1980 Steelers 16 vs Browns 13

[mcmillenandwife]

>> 1980 Steelers 16 vs Browns 13

Another incredibly emotional game between these two arch-rivals comes down to the wire! This is one of my all-time favorite Browns/Steelers games and I still get goose bumps watching this thriller. Bradshaw and Harris struggle throughout the game, but Lynn Swann is utterly magnificent, carrying the team with 9 clutch catches for 138 yds. Trailing 13-7 in the final moments of the game, the Steelers seem doomed when, after driving inside the Browns 1-yard line, Jim Smith flat out drops an easy TD pass and the Steelers turn the ball over on downs. Game over, right? Wrong. After all, this was the era of "the Three Rivers Jinx." With 2 minutes left in the game, the Browns make a fatal error when they try to pass from their own end zone on 3rd down, preserving just enough crucial seconds on the clock for Bradshaw & Swann to maneuver the ball back to the 3-yard line, where Bradshaw hits Swannie for the game-winning TD with just 8 seconds left! Features a brawl on the way to the locker room at halftime.

If you do nothing else today, you at least owe it to yourself to watch the WILD finish of this game starting at the 1:53:00 mark. Absolutely riveting, and one of the craziest, on-again, off-again comeback finishes in the history of a rivalry filled with crazy endings.

Click on the video, push play, skip ahead to 1:53:00 (hover over the slider, watch for the time stamp to show up) and enjoy. 

Your day will be better having watched this. I guarantee it.  

[Guest]

Great ending! For one last time, Swann and the Steelers look like they could return to greatness.

[mcmillenandwife]

Great ending! For one last time, Swann and the Steelers look like they could return to greatness.

Yes, incredible ending. Nerve-wracking. Man, when Smith drops that TD? It looks like we're finished. So many great Browns/Steelers games during that era and this was among the best.

[Vaughn_Doofus]

Wow!

[mcmillenandwife]

Wow!

I know, right? Flippin' EPIC!

[mcmillenandwife]

If you do nothing else today, you owe it to yourself to watch the WILD finish of this game starting at the 1:53:00 mark. Absolutely riveting, and one of the craziest, on-again, off-again comeback finishes in the history of a rivalry filled with crazy endings.

Click on the video, push play, skip ahead to 1:53:00 (hover over the slider, watch for the time stamp to show up) and enjoy. 

Your day will be better having watched this. I guarantee it. 

[Chucktownsteeler]

Great ending! Thanks for sharing!!

[Chucktownsteeler]

Yes, I was watching the finish and had to go to a meeting with about 2 minutes left. Couldn't concentrate during the meeting, couldn't wait to get back.

[mcmillenandwife]

Yes, I was watching the finish and had to go to a meeting with about 2 minutes left. Couldn't concentrate during the meeting, couldn't wait to get back.

I'm sayin'! One of my all-time favorite finishes. Remember this game like it was yesterday. For the second straight year, I had a HUUUUUGE fist-fight with my older brother after the game, this time involving broken furniture, blood and bruises. 

[Remington Steelers]

What caught my eye about this game was that our next head coach, Bill Cowher, actually started in this game as #53 for the Browns!!  It is crazy to think that while I remember watching this game just before church that Sunday night, the person who would eventually lead the Steelers to finally get our "One for the thumb!" had played in this game and none of us who experienced it would have given it a second thought...until now.  What I remember about this was that just before I had to leave for church, I heard Dick Enberg yell out, "Touchdown" and going berserk!  What days these were to grow up!!