of the comebacks or late-game magic the Kardiac Kids were known for. Several games were close, but most were losses. Sipe threw only 17 touchdowns and was intercepted 25 times. Despite beating both eventual Super Bowl participants, the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals, during the regular season, the team finished 5–11. The 1982 NFL strike, which began in September and lasted until mid-November, shortened the regular season the following year to nine games. Coming off a poor year, Sipe split starts with his backup, Paul McDonald, and neither was able to bring back the old Kardiac Kids spark. The team ended with a 4–5 record, which qualified for an expanded Super Bowl playoff tournament created to accommodate the shorter season. The Browns faced the Raiders in a rematch of 1980's playoff thriller. This time, though, McDonald was the starter and the ending was far from tense. The Raiders won 27–10. The following two years brought the Sipe era and the short-lived success of the Kardiac Kids to an end. Sipe returned to form in 1983, and the team narrowly missed a spot in the playoffs after a loss to the Houston Oilers in the second-to-last game of the regular season. Sipe signed before the end of the season to play for the New Jersey Generals, a team owned by real estate mogul Donald Trump in the upstart United States Football League. In training camp before the 1984 season, cornerback Hanford Dixon tried to motivate the team's defensive linemen by barking at them between plays in practice and calling them "the Dogs". "You need guys who play like dogs up front, like dogs chasing a cat", Dixon said. The media picked up on the name, which gained traction in part because of the improvement of the Browns' defense during the regular season. Fans put on face paint and dog masks, and the phenomenon coalesced in rowdy fans in Cleveland Stadium's cheap bleachers section close to the field. The Dawg Pound, as the section was eventually nicknamed, is a continuing symbol of Cleveland's dedicated fan base. Despite the defensive improvement, Sipe's departure left Cleveland's offense in disarray in 1984. Browns began the season 1–7 with McDonald at quarterback, and fans' frustration with the team and Rutigliano boiled over. The breaking point came in an October 7 game against the New England Patriots that bore an eerie resemblance to Cleveland's 1980