• During sudden-death overtime, rules for time outs are the same as in a regular game, including the last two minutes of the second and fourth quarters.
• Home teams must wear dark jerseys and road teams must wear white. Previously, NFL teams were allowed to wear whatever uniform color they liked, even if it clashed with the other team, and were not required to have a white jersey. Television viewers needed to distinguish one team from the other. One team wearing blue jerseys and the other red didn't register on black and white tv's.

In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Browns returned to the top after a one-year hiatus.

• Despite losing even more players from his AAFC teams of the 1940s, Paul Brown added a sensational rookie who helped him regain the championship.
• WR Dante Lavelli, C Frank Gatski, E-P Horace Gillom, DT John Kissell, and G Abe Gibron all departed after the '56 campaign.
• Brown needed to solve the quarterback problem that beset him in '56 after Otto Graham retired for good. The coach helped ease the burden on whoever called the signals by draft­ing RB Jim Brown of Syracuse in the first round of the draft.
  The Los Angeles Rams held the second pick in the draft, and coach Sid Gillman wanted Brown. But, after the Packers used the Lottery bonus pick on Paul Hornung, who play­ed quarterback at Notre Dame, the Rams ownership insisted on taking a local boy, USC RB Jon Arnett. Then the 49ers chose their local boy, QB John Brodie of Stanford. With identical 5-7 records, the Packers, Steelers, and Browns did a flip off for the next two picks, and Cleveland lost both flips. So Green Bay took E Ron Kramer, and Pittsburgh selected Purdue QB Len Dawson, the player Brown coveted most. So he "settled" for Jim Brown. All six players forged strong pro careers with Hornung and Brown earning enshrinement in Canton OH.
• Jim Brown remains at the top of many writers' list of best running backs ever. He possess­ed a superb combination of speed and strength with an unextinguishable competitive fire in his belly. Paul Brown built his offense around the rookie, who gained 942y, tops in the league as were his nine rushing touchdowns. He added another touchdown on a pass recep­tion. Jim set a new single-game rushing record of 237y against the Rams November 24 before 65,000.
  The Browns averaged over 50,000 in home attendance for the first time since joining the NFL in 1950.
• With 1956's veteran disappointments, George Raterman and Babe Parilli, given their walking papers, fourth-year man Tommy O'Connell took hold of the signal-calling job. He started nine games while Milt Plum, a rookie out of Penn State, started the other three.
• The Browns established themselves once again as the team to beat in the East by besting the defending champion Giants in the opener 6-3. They also defeated New York in the finale in Yankee Stadium 34-28, although they already had the division clinched.
• Cleveland's final mark was 9-2-1, with one of the losses coming to Detroit 20-7 in the second-to-last game. Brown won Coach of the Year for overseeing the turnaround from 5-7 in '56.

• The Lions, like the Browns, had fallen in t he standings - but for two years - after reaching the championship game in 1952-53-54.
• Weeks before the '57 season began, coach Buddy Parker suddenly resigned.
  On August 12, 600 fans gathered for the "Meet the Lions" banquet in a Detroit hotel. When Parker took the podium, he shocked everyone in attendance by announcing, I can't handle this team anymore. It's the worst team I've ever seen in training camp. They have no life, no go, just a completely dead team. I don't want to get caught in the middle of another losing season. I'm leaving Detroit football. And I'm leaving tonight.
  If anyone thought Buddy was joking, they didn't after he walked off the podium and left the building. Two weeks later, he was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Parker later called his resignation "the mistake of a lifetime."
  Bobby Layne held more clout with the team than the head coach. Parker knew it and hated it.
• Assistant George Wilson took over the Lions and obviously injected some life in the team because they finished 8-4 and tied with the 49ers for the West Division crown.
• Two players the Lions acquired in trades over the summer helped them immensely. FB John Henry Johnson, the only black player on the '57 roster, came from San Francisco and led the team in rushing with 621y, good for fourth in the league. Like his namesake, Johnson was a "steel driving man" who could run up the middle and wide as well. He could also block and, if necessary, play DB. Former Packer QB Tobin Rote proved invaluable when Bobby Layne broke his leg late in December.
• A trio of 30-year-olds led the 49ers to the top of the division: QB Y. A. Tittle, RB Joe Perry, and WR Billy Wilson. Tittle perfected the "Alley Oop" pass to 6'3" rookie WR R. C. Owens, a basketball player in college.
• The 49ers hosted the Lions in the West playoff game December 22. SF jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead and extended it with a field goal early in Q3. But the rest of the contest belonged to the Lions, who scored 24 unanswered points to take the title 31-27. Read about the game ...

• Despite that bump and the fact that the Browns had never won in Detroit, oddsmakers made Cleveland three-point favorites.
• The coaches presented a stark contrast - Wilson in his first year against Brown in his twelfth. Perhaps that was why Vegas gave Cleveland the edge.
• Each team's roster included just 15 players from the title clash of 1954.
• Jim Brown was not the only rookie who contributed to the Browns' East title. Newcomer Vince Costello moved into the middle of the defensive line while Bill Quinlan, a rough and ready rookie from Michigan State, solidly filled a defensive end spot.
• Coach Brown worried about the rustiness of his starting quarterback, O'Connell. Tommy piloted the club most of the season only to suffer a severely sprained ankle early in Decem­ber. He hadn't seen action in a month. Plum, the backup who was great in the final game against the Giants, was bothered by a sore leg.
• A former Lion, Lew Carpenter, filled one HB spot with Ray Renfro, one of the game's fastest and best receivers, on the other side of Jim Brown.
• Layne would not be healed in time for the title clash. So Rote would take the helm fresh off his outstanding performance in the comeback against the Niners. Like O'Connell, the seven-year veteran would be experiencing his first championship game.
• In addition to Johnson, Tobin could hand the ball to Howard "Hopalong" Cassady, the 1955 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State.
• Detroit's leading receiver was 30-year-old Jim Doran with 33 catches for 624y. Six other receivers had double-digit receptions, led by Cassady with 25.
• The Lions were the hottest team in the league the last month, capturing their last four games and six of their last seven.

• Instead, brilliant sunshine raised the thermometer to the mid-30s.
• The dry, firm turf provided good footing in most areas of the gridiron.
• A screaming Briggs Stadium throng of 55,263 saw their heroes administer the worst defeat in Cleveland Browns history.
• Bobby Layne sat on the bench in a suit and tie with his right ankle in a cast. He helped out with the phones during the game.
• Despite the sunshine, the lights were turned on from the start of the game.
• NBC aired the game nationally on both television and radio.

• Quarter 1
  Jim Martin booms the kickoff out of the end zone for a touchback. Tommy O'Connell starts with a down and out to Pete Brewster who snags the ball and steps out at the 37. Jim Brown takes a pitchout around left end to the 43. But the drive bogs down, and Ken Konz punts to Terry Barr at 11, but he gets nowhere.
  The Detroit offense immediately sets the tone for the game. Gene Gedman runs up middle to 20. John Henry Johnson stutter steps up the middle for 19.
  The Browns did not treat Johnson gently when they tackled him, and John Henry needed first aid on one occasion. The FB had drawn Cleveland's ire by knocking out four of Ed Modzelewski's teeth when the Browns played in Detroit three weeks earlier.
  Tobin Rote fires over middle to rookie E Steve Junker who makes a lunging catch at the 40 in Cleveland territory. After a 1y run, Rote goes to his version of the down and out to Jim Doran for 13 to the 25. 1st down. Gedman gains three on a trap play over the right side. Rote then passes to Howard "Hopalong" Cassady speeding down the right side into the end zone, but Warren Lahr bats the ball away. On 4th and seven, Martin kicks a field goal from the 31. Lions 3 Browns 0
  Jim Martin played football at East Tech High School in Cleveland and spent his first NFL season (1950) with the Browns.
  Martin kicks into the end zone again, but Brown catches it 5y deep and runs out to the 17. O'Connell throws a 9y shot to Ray Renfro. Brown goes straight ahead for 1st down at the 30. But the momentum ends abruptly when O'Connell throws but LLB Bob Long leaps and intercepts. He returns 17y to the 19.
  Rote runs a quarterback draw up the middle to the one, then rams into the end zone on the next snap. Lions 10 Browns 0 with four minutes remaining in the period.
  
  Tobin Rote scores the first Lions touchdown.
  Olympics champion Milt Campbell returns the kick 20y to the 23, where he fumbles. The ball squirts back to the 15 where Barr recovers it. After a 1y gain, Rote throws a slant in to RE Junker who crashes to the one. Gedman dives over left guard for the touchdown. Lions 17 Browns 0
  Campbell became the first African American to win the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games. He played football at Indiana and was drafted by the Browns in 1957. However, Paul Brown released him after that season for marrying a white woman. Milt then played several years in the Canadian Football League.
  Billy Reynolds takes the kickoff at the 4, slips, and returns to the 22. O'Connell goes to the out pattern to LE Brewster again to the 42. Renfro tales a reverse to the De­troit 37, where DB Yale Lary drags him out of bounds. Lew Carpenter sweeps RE for two as the quarter ends.
  Detroit scored each of the three times it had the ball in the first 15 minutes.

Steve Junker makes a fingertip grab in Q1.

• Quarter 2
  Brown turns the corner around left end, pushes through two tacklers in the secondary, then shakes another one and continues into the end zone to complete the 35y touch­down. Lou Groza, the "Extra Point Automaton," adds the point. Lions 17 Browns 7
  Groza kicks low to the four to Lary who takes the ball on the run to the 13. Rote passes down and out to Doran on the 25 as Konz wrestles Jim out of bounds. On 2nd-and-seven, Johnson rambles 19y to the 47. Playing 2nd and 10 soon after at the Cleveland 41, Rote fires quickly to Tom Tracy running across from the left. LB Walt Michaels' tackle leaves Tracy injured at the 25. Cleveland holds firm, and on 4th down Wilson sends Martin in for a field goal. But when teammates in the huddle want to go for it, Rote calls for a fake. Kneeling to take the snap, Tobin jumps up, rolls right. As the defenders close in to stop the first down, Rote throws to Junker who has broken free behind the secondary at the three and continues into the end zone. Martin converts. Lions 24 Browns 7
  The fake field goal play had been in the Lions' playbook all year without being used.
  With the wind at his back, Martin blasts the kickoff out of the end zone. O'Connell starts the possession with another down and out to Brewster to the 36. Lew Carpen­ter starts around right end but is nailed behind line for a 3y loss by LB Joe Schmidt. The Browns try a dipsy-do, but it backfires. O'Connell tosses to HB Chet Hanulak running right. He starts to pass, recocks, then throws into traffic toward Renfro. The ball is short, and DB Jim David snares it on the Cleveland 46.
  Rote connects with Junker again. Taking the pass over the middle, the rookie end turns left to the sideline, is hit and fumbles forward. DB Don Paul picks up the pigskin at seven and is downed at the six by Cassady.
  O'Connell goes to the down-and-out-to-Brewster well once too often. His pass is short, allowing Barr to intercept at the 18 and run down the sideline to paydirt. Lions 31 Browns 7
  Martin kicks to Brown in the end zone. Jim runs up the middle, breaks tackles, and continues to the 46, where Cassady drags him down. With O'Connell ineffective, Paul Brown turns to his rookie backup. On the first play, Plum runs a quarterback draw to the 36y stripe, where Barr makes the tackle.
  Plum revealed after the game that, despite the trainer wrapping his leg tightly before the game, he aggravated his pulled hamstring on his first play. It really hurt after that. I could barely run on it at all.
  Then the turnover bug bites again. Plum throws over the middle, where Lary knocks the ball up in the air. Schmidt snags it and is downed immediately by Preston Car­penter.
  The Lions drive far enough into Cleveland territory to allow Martin, with 0:05 on the clock, to attempt a 44y field goal, but the ball sails off to the left.

• Quarter 3
  Groza kicks to Lary at the goal line, Yale returning up the middle to the 25. Two plays later, Rote throws to Cassady to the 34, a yard short of the first down. Lary punts to Reynolds at the 19, but G John Gordy tackles him from behind at the 20.
  Plum pitches out to Lew Carpenter who heads around right end to the 48. After Lew gains a yard, Plum passes to the other Carpenter brother, Preston, to the Lion 32. After Lew gains a yard on a crossbuck. Plum fakes a handoff, rolls right, and hits Pres­ton to the 15. Brown gets the next handoff and rambles around the left side until DB Karl Karilivacz blocks him out of bounds at the 10. Plum throws to right to Pres­ton to the five. Then Lew finishes the march by taking a handoff, starting around left end, and cutting back into the end zone. Lions 31 Browns 14
  Lary takes the kick 2y deep and runs out to the 22. On the very first play, the Lions negate what the Browns just did in their 10-play, 80y drive. Rote fakes a pitch to left, steps back, and throws deep down the right sideline to Doran at the Cleveland 40. When Konz tries for the interception and misses, Jim has clear sailing to the end zone. Lions 38 Browns 14
  The touchdown pass grew out of a conversation quarterback and receiver had on the sidelines. Rote explained after the game: Jim told me he thought he could get behind Konz, and he did, didn't he?
  Brown returns a rare short kickoff from the 11 to the 28, where Martin makes the tackle. The linebackers shoot the gaps, which allows DE Gil Mains and DT Ray Krouse to sack Plum at the 17. Konz punts to Lary, who makes a fair catch at his 41.
  Lary wore a helmet with a face mask when returning punts but a different "hat" with no face mask while on defense. Years later, Yale recalled the '57 title game.
  I was covering Ray Renfro, and we were ahead by a lot. We were real good friends in Fort Worth. Ray came down the field and ran across. I was covering him, and they threw it to somebody else. He said, "You know, Yale, this is the long f***ing ball game I've ever played in my life."
  Gedman sprints around left end to the 46. Rote, playing the best game of his career, fades to pass, then runs across midfield to the 38. A personal foul on Cleveland adds 15 to the gain. Rote hasn't forgotten about Junker and finds him flying across middle. Steve surges into the end zone for his second touchdown of the day. Lions 45 Browns 14
  Martin kicks to Reynolds at the seven, then helps Gordy down the returner at the 27. Brown spins through left tackle to the 40. The run doesn't deter the Lions from rush­ing hard on every play. When Plum retreats to pass, he is hit as he throws by DE Gene Cronin, and loses the ball, T Gerry Perry recovering on the 32. The referee rules the play a fumble for the Browns' sixth turnover.

Steve Junker scores his second touchdown of the game.

• Quarter 4
  Still pouring on the coals to avenge the 56-10 loss to Cleveland in the 1954 title game, the Lions add another touchdown on the first play. Rote connects with E Dave Mid­dleton just a step behind the defender in the end zone. Lions 52 Browns 14
  Reynolds' 19y runback starts the next possession at the 27. Following Lew Carpen­ter's 5y run around right end, Plum escapes a rusher and rambles to the Lion 41. Next, Lew works his way through the Lions' seven-man line to the 32. Milt flips to Brown in the right flat, and DB Jack Christiansen upends the rookie star at the 28. On 4th down, Plum tosses over the middle to Preston Carpenter to the 23, and the Lions take over.
  Gedman runs to the 30 where he is hit by Vince Costello. The Browns are assessed another personal foul penalty. Jerry Reichow replaces Rote, who receives a standing ovation after accounting for 307y running and passing. The fans who stay enjoy another Lion touchdown march. Cassady bolts 35y to the 35. Another 15 is tacked on for a personal foul. Howard runs the same play to the left to the 17. Then Reichow rolls right and throws to Hopalong who takes the pigskin on the run at 5 and heads across the goal. Martin goes eight-for-eight on PATs, a championship game record. Lions 59 Browns 14

• First downs: Lions 22 Browns 17
• Yards rushing: Lions 36-137 Browns 38-218
• Passing: Lions 21-13-0/196 Browns 21-13-0/296
• Return yardage: Lions 10-123 Browns 11-184
• Fumbles-Lost: Lions 3-1 Browns 2-2
• Penalties: Lions 7-52 Browns 4-60
• Punting average: Lions 4-36.3 Browns 4-35.5