European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 10,1990 the stars and stripes Page 23 National football Laqu Carson steers Browns around bumps by Greg Logan new Day Cleveland a season was falling apart and. With it. Maybe the Chance of a lifetime for Bud Carson. The Cleveland Browns were in an 0-3 i tailspin. And the prevailing Wisdom swirling in off Lake Eric suggested they probably would finish with two More losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Houston oilers. For the 58-year-old Carson who was Given his first nil head coaching Job by owner Art Model with the expectation that he would add to the Browns Streak of four playoff appearances it was like looking into the jaws of the whale. Everyone who Ever worked with car son wondered what he would do under pressure like that. Would his volatile emotions never far from the surface get the Best of him the last loss in that Streak. 23 17 in overtime at Indianapolis was particularly excruciating. Carson called for a run to set up a potential winning Field goal attempt but offensive coordinator Marc Trystman claimed he did t hear Carson and called a pass. Bernie Kosar threw an interception that was returned 77 Yards to set up the Colts winning to. Yet. With predictions of doom mount ing. Carson somehow managed to control his own High anxiety level and hold his team together. He Only pushed Posi Tive buttons especially after the loss to  i2lh-Ycar tight end Ozzie new some said recently. We did t even watch the film of that game the outcome was so devastating. He talked about Good  you could Tell he was Down free safety Felix Wright said of Carson. Bud takes it hard when we lose. It was a difficult position for All of us to be in. But he tried to stress that it was not the time to Start pointing fingers. A lot of teams do. That was the strongest Point he stressed that we were going to come put of it. And we did come out of it just in the Nick of  it was t easy things Seldom have been for Carson but the Browns scored on a fake Field goal to beat the Vikings in overtime 23-17. And they drove 58 Yards to score the winning touchdown with 39 seconds left in a 24 20 Victory at Houston. That win gave the Browns 9-6-1 the acc Central title for the fourth time in the last five years and Bud Carson left is two wins away from reaching owner Art Modill s High goal. A Date with the acc East Champion Buffalo Bills 9-7 in a divisional playoff sat urday at Cleveland stadium. A Good Man who thought his Chance to become an nil head coach never would come was rewarded for his patience a virtue few believed he possessed. I can t even say what it meant car son said when he came off the practice Field. The Sun was ducking in and out of the Clouds and the temperature was 52 degrees Balmy for this time of year in Cleveland. Obviously it s what it s All about. People were counting us out of the playoffs at the end of the season. You Don t get Many feelings like that in your lifetime. It was a High you can t  the Browns roller coaster season was in keeping with Carson s nature but it was the result not of his personality but of factors beyond his control. Trestman was hired to run the offence before Carson got there and Kosar went into the worst slump of his career at mid season. Running Back Kevin Mack was convicted on a drug related charge Dur to ing training Camp and did not return until late in the season after serving his jail sentence and the Browns offensive line was hit hard by injuries. Carson had seen this sort of thing be fore in his four seasons As defensive coordinator of the new York jets and he knew Well How a team can come unav eled particularly if the coach loses control of himself and tears Down his play ers As former jets coach Joe Walton was known to do. The big thing is that i tried to stay Stive Carson said. It was hard to do. There weren t a hell of a lot of Posi Tive things happening. I did t always control my emotion but mostly i  be been in a lot of those situations the last six or seven years so i know How to handle it. In fact i be been in too Many of those  from the beginning of the season Carson let his veterans know what he expected of them in his Short and a acct speeches to the team. You can t be pointing fingers at any body because once it happens the whole team Breaks  defensive lineman Carl Mairlon said. Bud stressed that it was a matter of time before we turned it around. Other teams kept us in the race and we Cali cd when we got to Houston. We re still in this thing. Now. I think this team can win a world championship. I believe in what Bud Carson said you can t wait until next season. If you re in it you might As Well try to win the whole thing " reflecting on the period in which the Browns fell from 7-3 to 7-6-1, Carson admits he began to doubt their ability to make the playoffs. It was an unbelievable stretch where we could t do anything right he  threw interceptions that he never throws we were penalized 100 Yards in one game and we turned the Ball Over four or five times in another game. We played As Good on defense As we can play in that stretch. We played Well enough 19 go the whole Way. Now we re not playing As Well defensively but the offence has come around. Kevin Mack is Back and the Offen Sive line matured. I kept thinking Kevin Mack. Kevin Mack we did t have a Strong bal Carrier All year until he came Back. This team is playing the Best foot Ball now than it has All year. If they continue to do that anything can  statements like that May feed the owner s expectations which is a dangerous thing because Modill has High goals for team that lost the acc title game follow ing the 1986 and 87 seasons. He fired Marty Schottin Heimur last season when the Browns failed to Advance beyond the wild card game in part because Kosar was injured. The players were aware of the pressurized situation Carson stepped into. I remember Art said this can t be a year of development Wright said. He wants us to carry on like we have in the  while it s True not Many coaches get the Char a to take Over a team that has made Lour straight playoff appearances it s equally True the Browns looked As if they were regressing last season. The situation was complicated by the change in the coaching staff and playing style. One false step and. Who knows so. The storyline now in Cleveland is that Carson stepped into a Good situation and maintained it. Not that he salvaged a season from the Brink of disaster. We came in and kept everything in  Carson told a to Crew. With a knowing smile he added if we had t kept it in place it would have been a different  Broncos have the drive on their Side by John Mossman Denver a John Elway was at his Best when the Denver Broncos needed him most. In a March reminiscent of the drive in the acc title game against Cleveland three years ear Lier. Elway led the Broncos on a nine play 71-Yard drive capped by Melvin Bratton s i Yard plunge with 2 27 remaining giving Denver a 24-23 Victory Over Pittsburgh on sunday and a spot in the acc championship game. The Broncos will Host the Browns for the acc title next sunday. Elway led the Broncos to victories Over Cleveland for the 1986 and 1987 championships. This time the Broncos trailed 23-17 when Elway got the Ball Back. On the first play they were penalized 10 Yards for having an ineligible receiver downfield. That did t slow Elway Down. The Bottom line is we never give up Elway said. That s been a trademark of this team All year. It s the reason we Are where we  Elway started the drive with an 18-Yard comple Tion to Mark Jackson and a 36-yarder to Vance Johnson. The rest was accomplished on the ground with Bobby Humphrey carrying four straight times for 24 Yards and Bratton going in from the 1. David tread will whose extra Point in the second Quarter was partially blocked and barely made it Over provided the deciding Point. Elway said his 36-Yard throw to a diving Johnson on a Flea Flicker on second and a was a Good Call but he had misgivings after Humphrey pitched the Ball Back to him. When i first got the Pinchback i thought this is a bad play " Elway said. The safety did t bite. He stayed in position. And my outlet was covered. But Vance did a great Job of breaking his route off. I was Able to put it out there in right held. At first i thought i had overthrown him. They de Fen cd it Well but Vance kept  Denver coach Dan Reeves asked Why his team seems so capable of fourth Quarter excellence in the playoffs said i guess it Means we Haven t played very Well for three  the first three quarters on sunday looked like a rerun of Pittsburgh s 24-17 upset Victory Over Den ver in the 1984 playoffs. In that game the St Clurs ran the Ball Down Denver s Throat. The steel cars also controlled the Ball on sunday this time behind Merril hog who finished with 120 of the sleepers 175 Rushing Yards. It was the first time All season that an opposing runner had rushed for 100 Yards against the nil s no. 3 defense. We knew they were going to try to run the Ball Denver defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said. They did t do much we did t expect. They just executed Well and we did t tackle Well at times. We had some great hits but they held onto the  nose tackle Greg Kragon had one of the biggest hits forcing a Tim Worley Fumble that was recovered by Tyrone Bra Lon Early in the third Quarter. On the next play Elway passed 37 Yards to Johnson to tie the game at 17. Gary Anderson kicked two Field goals for Pittsburgh before the game winning drive. He Worley tried to turn upfield Kragon said of the Fumble. He s a big Guy. I did t think he d try to Juke me. I thought he d try to run Over me. 1 just tried to hit him As hard As i could. The Success they were having running the Ball shocked us. We thought we could Stop them. We weren t overconfident. We respected them we just could t Slop them. They were doing the same thing they be done Over the last six