Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Browns fans finally have a reason to cheer

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 10:38 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or 259-4076.

For the past 15 or so years, life has been tough for the devoted football fans in Cleveland.

It started when the Broncos knocked some talented Browns teams out of the postseason in the late 1980s. John Elway engineered "The Drive," a 98-yard march in the final five minutes to lead Denver to a win in January 1987.

A year later, Earnest Byner committed "The Fumble," losing the football inside the 2-yard line as Cleveland was driving for the go-ahead score in another rough postseason loss.

After the 1995 season, the team moved to Baltimore and fans had to wait four years before a new Cleveland Browns team, an expansion club essentially starting over from scratch, came into the league. With the young team came the expected growing pains -- including a 43-0 loss in its first game.

Meanwhile, the former Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, last year ascended to a level to which they never reached in Cleveland -- Super Bowl champions.

It had to be rough watching Art Modell raise the Pete Rozelle Trophy. Especially knowing that their new Browns, now a division rival of their former franchise, were changing coaches and still trying to establish themselves after a 3-13 showing in 2000.

But the football gods are starting to reward the faithful. Coach Butch Davis is doing something that other new skippers around the league are struggling to do -- win games.

Last week's 23-14 victory over Jacksonville gave the Browns a 2-1 record, the same mark as the once-Browns. Of the NFL's six new head coaches in 2001, only Davis has a winning record.

A 2-1 record is nothing to gloat about, and Cleveland faces a tough test in still-somehow-unbeaten San Diego this week.

With an improving squad and a respected young coach, the new Browns may soon give fans reason to cheer.