That disappointment paled in comparison to that felt by Cleveland boosters little more than a decade later, on Jan. 4, 1981, when the Browns lost a playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl champion Raiders, 14-12. That was the game in icy Cleveland Stadium remembered as “Red Right 88,” the play called with the Browns at the Oakland 13 and 49 seconds left. It resulted in Browns quarterback and NFL MVP Brian Sipe throwing an interception in the end zone to Raiders safety Mike Davis.
The Browns and Raiders met one other time in the playoffs, a 27-10 Cleveland loss at Los Angeles on Jan. 8, 1983. (The Raiders were located in Los Angeles from the 1982-94 seasons) It was a first-round game in an expanded playoff field that included 16 teams; the format a result of the 57-day players strike that had reduced the regular season to nine games. The Browns had gone 4-5.
Cleveland won 4 of 12 regular season games against the Raiders before owner Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore following the 1995 season.
The Browns have a 6-3 record against Oakland since Cleveland returned as an NFL franchise in 1999. That’s rather remarkable, considering that the “new” Browns have won 79 games and lost 170 to all other teams. The six Raiders teams that have lost to the Browns (all since 2003) had a combined 22-68 record against teams besides the Browns in the six seasons.
The five most memorable Browns wins over the Raiders:
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