Elway's exploits still sting Kosar

CLEVELAND -- Bernie Kosar was drawing plays in the dirt with the Browns long before such artwork contributed him to being run out of town by Bill Belichick in 1993.

Never far away from Cleveland football since his rookie year in 1985, Kosar has reinvented himself as part owner and team president of the Cleveland Gladiators in the Arena Football League. Friday night in Quicken Loans Arena, the Gladiators host the Colorado Crush owned by John Elway.

Yeah, that John Elway.

Three times in the late 1980s the Browns and Broncos dueled in the AFC championship game and each time Elway and the Broncos came out on top.

''After 20-some years, you think I would have gotten over it,'' Kosar said during a press conference yesterday. ''I'm not really sure I have. A game two decades ago is still arguably talked about like it happened two weeks ago.

''It's interesting how life goes full-circle from playing to owning and putting the pieces together.''

Elway dashed the Browns' Super Bowl hopes with The Drive in the 1986 championship game. Trailing 20-13 with 5:32 left, he moved the Broncos from the Denver 2 on a 15-play touchdown drive and threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Mark Jackson with 37 seconds left. Rich Karlis kicked a 33-yard game-winning field goal 5:38 into overtime - a kick Browns fans sitting in the closed end of old Cleveland Stadium swear was wide left.

It was in the AFC Championship a year later that Kosar established himself as Supreme Commander of Cleveland football. He posted better numbers in double overtime against the Jets eight days before The Drive, but on Jan. 17, 1988, in Denver, Kosar simply took 10 players on his back and challenged 11 Broncos, as it were, bare-handed.

The Browns trailed 21-3 at halftime. They posted 148 yards of offense and turned the ball over three times. Kosar was 10 of 19 for 110 yards with one interception.

The Browns had 316 yards of offense in the second half. Kosar was 16 of 22 for 256 yards with touchdown passes to Reggie Langhorne, Earnest Byner and Webster Slaughter. Byner also rushed for a touchdown before the bad thing happened.

The Browns were a team transformed, and offensive coordinator Lindy Infante became a mere spectator.

''I was so slow afoot, I had to have the plays right,'' Kosar said Wednesday. ''I remember like it was yesterday - Lindy, midway through the (practice) week, throwing his plays down and saying a couple bleeped words ÔOkay, just call the plays. Forget it!'

''I said, ÔNo, you can call them. But if we're not doing well with them, I'm going to X you. I'm going to tell you right now, while it's calm and quiet in here, I'm going to fake it like you're calling the plays and I'm doing it if we have problems. I hope we don't have problems.' We had arguments in the week leading up to the game about some formational things I didn't think would work. In retrospect, they didn't work.

''By halftime the game plan was scrapped. I was vocal at halftime and mouthy. I wanted to make sure in the second half I was right in what I did.

''It's really a shame a lot of that game is remembered for Earnest and The Fumble, because he was such a phenomenal player and person. He had such a great game that day.''

Trailing 38-31, the Browns were driving for the tying touchdown. But with 1:12 to play, Jeremiah Castille stripped the ball from Earnest Byner at the Denver 3. The Broncos recovered. The heartbreak continued.

Kosar posted better numbers than Elway in the first two AFC title games. The third was all Elway and the Broncos - 37-21 on Jan. 14, 1990.

Beating Elway's team Friday will not ease the pain of the AFC championship losses, but for now it's the game on Kosar's mind.

(zwire.com)