1974 Cleveland Browns season

NFL team season August 2023 March 2026 Cleveland Browns 1974 Nick Skorich Art Modell Harold Sauerbrei Cleveland Municipal Stadium 4–10 4th AFC Central Did not qualify RB Greg PruittDT Jerry Sherk Browns seasons The 1974 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 29th season, and 25th season with the National Football League. The 1974 Browns were only the second Browns team to post a losing record in the 29-year history of the franchise to that point.The other was the 1956 team Season summary The Browns finished 4–10. All the players who had led the Browns success through the 1960s and the early part of the 1970s either had retired or were ready to do so. Since the Browns had been picking at the tail end of the draft for so long, they had little in the way of reinforcements to step into those stars' shoes. With the exception of the Denver Broncos, who had a modest 7–6–1 record, none of the teams the Browns defeated in 1974 finished above .500. The Browns topped the Broncos 23–21 by scoring two unanswered touchdowns at the end of the game behind a backup third year quarterback by the name of Brian Sipe, out of San Diego State, who the Browns drafted in the thirteenth round of the 1972 draft, and had been on the team's taxi squad during his first two seasons with the team. That would be Cleveland's last win vs. Denver until 1990. They beat the 7–7 Houston Oilers 20–7, the 7–7 New England Patriots 21–14 and the 6–8 San Francisco 49ers 7–0 in a tundra-like setting after one of the worst snowstorms in Northeast Ohio history. Otherwise, it was not good. The Browns offense could not score enough points behind the direction of quarterback Mike Phipps, taken with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft that was acquired when the club dealt HOF wide receiver Paul Warfield to the Miami Dolphins. And the defense had trouble stopping people. The Browns got off to a 1–5 start, getting humbled 33–7 by the Cincinnati Bengals in—by far—the most one-sided opening-day loss in franchise history to that point—and losing by 22 points (29–7) to the St. Louis Cardinals and by 16 (40–24) to the Oakland Raiders. They also were destroyed by 24 (41–17) by the Dallas Cowboys in the next-to-last game of the season. Players remaining from previous Cleveland Browns teams played in several close games, regardless of the team's roster composition. They gave the eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers all they could handle in both meetings, losing 20–16 and 26–16, lost by 10 points (34–24) in the rematch with the Bengals, fell by five (15–10) to the 9–5 Buffalo Bills, lost 36–35 to the San Diego Chargers when Sipe fumbled the snap as the club was positioning the ball in the middle of the field for Don Cockroft to kick a game-winning field goal on the final play, and were beaten by four (28–24) in the rematch with the Oilers in the season finale. On the season as a whole, the Browns started games well and ended them well, being outscored just 62–61 in the first quarter and outscoring their foes 73–63 in the fourth. But in the middle two quarters combined, they were out-done by a whopping 219–117 count, and therein lies most of the reason why they gave up 344 points, the most in team history to that time. Offseason NFL draft The following were selected in the 1974 NFL draft. 1974 Cleveland Browns draft Round Selection Player Position College Notes240Billy CorbettOffensive tackle Johnson C. Smith5118Mark IlgenfritzDefensive end Vanderbilt6146Billy PritchettRunning back West Texas A&M7163Bob HerrickWide receiver Purdue7171Gerry SullivanOffensive tackle Illinois8199Eddie BrownDefensive back Tennessee9224Dan ScottGuard Ohio State10238Mike PuestowWide receiver North Dakota State11274Tom GoodenKicker Harding12302Ron McNeilDefensive end North Carolina Central13327Mike SeifertDefensive end Wisconsin14352Bob HuntRunning back Heidelberg15380Ransom TerrellLinebacker Arizona16407Preston AndersonDefensive back Rice17430Carlton BuchananDefensive tackle SW Oklahoma1974 NFL Draft Listing – Pro-Football-Reference.com Pro-Football-Reference.com https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1974.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20090531154014/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1975.htm 2009-05-31 live 2009-07-23 Personnel Staff / Coaches 1974 Cleveland Browns Owner and president – Art Modell Executive vice president/general manager – Harold Sauerbrei Vice President of Player Personnel - Bob Nussbaumer Head coaches – Nick Skorich Wide receivers – Fran Polsfoot Offensive line – Forrest Gregg Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Line - Dick Modzelewski Linebackers – Dale Lindsey Secondary / defensive backs – Richie McCabe Special teams – Al Tabor Film Coordinator - Ed Ulinski Athletic Trainer - Leo Murphy Roster 1974 Cleveland Browns roster Quarterbacks 15 Mike Phipps 16 Will Cureton 17 Brian Sipe Running backs 26 Billy Lefear 30 Ken Brown 34 Greg Pruitt 35 Bo Scott 37 Hugh McKinnis 39 Billy Pritchett (IR) 7px Wide receivers 42 Gloster Richardson 43 Fair Hooker 48 Dave Sullivan 82 Tim George 83 Jubilee Dunbar (IR) 7px 88 Steve Holden Tight ends 84 Jim Thaxton 85 Ken Smith (IR) 7px 89 Milt Morin Offensive linemen 54 Tom DeLeone C 61 Bob DeMarco C 62 Glen Holloway G 63 Barry Darrow T 65 John Demarie G 67 Chuck Hutchison G 69 Pete Adams G 73 Doug Dieken T 78 Bob McKay T/G 79 Gerry Sullivan T 94 Bob McClowry C (IR) 7px Defensive linemen 66 Mike Seifert DE 71 Walter Johnson DT 72 Jerry Sherk DT 74 Carl Barisich DE/DT 75 Allen Aldridge DE 77 Mark Ilgenfritz DE 81 Nick Roman DE Linebackers 50 John Garlington OLB 52 Billy Andrews OLB 53 Mel Long MLB 56 Jim Romaniszyn OLB 59 Charlie Hall OLB 60 Bob Babich MLB Defensive backs 21 Van Green CB/SS 22 Clarence Scott CB 23 Clifford Brooks CB 27 Thom Darden FS 28 Eddie Brown SS 29 Walt Sumner SS 40 Preston Anderson FS Special teams 10 Chris Gartner K 12 Don Cockroft K/P rookies in italics Exhibition schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 August 2, 1974 at Los Angeles Rams L 21–24 0–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 28,021 2 August 12, 1974 San Francisco 49ers W 21–20 1–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 24,008 3 August 17, 1974 vs. Baltimore Colts L 3–37 1–2 Tampa Stadium 25,116 4 August 24, 1974 Washington Redskins L 17–20 1–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 44,528 5 September 1 vs. Cincinnati Bengals W 21–17 2–3 Ohio Stadium 36,326 6 September 7, 1974 at Detroit Lions L 7–21 2–4 Tiger Stadium 42,905 Regular season Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Game Recap 1 September 15 at Cincinnati Bengals L 7–33 0–1 Riverfront Stadium 53,113 Recap 2 September 22 Houston Oilers W 20–7 1–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 58,988 Recap 3 September 29 at St. Louis Cardinals L 7–29 1–2 Busch Memorial Stadium 43,472 Recap 4 October 6 Oakland Raiders L 24–40 1–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 65,247 Recap 5 October 13 Cincinnati Bengals L 24–34 1–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 70,897 Recap 6 October 20 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 16–20 1–5 Three Rivers Stadium 48,100 Recap 7 October 27 Denver Broncos W 23–21 2–5 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 60,478 Recap 8 November 3 at San Diego Chargers L 35–36 2–6 San Diego Stadium 36,631 Recap 9 November 10 at New England Patriots W 21–14 3–6 Schaefer Stadium 61,279 Recap 10 November 17 Pittsburgh Steelers L 16–26 3–7 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 77,739 Recap 11 November 24 Buffalo Bills L 10–15 3–8 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 66,504 Recap 12 December 1 San Francisco 49ers W 7–0 4–8 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 24,559 Recap 13 December 7, 1974 at Dallas Cowboys L 17–41 4–9 Texas Stadium 48,754 Recap 14 December 15 at Houston Oilers L 24–28 4–10 Astrodome 37,910 RecapNote: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. Standings Notes note References External links 1974 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference 1974 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com 1974 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com 1974 Cleveland Browns at DatabaseFootball.com Season summary and team stats at Cleveland Browns.com Cleveland Category:Cleveland Browns seasons Cleveland Browns