Rare 1968 NFL Championship Game Media/Press Pass

Description: Vintage 1968 NFL Championship Game Media/Press Pass for the game on 12/29/1968 between the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Stadium. The Colts beat the Browns 34-0 in front of a crowd of 78,410. Tom Matte was the MVP. The win would allow the colts to represent the NFL in Super Bowl III. This Press Pass was the property of Jack Hand, a sports reporter for the Associated Press from 1943 to 1971. Baltimore held Cleveland to just 173 total yards and avenged their only regular season loss of the year with a dominating shutout win. Cleveland crossed midfield only twice, just once in each half, and kicker Don Cockroft missed three field goal attempts. The game began promising for Cleveland as Browns defensive back Ben Davis wiped out a scoring chance for Baltimore on their opening drive when he intercepted a pass from Earl Morrall on the Cleveland 14-yard line. The Browns then drove to the Colts 35-yard line, with Bill Nelsen completing passes to Paul Warfield and Milt Morin for gains of 16 and 22 yards. However, Nelsen was dropped for a 7-yard loss on first down by Fred Miller and Ordell Braase. He managed to lead the team back to the 35 by the time they got to 4th down, but Cockroft 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked by defensive tackle Bubba Smith. The Colts then took over and drove to a 3–0 lead on a 28-yard field goal by Lou Michaels. In the second quarter, Baltimore completely took over the game. Colts running back Tom Matte scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Colts a 10–0 lead. Later on, the Colts seemed to blow a scoring chance when tight end John Mackey lost a fumble that was recovered by Erich Barnes and returned 9 yards to the Browns 23. But on the next play, linebacker Mike Curtis intercepted a pass from Nelsen on the 33, leading to Matte's 12-yard touchdown run that gave Baltimore a 17–0 lead going into halftime. After halftime, Cleveland forced a punt and got the ball on their own 40, where they proceeded to drive to the Colts 38. But once again their drive stalled and Cockroft missed a 50-yard field goal attempt. He got another chance as a result of a penalty on the play, but missed again from 45 yards on his next attempt. After an exchange of punts, Baltimore got the ball on the Cleveland 48 and drove to a 24–0 lead on Matte's third touchdown of the day. Meanwhile, Nelsen was benched and replaced by Frank Ryan, but this did nothing to improve Cleveland's misfortunes. On his first play, he fumbled the snap, and linebacker Don Shinnick recovered the ball on the Browns 20-yard line, leading to Michaels' second field goal, giving Baltimore a 27–0 lead on the second play of the 4th quarter. Ryan completed just 2 of 6 pass attempts for the rest of the game, while Colts running back Timmy Brown scored the final points on a 4-yard touchdown run. Matte went to Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio, and was a former Ohio State quarterback. He was the sole offensive star of the game, rushing for 88 yards and 3 touchdowns, while also catching 2 passes for 15 yards. This was the final game for Browns wide receiver Tommy McDonald. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE I will be listing a bunch of of NFL championship game and Super Bowl media guides including NFL championship games from 1962-1969, NFC Championship games from 1970-1972, and Super Bowls 1 and 4-26. I will combine shipping . If you buy multiple items, don't pay for them right away. After you have committed to by all of them, I will send you an invoice with reduced shipping. I will send you an invoice with actual shipping charges as quoted through eBay. I can probably reasonably estimate shipping if contact me with what items you want. Please contact me with any questions.

Price: 149.99 USD

Location: Redondo Beach, California

End Time: 2024-12-31T21:07:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.99 USD