After an earlier attempt to re-write the history of the Detroit Lions (see the first couple of chapters here and here) I have turned to the star-crossed NFL franchise that is the Cleveland Browns.

Many of us who grew up in the 1980s with American football on Channel 4 will be familiar with that incarnation of the team - the team of Bernie Kosar, Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack, Ozzie Newsome, Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield, Webster Slaughter and Reggie Langhorne, Clay Matthews and Bob Golic.

What a team that was and how tragic too, losing three AFC Championship Games in that decade, often in gut-wrenching circumstances (see "The Fumble" here).

Even greater tragedy was to come of course when the team was cruelly wrenched from its home to Cleveland and sent to Baltimore to become the Ravens by then owner Art Modell.

When the NFL did bring the franchise back in 1999 its errors were more comic than tragic with a succession of bumbling losing seasons following.

And yet this franchise also has an extraordinary history. Founded after the Second World War to compete in the AAFC (a rival league to the NFL) by the football visionary Paul Brown, the Browns were the first ever unbeaten, untied team in pro football history in 1948. They won four straight AAFC championships (every one in the league's history) and only lost four games in those four years.

This was the team featuring the progressive offensive wizardry of Brown (whom the team was named after), the graceful passing of Otto Graham, the hard-running of Marion Motley, and the speed of Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli.

When the league folded and the Browns were admitted to the NFL in 1950, they shocked America by winning a championship their first year in the league - making them the most successful "expansion team" in NFL history. They would go on to win three championships in all in the 1950s.

In the 1960s with the incredible Jim Brown running the ball, they won their final ever championship. Despite a brief flowering in the "Kardiac Kids" era of Brian Sipe (league MVP in 1980) they would not ever win another one.

No other team has perhaps combined such nobility and such tragedy.

Which is why they're perfect for us to take over in Madden.

As before, I will use Madden 2004, the finest incarnation of Madden on the PS2, and through playing the franchise mode, I will see just what could have happened in the years to come.

Like a true GM, I will not play the game, but rather make the decisions that count - the personnel decisions, draft picks and free agents and so forth. And like a real GM, I will not play the game, but instead watch it.

Madden will play itself if you set it to, and the effect is just like watching an NFL game. That's what I will do, but I won't watch all of them, just the post-season ones if and when the Browns make the playoffs. We will simulate the regular season games.

I will update you on all my moves as GM and tell you how the team does every season and thus we will write a new history of the Cleveland Browns.

The story commences in 2003. The Browns finished 9-7 last year and even made the playoffs where they lost a crazy high-scoring shootout to Pittsburgh. With some young players like Tim Couch, William Green, Quincy Morgan, Andre Davis, Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren, there are even grounds for hope.

Of course in real life it all went horribly wrong.

But that's the beauty of our revisionist history. We can re-write history.

INITIAL TEAM OVERVIEW:

QB: TIM COUCH and KELLY HOLCOMB are almost identical - smart, accurate QBs without strong arms.
HB: WILLIAM GREEN has superb potential.
FB: AARON SHEA is too slow.
WR: An established starter in KEVIN JOHNSON and lots of youth and speed with QUINCY MORGAN, ANDRE DAVIS and DENNIS NORTHCUTT.
TE: Cupboard is almost bare, STEVE HEIDEN is all there is here.
OL: Atrocious bunch of lightweights, RYAN TUCKER is the only guy who's any good.
DL: Talent for the future with COURTNEY BROWN and GERARD WARREN, not much else.
LB: The worst part of the team, just a disaster.
CB: DAYLON McCUTCHEON and ANTHONY HENRY are serviceable, nothing else.
S: ROBERT GRIFFITH is slow but wily, not much other talent.
K/P: PHIL DAWSON is OK; CHRIS GARDOCKI is actually pretty good.

Wow. Good luck!

Not to be a spoilsport, but if you are going back to 2003, doesnt't your incredible success with the Lions provide a clear blueprint for what to do with the Browns?

ursus arctos wrote:
Not to be a spoilsport, but if you are going back to 2003, doesnt't your incredible success with the Lions provide a clear blueprint for what to do with the Browns?

Only to some extent, because you never know the talent that is going to come up in the draft. With the LIONS we were able to draft a franchise quality QB after Year 1. No idea if we'll be able to do that here. The quality on the initial roster of the LIONS was probably better too.

One new feature I'll be introducing is that the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER will comment after each significant event, I'll be coming up with the headlines!

Did you mean to reference the Ohio Glory - a very short-lived team in the old WLAF?

Reed of the Valley People wrote:
Did you mean to reference the Ohio Glory - a very short-lived team in the old WLAF?

Yes, bad pun I know - I blame the former hack in me.

An unrealted American Football question. Regular readers of my column on the subject will know I'm fascinated with the USFL, which I watched on holiday. I see one of the teams went bankrupt and was taken over by the league (the LA Express). Clearly it was an emergency but how on earth could the league be regarded as neutral?

A quick initial move.

We re-name C#55 Jeff Faine, because that's who he is.

INITIAL STRATEGY:

We have a ton of dross on our starting roster which we can trim. We will then bring in free agents off the street who are either talented young players who can help us down the road or veteran guys who can help us win right now.

INITIAL CUTS:

James Jackson
Alvin McKinley
Aaron Shea
R.J. Bowers
Frisman Jackson
Darnell Sanders
Chad Mustard
Chad Ward
Melvin Fowler
Shaun O'Hara
Joaquin Gonzalez
Brant Boyer
Barry Gardner
Lewis Sanders
Raymond Walls
CB#28
Kalvin Pearson
Michael Jameson

SIGNED:

Larry Centers (7/7)
Mike Green (1/2)
Wesley Walls (6/7)
James Whalen (2/4)
Wally Williams (8.5/7)
Mike Gruttadauria (9/7)
Leon Searcy (7.5/7)
James Williams (19/7)
Randall Godfrey (23/7)
Todd Lyght (18.5/7)
Deion Sanders (13.5/7)
Juran Bolden (12/7)
Terry Fair (10/7)
Ronnie Bradford (8/7)

The numbers in brackets indicate size of contract in dollars then length of contract.

An astonishing ten of these guys could start for the Browns -

FB Larry Centers
TE Wesley Walls
LG Wally Williams
C Mike Gruttaduria
RG Leon Searcy
RT James Williams
MLB Randall Godfrey
CB Todd Lyght
CB Deion Sanders
FS Ronnie Bradford

We just bought ourselves a veteran road-grading line that's strong, tough and injury-prone; 3/4 of a starting secondary in FS Bradford and CBs Lyght and Sanders; a run-stuffing MLB in Randall Godfrey; and an accomplished pair of veteran pass-catchers in FB Centers and TE Walls.

The CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER's reaction:

OVER THE HILL GANG ARRIVES IN OHIO

RE-NEGOTIATED:

Kevin Johnson (4/1)
Earl Little (5.5/1)
Kenard Lang (4.5/1)
Ross Verba (4.5/1)

We use our remaining cap space to buy out guys on big long-term contracts who we don't see as long-term starters.

JOHNSON is our leading WR right now but long-term we will be going with the speed of MORGAN, DAVIS and NORTHCUTT.

LITTLE (a FS) was on a big money deal and isn't even as talented as RONNIE BRADFORD.

LANG (a DE) was on a big money deal and MARK WORD is more talented.

VERBA (a LT) is not as big and strong as BIG CAT WILLIAMS and is on the way out.

PRE-SEASON:

Green +1 to 84
Morgan +3 to 87
Andre Davis +2 to 80
Northcutt +1 to 80
Warren +2 to 90
Andra Davis +2 to 68
Thompson +2 to 69
Henry +1 to 79

Young players' values go up in pre-season. Good jumps by our young WRs QUINCY MORGAN and ANDRE DAVIS.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:
An unrealted American Football question. Regular readers of my column on the subject will know I'm fascinated with the USFL, which I watched on holiday. I see one of the teams went bankrupt and was taken over by the league (the LA Express). Clearly it was an emergency but how on earth could the league be regarded as neutral?

I don't know exactly, but the Wiki entry for them says that the USFL's TV contract with ABC guaranteed that there would be teams in the three biggest TV markets (NY, LA, and Chicago).

There was a documentary about the USFL and its demise in the ESPN 30 for 30 series, called Small Potatoes. It's one of the movies that I didn't watch, but I know it was directed by the guy that headed the TV production for the league, and he has a lot of emotional investment in the league. The documentary is notable for an apparently disastrous interview with Trump, who emerges as a villain, as he basically pisses over anyone associated with the league that said that it could have survived, and in the interview, Trump dismisses the USFL as "small potatoes".

So here is our YEAR ONE ROSTER:

QB

Tim Couch (4) 81
Kelly Holcomb (6) 81
Josh Booty (2) 53

HB

William Green (1) 84
Jamel White (3) 79
Lee Suggs ® 68

FB

Larry Centers (13) 88
Mike Green (3) 59

WR

Quincy Morgan (2) 87
Kevin Johnson (4) 83
Andre Davis (1) 80
Dennis Northcutt (3) 80
Andre King (2) 59

TE

Wesley Walls (14) 76
Steve Heiden (4) 74
James Whalen (3) 60

LT

Ross Verba (7) 80
LT#76 ® 53

LG

Wally Williams (10) 80
Barry Stokes (5) 76

C

Mike Gruttadauria (7) 78
Jeff Faine ® 76

RG

Leon Searcy (11) 77
Paul Zakauskas (2) 56

RT

James Williams (12) 85
Ryan Tucker (6) 81

LE

Kenard Lang (6) 79
Tyrone Rogers (4) 64

RE

Courtney Brown (3) 86
Mark Word (3) 78

DT

Gerard Warren (2) 90
Orpheus Roye (7) 78
DT#74 ® 53

LOLB

Ben Taylor (1) 65
Michael Josiah (1) 48

MLB

Randall Godfrey (7) 88
Andra Davis (1) 68

ROLB

Chaun Thompson ® 69
Kevin Bentley (1) 69

CB

Todd Lyght (12) 83
Daylon McCutcheon (4) 80
Anthony Henry (2) 79
Deion Sanders (12) 78
Juran Bolden (7) 76
Terry Fair (5) 74

FS

Ronnie Bradford (10) 79
Earl Little (5) 72

SS

Robert Griffith (9) 91
Jason Moore (4) 48

K

Phil Dawson (4) 83

P

Chris Gardocki (12) 92

YEAR 1 has been SIMMED and the BROWNS have gone 10-6!

High drama too - they needed to win their final game to make the playoffs and the victory somewhat fortuitously secured them the AFC North title and the #2 seed in the AFC!

YEAR 1 TOP PERFORMERS:

TIM COUCH threw for 4432 yards and 28 TDs, but 25 INTs too, worryingly.

WILLIAM GREEN ran for 1213 yards and 10 TDs.

We started MIKE GREEN at FB and he ran for 208 yards and 3 TDs.

QUINCY MORGAN had a breakout year at WR with 117 catches for 1783 yards and 14 TDs in our pass-happy offense.

ANDRE DAVIS caught 100 balls for 1166 yards and 11 TDs.

HEIDEN was the leading TE with only 31 catches for 250 yards and 2 TDs.