The Browns Are Back In A Remarkable Resurgence After Last Season's Dismal Record. Several New Stars Have Been Added, But It Is Still The Old Brown Magic Of Coach Paul Brown Which Is Key To Victory

Paul Brown , pro football's master manipulator, sat in his suburban Cleveland home last week counting his blessings as he digested a Thanksgiving dinner. A bird in the stomach may be worth two in the bush leagues, but Brown, whose buoyant Clevelanders once again are knocking on the NFL 's throne-room door after a unique year in exile, knows that heavy rests the crown on a champion's head in this explosive circuit. He was feeling expansive but not speculative.

This balding little genius, who has brought the Ohioans back from the dead in less than a year to within one victory of their 11th divisional championship in 12 years under his astute leadership, still faces road dates at Detroit and New York .

But resurgence from a dismal 5-7 season in 1956 to top dog this year smacks of more than luck-of-the-draw, even if his first pick in last year's draft was the incomparable rookie Jimmy Brown .

Coach Brown takes exception to being hailed a defensive genius. "I like to think we coach more than defense," he says.

Seasoned Linebacker Walt Michaels is given major credit by his coach, who gives Michaels rein in calling defensive shots in contrast to the messenger service that directs the offense from the bench.

"I suppose you could say we used a basic 4-3-4 defense," said Brown reluctantly, "but it's constantly changing. We don't call many defensive signals from the bench because to a certain extent we're guessing. And we feel the boys on the field can guess as good as we do."

Brown insists personnel and not his strategy tells the real story this year, but that's where his deft touch is golden. Big Bob Gain was switched from end to tackle; Preston Carpenter from halfback to end, where he's become "A humdinger of a receiver"; Rookie Vince Costello has proved a remarkable middle linebacker; Galen Fiss has filled in spectacularly for injured Chuck Noll , and service returnees Bill Quinlan at end and Tom Catlin (only back two weeks) have been remarkably sharp.

"We got rid of the people who no longer were willing to pay the price," Brown explained unflinchingly. "Why, we've got 13 or 14 new men this year and their youth and exuberance more than make up for their mistakes from inexperience." Gain, in Brown's own words, "was a big change for the better over [John] Kissell."

But the key man in the stingy Cleveland defense is Costello, a 225-pound "free agent," signed by Brown on the hunch he'd pad his 195-pound playing figure at little Ohio University .

"He's an exceptional tackler with a great and innate ability to diagnose plays. We knew about him because we have an insight to Ohio U players. Howard Brinker, our defensive backfield coach, was his coach at Ohio U under Carroll Widdoes, who once was on our staff."