| | | | | | | | Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Old Baltimore vs. Future Baltimore
By Will Weiss
ABC Sports Online
"You have to say the organization did an excellent job when you get that far in your depth and you've got a guy who played like Mike Pagel."
--Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer
The Baltimore Ravens make their Monday Night Football debut this week when they face the Tennessee Titans (ABC, 9 p.m. ET). It is significant for a couple of reasons: For one, it is the team's first Monday Night game since moving to Baltimore from Cleveland; and it is the first Monday appearance by a Baltimore team since 1978.
|  | | Eric Dickerson rushed for 117 yards on 22 carries in the Colts' return to MNF. |
It wasn't until 10 years later, on Sept. 19, 1988 that the Colts would return to MNF in a matchup of the past and the future of Baltimore football, as the Indianapolis Colts faced the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Stadium. The game was a rematch of the 1987 AFC divisional playoff -- which the Browns won 38-21-- and showcased two of the league's most formidable offensive threats, in Colts RB Eric Dickerson and Browns QB ... Mike Pagel?
The Browns entered the season the consensus AFC pick for the Super Bowl, but stumbled to a 1-1 start. They had not scored a touchdown in either of their first two games, and their quarterback situation was a mess, after Bernie Kosar sprained his elbow in Week 1 and Gary Danielson broke his ankle the following week.
That paved the way for Pagel, who started 47 of 51 games for the Colts from 1982-85 before the acquisition of Gary Hogeboom (remember him?) and the drafting of Jack Trudeau led to his trade to Cleveland.
And he got the last laugh against his old team, throwing touchdown passes to Webster Slaughter and Ozzie Newsome en route to a 23-17 Browns' victory.
The 14-yard TD to Newsome came on Cleveland's first possession, and gave the Browns a 7-3 lead. It was Newsome's first score in two years and marked the first time the Browns had reached the end zone in the young '88 season.
Eric Dickerson was the Colts offense, having gained 41 of the team's 61 yards on their opening drive, but a fumble led to a Matt Bahr field goal that put the Browns up 10-3.
He would come back, however. Given a short field thanks to a 29-yard punt by Lee Johnson, Dickerson began the drive with a magnificent 14-yard run. Dickerson improvised on a sweep, reversing to his left after the Browns closed running lanes on the right, turning a sure loss of yardage into a first down in Cleveland territory. Two plays later, Dickerson exploded around right end for a 41-yard touchdown to tie the game and put him over the 100-yard mark.
The game's turning point came just before halftime. As Indy cornerback Eugene Daniel leaped to intercept the pass at the goal line, Webster Slaughter reached over and snatched the ball as they both fell in the end zone. Slaughter was awarded the touchdown based on the NFL rule awarding possession to the offensive player if two players have simultaneous possession of the football.
Daniel protested, saying he had possession and asked the officials to check the replay, which showed Slaughter had his hands on the ball while both players were still in the air, and the play stood.
Pagel's counterpart, Trudeau, did not fare as well. The second-round pick out of Illinois completed only 10 of 19 passes for 80 yards before a knee injury forced him out of the game in the fourth quarter.
(It's possible here to gauge Trudeau's performance using the original Tecmo Bowl for Nintendo. Trudeau's passes had relatively no zip, compared to other QBs in the game like Marino, Elway, Montana, etc., so the results here shouldn't be surprising to old-school video game aficionados.)
Cleveland's defense shut down Eric Dickerson in the second half. After a 104-yard first half, the future Hall of Famer and MNF sideline reporter gained only 13 yards in the final 30 minutes. It was 23-10 when rookie Chris Chandler came in to direct the offense, but the Colts continued to stumble. Only a Clarence Verdin punt return for a touchdown kept it close in the second half.
It was Pagel's night, though, as he finished with 255 yards on 23-for-38 passing, with two TDs and the lone interception coming on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half.
The win moved the Browns to 2-1, and Pagel returned to the sidelines a few weeks later when Kosar returned. They would finish 10-6 before losing in the wild card game to the Houston Oilers. After four straight years of playoff futility, Schottenheimer was fired.
Pagel stuck around for two more years.
Will Weiss is the editor of ABC's Monday Night Football site.
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