The Browns’ finish yesterday started in Brooklyn. Let us explain.
Despite being down 21-3 to the Jets, the Browns felt they couldn’t lose because they were playing for their late owner, Brooklyn native Al Lerner, who died this week from brain cancer.
After the Browns came back to beat the Jets, 24-21, Cleveland head coach Butch Davis passionately told his team how the game mirrored Lerner’s life.
“[His life] was about perseverance,” Davis told his players. “It was about character. It was about never, ever surrendering and fighting to the bitter end. I know for a fact that Al Lerner is proud of this football team today.”
Tim Couch stepped up in the locker room and gave the game ball to the Lerner family. The Cleveland quarterback and his teammates had attended Lerner’s funeral Friday.
Lerner’s 69 years began in Brooklyn, but not in wealth. The graduate of Brooklyn Tech H.S. (1951) and Columbia University (1955) earned his billions through his career with MBNA Corporation, the USA’s largest independent bank lender through credit cards. At the time of his death, Lerner was MBNA’s chairman and CEO.
He used his wealth to bring football back to Cleveland in 1999 and is renowned in that area for his generosity. His 18-month battle with cancer earned the respect of his players. They saw the qualities that Davis spoke of in his post-game speech.
Although loath to admit it, Davis said the whole week proved tough for his players and contributed to his team’s slow start yesterday.
At halftime, Browns players said Davis lit into them, providing the “jump start” – as one player put it – the team needed to rally.
One Brown even thought that Lerner affected the outcome. At the end of the third quarter, the Browns tied the score with a miraculous two-point conversion.
Couch was being torn to the ground by Jets defensive tackle Josh Evans. Before Couch hit the turf, he somehow flipped the ball into the endzone. Dennis Northcut beat the Jet defenders to the ball.
“Mr. Lerner directed the ball into Dennis’ hands,” tight end Aaron Shea said.
Afterward, the players talked about “Big Al” – as some of them called Lerner – with a respect that is uncommon between owners and players these days. They said Lerner treated them like family.
“It was a tough week for all of us,” Couch said. “We as players loved Mr. Lerner. We are all going to miss him. We all wanted as players to play well.”
That is why they were all at his funeral Friday. Yesterday, they came back to beat the Jets for a man who grew up in Brooklyn.
“It was the least we could do for him,” Shea said.