Special Teams: The Last Browns Playoff Game

The last time the Browns were in the playoffs was so long ago, there had only been one Spider-Man movie. But oh what a game it was. The 2003 post-season thriller between the Steelers and Browns had it all: Backup QB’s ascending to glory and then quickly flaming back out, a potential hero who saw his fame turn on one dropped pass, and had the Browns had just one more second on the clock things could’ve been different. It’s Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox, Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, the strange beginning of the Browns season and the even stranger ending of Butch Davis.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio.
Greetings and welcome inside another episode of Special Teams with

(00:23):
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, a podcast where we look
back at special teams and special years in the history
of sports and what made these teams special. Really enjoying
the run we're on right now where we are looking
back at the special teams taking place in some of
the biggest games and football, baseball, basketball history. And we
have another big NFL playoff game to break down today,

(00:44):
and one with a name on it. Well, it doesn't
really have a name, but you can title it. When
you can title a playoff game, it's a big deal.
And we're gonna look back at the most recent Browns
playoff game, which of course was in two thousand and three.
But it is that the uh colon, it's been a minute,
it's been a bit been but well I haven't seen you.

(01:04):
How you doing. Oh well, you know, I moved away
after college and won the lottery and got married and
uh uh that look well, you look like you put
on a little bit of weight. You still got the
Brown helmets. You've done nothing about that. Now it's Brenda
and Nettie getting together at the scenes from an Italian
restaurant after all those years. But this game was legendary,

(01:28):
a game in which the Steelers hold on to beat
the Browns thirty six thirty three. Both teams quarterbacks did
not have long tenures. Uh. It was full of incredible
twists and turns, and the Browns nearly pulled off a
huge upset. Potentially you could say they just needed one
more second on the clock. Two thousand and three the

(01:51):
Steelers and the Browns January five, Hines Field start time
one oh one pm. But before we get to this,
how did both of these teams get to this point
of the season. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're thinking, oh,
was that roethlisbritt No, this was pre Ben Roethlisberger, in

(02:13):
which the Steelers two years before, in two thousand and two,
in their draft had a huge draft. You would think, okay, right, no, no, no.
In this draft Antoine Randall, l Chris Hope, Brett Keisel.
They signed James Harrison as an undrafted free agent. These
are players who would go on to be building box
and lynchpins of great Steelers teams of the future. I mean,

(02:36):
I would love the Larry Foot to otherwise White's gonna
come get you. No, that's okay. Anytime I bring up
Michigan football, now whether she's just kind of blows it
off because they can't beat Ohio State, so you know,
she's kind of just okay, Well, do you just walk
in and throw khaki pants at or now just to
torture no words. Yeah, I need those good khaki pants
and Lulu lemon, all right, so get those for me
because those all where they're like bucks. Uh, Christmas is coming.

(02:59):
But this situation at quarterback for the Steelers coming into
the year was it was Cordel Stewart's team, all right.
Cordel Stewart was the dual option quarterback of the millennium.
Now every team wants a player like Cordell Stewart, but
he was the guy. He and Randall Cunningham were credit

(03:19):
as being the quarterbacks to show everybody, Hey, you know
what these guys can do a lot. Don't worry about
them being one dimensional. They can throw the football, they
can make plays with their legs. That's who Cordel Stewart was.
Cordel Stewart was fantastic. He was the Offensive player of
the Year in two thousand and one. But since he
came into the league as slash, because he came in
all right, maybe he's not a quarterback that you can

(03:40):
play wide receiver, running back. He made his mark being
able to do all of these things in the late nineties.
He could throw the football once in a while, but
he's a good wide receiver. Finally, the Steelers said we're
gonna put him at quarterback, and Cordel Stewart was terrific.
But it was a roller coaster ride. Some years he
was really good. Some games he was really good, but
still he made too many mistakes. He had been on

(04:01):
this ride with Cordel Stewart since seven In fact, one
year he lost a job to Kent Graham before he
got it back, but his talent allowed him to stay
around a long time, and he goes into this season
as the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, against
Cleveland in Week four, he throws a really bad pick

(04:22):
in the double coverage into the end zone, and for
Bill Kauer, this was the last straw. This was I'm
done and we are going to Tommy Maddox at quarterback. Maddox,
who would come into this year with a lot of
hype behind him. He hadn't thrown a pass in the
NFL since n but resurrected his career with big season
the XFL and two thousand and one. Hey, maybe this

(04:43):
guy can play well. He was someone who Steelers fans
were always itching to see, can this guy play quarterback?
You know, Cordel Stewart, the turnovers. I want to pull
my hair out. Let's see if Tommy Maddox can play again,
a guy who hadn't thrown a pass in the NFL
since and Steelers fans are saying, boy, really hope Tommy
Maddis can get it done for us? Well, you always

(05:04):
love an underdog story. I mean he got you a xfluh.
He did Fantasy Time XFL Fantasy title him and Joe
Asca and Jose Cortez. I still remember a lot of
the good players on my Cortes was automatic. But but
we look at the way this roster was constructed, and
certainly for Tommy Maddox, Cordell Stewart, and you look at

(05:25):
the schedule, man, no, no favors that you have a
week three by like, that's just stupid. But that was
the schedule that they had here. They eke out that
narrow win against the Browns at home in Week four
and just shift trying to see if you can jump
start the offense. Right. You mentioned the arrival of Antoine

(05:49):
Randall l You know, knowing that you now have a
guy with with great aptitude and YAK potential, you gotta
figure out how to get the ball in his hands,
get creative and you're still knowing Bill Cower want to
have that power running game working and find that balance.
But what's the best way and to really get that

(06:10):
off is to have a little more efficiency from the
QB position. This is a guy who was drafted in
where Joe Thiseman. Other analysts said, oh my goodness, we
we you know, why are you drafting this kid? He's
not ready out of U c l A. Jimmy Johnson
did a bit where he said in college, we would
call him turn over Tommy. You know you always get
him to throw the football. T I mean, this is

(06:30):
a guy who came in and he's drafted in ninety
two by the Broncos to be the air apparent to
John Elway. Of course that doesn't work out. He leaves
the NFL to be an insurance salesman. He left. He
was done in the NFL. He's done, he wasn't gonna
do anymore. But when he got asked to play in
the Arena Football League just before the XFL started, he
sells his insurance business and says, I'm gonna get football

(06:51):
another shot. And he gets back in and he by
crazy circumstances meaning Cordell Stewart being unable to stop throwing
your studs, he gets the starting job with the Steelers,
and he goes on a big run and the Steelers
go to the playoffs and they wind up with eleven
five and one record. After it's all said and done,
Maddox has a big year and suddenly Maddox is the guy.

(07:14):
After a journey in which it took him eleven years
to get to this point, he winds up being the quarterback.
In fact, they believed in him so much that Maddox
got hurt late in this year before they get to
the playoffs, he misses two games. Cordel Stewart comes in
and wins both of them, and he plays really well,
and you're like, Okay, well, Cordel Stewart's gonna get the

(07:34):
job back because it was his job. Nope, Bill Coward says, thanks, Cordell,
you're on the bench, and Tommy Maddox is our guy.
So much so they kept Maddox and they waved Cordel
Stewart after the season. That's how much they were stuck
on making that move to Tommy Maddox, who after eleven
short years suddenly becomes a household name. Well, I wanted
him to stick around, and while he was there for

(07:55):
another three years in some capacity. Yeah, just a curious Uh,
that's one of those let's stand out with Bill Cower
and let's talk about those times, right, because he was
even there when Roethlisberger comes into the league and as
their first round pick in two thousand four and touchdown,
Tommy's still there. Tommy Maddox was in again. I mean really,

(08:19):
he was like Ryan Fitzpatrick. Accept it took him even
longer to get the starting job again, but that that's
that's kind of who Tommy Maddox was. He but he
gets to stick around, right, two thousand two goes seven,
three and one, but the touchdown the interception ratio is
twenty to sixteen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And then the following
year they go six and ten, showing how this works.

(08:40):
Eighteen and seventeen is the touchdown the interception, right, thus
prompting the drafting of Roethlisberger, but still just showing they
had a lot of faith that he was still gonna
bail him out. They win the a f C North,
which is brand new that year as first a f
C North. So they win at ten five and one.
They go to the playoffs, where right, it was, okay,

(09:03):
how is this gonna work out? Now? And look, I
was glad to get the Indianapolis Colts out of the
division because I'm like, I don't want Peyton Manning beating
the crap out of us for all these years. Uh.
And they faced the Cleveland Browns, still to this day
their most recent playoff appearance. Butch Davis is the head coach,
and the season started for them and ended for them
in well, the way the season started should have told

(09:25):
you how the season was gonna end, because it began
with what a big famous play in Brown's history where
Morton Anderson is kicking for the Chiefs and he misses
a field goal that would win the game for them,
So the Browns are gonna win. Dwayne Rudd, who was
a linebacker for the Browns, took his helmet off on
the field after the missfield goal to celebrate. This is

(09:45):
back when taking your helmet off on the field was
a penalty that they enforced very strictly. So Dwayne Rudd
takes his helmet off. It's a fifteen yard penalty, so
Morton Anderson gets a much easier chance. He makes the
field goal, and they win the game for nine. You
should have own this is the kind of year we're
gonna be in for with the Cleveland Browns after the
season started that way. It's never boring with the Browns.

(10:06):
I mean it never has been. There's always some curiosity, uh,
to keep us guessing because I mean, here, here's a
couple of random stats for you to kind of frame
what we're talking about here and how important this playoff
run was for the Cleveland Browns. Uh. Since two thousand three,
there have been ten head coaches since Butch Davis welcome

(10:26):
in Kevin Stefanski. Uh. Twenty quarterbacks have started a game
since that year. Forget about Yeah, it's just unbelievable. Uh
So this year, though, the Browns kind of become the
new Cardiac kids. This was such a roller coach of
season and they won five games in the final two minutes.

(10:47):
This was Tim Couch's best season as a Browns quarterback.
Eighteen touchdowns, eighteen picks, the best year. Well, everybody in
this episode is on the was a former Bear. Cordial
Stewart was on Bears everybod. No, no, look, I've told
you that Cordell Stewart's story. I told it to him once.
When my uncle passed away. We found out that it

(11:10):
might have been after a particularly excruciating loss to the Vikings,
and my cousin in the funeral services attributed it to
Cordell Stewart. Wow, yeah, you told him that story. Yeah,
Oh my god, he didn't hit, you know, Oh my goodness.
Well you gotta frame it right. Yeah, no, I know,
but still, hey, you know he got and he blamed

(11:32):
and I did it. I did it the concise way.
Here for Odd Special Teams podcast. This was not on air.
This was I was doing bits with him, and uh,
you know, but good humor. Yeah, I'm glad he did.
I'm glad for you that he did, because I didn't
start cursing in the other my fist day. I don't

(11:53):
want but I wouldn't want to hear that story. If
I would want to hear that, Oh, come on, it's
kind of funny. But for Tim Couch, I mean, this
is what I mean by being the CARDI yeat kids.
Couch never lived up to expectations at all. He beats
Jacksonville with a hail Mary pass. Right, he beats the
Jets with a touchdown pass and a two point conversion,
the craziest two point conversion in the final minute that

(12:15):
I shook my head going, oh my god, we just
lost to the Browns in that way. Um. They actually
dedicated that game to Al Learner, the team owner, who
died very suddenly in the middle of the season. I
remember Tim Couch grabbing the football and all the players
stood in the middle of the field and held fingers
up to the sky. They dedicate that win to him.
But despite all this excitement, Tim Couch like, like I said,

(12:35):
this was his best season. But still it was eighteen touchdowns,
eighteen picks. He gets booed because he just wasn't the
quarterback you expect a guy drafted number one overall to
b He had had injury problems, he had never been
productive enough. In fact, this season, here's how it started
for Tim Couch. And the Browns. Couch hurches elbow, so
he can't play the first two games. So backup Kelly Holcom,

(12:57):
who comes into this podcast in a large way in
a couple of minutes, winds up starting the first two games.
But Kelly Holcomb breaks his leg, so then Couch takes over.
Couch plays well enough throughout the course of the season
to keep the Browns in playoff contention, but he breaks
his leg in the final game. Cleveland still wins thanks
to a huge touchdown run from William Green, which is

(13:17):
a big run in Brown's history. The play by play
called run William Run helps them win this game and
potentially get into the playoffs. So you add a season
that was started by Holcomb because of an injury to Couch.
Couch plays, Okay, he gets hurt. Now here comes Kelly
Holcomb and the Browns win a game. You think, ok,
nine and seven, they make the playoffs. But this was

(13:38):
that year where there were so many dominoes that had
the fall in the final week for the Browns to
make the playoffs. Because nothing's easy for the brownch Right,
they can't just win the final week and make the playoffs, right,
they win, they lose their quarterback. They still had to
hope that New England would beat Miami in the final
week and the Jets would beat Green Bay. If that happened,

(13:58):
the Browns make the playoffs. Well, New England beats Miami
with a field goal and the Jets just route Green Bay,
and so the Browns make the playoffs. And this is
how we needed to beat them to make it. And
the Jets needed New England to beat Miami the final
week two. And this wasn't like oh, the Patriots in
the middle of the Super Bowl run there, No, this

(14:18):
was boy Miami. They should win this game. And the
Jets were losing the Green Bay early in the first quarter,
and everybody in the stands was watching this game between
New England and Miami. And New England kicks the field
goal to win. The entire crowd goes crazy. And it
was during a penalty announcement on the Jets, like a
fifteen yard penally on the Jets, and you hear the

(14:39):
the the referee go, we have personal foul on the play,
fifteen yards on the defense, and you hear this huge
roar go up in the stadium and Jets players after
the game said, we didn't know what was going on, like,
why are they cheering a big penalty for us? Then
they all got it, Oh, Miami must have lost New England.
We win this game, we make the playoffs. And from
that potan it was a different game and my signal

(15:01):
unleashed and the Jets just blow out the Packers. The
Jets make the playoffs. This is Chad Pennington in his
two thousand two year, which was he was like a
video game. Wound up losing the Raiders in the playoffs
that year, but it was like a video game that Jets,
and it was so exciting. And oh, by the way,
the Browns make the playoffs as a result of both
of these finishes going this way. So typical. This is

(15:22):
how the Browns get in the playoffs. Fantastic finishes, Jets
beating the Packers, I know, and we beat him pretty
bad to h yeah, we it was awesome. Uh. And
so now the Browns going to the playoffs with Kelly
holp them as their quarterback. Now Browns fans aren't so
bummed because Holcom was always someone who was intrigued by

(15:45):
Cleveland fans because in Spurts and Small Chances he played
pretty well in the two games he started in two
thousand and two, he threw for eight touchdowns in almost
eight hundred yards. So this was a guy that the
fans and the team thought, we know he can give
us offense. They were excited to have this guy out
there to go play. So it's Kelly Holcomb and Tommy
Maddox as we get set for a playoff game. That

(16:07):
was the last time the Browns visited the postseason. How
did it go? How did it unfold? We had heroes,
we had goats, We had a hero turn into a goat.
All coming up next right here on special teams. So

(16:36):
we arrive at the a f C Wildcard game between
the Browns and the Steelers in thrilling fashion, both teams
taking different journeys to the postseason, both teams starting quarterbacks.
They didn't think we're gonna be starting for them all.
This is where you had two guys who were Jags.
They were just guys, and now suddenly here they are
starting playoffs games. And what a playoff game. Both of

(16:59):
the these guys had h The game starts with Joey
Porter getting separated from Cleveland players pregame for joining, which
you know that's Joey Porter. That's his act. That sounds
about right, But it was Cleveland who came out big.
Holcomb is slinging it early on. Kevin Johnson has a
huge day, hundred yards receiving. Uh. There's a long completion
of Dennis north Cut to set up a touchdown. More on,

(17:21):
Dennis north Cut coming up, Uh, touchdown past and north
Cut made it fourteen nothing. It was all Cleveland. Tommy
Maddox had thrown a couple of picks. Pittsburgh had no
momentum at all until Antoine Randall l returns a punt
for a touchdown to make it fourteen seven. But clearly
this was a game that not many people thought was
gonna go this way, because look, Pittsburgh it's still won

(17:44):
you know, ten games. The brown squeaked in at nine
and seven, and here's Kelly Holcomb just throwing the ball
all over the field early on. It's what are the
Steelers doing? How are you getting torn up by Kelly
Holcomb in this game? Well, and that's always the wild
card because you look at the two games during the
regular season, Steelers wins both by three points UH and
both low scoring affairs sixteen thirteen and then, which by

(18:08):
NFL standards these days, Bah, that's an old, grinded out
three yards in a cloud of dust kind of game
with some of the pinball scoring we see these days.
But but certainly, uh, a little bit different, right playing
Holcombe and seeing how they operated the offense versus perhaps
well what you've seen from Tim Couch in the past,

(18:30):
So maybe just a little bit of a split there.
And then you know, big plays right off the jump.
I mean your guy out of Syracuse, Kevin Johnson making
the huge play on that opening possession, really kind of
a punch in the face to the Steelers. Yeah, this
was this was unexpected. And after the Steelers get the
punt return for a touchdown by Randall l you think, okay,

(18:52):
maybe they'll settle back in the game. No, this is
more attacking by the Browns. Uh. North Cut has a
big sixty yard punt return, sets up a touchdown past
to him twenty four seven. The Browns get out to
this lead and north Cut has a huge day. He
goes for six nine, two and two touchdowns. Kind of

(19:12):
stick a pinning that for now, because Dennis north Good
comes back in a way that Browns fans here his
name and go Dennis north Cut. But Holcom is incredible.
He is He is just throwing the ball all over
the field and the Steelers don't have a prayer stopping him.
You know, you watched the tape of this game, and
watching this game after as we're getting ready to this podcast,
I'm going, boy, the Steelers really laid off in coverage.

(19:35):
You know, they they found you know, Holcom was able
to find spots and and find and he was accurate
as hell that day. He was great. But I felt
like the Steelers could have been much more aggressive and
gone after him, especially when you see, this is how
we're gonna win the game. We're not gonna win by
running the football. And I thought maybe they could have
dialed things up a little bit better and made life
more difficult for him. But it didn't matter. He's comfortable,

(19:56):
he's throwing the football and and and the Browns can
do no at this point. Well, and that's I mean,
that was the hallmark of those Steeler defenses still is
right there, usually among the league leaders in sacks. Here,
they got the Holcom once. I mean that that's a
pretty big deal. When he drops back forty three times
and you're only able to register one sack, and really

(20:17):
pressure was not consistent at all. He had time to
work down field and find the creases for for Northcut
to have himself a game. Andre Davis with a big
catch as well a little bit of yak and already
mentioned you know Kevin Johnson with that early catchy. I
mean he finished with a hundred forty yards himself on

(20:37):
four big plays. So I mean you're you're looking at
work in the ball down field. Normally you don't have
time against the Pittsburgh defense. So credit the Cleveland offensive
line for being able to hold up and let him
stand tall. Yeah. So here the Dealers who are an
eight point favorite, and suddenly now with the numbers, you're
gonna man, I'm up thirty three seven. I'm feeling pretty good. Yeah,
you're feeling pretty good about that, aren't you. One thing

(20:59):
about this game the field was really torn up and
it was to the point where you could see players
having struggling to find purchase and find footing. That never
bodes well for a defense, never bodes well for really
trying to run the football. Either. It bodes well for
the passing game because the old adages the offense knows

(21:20):
where the ball is going, the defense doesn't, and this
is why you had huge games from both Maddox and
Kelly holkm But here's where things changed, and the Browns,
with all kinds of momentum, driving for what likely would
have been the final nail in the Coffin touchdown. It's
too big a lead. The Steelers are not gonna come back.
Kelly Holcom throws a pick in Pittsburgh territory, and this

(21:42):
is where Tommy Maddox heats up. You talked about the
Browns protecting hold them the way they did in the
first half into the second half of this game, this
is where things changed for the Steelers. As Tommy Maddox,
I don't think the Browns were able to sniff him
during the second half of this game. They tried blitzing in,
they tried laying off, they tried putting guys in coverage.
It didn't matter. Maddox had all kinds of time to

(22:05):
make all kinds of throws. Whether it was Plaxico, Burris Hines,
Ward Randall l it didn't matter. Slowly, but surely Maddox
would maneuver his way down the field and the Steelers
get back in this game. And I am again watching
this game. You go, man, that Brown just couldn't figure
out a way. Neither defense really figured out a way
how to stop the other offense. But it was more

(22:25):
pronounced in the second half of the Steelers because Tommy
Maddox was just throwing darts all over the field started
to find his stride to put a little bow on
the Steelers. Uh. Stat total, they were third in the
NFL with fifty sacks that year. Yet Kelly Holcombe stood
tall here in this playoff game. Now from there, we
look at that drive right the seven of eight seventy

(22:47):
yards they had one running play to Amos zero way.
Uh yeah, we'll get him in later. We'll find out
what he's up to. But Maddox toward to Jeremy Tuman too,
Randall l spreading it around, finally burst with the touchdown
a sudden you know, you get a little bit of
in Cleveland, you go, wait a minute, we've had a

(23:09):
good run. Uh and now you've you're down four minutes
remaining in the third quarter, and suddenly there's a little
bit more of the pressure to get out and make plays.
Showing also you know how long ago this is. But uh,
showing the longevity of kickers. If you can do your job.
When you can see Phil Dawson's uh in the box score.

(23:31):
He went to went to school in Texas, was a
you know, a guy that they had great, great hope
for because well he was automatic. Just let Phil come
and do it. Uh. And there he was for Cleveland
for all those years. No matter what the Browns did,
they couldn't stem the tide of the Steelers. All right.
Burris catches that touchdown, makes Browns kick a field goal.

(23:53):
Tuman catches a touchdown pass from Tommy Maddox, the Browns
get a touchdown pass from Holcombe to Andre Davis. It's
thirty three twenty one, and the Browns are thinking, Okay,
we've done enough, we're putting them away. But no, this
Dealers get down the field and Maddox strews a touchdown
past the Hines Ward that cuts it to thirty three
with three minutes left in the game. Now, if you're

(24:13):
the Browns, okay, you've given this lead away. You can't
stop Tommy Maddocks. You gotta hold on to the football
and not give it back. This is how you're gonna
win the game. This is what comes down to what
is commonly known as the most famous drop pass in
Cleveland Brown's history. There's two forty nine left on the
clock and the Browns couldn't run the football all day.

(24:35):
All right, just let me just give let me give
you this before we set up Dennis north cutt William Green,
who was the number one running back on the team.
We had the big touchdown run we told you in
the final week of the regular season. His stats on
the day were twenty five carries for thirty yards. Five
carries for thirty yards. Here's the best part. He had

(24:57):
a twenty three yard carry, so that meetings his other
twenty four carries amounted seven yards seven yards. He had
a twenty three yard run, but the other twenty four
carries went for seven yards. Now, you're trying to grind
a lot of clocks, Smith, Yeah, but at some point,
don't you realize, Okay, we're just we're just giving plays away.

(25:17):
Don't we're just giving plays away? Hey, holkm you just
run it straight in the line. You can get more
than the one eighth of a yard that William Green
is getting. So you like to think that maybe they
knew we have to outscore Pittsburgh. Right, we we can't
just keep running the football and grinding clock. At some point,
you would think they would disband the run. I'd say,
all right, it's just it's really just not gonna happen
for it today. It really isn't. But no, they kept

(25:38):
giving the ball to William Green and and and maybe
this could have been a game where if they don't
commit to the run that much, we talk about Kelly
Holcom and his six touchdowns and the Browns three win
over the Steelers, but instead we're talking about a thirty six,
thirty three loss. You're looking for one of those Derrick
Anderson uh crazy games from two thousand seven. That was
a couple of years later he and Braylon and words

(26:00):
against Cincinnati. But not it went for nothing. Big thing
the circle out of the box score here is that
William Green, for all his touches, had two receptions. Right,
Jamal White had five catches out of the backfield. But
this is where if you're starting tailback and catch the
ball at all, you know you can at least open
it up and maybe get him a little running room
at another time, But not so fast here. So thirty

(26:24):
three on the road Cleveland needs a first down to
basically run out the clock again to forty nine on
the clock. It's third and twelve. Holcomb, who has been
throwing the football incredibly well. He winds up with a
four yard day throwing the football find Dennis north Cut

(26:44):
wide open. This is when Dennis north Cut was on
the cusp of potential becoming one of the great game
breakers in the NFL. Because he was fast, he was
able to get separation on the football. He looked like
he could become one of the great weapons. There's no
one behind him, no one behind Dennis north Cut, who

(27:04):
cuts from the middle of the field towards the sideline,
but he turns around a little too quickly, like he's
expecting to get hit. Holcomb puts the football right where
he has to. It's a perfect pass and north Cut's
gonna catch this pass, turn it up feeling another ten
or fifteen yards. So suddenly the game is basically over
because they're gonna be well on the Steelers side of

(27:25):
the fifty yard line with the first down, getting down
to the two minute warning. Except because he turns a
little bit too fast, like he's expecting to get hit,
he drops the football it falls right through his arms
and the Browns have to punt on fourth down. It
was like the life gut breathed back into Hindes Field.
Maddox slices the Browns up and down the field for

(27:46):
a go ahead touchdown, a two point conversion, and they
take a thirty six thirty three lead with just under
a minute left to go. Chris Fumatu ma Fala, it
would always say, he's a bad mom falla uh takes
the touchdown on in for the lead, and then Jeremy
Tuman actually catches a pass from Randall L. Remember this
is a big play for this. They would always have

(28:08):
Randall L, who was a college quarterback in Indiana throw
passes through a very famous touchdown pass in the Super Bowl.
And Randall L throws the two point conversion of Jeremy Tumans.
So it's a three point lead from Pittsburgh with just
under a minute left to go, but the Browns are
getting the football back. I want to circle back to
that possession for the Browns though, with the just under

(28:29):
three minutes remaining, you had a play before the north
cut play where Quincy Morrigan waiting forever for the ball
to get there. Washington is able to get a hand
in and separate him. Ball gets out the quicker from
Kelly Holcomb. You got a big play and the Steelers
are in trouble following play. Yeah, obviously they're looking around

(28:50):
in the old let me start pumping my fists looking
for a flag that never comes. Holcomb incredulous, staring down
the official and kind of staring blankly into the Steeler crowd,
which now whipped into a frenzy. And you go to
the Alcoa Fantastic finishes here ALCA presents fantastic finishes. Nah, yeah,

(29:14):
so you know, and in television presented you make the call.
I mean all our our childhood wrapped up here in
the excitement of a playoff game that involves the Cleveland Browns.
But yes, the opportunity inside of a minute down three
and a crowd that was dormant for much of the game.
It's cold, it's miserable, and now it's all on the

(29:37):
arm and Kelly home. This is where you'd expect. Okay,
the Browns are gonna fold. This is where it just
got too much for them. They couldn't make the playce no, no,
In true Browns fashion, We're gonna get you even closer
to the end before we break your heart again. Because
it turns out the Browns maybe just needed one more
second on the clock to potentially win this game. Holcomb

(29:57):
takes the Browns down the field, takes a little a
bit of time to uh snap the ball after the
Browns get a first down with thirty one seconds left,
So there's twelve seconds go by from the Browns first
down until Holcomb snaps the ball. Now, they could have
spiked the ball, could have anything. But Holcomb calls for
a play and completes a pass. Northcutt makes a big

(30:17):
play and they have the ball at Pittsburgh's forty six
yard line with seven seconds left. Right now, it's too
far for a field goal, even for Phil Dawson on
this field, so they have to try to get a
little bit closer and get out of bounds. This is
what I mean by one more second, seven seconds left.
Holcomb fades back and he throws a pass to Andre King,

(30:40):
who catches the ball near the sideline Pittsburgh's thirty yard line.
This is typical Browns and this is the Browns franchise
in a nutshell. Holcomb completes the pass and Andre King
is open, but King has to stop. He can't keep
going because it's an out pattern towards the sidelines. He
has to stop for the football and as a result,

(31:00):
he loses his footing, so he goes down on one
knee to catch the ball. So now he's got to
get up and run out of bounds because that's where
the ball was. So Holcomb throws him the pass, but
he can't catch it in stride or catch it standing up,
where he could maybe get out of bounds a little
bit faster. So he's got to get up. He dives
towards the sideline, doesn't get there in time. Clearly he

(31:22):
doesn't get there, so even though it's a first down,
the clock runs out. The Steelers win the game thirty
six thirty three. They go on in the playoffs. Had
the Browns had one more second on the clock, he
dives out of bounds and Phil Dawson's trying to kick
a forty seven yard field goal to send the game
to overtime. Had Holcim been able to throw the ball
a little bit towards the sideline and Andre King not slip,

(31:44):
they get out of bounds, maybe they're kicking a field goal.
That's how close it was for the Browns. But instead
they go out with a thirty six thirty three loss,
despite Holcomb having a game of games four nine yards
and three touchdowns. It was a big game for Tommy
Maddox as well. Maddox is over three hundred yards. He
throws for three forty three. It was up and down,

(32:05):
an aerial show, and the stealers just had enough and
the Browns losing. You know what has been Brown's fashion
now over the past few years. Oftentimes you can't win
that third game against the team, right, they beat him
twice around, No, they beat him three times during the season,
each a three point win. I mean that is the
ultimate in flipping off a divisional bones as you roll through.

(32:29):
But you know, one of those could you have communicated
with the referee that I'm gonna catch it in the
middle of the field and give myself up, so blow
the whistle. Well it doesn't matter because the clock is
gonna start with another second anyway. Yeah, it's more just
the philosophical All right, what can we do here? Uh?
To try to buy ourselves sometime I don't know, he's broken,
uh and run Dawson out there. But yeah, the field

(32:53):
was an absolute quagmire. It looked like they'd had lollapalooza
out there on Hines Field before the game. But just
an amazing effort from two quarterbacks that are, you know,
footnotes into history and in a lot of ways, right,
I mean Kelly holk Ms right now, the the answer
to a trivia question in Cleveland Baker Mayfield hoping to

(33:15):
take that mantle from him as a playoff quarterback. Uh
for Kevin Stefanski and company. And and Tommy Maddox, Oh,
he's not just the guy that won you a lot
of money in the XFL. So how did it go
for Tommy Maddox and Kelly holk m both of them
at the tops of their professions. Well, coming up next,
we'll tell you why moments in the sun can be

(33:37):
a year, a month, or even one game. What happened
next to both of these teams and both of these quarterbacks.
That's next on special teams. What was now next for

(34:03):
both of these teams after this legendary playoff game. Well,
for the Steelers, they lost the Titans the next week.
They were eliminated from the playoffs thirty one. But Maddox
played really well again. So now the Steelers, after all
these years and Tommy Maddox being forty seven years old,
finally he feels like he's the answer to the Steelers
prayers at quarterback. But in two thousand three it fell

(34:26):
apart form. Pittsburgh finished just six and ten. It was
their first losing season at Hines Field. In fact, it
was the most recent losing season by Pittsburgh up until
current times. All Right, that's amazing run when you say
we don't have a losing season back to two thousand
and three. But but yeah, but you match it up
with the Browns, they don't get back to the Steelers

(34:48):
don't have another losing Yeah, I know exactly. Yeah, I
mean that. That's that. That was, that's kind of where um.
But so after that, even though Maddox was okay in
two thousand and three, Pittsburgh knew, all right, we need
to change, we need we need to get something else
going on here on offense. So they draft Ben Roethlisberger
in the first round of two thousand and four. Tommy

(35:09):
Maddox wasn't happy, but they renegotiated his contract before week
one because you can tell, all right, Roethlisberger is gonna
be the future out of Miami of Ohio. But is
he ready? He's young, he's raw. Maddox still played pretty
well last year, but Pittsburgh ofference was only right twenty
two in the league, so the dealers knew we needed
a change. Maddox starts the season but hurts his elbow

(35:29):
in the second game. Ben Roethlisberger comes in and well,
he hasn't given up the job since he leads Pittsburgh
to the a f C Championship against New England as
a rookie. Maddox would then back up Roethlisberger in two
thousand five and got to play a little bit. But
Bill Cower really wasn't a fan of maddox is anymore.
In fact, at one point he got devoted to third

(35:50):
string behind Charlie Batch. Uh. Pittsburgh didn't win the Super
Bowl over Seattle, but it's Roethlisberger at quarterback. Maddox who
wins a Super Bowl, ring decides to not go to
the White House with his teammates and never played in
the NFL again. That's how it ended in a whirlwind
for Tommy Maddox. You think he's the future right now?
A year later, you'll lose your job to Ben Roethlisberger,

(36:12):
you wind up with a super Bowl ring, and suddenly
you never play in the NFL again after that. I
mean that, that's that's the NFL for you drafted in leaves.
The league comes back is an insurance salesman has incredible highs.
Then they draft another guy to replace you. You get
money in a contract renegotiation, and then you're out of
the league. I mean, that's some kind of journey. You
had a good run man to be able to come

(36:34):
back a couple of times. I mean, that's one of
those feel good stories of redemption and reclaiming, uh the
career you never had in Denver. That's not too bad.
And let's face it, you can sign super Bowl champion
uh name forever. That's it's weak for him. Hey what
do you play that year? Get bent? Get bent, get

(36:54):
out of here. I mean that the Tommy Maddox, I
mean begat. Ben Roethlisberg where taking this guy in the
first round. And you know, you got to give the
Steelers credit because they knew when to pull the plug
on Cordell, because Cordell never really went on to do
anything else in the NFL. They knew when to pull
the plug on Tommy Maddox because they got Ben Roethlisberger
in here. They are no losing seasons since Tommy Maddocks

(37:16):
was the quarterback. That's the triviar question. He's gonna aswer
to who was the starting quarterback the last losing season
the Steelers. Oh that's Tommy Maddox. Oh alright, great, so
you know the Steelers knew when to make those moves. Meanwhile,
for the Browns, things went a little bit differently because
they had a lot of excitement. Look, they lose this game,
but like, hey, the Browns are back and maybe Kelly
Holcom is the next Dan Marino and open competition the

(37:40):
following year for the starting quarterback job in Cleveland. Holcomb
wins it, but he winds up getting hurt and that
lets Tim Couch start some games. But it really didn't
matter because Tim Couch at that point goes from number
one overall picking the draft to having his NFL career
the end of it staring him in the face. He
was waived after the following year due to arm injuries,

(38:01):
and he never played in the NFL again. Now, partly
for Tim Couch, boy you think, boy, if he was
able to stay healthy, but still he had a long
time to establish himself in the National Football League. Could
he have hung on as a backup for a lot
of years, Yeah, he could have done that because he
played well enough as it started to say, okay, you
get a guy with starting experience who can stay in
the NFL's a backup, but those arm injuries. Tim Couch
was the present, the future. Then he was out and

(38:24):
suddenly the Browns wanted to turn to Kelly Holcomb and
it didn't work out for Holcom, which we're gonna get to,
but for Tim Couch it was Boy, this was the
ride for him out of the National Football League where
you look back and go it wasn't that long ago.
He was the face of our franchise and in a
year that he really got us to the playoffs. Because

(38:44):
it's not like Kelly Holkm was phenomenal all season long.
I mean the Browns the teeth of the season. Tim
Couch played well enough to get the Browns to the
cusp of the playoffs and and they wind up getting
in and you think, Okay, finally it's here for the guy.
His moment is here now, and it just never even
happened for him. He couldn't even win the job going
into the next year. Yeah, I mean you look at

(39:05):
his career post Roy for the return of football to Cleveland,
all the hype, right, so much excitement UH in branding
around him, and then you you look at the overall
career marks UH sixty four, touchdown sixty seven I n
t s, a number of comeback attempts, UH, including a

(39:26):
cup of coffee with the Jaguars as a practice squad guy.
The Packers had a tryout with the Bears. Just go
on down the line. It was the al right, he
was the number one overall pick. One of us is
going to be able to figure out what's what the
deal is, right, workouts in Miami, Pittsburgh, Houston, and Tennessee.

(39:46):
May just think about that. The number of looks the
Bengals UH going all the way through because you had
John Kitten and whether he was gonna come back or
not at that point, and then eventually with the philadel
Alfhia soul hanging out with Jon bon Jovi. So, I
mean a lot of different things on the career owing
to the fact that if you're a guy selected that

(40:08):
high and there's always that curiosity of is it is
it a mental thing? Is it a system thing? Is
it a communication thing? Who's going to be the guy
and everybody thinks you're the smartest guy in the room,
that they're going to figure out what that missing pieces,
uh and give him the career based on what you
saw those years ago at Kentucky. But for Kelly Holcum,

(40:30):
that was as good as it was gonna get. He
goes into two thousand three, thirty year old starting quarterback
and Cleveland fans are expecting all kinds of great things.
This from a guy who, after his first year in
the NFL and with the Cults, was out of the
league until the Browns brought him back in two thousand
and one. So he kind of had the same kind

(40:50):
of Tommy Maddock's journey to the NFL. But hey, maybe
he's got it. Maybe just took him a little bit
of time. He hadn't played a lot in the NFL,
but he really underwhelmed. In two thousand and three. He
started eight games, As we said, he had injury problems,
ten touchdowns, twelve picks, and his moment in the sun
had ended. He went on to start a handful of

(41:11):
games for the Bills and the Minnesota Vikings a couple
of years later, but was out of the league in
two thousand and seven. This is what I mean by
sometimes your moment in the sun as a quarterback can
be a year, it can be a month, it can
be a game. But that hype behind Kelly Holcom, hey,
he's he lives forever in Cleveland because of what he
did being that quarterback. No one blames him for the loss.

(41:32):
He played as well as you could possibly play as
a quarterback in the playoff. But this is how it
goes sometimes, and sometimes guys are backups for a reason.
Sometimes guys never get a chance and they show you
how good they can be. But here's Kelly Holcom. It's
like his whole career built towards this game, and then
after this game it's slowly just built away, kind of
like one of those curves where it gets all the
way up to the middle and then it slowly comes

(41:54):
down like a mountain curve. Because that's really what Kelly
holkms was. He didn't have no zero highlights after this game,
but ill it wasn't nearly what it was, and he
was slowly the downward trajectory to the end of his career. Yeah,
but he gets to have the wall of jerseys, including
the Barcelona Dragons in the world page. I mean, right,
he got that, the Bucks, the Colts, the Browns, the Bills,

(42:15):
he never played for him, but he can add an
Eagles one when he got traded there. He got the
Vikings and eventually retires. I mean, that's a pretty good run.
That's not a bad run at all for a guy
out of Middle Tennessee State, right who for his career,
I mean, here's his senior year ready, fifty four yards,
fifteen touchdowns, nine interceptions. Is he finding the NFL at

(42:39):
any point at this point in time with those kind
of stats. No, his junior year seven touchdowns, six picks,
and seventeen hundred yards, nine touchdowns, six picks, hundred yards
as a sophomore, no chance he's ever getting a sniff.
But here was able to be in the league with

(43:00):
you know, career yards, thirty nine touchdowns, thirty eight picks
and over the course of twelve thirteen years, cup of
coffee and a number of stops, and still holding the
distinction as being the last Cleveland Playoffs quarterback. I'll take
it now. Normally we finished with where are they now?

(43:21):
But Mike has already told you about what happened to
some of the players. And this really should be the
coda to this story for the Cleveland Browns, because as
the Browns now are looking for answers at quarterback in
different positions across the board. Butch Davis, who also holds
the distinction as the most recent head coach to take
the Browns of the playoffs because of this game in
two thousand and three, was out as Brown's head coach

(43:44):
during the two thousand and four season. Butch Davis, who
had succeeded greatly at Miami and did great things to
get the Browns to the playoffs in two thousand and two,
just a short year and a half later, he is
out as he resigns following a fifty eight forty eight
loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Right there, the offense plays well,
the defense just gets uh rooked up and down the field,

(44:08):
so he resigns. There's a bit of a discrepancy over
whose idea it was. Was it Butch Davis resigning under pressure?
Was he told to resign or was this Butch Davis
saying listen, I am done I can't do this anymore
because look, after the two thousand and two season, the
Browns hadn't really played that well, and Butch Davis was

(44:28):
in charge of the franchise and charge a lot of
the personnel decisions, and things weren't going well. But it
was still surprised that he resigned in the middle of
the season with a three and eight record. The Browns
will tell you that this was completely Butch Davis. Team
president John Collins said, this was Butch's decision. I'm personally disappointed.
But he had his agent called the Browns and say

(44:51):
that there was a lot of pressure that he felt
from the fans and the media. So wait a minute,
Wait a minute, wait a minute. Was the brown tell
him to resign and they're playing it off like it
was his idea? Or was Butch Davis really under too
much pressure from the fans and the media to continue
on as Brown's head coach. Can you imagine that headline now,

(45:13):
like a coach resigning the middle of the season. Why, well,
the fans and the media on my case, so I'm
stepping down. Oh my goodness, how would you spend that?
Like if that's the story that gets out there's just
no coming back from that. I don't think you could, right,
I mean, because think about the time frame that we're
at here. This is I mean, the internet is churning.
I was in the middle of my run at Yahoo.

(45:35):
Are starting to write full time and starting to do
some video hits and and what have you. Maybe an
occasional radio spot. But like it, it was nowhere near.
We didn't have all these social media spheres where there's
no chance you're able to pull that back. As soon
as words like that gets out, forget about it. There's
no one ringing that belt. He I mean, he's only

(45:56):
coached at North Carolina and f i U since right,
so never at the top of the game like he
was in Miami and the collegiate ranks. But you're not
getting another coaching job anywhere. Maybe you left because the
fans were Meetnia. Come on, I mean, he sent his
his wife and his kid back to Florida after he

(46:19):
was booed off the field, like they lost the Jets.
They lost the home game to the Jets. Ten course
seven fact of the Jets, and it always does. Everything
comes back to the Jets, and he had to send
his family away. Listen, it's too it's too much right
now with what's going on with with with the pressure
on me. So he sends his family back to Florida
because it was it was growing in Cleveland. What's gonna
happen with Butch Davis? And maybe because he resigned the

(46:43):
way he did, maybe because he needed a break. I mean,
he doesn't coach again for another three years, and as
you said, it's North Carolina where he returns to. I
mean this this should have been, Hey, Butch Davis finishes
the year, it's not working, he resigns or they fire him,
and hey, I'm gonna go someplace big in coach. But
he was out of the game for three years after this. Yeah,
just curious, right of. I would love a little um.

(47:05):
You don't need a full thirty minutes on it, but
give me a segment. The hell happened? I mean, what
really happened in that? I mean, it was was something
brewing at home that you needed to attend to. Right.
Did the booing of dad, you know, cause some some
issues and and I mean what was there more than booing?
I mean, we know fans can get a bit unruly.

(47:28):
Now we have thick glass because of Cleveland fans reacting
to some some words out of the studios that we
work out of. So you know, there there's certainly, you
know a lot more to that. But for Butch Davis,
I mean, I'm sitting here, I've got a case of
mini helmets from my days in Northern California in front
of me where they had the East West Shrine Game

(47:50):
all those years. You know, got a chance to meet
Brady coming out of Michigan and you always had these
great coaches and Butch Davis came one year, great conversation.
Still have a nice beautiful mini helmet sun by him.
That's part of the the archives of another lifetime ago.
But always thought he'd be back on top somewhere. But

(48:11):
the media and fan thing uh certainly puts the uh
and smashes that down. So Butch Davis, the future was
so bright for him in the Browns, and a year
and a half later after a lot of his personalized
draft picks that he made really underperformed, including we mentioned
William Green, but there are other guys he picked two
that just never really stepped up and and and made

(48:35):
headway in the NFL. And you're gonna need that. You
can't keep drafting guys early on that don't wind up progressing.
They at least have to be contributors. Right. They don't
have to be stars in every case, but you at
least need guys, you know, in those middle rounds that
are at least functional, rotational guys on the defensive side
of things. Man, look at what happened in all those years.

(48:56):
We talk about the Seahawks a lot as a benchmark
of how in organization is to be run. Uh. And
yes they got more stars, but you at least had
most of the back end draft picks at least sticking
on a roster. Here in Cleveland. It just became a
yearly running joke of all right, we're gonna draft ten.
What's the percentage to stick around this year? Right? And

(49:18):
all the way through you finally have the quote unquote
breakthrough and that's a seven eight and one season. This
was the last Browns performance in the playoffs in team history.
Performance typical Browns though, right, I mean this is this
is Browns. It's typical Browns. I mean that takes you
to the edge, think that you're about to get over, uh,

(49:39):
and then have that rug taken out from underneath you
absolutely so, that was it now? Baker Mayfield, good luck.
This is what This is the season you have to
live up to the Topsy Turvy two thousand three campaign
for the Cleveland Browns. Uh. If you have an idea
for a future episode of Special Teams, hey hit us
up on Twitter at how about a Fresco or at

(50:00):
Swollen Dome Jason Smith, Mike Harmon. Our show is heard
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(50:30):
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(50:53):
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