Set up your Tivo, VCR, sons and daughters in front of the NFL Network on Friday, as the programming is all about the Browns.
Here’s the shorthand schedule:
- Noon: “Six Days to Sunday” focuses on the first Bengals game of 2004. This was the the week that Chad Johnson toyed with Browns defenders by sending Pepto Bismol to them in advance. It was also Butch Davis last win. Here’s my review.
- 1 p.m. — “Game of the Week” revisits the 23-20 overtime loss to Denver. No, not “The Drive.” It’s the windy 2003 near-upset, when Shannon Sharpe caught as many passes as Tim Couch completed all day.
- 2 p.m. — “Film Session” focuses on Browns history as of 1996.
- 3 p.m. — “Film Session” is updated with the Browns’ 1999 rebirth.
- 3:30 p.m. — “Film Session” reviews the Browns’ 2002 season, which was the wildest year since the Kardiac Kids of 1980.
- 4 p.m. — “Game of the Week” relives the Wild Card collapse in Pittsburgh that ended the Browns only winning season since 1994.
- 5 p.m. — “Six Days to Sunday” — replay from noon.
- 6 p.m. — “NFL Films Presents” takes on Jim Brown, the most dominant runner the game has ever known.
- 7 p.m. — NFL Total Access (Not Browns-focused. Go eat dinner with your family. Among those scheduled: Mike Doss and Chad Greenway.)
- 8 p.m. — “Game of the Week” again focuses on the 2004 Bengals game, a repackaging of the footage shot for the “Six Days to Sunday” episode shown at noon and 5 p.m.
- 9 p.m. — “Six Days to Sunday” features owner Randy Lerner in the week leading up to last year’s shutout over the Dolphins. Get a retrospective glimpse of Browns’ management office in advance of the John Collins fiasco, as well as a preview of the 2006 uniforms.
- 9:30 p.m. — “Six Days to Sunday” tracks the Browns’ linebacking corps in advance of the season-ending win over the Ravens. Meet Andra Davis behing the scenes, and bid farewell to another good guy, “Unibrow” Kenard Lang.
- 10 p.m. — NFL Total Access — replay from 7:00 p.m.
- 11 p.m. — Game of the Week — replay from 8:00 p.m.
- Midnight — Six Days to Sunday — replay from 9 p.m.
- 12:30 a.m. — Six Days to Sunday — replay from 9:30 p.m.
- 1 a.m. — NFL Total Access — replay from 7:00 p.m.
- 2 a.m. — Game of the Week — replay from 8:00 p.m.
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3 a.m. — Six Days to Sunday — replay from 9 p.m.
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3:30 a.m. — Six Days to Sunday — replay from 9:30 p.m.
Well, the good news is that there’s plenty of grist for the off-season mill. And fortunately, they’re not replaying “The Drive” or “The Fumble.” But, really, even using just the great NFL Films footage in existence, they could’ve done so much more with this team-focused idea. I’m awaiting the “Film Session” history segments, but it would’ve been nice to avoid the repeats and show some of the older Game of the Weeks, NFL Yearbooks, or biographies (Otto Graham, Ernie Davis, Lyle Alzado, et al) that occasionally make their way onto stations such as ESPN Classic.
Oh well, at least my cable system gets NFL Network.
