CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns have won 68 games and lost 140 since re-joining the NFL as a franchise for the 1999 season.
Don't blame Phil Dawson.
Dawson, now a free agent, has been the Browns' place-kicker in 199 of the 208 games over those 13 campaigns. He has made 276 of 332 field goal attempts, an 83.1 percentage that ranks 12th-best on the NFL's all-time list.
Dawson turned 37 on Monday, but there are no signs that he's past his prime. Prior to the 2011 season, the former Texas Longhorn had connected on 10 of 18 field goal tries of 50 yards or more. In 2011, he was 7 of 8 on 50-and-plus yard attempts.
The lone miss was in Cleveland's Game 11, 23-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The try was from 55 yards, into the wind, with the game tied and 1:55 left. Unfortunately, long snapper Ryan Pontbriand skidded the hike to holder Brad Maynard, who managed to set the ball up, but with the timing badly disrupted, Dawson's kick was off and short.
ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley has named Dawson the kicker on his all-AFC North team. He writes:
Kicker: Phil Dawson, Browns. The only consistent offensive weapon on the Browns, he hit seven field goals of 50 yards or longer, which tied San Francisco's David Akers and Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski for most in the NFL. It is also tied for the third-most in NFL history. The pick here was going to be Bengals' Mike Nugent (33 of 38, team record 132 points) until he missed four field goal attempts in the last three games (which includes one miss in the playoff game at Houston). Dawson's conversion rate (82.7, 24 of 29) wasn't the best in the division, but his percentage was hurt by struggling long snapper Ryan Pontbriand. The bad news here for the Browns is Dawson is a free agent this offseason.
http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2012/01/cleveland_browns_pm_links_58.html
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