Saints/Browns Memorable Game: October 1, 1967 – VIDEO

The New Orleans Saints are on the road for week two of the 2014 NFL season on Sunday, when they travel to Cleveland, Ohio to take on the Cleveland Browns in an inter-conference match-up.

Kickoff at FirstEnergy Stadium is scheduled for noon, and you can hear all the play-by-play action on ESPN 1420, as well as 97.3 The Dawg.

Both teams will go into the match-up at 0-1 on the season, with the Saints falling in overtime to the Atlanta Falcons, 37-34 last Sunday, while the Bowns dropped a 30-27 decision to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Browns lead the all-time series, 12-4, and have outscored the Saints, 371-266, in the 16 match-ups between the two franchises.

After Art Modell moved the original Browns' franchise to Baltimore in 1995, and the expansion Browns resumed operations in 1999, Cleveland holds a 3-1 advantage over the Saints.

All week long, in anticipation of the upcoming contest, we’ll be taking a look back at some of the more memorable games between the two franchises.

Today, we go back to October 1, 1967 for the very first game ever played between the two teams, a convincing 42-7 win by the Browns.

New Orleans, an expansion team in their first year of play, went into the game at 0-2, following loses to the Rams and Redskins, while Cleveland also marched into Tulane Stadium with an 0-2 mark, following losses to the Cowboys and Lions in their first two games.

The Browns scored the only points of the first quarter, when Frank Ryan threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Paul Warfield, to take a 7-0 lead at the end of one period.

The Saints responded early in the second quarter, on a 2-yard touchdown run by Jim Taylor to tie the game, 7-7, before Ryan threw his second touchdown pass of the half, this one to Ernie Green from 41 yards away, giving Cleveland a 14-7 halftime advantage.

New Orleans played a solid first half, but the second half was all Browns, as they got touchdown runs from Leroy Kelly and Green in the third quarter to 28-7 lead going into the final period, and then got a 49-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to Warfield, their second of the game, and the third touchdown toss by Ryan, and a fumble return for a touchdown, to win the game going away, 42-7.

Cleveland outgained New Orleans, in terms of total offense, 421-266, including a 223-98 advantage through the air, as well as a 198-68 edge on the ground.

For the Browns, Ryan completed 11-of-21 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns, while Kelly accumulated 110 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, and Warfield contributed 107 receiving yards and two touchdowns on four catches.

In a losing cause for the Saints, quarterback Billy Kilmer completed 11-of-25 passes for 125 yards, and was intercepted three times.

New Orleans went on to finish 1967 with a 3-11 record, while Cleveland finished at 9-5.

Since this game was from 1967, let’s go back to the 1967 season and go back to an interview that the late Buddy Diliberto conducted with Kilmer, on WNOL television, followed by a video of Kilmer playing quarterback for the Saints: