Ozzie Newsome

Cleveland spent the early weeks of the season turning over quarterbacks, but now the Browns are turning turnovers into victories. The Browns converted 3 of 5 Pittsburgh second-half turnovers into a pair of Matt Bahr field goals and rookie Brian Washington's 75-yard touchdown run with an interception Sunday as Cleveland beat the Steelers, 23-9.

The suspension of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Jeff George and rumors swirling about his possible trade have caught the attention of Baltimore Ravens Coach Ted Marchibroda. Marchibroda coached George in 1992 and 1993 when both were with the Indianapolis Colts. George completed 234 of 407 passes for 2,526 and eight touchdowns in 1993, and 167 of 306 passes for 1,963 yards and seven touchdowns in 1992. He was one of only four quarterbacks who passed for more than 4,000 yards in 1995.

The Baltimore Ravens traded the Nos. 15 and 45 picks in the NFL draft to the Denver Broncos on Wednesday for the No. 10 selection. The Ravens also have the No. 5 pick in Saturday's draft. "The chance to select two of the top 10 players in the country was very appealing to us," said Ozzie Newsome, the Ravens' vice president of player personnel. The trade gives the Broncos three picks among the first 45 and a total of 11.

Mike Pagel didn't realize how simple it can be to play quarterback in the National Football League. "It was easy," Cleveland's third-string quarterback said Monday night after he passed for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Browns past the Indianapolis Colts, 23-17. Pagel, starting because of injuries to Bernie Kosar and Gary Danielson, was the Browns' third starting quarterback in 3 games. It was his first start since 1985, when he was with the Colts.

To hear John Mackovic tell it, the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Raiders and the Cleveland Browns last week. Bernie Kosar riddled the weakened Chiefs' defense for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns Sunday as the Browns scored a 20-7 victory over Kansas City. "The injuries piled up on us," said Mackovic, whose team played without five ailing starters. "We paid a little bit today for last week. We were thin in some places."

Former USC All-American Anthony Munoz and four others were voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, but former Ram Coach George Allen was voted down along with two other candidates from the old NFL days in Los Angeles. "I'm overwhelmed," a tearful Munoz, veteran of 13 seasons as a Cincinnati Bengal lineman, said after he and former Chicago Bear linebacker Mike Singletary were elected to the Hall in their first year of eligibility.

Marvin Powell, a former USC offensive tackle, and Tony Dorsett, the Heisman Trophy winner from Pittsburgh whose 6,082 career rushing yards is the most in NCAA Division I-A, were among 12 players named Monday to the College Football Hall of Fame. Induction is scheduled for next Dec. 6. Vince Dooley, whose Georgia team won the national title in 1980, was one of two coaches chosen. The other was the late John Merritt of Jackson State and Tennessee State.

It is unavoidable, inescapable, a never-ending rugby chant that has overtaken the Sydney Olympic Games. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi! I was on a train the other day, trying to hold a cellular phone conversation with an editor back in the States, when the conductor got on the loudspeaker and shamelessly began stoking the patriotic fever simmering in the cars behind him. "Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie!" he crowed, laying the bait that no red-blooded Aussie can apparently resist. "Oi! Oi! Oi!"

In every NFL scouting department, the Baltimore Sun's Gary Lambrecht recently learned, there's a collection of favorite videos sent by young men for whom the dream died hard. The Cleveland Browns, for example, several years ago received a video sent by a would-be prospect who wanted to demonstrate to the club he had the speed to make the Browns winners. The only thing on the tape was the young man racing a horse, across a meadow. The horse won.

For most of the Cleveland Browns players, St. Patrick's Day will signify more than the traditional wearing of green. On March 17, the Browns' rigorous off-season weight and conditioning program will begin. The sessions will be run by strength coach Dave Redding, whose dedication to the program is legendary among the players. "Starting on St. Patrick's Day, Dave becomes a tyrant," said tight end Ozzie Newsome, a full-time participant in the program since its inception in 1982.