The 1980 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 35th overall, and 31st season in the National Football League. The Browns finished the regular season with eleven wins and five losses, and their first division title since 1971, winning a tiebreaker with the Houston Oilers. The 1980 Browns were known as the Kardiac Kids for having several games decided in the final moments. The 1980 season was the first time that Cleveland had qualified for the postseason since 1972. Also, for the second straight year, Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano was named NFL Coach of the Year, and quarterback Brian Sipe was named the league's Most Valuable Player.
Rallying from a 10–0 first-half deficit against Cincinnati, the Browns came back to beat the Bengals 27–24 and finally snare the Central championship when Don Cockroft kicked the game-winning 22-yard field goal with 1:25 left. The Bengals tried to come back and got as far as the Cleveland 14-yard line before time ran out.
The Browns played their first home playoff game in nine seasons against the Raiders, in what has become known as the Red Right 88 game. The Browns marched to the Oakland 13 in the waning seconds trailing by 14–12, but Brian Sipe's pass into the end zone for Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome was intercepted, ending Cleveland's season.
Five players had 50 or more receptions, led by running back Mike Pruitt. Pruitt also rushed for 1,034 yards and six touchdowns. Running back Calvin Hill, recorded six touchdowns among his 27 catches. Wide receiver Ricky Feacher grabbed just 10 passes, but four went for scores, including two within a matter of minutes in the division-clinching win over the Bengals.
Offseason
NFL draft
Undrafted free agents
+ 1980 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeRick DonaldsonLinebackerPenn State
Personnel Staff / Coaches
Roster 1980 Cleveland Browns roster Quarterbacks 16 Paul McDonald 17 Brian Sipe
Running backs 25 Charles White 26 Dino Hall 30 Cleo Miller 34 Greg Pruitt 35 Calvin Hill 43 Mike Pruitt
Wide receivers 33 Reggie Rucker 80 Willis Adams 83 Ricky Feacher 85 Dave Logan 89 Keith Wright
Tight ends 82 Ozzie Newsome 84 McDonald Oden 87 Curtis Weathers Offensive linemen 54 Tom DeLeone C 63 Cody Risien T 64 Joe DeLamielleure G 65 Henry Sheppard G 68 Robert Jackson G 69 Joel Patten T 73 Doug Dieken T 79 Gerry Sullivan T/C
Defensive linemen 77 Lyle Alzado DE 90 Marshall Harris DE 91 Henry Bradley NT 93 Ron Crews NT 94 Elvis Franks DE Linebackers 50 Don Goode OLB 52 Dick Ambrose ILB 53 Bill Cowher ILB 55 John Mohring OLB 56 Robert Jackson ILB 57 Clay Matthews OLB 59 Charlie Hall OLB
Defensive backs 20 Judson Flint CB 21 Oliver Davis CB 22 Clarence Scott SS 24 Autry Beamon SS 27 Thom Darden FS 28 Ron Bolton CB 49 Clinton Burrell CB
Special teams 8 Johnny Evans P 12 Don Cockroft K Reserve lists 48 Lawrence Johnson CB (IR) 58 Cliff Odom LB (IR) 71 Matt Miller T (IR) 72 Jerry Sherk DE (IR) 96 Marcus Jackson NT (IR)
rookies in italics
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 7 at New England Patriots L 17–34 0–1 Schaefer Stadium 49,222 Recap 2 Houston Oilers L 7–16 0–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 80,243 Recap 3 September 21 Kansas City Chiefs W 20–13 1–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 63,614 Recap 4 September 28 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 34–27 2–2 Tampa Stadium 65,540 Recap 5 October 5 Denver Broncos L 16–19 2–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 81,065 Recap 6 October 12 at Seattle Seahawks W 27–3 3–3 Kingdome 61,366 Recap 7 October 19 Green Bay Packers W 26–21 4–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 75,548 Recap 8 October 26 Pittsburgh Steelers W 27–26 5–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 79,095 Recap 9 Chicago Bears W 27–21 6–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 84,225 Recap 10 November 9 at Baltimore Colts W 28–27 7–3 Memorial Stadium 45,369 Recap 11 November 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 13–16 7–4 Three Rivers Stadium 54,563 Recap 12 November 23 Cincinnati Bengals W 31–7 8–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 79,253 Recap 13 November 30 at Houston Oilers W 17–14 9–4 Houston Astrodome 51,514 Recap 14 December 7 New York Jets W 17–14 10–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 78,454 Recap 15 December 14 at Minnesota Vikings L 23–28 10–5 Metropolitan Stadium 42,202 Recap 16 December 21 at Cincinnati Bengals W 27–24 11–5 Riverfront Stadium 50,058 RecapNote: Intra–division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries Week 3
Charles White 7 Rec, 100 Yds
Week 7 vs. Green Bay Packers The Browns rallied from down 21–13 in the fourth quarter, first on Ozzie Newsome’s touchdown catch from Brian Sipe, then facing third and 20 from the Packers' 46-yard line with 16 seconds left Sipe completed a pass to Dave Logan for the winning touchdown. Browns 26, Packers 21
Week 8 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Sipe and company erased three two–score deficits — 10–0, 20–7, and 26–14 — to defeat the Steelers in Cleveland. Ozzie Newsome hauled in the winning catch with 5:35 to play. Browns 27, Steelers 26
Week 9 vs. Chicago Bears Although Mike Pruitt's 56-yard touchdown run ultimately wins the game for Cleveland, Sipe throws for 298 yards and reaches a milestone in Browns history, becoming the Browns' all-time passing leader in NFL play.Although quarterback Otto Graham had more overall passing yards with the Browns from 1946 to 1955, only the last six of these seasons were in the NFL; Graham's first four seasons were in the AAFC. Pro-Football-Reference.com: For combined seasons, from 1920 to 1980, played in the NFL, playing for the Cleveland Browns, played QB, sorted by descending Passing Yds. Browns 27, Bears 21
Week 10 at Baltimore Colts A missed PAT by the Colts proved the difference in a 28–27 Browns win as both teams combined for eight touchdowns. Bert Jones had three scores for the Colts but was sacked five times.
Week 11 at Pittsburgh Steelers Seeking their first ever win at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, the Browns once again were denied, this time on a Terry Bradshaw to Lynn Swann touchdown with eleven seconds left. It was the Browns' 11th consecutive defeat at Pittsburgh. Steelers 16, Browns 13
Week 13 at Houston Oilers The Browns edged the Oilers 17–14 in what had become a de facto three-way tie atop the AFC Central. The Browns were out gained in yardage by 126 but five Oilers turnovers were the key.
Week 14 vs. New York Jets Once again the Cardiac Browns had to rally, this time down 14–10 in the fourth, this time on a five-yard Greg Pruitt touchdown catch.
Week 15 at Minnesota Vikings In a game known to Vikings fans as the "Miracle at the Met", the Browns relinquish a 23–9 lead with only 7:15 remaining. The game is probably most remembered for Browns Safety Thom Darden's deflection of Tommy Kramer's "Hail Mary pass", which is caught by Ahmad Rashad as time expires. Kramer's 456 passing yards were the most ever given up by the Browns. Vikings 28, Browns 23
Week 16 at Cincinnati Bengals Needing a win to secure the Central Division title, the Browns rallied against the Bengals 27–24. The game lead tied or changed six times as Don Cockroft's game-winning field goal came with 1:25 left to play. Browns 27, Bengals 24
Standings
Son of the Kardiac Kids The 2007 Cleveland Browns had a season similar to the Kardiac Kids, with several games being decided in the final minutes or in overtime. One game in particular against the Baltimore Ravens, which the Browns won in overtime because of a reversed call on a field goal by kicker Phil Dawson, led the Cleveland Plain Dealer to publish an editorial calling the 2007 Browns "The 'Son of the Kardiac Kids'" . The similarities have been at least acknowledged by the organization, with offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski being quoted in the article calling his team "The Kardiac Kids' little brother."
Postseason
Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Recap Divisional January 4, 1981 Oakland Raiders (4) L 12–14 0–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Recap
AFC Divisional Playoff Oakland Raiders 14, Cleveland Browns 12
at Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
TV: NBC Attendance: 77,655
Red Right 88
AFC Divisional Playoff Game (Home) January 4, 1981 – Browns 12, Oakland Raiders 14 In American football, Red Right 88 is the name given to a passing play called by the Cleveland Browns during a National Football League (NFL) playoff game against the Oakland Raiders on January 4, 1981. In the years since the term has been used to refer to both the play itself and the game. The Red Right 88 game was a divisional playoff game played as part of the 1980–81 NFL playoffs, which would crown the NFL champion for the 1980 season. Under the playoff structure in place at the time, five teams from each of the NFL's two conferences – the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) – would qualify for the playoffs. These five teams would consist of the champions of each of the three divisions of each conference (the East, Central, and West), plus two wild card teams, which were the two teams who finished with the best win-loss record in each conference and were not division champions. These five teams would be seeded one through five based on win-loss record for purposes of playoff bracketing, with the three division champions seeded one through three and the two wild card qualifiers seeded four and five.
The Browns had finished in first place in the AFC Central division during the 1980 season with an 11–5 win-loss record. Although the Houston Oilers had also compiled an 11–5 record during the 1980 season, Cleveland claimed the AFC Central championship by having a better record than Houston against other AFC opponents (the Browns had an 8–4 conference record, compared to the 7–5 conference record of the Oilers). Like the Browns, the Raiders had also finished the 1980 season with an 11–5 record. However, they finished in second place in the AFC West division behind the San Diego Chargers, who also had an 11–5 win-loss record. San Diego had been awarded the division title over Oakland because they had scored more net points against division opponents (60) than Oakland (37) during the season.
As the Browns, Raiders, Chargers, Oilers, and AFC East division champion Buffalo Bills all finished with identical 11–5 records, the league was forced to resort to tiebreakers to determine seeding for the playoff tournament. San Diego attained the first overall seed in the AFC because they had a better record against other AFC opponents than Cleveland and Buffalo (9–3 for San Diego compared to 8–4 for both Cleveland and Buffalo). The Browns, however, were named the second seed over the Bills because they had a better record against common opponents (5–2) than the Bills (5–3). As the Raiders and Oilers had both finished with the best second-place records in the AFC, they both qualified for the playoffs as wild-card teams; the Raiders were named the fourth seed as they had a better record against AFC opponents (9–3) than the Oilers (7–5).
The playoff system stipulated that the top seed in each conference would get a bye into the second round of the playoffs (the divisional playoff), while the two wild card teams would play each other in the first round of the playoffs (the wild card playoff). The victor of the wild card playoff would then face the top conference seed in the divisional playoff unless the wild card victor and top conference seed were in the same division, in which case the wild card victor would play the second seed.