Good read on Dawson. We should be trying to resign him now. Keeping Dawson and Heckert will be two signs this new ownership and structure gets it and will do the right thing when its staring them in the face. Through all these 'lean' years Dawson has been the one bright spot that when he was on the field I was always confident he would get the job done.
BEREA, Ohio -- For the third straight season, Browns kicker Phil Dawson, the only player left on the team and in the league from the 1999 expansion team, will trot out onto the field not knowing if it will be his last game at Cleveland Browns Stadium after 14 seasons.
"It would be a travesty if he didn't finish his career here," said fellow old-timer Josh Cribbs. "He's the backbone, the head and the feet of this team. He's our Old Faithful and our rock. Through all the coaching changes and now even an ownership change, there's been one thing that's remained the same all these years and that's Phil Dawson."
As Dawson, who was franchised for the second straight season this year, gets set to face the Redskins on Sunday, he's still passing milestones like mile markers on a highway. Last week, he kicked his 300th field, and among all players in that category, he ranks first with a field goal percentage of 84.1. He has yet to make the Pro Bowl -- despite kicking on the frozen tundra off Lake Erie all these years -- but could crack that barrier this year with a field goal percentage of 96.3% for second in the NFL. If he re-signs in the offseason, he'll have chance in 2013 to reach the goal he set in 1999 when he was competing for the job here: to surpass Lou Groza (1,349 points) for first-place on the Browns all-time scoring list. At 1,258, he needs just 92 to accomplish the feat.
A sit-down with Dawson on the eve of what he hopes is not good-bye for the third straight season:
Q: What's been the best part of your career here?
A: The bond I have with the fans now is something a lot of guys in the NFL don't get to experience. To be 14 years in one place has allowed me to just have a real special bond with the city, the fans, stadium employees, obviously people in the Browns" organization. It's special, because when these milestone comes, you have people you know you can share it with.
Q: What has it meant to your family to be in one place for 14 years.
A: To think Shannon and I had no kids when we came here. Now they're 11, 9 and 6. It's become our second home. My family has been tremendously close through all of this and we've been able to experience this place together and that's been pretty neat.
Q: Reflect on those dark days in 2000-01 when you thought about quitting football.
A: If it weren't for Shannon, I was pretty close to hanging it up. She really didn't want to see me call it quits when we both felt like there was more out there. I was struggling with motivation and desire and confidence and I'd get on my soapbox and she'd pretty much just cut me off and say "I don't want to hear it." You've been given some God-give abilities and an opportunity and you need to go take care of business. She knew that if I gave in to those emotions, I'd regret it.
Q: How did it get to that point?
A: Early on it was tough. I was undrafted. I had to compete to get a spot. Final cut day in 1999, Chris Palmer said, "we're going to start out with you." I had fully expected to get drafted coming out of college. Didn't happen. I went to Oakland, got cut, got picked up in New England and spent the entire season in New England on the practice squad. All I really wanted was to have my moment that I didn't get on draft day. That I didn't get in all of '98. I just wanted to hear someone say, "we want you, you're our guy." It was tough to hear Palmer say that and have to operate under that dark cloud moving forward.
Q: How did it feel those first few years?
A: I literally felt like if I miss a kick, I'm out of a job. There was some tough plane rides home and some tough drives home from the Stadium. It wasn't very enjoyable, and some of what led to me just thinking this just might not be my cup of tea. It's a tough thing to feel when you feel like you've got to be perfect, especially kicking in Cleveland. Since then, Shannon's sat in that stadium every game with the exception of one when our daughter was in the hospital, but it doesn't matter the weather, she's there, she's into the game, she's supported me through it all and encouraged, admonished, challenged me.
Q: Reflect back to 2006, when you almost lost Shannon while she was giving birth to your daughter, Sophieann. Fans might remember, you almost had to make the choice between Shannon and the baby while she was in the OR.
A: That was a very tough year (the 2007 season). In some ways I'm still getting over it. You don't go through something like that and come out the same. I wish I could say it was all positive since then, but I'll still have some tough times reflecting on that. Professionally speaking, that was one of my worst years (missed four of last seven kicks). It really re-emphasized something I thought I already knew and it's that you've got to have balance. When I talk to a lot of these young guys now, I tell them, "you've got to have things squared away off the field." I was grateful the organization stuck with me and let me come back and kind of redeem myself.
Q: How hard must it have been to be possibly faced with such an impossible decision?
A: A lot of it I don't remember. I started kicking poorly and that made things worse. But I had to go home and take care of my wife. She was battling just to get back to halfway normal. It was tough on all of us, but thank God they're all good. Fortunately, the doctors did a phenomenal job and I didn't have to make a choice. There were more surgeries after that, but Shannon's doing great. She's back on her feet, lots of energy and vibrant. Coincidentally, Sophiann's been our healthiest child. To see her and all of my kids in the stands on game day, it does add an extra level of "this is pretty cool."
Q: Can you believe only one playoff appearance in your 14 seasons?
A: When we made it in 2002, I thought "OK, here we are. This is going to start happening all the time and we're on the track here." It just hasn't turned out that way. Those early years were rough but it slowly changed.
Q: Talk about the impact your former special teams coach Jerry Rosburg, now with Baltimore, had on your career.
A: He's the first coach that I ever had that really took into account what I could do from a kicking standpoint and then formed a special teams game plan around it. That's where my career started turning. That's right where I was on the rocks and Shannon was saying "c'mon." All of a sudden I found myself with a new head coach in Butch Davis and I was no longer under the "We're going to start out with you." The burden was lifted. I started having some success and gaining some confidence. I don't think I'm sitting here today without my wife and without Jerry Rosburg. He was that important to me. He's a fantastic coach.
Q: What's one of your most memorable moments on the field?
A: In Dallas in 2004 (19-12 loss), we were trailing after a safety and we needed the ball back. But you can't kick off after a safety and we didn't have time to punt. Jerry and I had talked about what we'd do if we were ever in that situation. You can't use a tee and if you send a holder out, his finger is going to be in the way for an onside kick. I said "I can just hold the ball like a punt, drop it and before it hits the ground, I'll kick it out of the air. He said "no way." I said I can do it. It had never been done. But he trusted me. We sent our kickoff team out there -- unfortunately it was the play where Kellen Winslow broke his leg. But we executed the kick, it popped up perfectly and we got it. I had so much fun in that moment because it was outside the box and it required some strategy. There are a lot of moments like that that I cherish that will never go down in the record books.
Q: All these great years -- including 12 field goals of 50-plus since last season -- and no Pro Bowl? What gives?
A: It's still a goal of mine. It'd be pretty neat after all these years to experience it now and get to be a rookie at something. I'd have to ask Joe Thomas and Josh Cribbs and Alex Mack, what do you do? What do you pack? That would be fun, but just to be in consideration is rewarding enough. The opportunities have really presented themselves this season. I can't get caught up on all of that stuff, but the numbers are there this year. It's just a matter of how the votes come in.
Q: How do you keep getting better with age (37)?
A: I think I'm getting more credit than I deserve (for the 50-yarders coming now). There were several years where we never even tried one. If you don't have a 50-yarder, they automatically think you can't make one. Weather plays a factor. Your opportunities are fewer here. When I used to get criticism about leg strength, it fired me up.
Q: How does it feel to always be saying good-bye -- maybe?
A: I haven't enjoyed the not knowing part. And it's not because of the uncertainty it puts on me and my family. It's that I'd like to pay my proper respects to this place. At the end of 2010, we all thought that was it. I can remember saying my goodbyes. I wasn't trying to make a statement. I just wanted the fans to know how much I appreciated them. I went down an emotional road that felt like goodbye and then to all of a sudden be back, I didn't know how to feel. That's when we started this whole family being apart thing, so that was a tough transition. To have been somewhere so long, but to have so many doubts about your future does seems a little strange sometimes.
Q: Your family, including your boys Dru and Beau, moved back to Austin, Tex, after the 2010 season. How's that worked?
A: It's been tough. But if going to work is going to be the reason I can't be with my family everyday, I'm going to make the most of my opportunities. I'm going to make this a worthwhile deal. I think that's shown up these last two seasons. I have no excuse not to be prepared each and every Sunday. We'll most likely do it this way from here on out for the kids' stability.
Q: Is this goodbye on Sunday?
A: I'm not quite sure how it's going to feel. I will spend some time thinking about it and reflecting. And I feel like I've had a chance since 2010 to express my love and appreciation for this place, so I don't think it's going to be a teary-eyed deal. I think people know how I feel about this place this time, so I'm going to go down there Sunday with a very business-like attitude and try to help my team win a game.
Q: How many more years would you like to play?
A: I'm not going to be a guy who slowly fades off into the distance. I want to play at a high level or not play at all. Whatever term I sign up for moving forward, I will be able to outlive that. I want to be just as good the last year of it as I am right now. I'm not going to be away from my family and play poorly.
Q: The Browns won’t franchise you a third time, because they’d have to pay you the aver´ age of the top five at any posi´ tion, or upwards of $15 million a year. But would you like to re-sign with the Browns and finish your career here?
A: No one would enjoy winning here more than I would. I want to go down Euclid Avenue and hold that Lombardi Trophy, because I can't think of a better place on Earth to experience that than here, in this city, with these fans. Of course, I'd love to kick the game-winning field goal, but I'll take a Super Bowl victory with the Browns any way it comes.
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