1949 Cleveland Browns season

The Browns finished the 1948 season with a perfect record and defeated the Buffalo Bills to win the AAFC championship for the third time in a row. Head coach Paul Brown made several adjustments before the 1949 season, bringing in halfback Les Horvath, a former Los Angeles Rams player from Ohio State who had won the Heisman Trophy in 1944 . He also signed tackle Derrell Palmer and linebacker Tommy Thompson. Palmer came in a trade with the New York Yankees and Thompson, a rookie from William & Mary, helped solidify the team's defense for the next five seasons. Defensive back Warren Lahr, who had signed in 1948 out of Western Reserve but sat out the season with a broken leg, saw his first play in 1949 and was a star in the secondary for eleven years. Even before the season began, signs had emerged that the AAFC was struggling financially. After suffering from poor attendance in the previous season, the Brooklyn Dodgers dissolved and some of its players joined the cross-town New York Yankees as part of a partial merger. Other AAFC teams were allowed to sign players who did not join the Yankees, and the Browns added tackle Joe Spencer. Team owners agreed to several other changes in an attempt to address the league's difficulties. The regular-season schedule was reduced from 14 to 12 games, and the Eastern and Western divisions were abandoned in favor of a single set of standings, with the top four teams participating in playoffs to determine the league champion. The team with the better regular-season record had home-field advantage in the playoffs, the first time that happened in professional football history. Paul Brown and other AAFC coaches knew the league was unlikely to survive after the 1949 season. AAFC owners had already discussed merging with the National Football League (NFL) the previous year, and most teams in both leagues were losing money. The talks fell apart, however, when the owners could not agree on which of the AAFC's teams would join the NFL. As the league faltered, Brown entertained but ultimately declined offers to leave the Browns and return to Ohio State University, where he had coached in the early 1940s. ==Roster and coaching staff==

The Browns held their training camp at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, as the team had each year since its first season in 1946. Three preseason games were scheduled, against the Chicago Hornets, San Francisco 49ers and New York Yankees. Week 1: vs. Chicago Hornets • Source: Plain Dealer The Browns began the preseason with a 21–0 win against the Chicago Hornets in Toledo, Ohio. The Browns faced the San Francisco 49ers, a perennial rival and one of the top teams in the AAFC, in their second preseason game. Week 3: vs. New York Yankees • Source: Plain Dealer The Browns faced the New York Yankees in their third and final preseason game. Cleveland scored a touchdown on its first possession, a 53-yard drive that ended with a four-yard scoring rush by Graham. The Yankees' ensuing drive stalled and they punted back to the Browns. Cleveland's Cliff Lewis returned the kick 74 yards to the Yankees' 20-yard line, setting up a second touchdown on a pass from Graham to Lavelli. New York scored a touchdown on its next possession in the first quarter, a long pass from quarterback Don Panciera to end Dan Garza, narrowing Cleveland's lead to 14–7. The Browns, however, added another touchdown in the second quarter, bringing their lead to 21–7 at halftime. Panciera responded with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Lowell Tew in the third quarter and scored again in the fourth, but a fourth Cleveland touchdown in the final period sealed the 28–21 victory for the Browns. Browns tackle and placekicker Lou Groza sat out the game with a pulled leg muscle, and team captain Lou Saban kicked the team's extra points. Marion Motley, the regular starting fullback, played sparingly because of an injury. Graham and Lewis both played at quarterback and amassed 15 completions for 176 yards. The team's halfbacks and fullbacks gained 191 yards. ==Regular season==

Week 1: vs. Buffalo Bills • Source: Pro Football Reference The Browns began the regular season by tying the Buffalo Bills, the team they had beaten to win the 1948 AAFC championship. Cleveland began the scoring in the first quarter with a touchdown pass from Graham to Edgar Jones, but Buffalo tied the score in the second quarter with a touchdown of its own on a rush by Ollie Cline. An interception by Warren Lahr set up Cleveland's first score, a short touchdown run by Edgar Jones. The Yankees scored first on a field goal by Harvey Johnson in the first quarter. Baltimore scored a touchdown and a pair of field goals in the second quarter to get out to a 13–0 halftime lead, but Cleveland launched a comeback in the third and fourth quarters. The team's offense had its best game of the year, scoring six touchdowns. The 49ers were one of the strongest teams in the AAFC, and held a 4–1 win–loss record coming into the game. They had scored an average of almost 35 points a game in their first five weeks, led by an offensive attack that featured quarterback Frankie Albert, fullback Joe Perry and end Alyn Beals. The Browns had been effective on defense against San Francisco in their previous four match-ups, allowing a maximum of 14 points. This time, however, the 49ers dominated the Browns, scoring eight touchdowns and 56 total points. San Francisco led from the outset, scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter. Graham threw six touchdowns, including four to Lavelli and two to Speedie, beating the old record of five. The matchup drew a crowd of 72,189, the largest attendance for a game in all of pro football in 1949. The 49ers began the scoring in the second quarter with a 48-yard pass from Albert to Len Eshmont. A field goal attempt in the first quarter by Groza was blocked, but the Browns scored their first points soon thereafter, a four-yard touchdown run by Dub Jones that capped a 49-yard drive. Browns linebacker Tony Adamle intercepted a pass by Buffalo quarterback George Ratterman on the Bills' first drive. The Browns scored all of their points in the first half. Boedeker scored Cleveland's first touchdown on the third play of the game, a rush from six yards out following a Chicago fumble. Motley scored another touchdown eight minutes later at the end of a 63-yard drive. A fumble by Warren Lahr led to a Hornets touchdown in the second quarter, although kicker Jim McCarthy missed the extra point. Chicago threatened to score again in the fourth quarter after a fumble by Cliff Lewis, reaching the Cleveland three-yard line. Linebackers Bill Willis and Alex Agase tackled Hornets quarterback Johnny Clement for losses, however, stopping the drive. Cleveland won the game 14–6 as snowy conditions slowed the game. The players helped clear snow from the field in the morning before the game began, but the turf was muddy and slippery. Graham had 88 passing yards, bringing his season total to 2,785. It was the highest mark of his career despite that the season was only 12 games long, two shorter than in previous years. A crowd of only 5,031 people attended the game, largely because of the bad weather. The AAFC's Chicago franchise, however, was also one of its least successful financially, competing with the NFL's Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals. ==Final standings==

The AAFC instituted a Shaughnessy playoff system for the 1949 season after the Brooklyn Dodgers went out of business, reducing the number of teams in the league to seven. Under the system, the top four teams in the league reached the playoffs; the first-and fourth-place teams played each other for one spot in the championship game, while the second- and third-place teams played for the other championship game berth. Finishing atop the AAFC standings in the regular season, the Browns faced the fourth-place Bills in the semi-final, a team they had tied twice during the regular season. Semi-final vs. Buffalo Bills • Source: Pro Football Reference Cleveland began its first postseason game against the Bills with two scoring drives in the first quarter, one ending with a 51-yard touchdown pass from Graham to Lavelli and the other with a 31-yard field goal by Groza. The Bills, however, came back in the second quarter with a pair of touchdown throws by quarterback George Ratterman to take a 14–10 lead at halftime. Cleveland's offense sputtered in the second quarter, however, never advancing beyond their own 38-yard line, and the score remained 7–0 at halftime. A 68-yard rush by Motley for a touchdown gave the Browns a 14–0 lead in the third quarter despite slippery conditions that limited passing and made running difficult. The 49ers came back in the fourth quarter with a 73-yard touchdown drive that ended with throw by Albert to Paul Salata for the score. Cleveland then scored again after the next kickoff, however, an 11-play drive capped by a Dub Jones touchdown with six minutes left that turned out to be the last in the AAFC's four-season history. Cleveland's defense had a strong game, limiting the 49ers to just 122 rushing yards and 108 passing yards. Warren Lahr batted down a pass from Albert to Salata in the third quarter that would have been a touchdown if he had caught it. Graham threw for 128 yards in the game and rushed for 62 yards. The win gave the Browns the AAFC championship for the fourth time in the league's four years of existence. The Browns played a final game in the 1949 season, matching up against a team of AAFC all-stars a week after the championship game in Houston, Texas. The Shamrock Bowl was organized by Glen McCarthy, a Texas oil executive who wanted to bring a football team to Houston. While a Houston-based AAFC team was no longer possible with the league's demise, McCarthy hoped that a well-attended game would convince NFL owners of the viability of a franchise for the city. The game, however, was poorly attended – only about 10,000 people came. It was also marred by racism: it was initially unclear whether the Browns' black players, Motley, Willis and Gillom, would be allowed to play. McCarthy ultimately relented on the issue, but black players were forced to stay at a different hotel from the white players. Cleveland lost the game to the all-stars by a score of 12–7. ==Season leaders and postseason==

Graham passed for the most yards in the AAFC for the third time running in 1949. Speedie also won the league receiving crown, registering the most catches and the most receiving yards. His 1,028 yards of receiving put him over the 1,000-yard mark for the second time in his career, the first time a professional football player accomplished that feat. Graham, Speedie and Saban were all named to sportswriters' first-team all-AAFC squads. Motley and Lou Rymkus were also named to first- and second-team all-AAFC lists. Lavelli and Bill Willis were consensus second-team all-AAFC. The Associated Press and the International News Service both selected All-Pro teams that combined players from the AAFC and NFL. Graham, Speedie, Rymkus and Saban were included on the INS list, while Graham and Speedie made the AP list. Paul Brown was chosen as the AAFC's coach of the year by Sporting News. As the AAFC disbanded after the 1949 season, many Browns players were all-time league leaders at their positions. Motley led in rushing yards, Graham led in passing yards, Groza had the most field goals and Speedie led in receptions and receiving yards. Several players retired after the season, including Saban, who left to start a coaching career, and guard Bob Gaudio, who had been with the team since 1947. Edgar Jones, who had been a mainstay of the Browns' offense in its first four years, also retired after the season because of the shoulder injury he suffered during the season. Another departure was Ara Parseghian, a halfback who suffered a career-ending hip injury. Despite the Browns' success in their AAFC years, many owners and sportswriters thought the team was not as good as its NFL counterparts as it prepared to play in the league in the 1950 season. Redskins owner George Preston Marshall was especially dismissive of the Browns, saying the NFL's "weakest team could toy with the Browns." Greasy Neale, the head coach of the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles, also did not take the Browns seriously and decided not to scout the team when the Eagles were scheduled to open the 1950 season against Cleveland. The Browns went on to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia and win the NFL championship in 1950. ==References==