1975: Turner’s Game-Ending Field Goal Lifts Broncos Over Browns

The Denver Broncos were struggling at 2-2, having lost two straight after opening the season with two victories, as they hosted the winless Cleveland Browns on October 19, 1975. Under Head Coach John Ralston, the Broncos were coming off the first two winning records in franchise history in 1973 and ’74, but HB Otis Armstrong, the league’s rushing leader the previous year, was sidelined with a rib injury and veteran QB Charley Johnson, a month shy of his 37^th birthday, was beginning to show his age.

The Browns, under first-year Head Coach Forrest Gregg, were having trouble on both sides of the ball in achieving a 0-4 record, having difficulty scoring points on offense while the defense had given up over 40 in each of the previous three contests. QB Mike Phipps had yet to live up to his first-round draft billing in 1970 and was feeling heat from backup Brian Sipe, but there was talent to throw to in WR Reggie Rucker and TE Oscar Roan, and HB Greg Pruitt, once a spot player, was proving to be valuable in carrying a heavier workload.

One thing both teams had going for them was placekickers. Denver’s 34-year-old Jim Turner (pictured above), who was in his twelfth year and had originally found notoriety with the Jets,  was a perfect seven-for-seven in field goal attempts thus far and Don Cockroft of the Browns, an eight-year veteran who also handled the punting, had made good on 12 straight field goal tries going back to 1974.

It was a bright, clear day with 52,590 fans in attendance at Mile High Stadium. The Browns had the first possession and moved well down the field. Greg Pruitt ran four times for 23 yards and caught a pass for another 15. The drive stalled at the Denver seven and Don Cockroft kicked a 24-yard field goal.

Following a short series that ended with a punt, the Broncos got the ball back at the Cleveland 25 thanks to a fumble. Charley Johnson threw to WR Haven Moses for 17 yards, but after two carries by FB Jon Keyworth advanced the ball to the Cleveland three, an illegal procedure penalty moved Denver back and they, too, settled for a field goal of 25 yards by Jim Turner.

The teams traded turnovers, with CB Earlie Thomas intercepting a Mike Phipps pass for the Broncos that he returned to the Cleveland five, but HB Oliver Ross fumbled at the two to end the scoring opportunity. The Browns, with Brian Sipe now at quarterback, advanced to their 20 during the remainder of the opening period and were forced to punt. Two plays later, in the early moments of the second quarter, Johnson was stripped while attempting to lateral and DT Walter Johnson recovered for Cleveland at his 47. Helped along by a roughing-the-passer penalty in a third-and-11 situation, the Browns reached the Denver 32 and Cockroft kicked another field goal, from 49 yards, to go back in front by 6-3.

The Broncos approached midfield on their next possession as Charley Johnson completed a pass to WR Bill Van Heusen for 12 yards and ran the ball himself for a 13-yard gain in a second-and-14 situation. The drive stalled at the Denver 46, but Van Heusen, back to punt, faked and threw to Ross for a gain of 30 yards, although he again fumbled and LB Dave Graf recovered for the Browns.

Cleveland went three-and-out and punted, and the Broncos again moved effectively. Johnson threw to WR Jack Dolbin for a 22-yard gain that converted a third-and-20 situation and had completions to Keyworth for 16 and 13 yards to reach the Cleveland 31. The drive again was halted and Turner kicked a 48-yard field goal to knot the score at 6-6 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

Now the Browns moved well on offense. Sipe completed passes for 10 and 13 yards to Oscar Roan that converted third downs and, with the clock down to eight seconds, Cockroft kicked a 43-yard field goal to put the visitors in front once more by 9-6 at halftime.

Neither team was able to move effectively to start the third quarter until the Browns, getting good field position at the Denver 44 following a 16-yard punt return by DB Pete Athas, advanced 40 yards. Pruitt gained a yard up the middle to convert a fourth down play and he and FB Billy Pritchett carried the load before the drive halted at the four. Cockroft booted a 20-yard field goal and Cleveland was in front by six.

A fumble by HB Floyd Little gave the Browns the ball at the Denver 26 and an opportunity to build upon their lead, but they came up empty when Cockroft was wide to the left on a 27-yard field goal attempt, his first miss after hitting on 16 straight. Early in the fourth quarter, another Cleveland possession concluded with Cockroft successfully kicking a 42-yard field goal, and the visitors were ahead by 15-6.

WR Rick Upchurch returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards to the Denver 43 and the Broncos proceeded to drive 57 yards in nine plays. Steve Ramsey (pictured at right) was now at quarterback, but it was Keyworth running the ball and a pass interference penalty gaining 20 yards that moved Denver along to the Cleveland 25. Following another short gain of one yard by Keyworth, Ramsey threw to the fullback for 10 yards and then to TE Riley Odoms for 13. Keyworth fittingly completed the series by plowing a yard into the end zone and, with Turner’s conversion, the Cleveland lead was cut to 15-13.

The Browns got a good kickoff return of their own as WR Billy LeFear ran 38 yards to the 50 and Sipe immediately followed with a pass to Reggie Rucker for 20 yards. But after getting to the Denver ten, Cockroft nicked the right upright with a field goal attempt that bounced away unsuccessfully.

Ramsey quickly passed the Broncos down the field, hitting on passes of 11 yards to Odoms and 25 to Upchurch, and Keyworth ran around end for a 34-yard gain to the Cleveland 11. But three plays later Ross fumbled once more and the Browns recovered in the end zone to blunt the threat.

A short Cleveland series ended with a punt and Denver took over possession with 1:43 remaining to play. Two passes to Little and a throw to Dolbin got the ball into Cleveland territory at the 46, but two more throws were incomplete. Facing fourth-and-four, Ramsey kept the ball and ran around end for 10 yards for a first down and, on the game’s final play, Turner kicked a dramatic 53-yard field goal, which was the longest of his career. The Broncos came away winners by a final score of 16-15.

Denver led in total yards (325 to 271) and first downs (18 to 17). However, the Broncos also turned the ball over six times, to two by Cleveland. Ultimately, the game came down to Don Cockroft (pictured below), who hit on a team-record five field goals (since broken by Phil Dawson), missing two of his attempts, while Jim Turner was successful on all three of his for the Broncos, with the eight three-pointers in all tying the then-NFL record (the record moved up to nine in 1996).

Charley Johnson completed 9 of 22 passes for 110 yards with one interception before he gave way to Steve Ramsey, who was successful on 10 of 12 throws for 94 yards with no TDs or interceptions. Jon Keyworth ran for 62 yards on 11 carries that included the game’s only touchdown and caught 6 passes for 45 yards. Rick Upchurch averaged 32.8 yards on six kickoff returns to go along with 21 yards on two catches and seven yards on one running play.

For the Browns, Mike Phipps was two-of-eight for 28 yards and gave up an interception and Brian Sipe was 12-of-25 for 111 yards and had none picked off. Greg Pruitt gained 64 yards on 19 carries in addition to catching three passes for 20 yards. Oscar Roan was the top receiver with 5 receptions for 52 yards.

The stirring win for the Broncos, which nevertheless highlighted their problems on offense, was followed by three straight losses as they went on to a disappointing 6-8 record, which placed them second in the AFC West. Cleveland reached 0-9 before winning three of its last five games to finish with a 3-11 tally that ranked at the bottom of the highly-competitive AFC Central.

Jim Turner went on to achieve a career high for field goal percentage at 75.0 (21 of 28) and, adding in 23 PATs, he scored 86 points. Don Cockroft finished 17-for-23 in field goal kicking (73.9 %) and also averaged 40.5 yards on his 82 punts.

1975: Rick Upchurch Gains 284 All-Purpose Yards as Broncos Defeat Chiefs

Rick Upchurch had been chosen by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round of the 1975 draft out of the University of Minnesota primarily due to his reputation as a kick returner. Small at 5’10” and 170 pounds, it was hoped that his speed could add needed depth at wide receiver as well. In his first regular season game on September 21, 1975 Upchurch contributed mightily.

The Broncos hosted the Kansas City Chiefs at Mile High Stadium in their season-opening contest. Under Head Coach John Ralston, they had put together the first two winning records in the franchise’s history in 1973 and ’74 and were looking to improve further. Veteran QB Charley Johnson had revived his career in Denver and the running game, led by RB Otis Armstrong, the NFL’s leading rusher in ’74, was strong. They also had an All-Pro in TE Riley Odoms. But there were questions regarding the offensive line and defense as the club entered the new season.

There was plenty of excitement and big plays by both the Broncos and Chiefs. Kansas City had started off the scoring in the first quarter with a 69-yard touchdown pass play from QB Mike Livingston to TE Walter White. WFL refugee Jack Dolbin, another new wide receiver on the Broncos, scored touchdowns on a 39-yard pass from Johnson in the second quarter and a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. Chiefs placekicker Jan Stenerud booted four field goals, three of them from over 40 yards. Moreover, Denver overcame a 33-24 fourth quarter deficit to defeat Kansas City, 37-33.

However, the biggest star of the game was Upchurch, who touched the ball seven times and accumulated 284 total yards. In the second quarter, he ran for a 13-yard touchdown on a reverse, and in the third quarter scored again when he gathered in a pass from Johnson and went 90 yards for a TD. The rookie caught two more passes, covering 33 and 30 yards apiece. He returned a punt 30 yards as well. Overall, Upchurch gained 153 yards on the three pass receptions, 13 yards on one running play, 88 yards on three kickoff returns, and 30 yards on the punt return. It was a total yardage record for a player in his first NFL game.

Not surprisingly, Upchurch was Denver’s leading receiver in the contest. Charley Johnson passed for 329 yards with three TDs and two interceptions while completing 12 of 20 passes. Otis Armstrong was the leading rusher with 82 yards on 18 carries. While the Broncos compiled 425 total yards to Kansas City’s 312, they also led in turnovers (4 to 2) and penalties (9 to 5).

The Chiefs had the most first downs (18 to 15), rushing yards (146 to 127), and sacks (5 to 4). Mike Livingston went to the air 27 times with 13 completions for 221 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Thanks to the long TD catch, Walter White led KC in receiving yards with 79 on two receptions. HB Ed Podolak caught three passes, for 29 yards. FB Jeff Kinney was the team’s leading rusher with 59 yards on 18 attempts.

Ultimately, it was a disappointing season for the Broncos, who fell back under .500 at 6-8 to rank second in the AFC West. The Chiefs were in third at 5-9.

Charley Johnson suffered through a difficult final season, splitting time with Steve Ramsey while completing just 45.8 percent of his passes while tossing five touchdown passes against 12 interceptions. Otis Armstrong played in only four games due to injury and ran for a mere 155 yards. 33-year-old Floyd Little, also in his last season, gained 445 yards rushing and caught 29 passes.

Rick Upchurch, however, was a significant bright spot and had the greatest impact over the course of the season as a kick returner. He ranked third in the AFC with a 27.1-yard average on his 40 kickoff returns (which led the conference) and his 11.6 average on 27 punt returns ranked fourth. Backing up at wide receiver, Upchurch caught 18 passes for 436 yards (24.2 yards-per-catch) with two TDs. He also ran the ball 16 times for 97 yards for a 6.1-yard average with the one TD. Altogether, the rookie’s 1929 all-purpose yards ranked third in the NFL.

While Upchurch would eventually get an opportunity to start at wide receiver, his nine-season career would be most notably defined by his kick returning ability. He was particularly adept at returning punts, averaging 12.1 yards on 248 returns with eight touchdowns. On three occasions, he was the league leader in punt return average – the first was in his second season, 1976, when he averaged 13.7 yards and scored four TDs – an NFL record matched only by Detroit’s Jack Christiansen in 1951 and Devin Hester of the Bears in 2007.

Used less often to return kickoffs (he primarily did so in his first three seasons and never after the fifth), Upchurch averaged 24.8 yards on 95 returns with no scores. He was a competent pass receiver whose best year came in 1979 when he snagged 64 passes for 937 yards and seven touchdowns. But it was as a punt returner that Upchurch received consensus first-team All-Pro honors on three occasions and selection to four Pro Bowls.