1987 AFC Championship Game
Cleveland Browns
at
Denver Broncos
Played on January 17, 1988, here is a recap from the original contest...
Reserve cornerback Jeremiah Castille forced a fumble by Earnest Byner and then recovered it at the Denver 3 with 65 seconds left to preserve the Broncos' second consecutive AFC title game victory over the Cleveland Browns 38-33. The play was a cruel end for Byner, who had a sensational day, with 67 yards rushing, 7 receptions for 120 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
The Broncos dominated the early going and led 21-3 at halftime. But behind Bernie Kosar's passing (26 completions in 41 attempts for 356 yards), the Browns stormed back. Early in the third period, Kosar found Reggie Langhorne for 18 yards and a touchdown. Then, after John Elway struck back with an 80-yard bomb to Mark Jackson, Kosar threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Byner. A short while later Byner scored again on a 4-yard run.
Early in the final period, Kosar passed to Webster Slaughter for 4 yards and a touchdown that made it 31-31. Elway again responded, driving the Broncos 75 yards and hitting Sammy Winder with a 20-yard touchdown pass with only 4:01 remaining. The Browns were driving to even the score until Castille's big play sent Denver to its third Super Bowl. Punter Mike Horan took a safety with 8 seconds left to finish the scoring.
Let's see how the rematch plays out...
John Elway huddles up the Denver Broncos offense in the first quarter.
Elway drops back before connecting with Ricky Nattiel on a 34-yard TD to make the score 7-3 at the end of the opening quarter.
Mike Horan punted 7 times for a 39.7 average.
In the third quarter, Gerald Wilhite runs it in from 3 yards out to put Denver up 14-3.
Browns linebacker Mike Johnson tries to get under Elway's skin.
The Orange Crush defense surrendered just 173 yards of total offense to Cleveland.
Earnest Byner picks up a first down on 4th & 5 on a swing pass from Bernie Kosar.
Frank Minnifield plays bump-and-run coverage on Vance Johnson.
Rich Karlis lines up for a 40-yard field goal attempt as Ricky Nattiel is announced as the Horse Trailer Player of the Game.
The Broncos win the rematch of the 1987 AFC title game and still have the Browns' number.
Code: Select all
Madden NFL 2004 PC v4.1.0.0 Game Log - 87 Browns at 87 Broncos
Game Time: Sun May 08 22:17:20 2011
Skill Level: All Pro
Quarter Length: 12 minute(s)
Slider Human CPU
QB Accuracy 50 32
Pass Blocking 50 3
Receiver Catching 50 48
Running Ability 50 65
Offensive line Run Blocking 50 42
Defensive Awareness 50 25
Defensive line Knockdowns 50 4
Interceptions 50 8
Defensive Break Blocks 50 3
Tackling 50 50
Fieldgoal Length 50 49
Fieldgoal Accuracy 50 25
Punt Length 50 78
Punt Accuracy 50 60
Kickoff Length 50 62
Weather
Forecast: Fair
Wind: 1 mph
Temp: 27 degrees
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT FINAL
87 Browns 3 0 0 3 0 6
87 Broncos 7 0 7 3 0 17
Game Statistics: 87 Browns 87 Broncos
First Downs 10 13
Third Down Conversions 3 5
Third Downs 14 13
Third Down Percentage 21.4% 38.5%
Forth Down Conversions 1 0
Fourth Downs 2 0
Fourth Down Percentage 50.0% 0.0%
Two Pt Conversions Made 0 0
Two Pt Conversions Attempted 0 0
Two Pt Conversion Percentage 0.0% 0.0%
Offense Redzone Num 1 2
Offense Redzone TDs 0 1
Offense Redzone FGs 1 1
Offense Redzone Percentage 100.0% 100.0%
Rushing Attempts 25 34
Rushing Yards 55 105
Rushing Average 2.2 3.1
Rushing TDs 0 1
Passing Yards 118 153
Passing Completions 17 13
Passing Attempts 28 17
Completion Percentage 60.7% 76.5%
Passing Average 4.2 9.0
Passing TDs 0 1
Offensive Pass Interceptions 0 0
TOTAL OFFENSE 173 258
Defensive Pass Interceptions 0 0
Punt Return Yards 39 16
Kick Return Yards 62 39
Punts 6 7
Punt Avg 42.8 39.7
Fumbles 0 1
Fumbles Lost 0 1
Penalties 0 3
Penalty Yds 0 20
Turnovers 0 1
TIME OF POSSESSION 22:37 25:23
Individual Stats: 87 Broncos
PASSING CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK TD INT LONG RATING
John Elway 13 17 173 76 10.1 5 1 0 34 127.8
RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Sammy Winder 19 78 4.1 38 0 0
John Elway 5 16 3.1 11 0 1
Gene Lang 4 9 2.2 9 0 0
Gerald Wilhite 6 2 0.3 3 1 0
RECEIVING REC YDS AVG LONG TD DROP YAC
Ricky Nattiel 2 63 31.5 34 1 0 2
Sammy Winder 3 26 8.6 12 0 0 19
Clarence Kay 3 23 7.6 10 0 0 4
Mark Jackson 1 22 22.0 22 0 0 15
Vance Johnson 2 17 8.5 16 0 0 1
Gerald Wilhite 1 14 14.0 14 0 0 4
Orson Mobley 1 8 8.0 8 0 0 3
Ken Bell 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 0
KICKING FGM FGA PCT FGSBLOCKED XPA XPM PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Rich Karlis 1 1 100 0 2 2 100 0 4 0
PUNTING ATT YDS AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Mike Horan 7 278 39.7 50 0 0 2
KICK RETURNS ATT YDS AVG TD LONG
Vance Johnson 2 39 19.5 0 21
Kevin Clark 0 0 0.0 0 0
PUNT RETURNS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD
Kevin Clark 2 16 8.0 9 0
Vance Johnson 0 0 0.0 0 0
DEFENSE TOT LOSS SACK FF FREC YDS TD INT RET AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES
Tony Lilly 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Carl Mecklenburg 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
Ricky Hunley 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Steve Wilson 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Dennis Smith 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Simon Fletcher 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
Andre Townsend 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Randy Robbins 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Rulon Jones 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Michael Brooks 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
Jeremiah Castille 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Gene Lang 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
John Elway 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Steve Bryan 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mark Haynes 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 3 0
Tyrone Braxton 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Kevin Clark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
BLOCKING PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Ken Lanier 7 0
Stefan Humphries 4 2
Gene Lang 3 0
Keith Bishop 3 0
Dave Studdard 2 1
Mike Freeman 0 1
Individual Stats: 87 Browns
PASSING CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK TD INT LONG RATING
Bernie Kosar 17 28 127 60 4.5 2 0 0 22 71.6
RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Earnest Byner 17 33 1.9 12 0 0
Herman Fontenot 4 22 5.5 11 0 0
Kevin Mack 4 0 0.0 2 0 0
RECEIVING REC YDS AVG LONG TD DROP YAC
Clarence Weathers 4 37 9.2 20 0 1 0
Reggie Langhorne 3 29 9.6 18 0 1 3
Ozzie Newsome 2 23 11.5 14 0 0 9
Brian Brennan 1 22 22.0 22 0 0 0
Kevin Mack 2 8 4.0 6 0 0 5
Earnest Byner 3 6 2.0 6 0 0 11
Tim Manoa 1 4 4.0 4 0 0 7
Herman Fontenot 1 -2 -2.0 0 0 0 0
KICKING FGM FGA PCT FGSBLOCKED XPA XPM PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Jeff Jaeger 2 3 66 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
PUNTING ATT YDS AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Jeff Gossett 6 257 42.8 47 0 0 1
KICK RETURNS ATT YDS AVG TD LONG
Glen Young 4 62 15.5 0 16
Gerald McNeil 0 0 0.0 0 0
PUNT RETURNS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD
Gerald McNeil 4 39 9.7 21 0
Glen Young 0 0 0.0 0 0
DEFENSE TOT LOSS SACK FF FREC YDS TD INT RET AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES
Clay Matthews 10 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Felix Wright 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Lucius Sanford 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Carl Hairston 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Eddie Johnson 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Stephen Braggs 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
Frank Minnifield 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Ray Ellis 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Hanford Dixon 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Darryl Sims 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Johnson 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Sam Clancy 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Chris Rockins 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Reggie Camp 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Al Gross 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mark Harper 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
David Grayson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Anthony Griggs 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
BLOCKING PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Paul Farren 3 0
Kevin Mack 2 0
Dan Fike 1 0
Mike Baab 1 0
Larry Williams 1 1
Ozzie Newsome 1 0
Cody Risien 0 1
Game Log Ends
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