1975 Cleveland Browns season

NFL team season August 2023 March 2026 Cleveland Browns 1975 Forrest Gregg Art Modell Cleveland Municipal Stadium 3–11 4th AFC Central Did not qualify DT Jerry Sherk Browns seasons The 1975 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 26th season with the National Football League. The Browns lost their first nine games—again, a team record—en route to going 3–11 in Forrest Gregg's first year as head coach after having been promoted from offensive line coach following the offseason firing of Nick Skorich. Other than a 16–15 decision at Denver in Week 5 and a 24–17 decision at Cincinnati in the season opener, the losses had wide scoring margins. At home, the Browns fell 42–10 to the Minnesota Vikings, 42–6 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and 40–10 to the Houston Oilers, their worst three-game stretch. Later in the year—it was the last of those nine consecutive defeats—the Browns were beaten 38–17 at Oakland. The Steelers and Vikings both finished 12–2, the Oilers just missed the playoffs at 10–4 and the 11–3 Raiders lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game, but none of that was of any consolation to a franchise as proud as the Browns.March 2016 After 1974, the Browns were hoping that 1975, for which the team went to orange pants and altered its basic uniform design for the first time since that inaugural season of 1946, would usher in a new era of success. But it did not work out that way. The problem for the Browns was that they were in the middle of a major rebuilding phase, trying to replace old-line, grizzled veterans from the team's glory days of the 1960s with free agents from other teams, or young players. Another problem was at the QB position; Mike Phipps, the Browns' No. 3 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, threw just four touchdown passes with 19 INTs on the year. More and more, Browns fans were calling for Brian Sipe, who started in two victories in the final five games in 1974, to permanently secure the starting quarterback job in what became a major quarterback controversy.Melody Tom Broncos in No Mood To Be Busted: Unhappy Day Here Again for Browns The Akron Beacon Journal October 19, 1975 C8 Asides from the progress of Sipe, another diamond in the rough was Greg Pruitt. With Pro Football Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly having retired after the 1973 season, Pruitt, the first of the team's two second-round draft picks that year, had taken a quantum leapOctober 30, 1975 1975 Browns Have Some Problem as Recent Colts: Too Much Newness Caffrey Jim The Baltimore Sun E1 in 1975 into settling into his job as the go-to running back. He raced for 214 yards, still the seventh-best performance in team history, en-route to putting together the first of his three-straight 1,000-yard seasons by getting 1,067. He became the first 1,000-yard runner for the team since Kelly in 1968. Pruitt averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 1975, the highest by a Brown since Kelly's 5.0 in 1968, and, while scoring three times against the Chiefs, rushed for eight touchdowns, the most since Kelly's 10 in 1971. Offseason NFL draft The following were selected in the 1975 NFL draft. 1975 Cleveland Browns 1 5 Mack Mitchell Defensive end Houston yes 3 57 Oscar Roan Tight end SMU yes 4 82 Tony Peters Defensive back Oklahoma yes yes 5 109 John Zimba Defensive end Villanova 5 119 Jim Cope Linebacker Ohio State 6 150 Charles Miller Defensive back West Virginia Signed with Edmonton Eskimos (CFL) 6 154 Henry Hynoski Running back Temple yes 7 161 Merle Wang Tackle TCU 8 186 Barry Santini Tight end Purdue 9 213 Larry Poole Running back Kent State yes 9 215 Floyd Hogan Defensive back Arkansas 10 238 Stan Lewis Defensive end Wayne State (NE) yes 11 265 Tom Marinelli Guard Boston College 12 290 Dick Ambrose Linebacker Virginia yes 13 317 Willie Armstead Wide receiver Utah Signed with Calgary Stampeders (CFL) 14 341 Tim Barrett Running back John Carroll 15 369 Willie Moore Defensive tackle Johnson C. Smith 16 394 John McKay Wide receiver USC Signed with Southern California Sun (WFL) 17 421 Dave Graf Linebacker Penn State yes nohttps://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/1975_draft.htm 1975 Cleveland Browns Draftees Pro Football Reference February 19, 2022 Personnel Staff / Coaches 1975 Cleveland Browns Owner and president – Art Modell Executive vice president/general manager – Harold Sauerbrai Head coaches – Forrest Gregg Quarterbacks – Blanton Collier Running backs – George Sefcik Wide receivers – Doug Gerhart Offensive line – Rod Humenuik Defensive Coordinator – Dick Modzelewski Linebackers – Walt Corey Secondary / defensive backs – Richie McCabe Special teams – Al Tabor Film Coordinator – Ed Ulinski Athletic Trainer – Leo Murphy Roster 1975 Cleveland Browns roster Quarterbacks 15 Mike Phipps 16 Will Cureton 17 Brian Sipe Running backs 30 Ken Brown 34 Greg Pruitt 36 Henry Hynoski 37 Hugh McKinnis 39 Billy Pritchett Wide receivers 26 Billy Lefear 33 Reggie Rucker 80 Willie Miller 88 Steve Holden Tight ends 81 Oscar Roan 84 Gary Parris 89 Milt Morin Offensive linemen 54 Tom DeLeone C 63 Barry Darrow T 65 John Demarie C/G 67 Chuck Hutchison G 68 Robert Jackson G 73 Doug Dieken T 78 Bob McKay T 79 Gerry Sullivan T Defensive linemen 64 Joe Jones DE 70 Mack Mitchell DE 71 Walter Johnson DT 72 Jerry Sherk DT 74 Carl Barisich DT 77 Ron East DE Linebackers 50 John Garlington OLB 52 Dick Ambrose MLB 55 Dave Graf OLB 56 Jack LeVeck MLB 59 Charlie Hall OLB 60 Bob Babich OLB/MLB Defensive backs 20 Tony Peters CB 21 Van Green SS 22 Clarence Scott CB 40 Joe Beauchamp CB/S 42 Neal Craig FS 48 John Pitts SS 49 Jim Hill FS Special teams 12 Don Cockroft K/P Reserve lists 69 Pete Adams T (IR) 10px -- Billy Corbett T (IR) 10px 27 Thom Darden FS (IR) 10px 31 Cleo Miller RB (IR) 10px 38 Larry Poole RB (IR) 10px rookies in italics Exhibition schedule Week Date Opponent Result Attendance 1 August 10 at San Francisco 49ers L 13–17 45,560 2 August 16, 1975 Philadelphia Eagles W 14–635,769 3 August 22, 1975 at Washington Redskins L 14–23 15,513 4 September 1, 1975 Buffalo Bills L 20–34 31,155 5 September 7 vs. New York Giants at Seattle W 24–20 20,000 6 September 13, 1975 Detroit Lions L 24–2732,341 Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 21 at Cincinnati Bengals L 17–24 0–1 Riverfront Stadium 52,874 Recap 2 September 28 Minnesota Vikings L 10–42 0–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 68,064 Recap 3 October 5 Pittsburgh Steelers L 6–42 0–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 73,595 Recap 4 October 12 Houston Oilers L 10–40 0–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 46,531 Recap 5 October 19 at Denver Broncos L 15–16 0–5 Mile High Stadium 52,590 Recap 6 October 26 Washington Redskins L 7–23 0–6 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 56,702 Recap 7 November 2 at Baltimore Colts L 7–21 0–7 Municipal Stadium 35,235 Recap 8 November 9 at Detroit Lions L 10–21 0–8 Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium 75,283 Recap 9 November 16 at Oakland Raiders L 17–38 0–9 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,461 Recap 10 November 23 Cincinnati Bengals W 35–23 1–9 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 56,427 Recap 11 November 30 New Orleans Saints W 17–16 2–9 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 44,753 Recap 12 December 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 17–31 2–10 Three Rivers Stadium 47,962 Recap 13 December 14 Kansas City Chiefs W 40–14 3–10 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 44,368 Recap 14 December 21 at Houston Oilers L 10–21 3–11 Houston Astrodome 43,770 RecapNote: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. Standings Milestones Greg Pruitt, 304 Combined Net Yards vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, November 23,NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book Workman Publishing Co New York, NY 0-7611-2480-2 443 References External links 1975 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference 1975 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com 1975 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com 1975 Cleveland Browns at DatabaseFootball.com Season summary and statistics at Cleveland Browns.com Cleveland Category:Cleveland Browns seasons Cleveland Browns