of them wore the 1970s invention of mediocre Browns teams and the white facemasks (thanks Art for both). The uniform nerd in me hates the white facemasks. ?

Oh well. 

GO BROWNS !