BEREA, Ohio – As players cleaned out their lockers following another losing season and coaching change, Phil Dawson pulled aside a reporter on New Year's Eve 2012 and showed him what he had scrawled in an adjoining cabinet where he stored his cleats:
Phil was here, 1999-2012.
"Prison style," the former Brown told the Associated Press' Tom Withers.
Dawson served hard time on one of pro sports' losingest franchises, but he was no Andy Dufresne tunneling his way out of Shawshank using a rock hammer. Among NFL's most accurate kickers, Dawson didn't want to leave.