Redskins, Broncos Savor Last Drop : Byner’s Fumble Finishes Browns

DENVER —  And now, The Drive II, the Sequel.

And Son of Drive.

And Drive Redux.

And The Last Drive.

There were more drives than you could name Sunday. What was supposed to be the American Conference championship turned into a shootout between Bernie Kosar and John Elway too, which is as good as something like this can get. The prodigies traded thunderbolts on equal terms all day until mortality intruded, which is the only way something like this can end. A Cleveland Browns’ halfback named Earnest Byner fumbled at the Denver two and the scales were tipped for good.

Thus the Denver Broncos won, 38-33, to advance to the Super Bowl. The Browns got their hearts broken, as they always do in the AFC playoffs. After Red Right 88, the interception Brian Sipe threw to the Raiders’ Mike Davis in the ’80 Ice Bowl, and the Drive, Elway’s 98-yarder a year ago, they’ll have Byner’s fumble to cry themselves to sleep over all winter.

But oh, what a show they helped put on.

The Browns trailed, 21-3, at the half, gave up 10 points in the third period . . . and tied it, 31-31, on their first possession of the fourth quarter.

Kosar passed for 246 yards in the second half, drove the Browns to touchdowns on their first four possessions and reduced the once-proud Orange Crush defense to orange traffic cones.

Or whimpering local heroes.

“It just seemed like nothing was working for us,” nose tackle Greg Kragen said. “At that point, we were just like: ‘Hey, I hope our offense outscores theirs.’

“It was a very helpless feeling. We’ve got a lot of quality players on our defense but all of a sudden, it just seemed like nobody was making the big play. There was kind of a feeling in the huddle like, ‘What’s going on?’

“We were trying to stay together but. . . . “

They were trying to stay together but Kosar kept taking them apart.

“Bernie was putting ‘em up there faster than we could even look at ‘em,” Elway said. “We just had to get something going.”

This is how it went:

Broncoball--This was the whole first half. The Browns turned the ball over three times (a Kosar interception on a pass that Webster Slaughter juggled into the air; lost fumbles by Byner and Brian Brennan).

Elway, who doesn’t require nearly that much help, was the quarterback on touchdown drives of 18, 60 and 80 yards. At halftime, his numbers were only 5 for 11 for 59 yards but as usual, they meant nothing. He had dominated the half. Denver’s punter never hit the field until the last :45.

By then, it was 21-3 and as entertaining as aging mackerel.

Bernieball Begins--His first possession of the second half lasted three plays and went 35 yards into the end zone, with Kosar hitting Reggie Langhorne for the score.

It was picturesque as usual; Kosar was hit by Rulon Jones as he turned the ball loose, wound up throwing it not only sidearm, but uphill. Of course, it came down where only Langhorne could catch it. That’s Kosar.

Did Elway Care?--Four plays later, he went back to pass, spotted no one, ran into teammate Stefan Humphries, a 268-pound guard, bounced off, rolled right and sidearmed the ball out to Mark Jackson at the 25. Jackson then broke two tackles and ran the other 75 yards into the end zone. That’s Elway.

“I bumped into Stefan and tried to get out of the pocket,” said Elway later. “The next thing I knew, a defensive back was screaming down on me. I just tried to get the ball to Mark and he did the rest.”

Said Jackson: “I was so tired they had to pick me up out of the end zone. I thought it was a big play.

“Sure enough, Bernie came back and drove the field.”

Bernieball, For Real--Kosar actually drove the field the next three times, 80, 42 and 86 yards, all for touchdowns.

He ended the 80-yarder, combining with Byner on a 32-yard scoring play, hitting him over the middle with a toss as soft as a cotton ball falling on a pillow.

He ended the 86-yard drive with a 4-yard slant to Webster Slaughter in the end zone, and it was suddenly, shockingly, 31-31.

“I definitely didn’t feel very good,” said Elway. “You get the butterflies again. You think, ‘What can I do?’ ”

He Thought of Something He Could Do--Try being the quarterback on a 75-yard touchdown drive in five plays:

1. Elway hits Ricky (The Rocket) Nattiel, Vance Johnson’s replacement and one of the two surviving Amigos, for 26 yards. Nattiel beats one of the Browns’ Pro Bowl cornerbacks, Hanford Dixon, who complains Nattiel has pushed off, to no avail.

2. Sammy Winder runs three yards.

3. Elway passes incomplete.

4. On third-and-seven, Elway hits Nattiel crossing the middle for 26 yards, as Dixon collides with safety Felix Wright.

5. Elway hits Winder on a snap screen up the middle. Guard Keith Bishop gets a piece of linebacker Clay Matthews, breaking Winder free to the right sideline. He scores and does a monster boogaloo in the end zone, showing more moves than he has recently in the field of play.

Bernie’s Last Stand--Kosar must have been demoralized, right?

Not in this particular field of endeavor.

The Browns returned the kickoff to their 24 and, eight plays later, were at the Denver eight, with a second-and-five.

There they ran Byner off the left side . . . and saw him break clear . . . and just as he cut between cornerback Jeremiah Castille and safety Tony Lilly to crash into the end zone, saw him fumble.

Castille, a free agent waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had flagged at the ball as Byner went past, and hit it, forcing the fumble that he then dove after and recovered at the two.

Said Castille later: “No comment. I’ll tell you all about it at the Super Bowl.”

Then he left. Being a hero isn’t for everyone.

“It was just a run up the middle,” Lilly said. “He was going for the end zone. I was coming from the side. I didn’t know if I could stop him or what but I hit him.

“The next thing I knew, we’re in the end zone. I figured he just scored the tying touchdown.

“He rolled over. I was like rolling over in disgust. He was like looking back. He said a few choice words. I realized he didn’t have the ball. I said, ‘Thank God.’

“I saw a pile. I said, ‘Please let us have it. I’m too tired to go one more play.’ ”

Byner said: “I felt like I was going to go into the end zone (pause), but you can’t run without the ball.”

There was 1:05 left. Elway had already been figuring on a tie game had been preparing to go out there and try for the winning field goal, but now all he had to do was try to run out the clock.

Elway kept it three times. On fourth down, Denver Coach Dan Reeves decided to have his punter, Mike Horan take the safety. Horan ran out of his end zone at :08 for the safety that cut the Bronco lead to 38-33.

Horan punted on the free kick. Gerald McNeil fair-caught it at the Cleveland 24.

Kosar, the losing quarterback when Doug Flutie completed the famous Hail Mary at Miami in 1984, tried one of his own. It was incomplete and that was the ballgame. Those things work about once a generation.

Kosar later faced the press, calm and detached as ever.

“It’s just something that happened,” he said of the fumble.

“We had an excellent call on. He got to the half-yard line. We were just a half-yard too short.”

Some generations, it goes like that.