This week’s Throwback Thursday feature lands on the date of October 17, 1954 for a contest played between 2 clubs that meet on this week’s NFL schedule – the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. The Browns, under legendary coach Paul Brown, were an NFL powerhouse at the time. After winning all 4 championships in the defunct AAFC from 1946 to 1949, they joined the NFL in 1950 when the established league absorbed them and others into the fold. The Browns immediately won the league title in ’50, and also reached the title game in all of the next 3 seasons. The Steelers were sad sacks at the time, although they had begun the 1954 season with wins in 2 of their first 3 games. But the fact remained that since the 2 teams began facing each other in 1950, the Browns had won all 8 games, beating Pittsburgh twice a year for 4 straight years.
Billy Reynolds opened the scoring for Cleveland with a 5 yard touchdown run, but starting what was to be a huge day, Steeler end Ray Mathews tied the game when he gathered in a 7 yard touchdown pass from Jim Finks. The Browns didn’t flinch, and their star quarterback, Otto Graham, regained the lead with a 37 yard scoring pass to Dub Jones. Then the second quarter happened, and it hit the Browns like a tsunami. Finks hit Fran Rogel with a 14 yard TD toss, future Hall of Famer Jack Butler picked off a Graham pass and returned it 41 yards for a score and Johnny Lattner scampered 12 yards for a touchdown to put the Steelers up by a surprising 27-14 margin. Graham gathered his troops and cut the score to 27-20 with a TD throw to Dante Lavelli, but the Steelers ended the first half with a shocking 78 yard bomb from Finks to Mathews to lead 34-20.
Browns guard Chuck Noll, a future Steeler legend
The third quarter was the Ray Mathews show again. He scored twice, on an 8 yard pass from Finks and a 3 yard run, to cap off a 4 touchdown day and raise the Steelers’ lead to an insurmountable 48-20. Graham, being the extreme competitor that he was, didn’t give up. He opened the fourth quarter scoring with a 24 yard TD pass to Lavelli. In what was probably the worst day of his distinguished NFL career, Graham threw his second pick six of the game, as Russ Craft pilfered the ball and raced 81 yards to paydirt, capping off a rousing 55-27 rout. In all Graham threw 5 interceptions on the day, while the Browns had a total of 8 turnovers. This was a very satisfying win for Pittsburgh, their first ever against the Browns. Looking ahead though, the joy didn’t last long. Cleveland got revenge later in the season with a 42-7 romp over the Steelers, on their way to victories in the next 4 contests against them in the coming years, and 8 of the next 9.
Hall of Fame QB Otto Graham