Error-Prone Browns No Match for Broncos

The Cleveland Browns may have been seeking revenge for back-to-back losses to the Denver Broncos in the last two AFC championship games, but it was the Denver Broncos who felt they had something to prove.

“The last couple of years, when we beat them in the title game, they said it was luck,” Denver safety Randy Robbins said. “Today, we wanted to dominate them from front to end. We took control of this one from the start.”

The Broncos, with by far their best performance of 1988, got 2 touchdown passes from John Elway and converted 4 Cleveland turnovers into 20 first-half points en route to a 30-7 victory Sunday.

The Broncos raced to a 30-0 first-half lead, scoring on all six of their possessions. The defense kept Cleveland quarterback Bernie Kosar in check with a key interception--by Browns’ nemesis Jeremiah Castille--and 6 sacks. Linebacker Simon Fletcher was credited with 2 1/2 of those sacks.

“Our defense did a great job up front of putting pressure on them, stopping their running game and forcing them into passing situations,” Denver Coach Dan Reeves said. “John played extremely well. He did not make mistakes or have the interceptions that have caused us problems in the past.”

The Broncos, beating Cleveland for the 10th straight time including those 2 title games, raised their record to 6-5 and remained tied with the Raiders and Seattle for first place in the AFC West. Cleveland fell to 6-5, 2 games behind Cincinnati in the AFC Central.

Denver dominated the error-prone Browns in the first half, taking a 30-0 lead as Elway threw touchdown passes of 11 yards to Orson Mobley and 5 yards to Steve Sewell. Gerald Willhite ran 1 yard for another score, and Rich Karlis kicked 3 field goals.

The Browns--who suffered from poor field position throughout the game, never starting a drive beyond their own 25-yard line--had two scoring opportunities in the first half. One threat ended when Castille, a cornerback whose fumble recovery preserved last year’s 38-33 AFC championship game victory, intercepted a Kosar pass and returned it 33 yards to the Cleveland 17. That interception set up Willhite’s score midway through the second quarter.