Monday, October 08, 2001
Couch makes clutch plays for 3-1 Browns
Late TD enough to offset rally by Flutie, Chargers
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Butch Davis doesn't care if it's another 17 years before he sees Doug Flutie again.
Davis, who coached Miami's defensive line in 1984 when Flutie completed his “Hail Mary” for Boston College, had to sweat out the final seconds Sunday before the Cleveland Browns defeated the San Diego Chargers 20-16.
Flutie nearly rallied the Chargers (3-1), throwing two long passes that fell incomplete into crowds in the end zone, and the Browns (3-1) hung on.
“I'm glad we don't have to play him again,” Davis said.
Flutie was upstaged by Tim Couch and the Browns, who came up with some early season magic of their own.
Couch threw a 19-yard TD pass to Kevin Johnson with 1:15 left, giving the Browns their first three-game winning streak since returning to the league in 1999.
Under Davis, hired in January to replace Chris Palmer, the Browns matched their entire win total from last season and became the NFL's biggest surprise after four weeks.
“We're 3-1 after four games,” Browns linebacker Jamir Miller said. “Go figure.”
The Browns' swarming defense made it tough on Flutie, who when he wasn't rolling out of the pocket to avoid the rush, was running for cover.
San Diego's quarterback got roughed up all afternoon and was clothes-lined on a run near the goal line in the fourth quarter by cornerback Corey Fuller.
Last week, Browns rookie defensive tackle Gerard Warren knocked Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell out of the game with a blind-side block.
Warren was fined $35,000 by the NFL for the helmet-to-helmet blow.
“They're going to see what they can get away with, but my gripe isn't with them,” Flutie said. “There were three different hits that I thought could have been flagged very easily. There's a rule about hitting anyone in the head.”
Flutie, though, credited Cleveland's defense.
“I think we probably had more negative plays today that we had in the first weeks combined,” he said. “Their front (defensive) seven did a great job.”
Trailing 16-13, the Browns got the ball with 3:52 left, and Couch went to work.
He completed a 14-yard pass to Dennis Northcutt, whose first catch of the season was a big one. Then on third-and-10, Couch made his best throw, hitting Johnson for 13 yards on a perfectly timed out pattern.
“I've worked with him for three years,” Johnson said. “I was confident. I came out of the break, and the ball was there.”
The duo hooked up again two plays later as Couch lobbed his TD pass to Johnson, who made contact as he went over cornerback Alex Molden for the catch.
“It was a fantastic throw,” Johnson said.
It was interference, according to Molden.
“There's no doubt about it,” Molden said. “Watch the film. It was a definite push.”
Flutie got the ball back with 1:10 left at his own 17 with one more chance.
Davis admitted to suffering flashbacks of Nov. 23, 1984, when standing on the sideline in the Orange Bowl, he watched Flutie complete his famous “Hail Mary” pass in BC's 47-45 win.
On fourth-and-10, Flutie scrambled for 11 yards and then made two completions for 27 yards, getting the ball to Cleveland's 45 and getting Davis' heart racing.
“When he got to the 50, I was concerned,” Davis said. “I didn't think he could throw it 85 yards, but when he got to the 50, you just knew.”
Flutie's first shot at the end zone was tipped by safety Percy Ellsworth but almost went to Chargers receiver Curtis Conway, who had gotten behind Cleveland's secondary.
“I almost had a heart attack,” Ellsworth said.
When Flutie's final pass hit the grass, the Browns stormed onto the field in celebration along with 73,108 Cleveland fans who suffered through two years of atrocious football.
“We beat a quality team,” Couch said. “Now we want to keep it going.”
Flutie finished 17-of-37 for 149 yards, and rookie LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 102 yards, including a 54-yarder, on 19 carries and one TD.
Couch went 14-of-27 for 203 yards.
Phil Dawson kicked two field goals for the Browns, who finished 3-13 a year ago after starting the season 2-1.
“It's not so much the about the record as it is about what it is going on in our locker room,” Davis said. “They are doing this as a total team right now.”
Wade Richey kicked three field goals for San Diego. He banked in a 38-yarder off the left upright with 8:32 remaining to give the Chargers a 16-10 lead.
Dawson's 27-yarder closed Cleveland to 16-13 with 4:58 left.
Notes: Cleveland's defense has not allowed 275 net yards in any of its first four games. The last time the Browns did that over a four-game span was in 1973. ... The Browns honored former star players Ray Renfro, Gene Hickerson, Greg Pruitt, Bernie Kosar and Michael Dean Perry during halftime ceremonies. The five were inducted into the recently established Cleveland Browns Legends Club. ... Tomlinson's 54-yard run in the third quarter was San Diego's longest since the final game of '99.
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Couch makes clutch plays for 3-1 Browns
