Browns Give Carson Win in Debut, 51-0

Bud Carson never figured his first game as a National Football League coach would be this good.

Tim Worley, the Steelers’ rookie running back out of Georgia, never figured his first game as an NFL player would be this bad. He lost three fumbles, two in the first quarter.

Browns linebacker David Grayson scored on an 28-yard fumble return and 14-yard interception return as Carson’s revamped Cleveland defense scored three touchdowns and forced eight turnovers Sunday in a 51-0 rout of Pittsburgh, the worst loss in the Steelers’ 57-year history.

The Browns’ defense--under fire from fans during a 1-4 exhibition season--caused five fumbles and sacked Bubby Brister six times in the most one-sided game in the 40-year turnpike rivalry.

“It was real unusual. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cleveland linebacker Clay Matthews said after the Browns limited Pittsburgh to five first downs and 53 net yards. “It was almost comical. How could you ever have figured it?”

“It was the bad . . . the worst I’ve ever seen as a coach,” Chuck Noll said after the worst loss of his 21-year tenure in Pittsburgh. “A game like this is no fun. That must have been a record for an offense setting up points for a defense.”

The Browns scored 17 points in the first quarter, with the defense creating all of the scoring. The lead was 30-0 by halftime after three Steeler turnovers in a four-play span resulted in two Cleveland touchdowns and a field goal.

The Steelers’ worst previous defeat was 54-7 against Green Bay in 1951. Their worst home-field loss was 34-0 to New England in 1986.

The Browns were so dominating defensively--they led 19-5 in first downs and 357-53 in total yards--that Pittsburgh crossed midfield only once in the first half.

Tim Manoa scored on two short-range runs, and Bernie Kosar picked apart Pittsburgh’s defense for 16 completions in 25 attempts for 207 yards as the Browns beat the Steelers for the seventh straight time since 1985 and the eighth in nine games.

The victory marked the head-coaching debut of Carson, a former Steeler defensive coordinator who replaced the popular Marty Schottenheimer after a falling out with Browns’ owner Art Modell.

Four players--two from each team--were ejected during a pair of fourth-quarter bench-clearing incidents after Cleveland led, 44-0. Only several thousand fans remained at game’s end because of the score and a late downpour.