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Webster Slaughter
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IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:00Take a time out.
00:06No one flying right.
00:15Hi, I'm Brian Kenney, and welcome to ESPN Classics' Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame,
00:20a series that takes a fresh look at sports personalities who are remembered largely for
00:24their mistakes, controversial moments, or questionable decisions.
00:27For much of the brisk winter day in Denver, it looked like the Cleveland Browns would
00:31be frozen out of a Super Bowl bid for the 22nd straight year.
00:35But after an 18-point deficit was closed to just seven in the fourth quarter, Browns running
00:39back Ernest Beiner was heading toward the end zone.
00:42But when Beiner fumbled just three yards short of glory, he instantly became one of Cleveland's
00:47most reviled sports goats.
00:52Not many people grow up in another city and move to Cleveland.
00:55Most Cleveland Browns fans grow up in Cleveland and they pass away in Cleveland.
01:01The fans and the players back then, we were interchangeable, interwoven.
01:06They were part of us.
01:07We were part of them.
01:08The last champion is 1964.
01:11So Clevelanders were, we were looking for something to cheer us and buoy us and make us proud of
01:17our cold, hard-working city.
01:22Stoking the Browns' Super Bowl expectations in the 1987 season was their near miss a year earlier.
01:29Leading the Broncos 20-13 with five and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter of the AFC title
01:35game,
01:36Cleveland's defense set itself on Denver's two before a stadium-shuttering 80,000 home fans.
01:42This Browns' team is beating off the emotion of this packed house.
01:47There's no way that the Denver Broncos was going to take and drive the length of the football field
01:55in our stadium, in our backyard.
02:06You always worry about down there, but getting the ball tipped and having, you know, getting it intercepted.
02:10And so I never threw a ball as hard as I threw that.
02:14Touchdown, Mark Jackson!
02:19You know, we could have handled it.
02:24That's our Super Bowl.
02:255.48 into the overtime, the Browns' quest for their first Super Bowl appearance ended.
02:31It's on the way.
02:35I remember after the game, talking with Mike Johnson, you know, the toughest part of it.
02:49But the Browns regrouped in 1987 to win a third straight AFC Central title.
02:54After beating Indianapolis in the divisional playoffs, the conference is time.
03:00The entire season, every towards the Broncos.
03:03And now it was time to perform.
03:05They had waited so long for the game that I think that they got very tight once they got into
03:09the game.
03:10Simon back at the four.
03:13Maybe we were too fired up in the first half.
03:16It was uncharacteristic of our offense to dig such a hole.
03:20Over the middle.
03:21Incomplete.
03:22Intercepted.
03:23Going in at halftime, man, down 21-3.
03:26Nobody better die.
03:28Nobody said much about what had happened.
03:31Just, you know.
03:32And then the throw down field.
03:34Intercepted.
03:35Felix White.
03:37In the first series, we got the interception.
03:39Scored a couple plays later.
03:42Throwing for Langhorne.
03:43Touchdown.
03:44Once we got a little momentum, then we were able to get back on track.
03:49Ozar looking for Slaughter.
03:52They were coming back, and they were coming back strong, and everything they did seemed to work.
03:56The play-action pass game was working.
03:58The deep balls were working, and they were getting big plays.
04:01We were up by 18 points, and boom.
04:05Next thing you know, uh-oh.
04:07Man, we're fighting for a line.
04:10Ernest Beiner.
04:11Touchdown, Cleveland.
04:1328-23 the score.
04:15They were rolling up and down the field, and it seems like we were on skates trying to stop them.
04:22Underneath to Slaughter for a touchdown.
04:25It was our opportunity.
04:27It was the Cleveland Browns deflating the entire Denver fan base.
04:33With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, a John Elway touchdown pass to Sammy Winder put Denver ahead.
04:40Down 38-31, Bernie Kosar led a charge downfield as the clock ticked down.
04:47We knew we were going to score.
04:49We knew they couldn't stop us.
04:51Up the middle, Beiner.
04:54They were moving the ball and moving the ball and moving the ball, and that's not the way it usually
04:58worked in Mile High Stadium.
05:07I knew we were going to score.
05:09We were just moving the ball way too well.
05:11To the 24-yard line at the two-minute timeout.
05:16We had people sitting on their hands instead of clapping.
05:19So, oh yeah, you could sense it.
05:25With 1-12 remaining, the Browns stood on the Broncos' eight.
05:29Kosar called a trap play designed for Ernest Beiner.
05:33It was wide open.
05:35I mean, there was a huge hole from there, and I saw Beiner bounce through.
05:41I'm thinking it's cool.
05:42Definitely thinking it's cool.
05:44Because I'm going to run over here.
05:46He was about to be saluted for putting a team on its back and getting rid of the memory of
05:56the drop by giving us the chance to tie the game.
05:59I mean, Ernest was so close to scoring until he kind of relaxed a little bit and didn't tuck it
06:07away properly.
06:08Fucking the ball getting rid of the lower.
06:11I wish it was this high, but it was this high.
06:13It was over here.
06:14And that's a weakness.
06:16I'm probably 165, 170.
06:18He's 225.
06:19He's run over everybody on your team so far today.
06:23And that's what came to my mind.
06:25And I said, hey, I'm going to try and knock this ball out of his hands.
06:29Draw to Beiner.
06:31I just ain't running.
06:33I'm just running.
06:34And, ooh, you know, the ball's gone.
06:40Ernest Beiner.
06:41Bumble.
06:42Bumble the ball, and Denver has recovered.
06:45Oh, my.
06:47The Broncos are celebrating, and Beiner's just kneeling at the goal line and knowing that he should be in there
06:55with it, with the ball.
06:57Close.
06:58So close.
07:01Just so close on that last drive.
07:03So close.
07:04You come off a year before where you're emotionally just beaten down with the drive.
07:10You go through another great season.
07:11Things are going your way, and this happens again.
07:14At the end of the fourth quarter, we had that one turnover that just, you know, kind of messed up
07:19the whole ball game for us.
07:22It wasn't for that fumble.
07:25Ernest would be the first guy to tell you, hey, it's my job to carry the ball and protect the
07:30football.
07:33On that particular day, it didn't happen.
07:37Reality is, it's my fault.
07:39You know, I'm supposed to take care of the ball.
07:41I don't care who's supposed to do whatever.
07:42The responsibility is mine.
07:45Careers are made, and legacies are broken on one play.
07:48I mean, Ernest will always be a great player, but he gave it up at that one moment, and he,
07:54more than anybody, knew ball security was the key.
07:56I was representing everybody that was a Cleveland fan, all my players, my coaches that believed in me, and I
08:03let them down.
08:09Oh, what might have been had Ernest Beiner held on to the ball.
08:14But every game is littered with what-ifs.
08:16Before we begin our countdown of the top five reasons why you can't blame Beiner, let's take a look at
08:21the best of the rest.
08:24Otto Graham.
08:26Beginning in 1946, the Hall of Fame quarterback led the Browns to ten straight championship games, winning four All-America
08:35football conference and three NFL titles.
08:38The real blame here lies with Otto Graham.
08:41Finally, the football guy said, hey, we're going to even this up here now.
08:44You know, you've been winning just a little.
08:45We're going to, you know, Ernest Beiner seems like a nice guy, but he's going to pay for all the
08:48sins of Otto Graham.
08:49He was called Automatic Otto, and he made things happen.
08:52The Browns won championship after championship.
08:55They were winners.
08:57They won all the time, and so you knew that there was something in your life that was going to
09:00go right once a week.
09:01Unfortunately for Ernest Beiner, he was the balancing stone in that particular situation in Cleveland.
09:11Another best of the rest is the 1987 NFL player strike.
09:17It caused the regular 16-game schedule to be reduced to 15.
09:21It turns out that the game with Denver is a game.
09:25There was a week there where we would have been playing in Cleveland.
09:27If we played in Cleveland, and if Cleveland would have beat us, then Cleveland would have had the home field
09:32advantage.
09:33At 10-5, Cleveland finished a half game behind the 10-4-1 Broncos.
09:39Forced to play away from their beloved dog pound, the Browns traveled to Mile High Stadium,
09:44where the Broncos had lost just one non-strike game in 1987.
09:50Back at the time at Mile High Stadium, I mean, the fans were just so close to the field,
09:54where they would really, really rash you, beat up on you.
09:59I mean, tough, tough place to play.
10:04Here's reason number five.
10:06Webster Slaughter.
10:08The second year.
10:11He flubbed a pass that led to an interception on the Browns' 18.
10:17Denver scored, and then he doesn't block at the end.
10:28He calls the Browns two touchdowns.
10:31The year receiver failed to perform on the decisive play.
10:35What few people know is how the fumble occurred.
10:41The wide receiver's responsibility on the running play was either to block the defender,
10:46Jeremiah Castile, or if he was playing bump and run, run up into the corner of the end zone
10:51and take him with him.
10:53Marty is right.
10:54I mean, Webster didn't do what he was supposed to do.
10:57Well, our wide receiver took two steps and stopped and looked back to watch the play.
11:03His job was to clear out, and if he would have, Castile would have had to go with him,
11:09it wouldn't have been there.
11:09I beat him to the inside.
11:15I'm certain that had Castile not been there, Ernest would have scored.
11:19There's a reason that they draw the plays up the way they do,
11:22and, you know, 11 guys aren't doing what they're going to do.
11:25You know, it's not always going to work.
11:27We talk about why this is not Ernest's fault.
11:30If we'd have done what we was exactly supposed to do and run the guy to the back of the
11:35end zone,
11:36then maybe he wouldn't have had a chance to react up like he did.
11:39Webster's slaughter on that play was Randy Moss before his time.
11:43Just watching the play.
11:46And then he failed to recover the fumble.
11:50What a joke.
11:55If he even brushes against Jeremiah Castile,
12:00Biner walks into the end zone.
12:03Simple.
12:07One reason down, four to go.
12:09Here is reason number four.
12:11John Elway.
12:13Even if Biner had scored,
12:15the Broncos quarterback would have had a minute to respond with an answering drive.
12:20I think Lohr has sort of developed that into thinking that was the winning touchdown
12:25or would have been the tying touchdown.
12:26We still had to stop him again.
12:28Even as we would be wondering,
12:32he was off 15 of his NFL record 47 comebacks in the fourth quarter or overtime,
12:39including the one that crushed Cleveland's bid to make the Super Bowl a year earlier.
12:43Every time it just seemed like Elway had an answer for us.
12:47I mean, when we hit a big play, they would come on and do something to hit a big play.
12:50Wide open, Natio.
12:53To the one-yard line.
12:55John Elway was a beast against us.
12:57I mean, we just couldn't seem to stop him.
12:59Elway looking for a bundle.
13:01Gets away.
13:02Those eyes in the back of his helmet.
13:04There was nothing out there that gave you evidence
13:08that the Browns defense was going to be able to shut him down either.
13:11Looking for Sewell.
13:13Instead goes to Mark Jackson.
13:14And he has a first down at the 42 as Denver's Elway trying to answer Cleveland's Kozar.
13:2165 seconds for Elway is about 60 seconds too much.
13:25So I did not think the Browns were going to win that game.
13:29They couldn't stop Elway.
13:30They couldn't get to him.
13:32It would have been the same thing as the year before.
13:37Probably.
13:39Coming up next on the top five reasons you can't blame Ernest Feiner
13:43for the Browns losing the 1987 AFC Championship game.
13:47To see us turning the ball over,
13:50it was so unlike the Marty Schottenheimer Cleveland Browns team.
13:56Despite having committed the fewest turnovers in the league over the past two seasons,
14:00the Browns gave it up three times in the first half.
14:04Marty Schottenheimer basically said the only way we could lose this football game
14:08was by turning the football over.
14:12Over the middle.
14:14Incomplete.
14:15Intercepted.
14:16When you give a good offense like that,
14:18you're only 20 to 30 yards to score.
14:19It makes it tough on your defense.
14:21He throws wide open touchdown.
14:24We were always, always focused on trying to get in a turnover,
14:28and we live by the turnover at Dillard.
14:30Fumbles.
14:33The Broncos had their second turnover midway through this first quarter.
14:37We don't get one of those turnovers.
14:39We don't get the fumble, and we don't get the interception.
14:42We don't win.
14:43We lost the football game in the first quarter.
14:48Those two turnovers was huge.
14:53After two turnovers and two possessions,
14:56the Browns trailed 14 to nothing.
14:58But they weren't done coughing it up.
15:00Will he be down?
15:01I don't think so.
15:02I think they're going to call the fumble, yeah.
15:05It was unbelievable that we could not get anything done
15:08the first half in that ball game.
15:10For us to come out and turn the ball over like we did in that half
15:14was very uncharacteristic.
15:16Not that Ernest didn't get it done.
15:17We didn't get it done.
15:22Have we begun to change your mind yet?
15:24If not, take a look at reason number two.
15:28Dog defense.
15:29After giving up an average of 16 points a game,
15:32second best in the NFL,
15:34the Browns defense played like puppies.
15:37The defense lost the game when you get right down to it.
15:40You're not going to win too many games
15:41giving up 38 points.
15:43People don't remember the ball being stripped
15:46going across the goal line.
15:48They don't remember us giving up 20 or something points
15:50in the first half.
15:51They were so focused in, all of them.
15:5411 of them on defense focused in on number seven
15:57that they forgot to play some of the other people.
16:00Gene Lang!
16:07You get a lot of guys saying, you know what?
16:09I'll make up for it.
16:10You know, I'll go make that play.
16:12And so you start seeing guys not being in position.
16:15Reverse Sewell, no one there for Cleveland.
16:19We wasn't containing him.
16:20We were getting a feel.
16:22And again, not the way the defense is designed to be played.
16:26Down 21-3 at halftime.
16:29The Browns scored on their first possession in the third quarter
16:31to close to 21-10.
16:35We thought things were going to turn around for us.
16:37And then Elway comes down and hits Mark Jackson,
16:39maybe 10 to 15-yard route.
16:40We had him in the pocket.
16:42We didn't make the play.
16:43Completed to Jackson.
16:45Who gets a first down and more.
16:47We had him short of the first down.
16:49We missed the tackle.
16:50I thought I was a pretty sure tackler,
16:51and I remember missing it.
16:52He may go all the way.
16:55Touchdown.
16:55So that's a smack right back in the mouth.
16:58We didn't play the way we were capable of playing,
17:01and we definitely didn't tackle
17:03the way we were capable of tackling.
17:05Touchdown.
17:06You guys like skill players,
17:09skill position players
17:12who are only known because of John Elway
17:15run all over them.
17:18Shame.
17:20Down.
17:21I know me and Hepburn,
17:22we felt the Jets is responsible
17:24for losing that football game
17:26than anybody else.
17:27I know I missed a few tackles in that game.
17:30I can't blame Ernest for that loss,
17:31and I never did because I knew that
17:33if we had done our job in the first half,
17:35you know, the game would have been that close.
17:40Ernest Beiner.
17:41After leading the Browns in touchdowns
17:43in yards from scrimmage,
17:44he was true to form in the 38-33 loss to Denver,
17:48accounting for a game-high 187 yards.
17:53I found Ernest Beiner.
17:54We're not competitive in that Denver game.
17:57He was the heart and soul of that team.
18:01Ernest Beiner was the most productive player
18:03on the field that day.
18:04He was running the football,
18:05he was catching the football.
18:07We couldn't stop him.
18:08Up the middle, Beiner.
18:10If you thought you were going to get a great shot on him,
18:13he had the ability to make you miss.
18:16And when it was time,
18:18he had the strength to run through you and break tackles.
18:22Beiner, good second effort.
18:24The only reason why we got back in that football game
18:26was because of the heroids of Ernest Beiner.
18:33Not only did Beiner lead the Browns in receiving and rushing,
18:36he gained 138 yards in the second half.
18:40The adjustment by the money man, Beiner.
18:44I thought he was exceptional going against the linebackers.
18:48Down the middle, Beiner's open.
18:50Ernest Beiner with Lily to beat.
18:53I remember there was one particular play
18:56where we lost contain on Bernie
18:58and Ernest snuck out behind me
19:00and got about a 30-yard pass.
19:02Ernest Beiner, touchdown.
19:04They had a 21-point third quarter
19:08and Beiner scored one touchdown on the pass reception.
19:12He also ran for a second touchdown.
19:14Touchdown, Cleveland.
19:18To tell you the truth, it was the best game I ever played.
19:21I mean, I was so quick, so making people miss me.
19:25It's one of those flow moments
19:27or moments where things just almost happen in slow motion.
19:32I always think of that game not about the loss,
19:36not about Denver or Elway,
19:39but frankly about Ernest Beiner,
19:40whose performance that day was absolutely astonishing.
19:44I'm sure everybody in Cleveland,
19:46every Browns fan around the world was saying,
19:49holy cow, look at that little tough running back,
19:51Karius.
19:52I mean, he was the hero.
19:55To put the burden of one game on one play
19:58when a guy does so much to get them back in a position
20:01where they have that opportunity to close the deal,
20:05I heard that's one of the most unjust things in the world.
20:15Well, there you have it.
20:16The top five reasons you can't blame Ernest Beiner
20:18for the Browns losing the 1987 AFC Championship game.
20:22For Cleveland fans,
20:23it may take a Super Bowl victory to ease the pain,
20:25but we hope we have at least erased some of the blame
20:27on Ernest Beiner.
20:29I'm Brian Kenney.
20:30Thanks for joining us.
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