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1975 Cleveland Browns season

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1975 Cleveland Browns season
OwnerArt Modell
Head coachForrest Gregg
Home fieldCleveland Municipal Stadium
Local radioWHK
Results
Record3–11
Division place4th AFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersDT Jerry Sherk

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.

Making matters even harder to swallow was that, save for a 16–15 decision at Denver in Week 5 and a 24–17 decision at Cincinnati in the season opener, the losses were pretty much one-sided. At home no less, the Browns fell 42–10 to the Minnesota Vikings, 42–6 to the Pittsburgh Steelers and 40–10 to the Houston Oilers, the worst three-game stretch they have ever had. 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.[citation needed] 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.[1]

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 leap[2] 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

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NFL draft

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The following were selected in the 1975 NFL draft.

1975 Cleveland Browns draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 5 Mack Mitchell  Defensive end Houston
3 57 Oscar Roan  Tight end SMU
4 82 Tony Peters *  Defensive back Oklahoma
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
7 161 Merle Wang  Tackle TCU
8 186 Barry Santini  Tight end Purdue
9 213 Larry Poole  Running back Kent State
9 215 Floyd Hogan  Defensive back Arkansas
10 238 Stan Lewis  Defensive end Wayne State (NE)
11 265 Tom Marinelli  Guard Boston College
12 290 Dick Ambrose  Linebacker Virginia
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
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[3]

Personnel

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Staff / Coaches

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1975 Cleveland Browns staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special teams – Al Tabor
  • Film Coordinator – Ed Ulinski
  • Athletic Trainer – Leo Murphy



Roster

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1975 Cleveland Browns roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

rookies in italics

Exhibition schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 August 10 at San Francisco 49ers L 13–17 45,560
2 August 16 Philadelphia Eagles W 14–6 35,769
3 August 22 at Washington Redskins L 14–23 15,513
4 September 1 Buffalo Bills L 20–34 31,155
5 September 7 vs. New York Giants at Seattle W 24–20 20,000
6 September 13 Detroit Lions L 24–27 32,341

Schedule

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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 Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

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AFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Pittsburgh Steelers(1) 12 2 0 .857 6–0 10–1 373 162 L1
Cincinnati Bengals(4) 11 3 0 .786 3–3 8–3 340 246 W1
Houston Oilers 10 4 0 .714 2–4 7–4 293 226 W3
Cleveland Browns 3 11 0 .214 1–5 2–8 218 372 L1

Milestones

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  • Greg Pruitt, 304 Combined Net Yards vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, November 23,[4]

References

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  1. ^ Melody, Tom (October 19, 1975). "Broncos in No Mood To Be Busted: Unhappy Day Here Again for Browns". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. C8.
  2. ^ Caffrey, Jim (October 30, 1975). "1975 Browns Have Some Problem as Recent Colts: Too Much Newness". The Baltimore Sun. p. E1.
  3. ^ "1975 Cleveland Browns Draftees". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  4. ^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Co. p. 443. ISBN 0-7611-2480-2.
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