|
The 1948 Cleveland Browns season was the team's third in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). After winning the AAFC crown in 1946 and 1947, the league's first two years of existence, the Browns repeated as champions in 1948 and had a perfect season, winning all of their games. The season began with a number of roster moves, including the addition of linebacker Alex Agase and halfbacks Ara Parseghian and Dub Jones. Following training camp and two preseason games, the Browns began the regular season with a win against the Buffalo Bills. Led by quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and ends Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli, the Browns followed with a string of victories leading up to a November matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams had perfect records to that point, the 49ers relying heavily on the offensive production of quarterback Frankie Albert and end Alyn Beals to win their first 10 games. The Browns beat the 49ers 14–7, and followed two weeks later with another narrow victory over San Francisco, their closest competition in the AAFC in 1948. By the end of the season, the Browns had a perfect 14–0 record and led the league's Western Division, setting up a championship-game matchup with the Bills, who had won a playoff to take the Eastern Division. Cleveland beat Buffalo 49–7 in December to win the championship and preserve its unbeaten record. After the season, Graham, Motley and Speedie were included in many news organizations' All-Pro teams, alongside several other teammates. Graham was named the co-Most Valuable Player of the league alongside Albert. Browns games were televised for the first time in 1948. The season is recognized as perfect by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, although the National Football League (NFL), which absorbed the Browns when the AAFC dissolved in 1949, does not recognize it. Ohio senator Sherrod Brown wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in 2008 asking the league to officially recognize AAFC team statistics, including the perfect season. The New England Patriots were vying to complete a 19–0 season at the time and join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only teams to register a perfect record. ==Offseason and roster moves== Cleveland finished the 1947 season with a 12–1–1 win-loss-tie record and beat the New York Yankees to win its second straight AAFC championship. While the team was successful in those first two years of existence, head coach Paul Brown made numerous roster changes before the 1948 season. He brought in linebacker Alex Agase and defensive tackle Chubby Grigg via a trade with the Chicago Rockets. Tommy James, a defensive back who stayed with the team through the 1955 season, came from the National Football League's Detroit Lions. Defensive back Warren Lahr also joined the team but did not play in 1948 after breaking a leg in the preseason. Offensive additions included halfback Ara Parseghian and quarterback George Terlep, but the most significant signing of the year was Dub Jones. Brown got Jones – who had a long and successful career in Cleveland – in a trade with the Brooklyn Dodgers for the rights to draft Bob Chappuis. Author Andy Piasick describes this trade as one of the most astute in Browns history. The Browns also signed quarterback Y.A. Tittle from Louisiana State University, but were forced to send him to the Baltimore Colts as part of an effort to balance talent among the AAFC's teams during the league's third year of play. Browns center Mike Scarry left before the season to become the head coach at Western Reserve. Frank Gatski took over at the position after Scarry's retirement. Don Greenwood, a halfback who featured in the team's first two seasons, retired after sustaining a serious cheekbone injury in 1947 and accepted a job as head football coach at Cuyahoga Falls High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Browns games were televised for the first time in 1948 on 84 stations across the country. Only away games were shown in northeast Ohio; they were presented by Bob Neal and Stan Gee, who had announced Browns games on WGAR-AM radio in 1946 and 1947. The entry of a new ownership group of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the offseason that included Branch Rickey had an impact on the Browns' schedule in 1948. Rickey, an executive for baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers, convinced Brown to schedule a late-season road trip during which Cleveland would play three teams in eight days: the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dons and the San Francisco 49ers. The plan was part of an effort to bring more attention to the AAFC and help attendance by sending its most successful team on a cross-country road trip, a strategy that had worked in baseball. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1948 Cleveland Browns season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|