It was a comeback victory in every sense of the word.
The Cleveland Browns literally had to come back onto the field to complete a 33-30 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday after it appeared the game ended with a missed field goal by Phil Dawson.
The Browns trailed 30-27 on the final play of regulation when Dawson attempted a tying 51-yard kick. The ball hit the left upright and seemingly bounced off the crossbar before bounding into the end zone.
The officials called the kick no good. The Ravens ran off the field, celebrating a victory in which they scored 16 straight points in the fourth quarter, the last three on a 47-yard field goal by Matt Stover with 26 seconds left.
They were right. After a lengthy discussion, the officials ruled the kick passed through the uprights and called the teams back onto the field.
From half a football field away, Dawson wasn't positive his kick made it through.
"I couldn't tell for sure. I could tell by the way it glanced off the upright, it looked like it went forward," he said. "But we had people down near the goal post who were screaming at the top of their lungs that it had hit whatever that bar you call it."
The Browns (6-4) took the kickoff in overtime and drove 43 yards in nine plays before Dawson kicked a 33-yard field goal with 9:10 left.
"This team, for whatever reason, thrives on adversity. The tougher the situation, the better we do," Dawson said. "We all had a feeling when we got the call and went into overtime, what a shame it would have been to not capitalize on it."
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Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
