Cleveland Browns: 10 greatest quarterbacks in team history
2. Brian Sipe
Next to Otto Graham, Brian Sipe is the only Browns quarterback to win the NFL MVP award. The accolade was awarded to Sipe in 1980, when he guided the Browns to an 11-5 mark, and a postseason berth.
During that magical season, Sipe threw 30 touchdown passes against 14 interceptions, while completing 60.8 percent of his throws. His quarterback rating during that season was 90.4.
Sipe was unbelievable that season, but he fell short of delivering the Browns a berth in the Super Bowl. Despite playing at an elite level the entire year, Sipe’s late interception during Cleveland’s AFC Divisional match-up against the Oakland Raiders contributed to the Browns getting bounced. The play lives on in Cleveland lore as “Red Right 88.”
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One play doesn’t make the player though. Sipe didn’t look the part of being a big, physical quarterback that fit Paul Brown’s philosophy back in the 1950s. He was only 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, but he found a way to win. Whenever the Browns have a quarterback on their present roster with limited size, there are no dearth of callers dialing up sports talk radio to question why the Browns don’t develop their latest signal caller into “the next Brian Sipe.”
Sipe’s 154 touchdowns rank second all-time among Browns’ leaders, and he finished his career just 20 touchdown passes behind the career leader,Otto Graham. His 23,713 yards are the most in franchise history.
Sipe may not be as popular as Kosar, but he’s still revered by a generation of Browns fans as the general of the Browns’ “Kardiac Kids” teams of the early 1980s.
Next: Bernie Kosar