MNF Moments: 2008

11.15.2009

There are, officially, perfect games in baseball.

In football, though?

Maybe not officially, but there are perfect games otherwise.

And the Browns played one just 13 months ago, on Oct. 13, 2008 at Cleveland Browns Stadium, when they overwhelmed the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants 35-14 before a Monday Night Football TV audience and the second-largest home crowd of the season, 73,102.

It was perfection in that the Browns did not have to punt in the game, and did not commit a turnover or allow a sack for the first time in club history. Since 1963, when sacks began being registered in the NFL, there have been only four games where a team hasn't punted, committed a turnover or allowed a sack. It had been four years - Dec. 19, 2004 by the New York Jets in a 37-14 win over the Seattle Seahawks - since it had happened.

The two other times were Nov. 1, 1998 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 27-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, and Dec. 19, 1993 by the San Francisco 49ers in a 55-17 triumph over the Detroit Lions.

The Giants came into the game perfect themselves, at 4-0, and were coming off their second bludgeoning of the young season, a 44-6 decision over the Seattle Seahawks. Two weeks before, they had crushed the St. Louis Rams 41-13.

So these guys were for real. Their 17-14 victory over New England in the Super Bowl the previous season, keeping the Patriots from finishing with a perfect - there's that word again - mark of 19-0, was no fluke. Maybe it wasn't as big of an upset as everybody thought it was.

The 2008 Giants were on their way to a 12-4 finish, two games better than they had been in 2007, and would end up outscoring their foes 427 points to 294. But on this night, they were on the wrong side of a one-sided game for the only time all year.

The game started innocently enough, with Brandon Jacobs running seven yards for a touchdown with 12:09 left in the second quarter to erase a 3-0 Browns lead that had been provided by Phil Dawson's 28-yard field goal early in the first quarter.

Then the Browns scored two TDs in a nine-minute stretch in the second quarter. Using a 70-yard pass from Derek Anderson to wide receiver Braylon Edwards on the first play, they tallied two plays later on a four-yard run by Jamal Lewis. Also, Anderson completed a 77-yard drive by throwing 22 yards to tight end Darnell Dinkins, normally just a blocker.

Eli Manning closed the Cleveland lead to 17-14 with a three-yard pass to wide receiver Plaxico Burress with just 12 seconds left in the half.

The second half was all Browns. Dawson hit another field goal, this one from 26 yards, early in the third quarter to make it 20-14, and then, early in the fourth quarter, Edwards caught an 11-yard pass from Anderson to push the lead to 27-14.

A 13-point advantage five seconds into the fourth quarter gives a team a good feeling, but the Browns knew it was far from being over. These Giants were not just a good bunch, but a proud one as well, and the last thing they wanted was to be run off the field on national TV. So the Browns knew the Giants would make another push at them, and they were right.

Taking the kickoff after the Edwards TD, the Giants moved the ball down the field in medium-sized chunks, eventually going 75 yards to the Cleveland 9, where they faced a second-and-4 situation with 8:22 left, still plenty of time, obviously.

Manning then tried to go short to wide receiver Amani Toomer on the right side, but cornerback Eric Wright was waiting. He intercepted it and raced 94 yards for a score. Anderson passed to Edwards for the two-point conversion to give the Browns a 21-point lead, 35-14.

Video Highlights: Monday Night Moments

Billy Andrews INT return vs. Jets - 1970

Brian Sipe to Ozzie Newsome vs. Cowboys - 1979

Bernie Kosar to Webster Slaughter vs. Bears - 1989

Eric Wright INT return vs. Giants - 2008

It wasn't quite over, though. Undaunted, the Giants came right back to drive to the Cleveland 6 on their next - and final - possession. But Manning's fourth-and-2 pass to Steve Smith was incomplete with 3:58 left, and finally, the Browns and their fans could begin celebrating.

With the way their defense had played by intercepting three passes, the fact Edwards caught five passes for 154 yards, Anderson passed for 310 yards and two TDs for a 121.3 quarterback rating, the offense overall gained a whopping 454 total yards and they won their second in a row to get within a game of the .500 mark at 2-3, the Browns were thinking they were back on track. They were starting to resemble the team that had finished 10-6 and came within a whisker of making the playoffs in 2007, and the team that so many thought could make a run at the Super Bowl in '08.

It didn't work out that way, in large part because the Browns began to be devastated by injuries, especially at the quarterback position where they were signing players off the street to finish the season.

Nonetheless, they still had that one night - a perfect football night - to relish.