Red Right 88
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Red Right 88 was the designation of a Cleveland Browns passing play that was most prominently called during the January 4, 1981 American Football Conference playoff game against the Oakland Raiders.
Trailing 14-12 with less than a minute remaining in the contest, the Browns had moved into position for a potential game-winning field goal. After Browns quarterback Brian Sipe called a time out, and conferred with head coach Sam Rutigliano, he chose to force a pass to tight end Ozzie Newsome. However, the pass was intercepted in the end zone by Raiders defensive back Mike Davis, putting an end to the Browns season, with Oakland advancing on to eventually win Super Bowl XV.
The logic behind trying for the touchdown was that Browns kicker Don Cockroft had previously missed two field goal attempts, had one extra point attempt blocked and had another aborted following a bad snap.
The play call itself has since become an infamous part of Cleveland, Ohio sports lore, ranking with The Drive, The Fumble, and The Shot (from the 1986 and 1987 AFC Championship Games and the 1989 NBA Playoffs respectively) as a bad memory that symbolizes the five-decade professional championship drought that has plagued the city.
The contest itself, with a game-time temperature of 4°F (with a -37°F wind chill) was the coldest NFL game since the legendary Ice Bowl of December 31, 1967 that pitted the Dallas Cowboys against the Green Bay Packers. Just one year later, even colder conditions prevailed in the AFC Championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and San Diego Chargers, also known as the Freezer Bowl.
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