1975 Cleveland Browns season

1975 Cleveland Browns season
Owner	Art Modell
Head coach	Forrest Gregg
Home field	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Local radio	WHK
Results
Record	3–11–0
Division place	4th AFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify

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've 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. After 1974, the Browns were hoping that '75, in 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 didn't 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 QB job in what became a major quarterback controversy.

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 in '75 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.

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	5	Mack Mitchell	Defensive end	Houston
3	57	Oscar Roan	Tight end	SMU
4	82	Tony Peters	Cornerback	Oklahoma
5	109	John Zimba	Defensive end	Villanova
5	119	Jim Cope	Linebacker	Ohio State
6	150	Charles Miller	Cornerback	West Virginia
6	154	Henry Hynoski	Running back	Temple
7	161	Merle Wang	Offensive tackle	TCU
8	186	Barry Santini	Tight end	Purdue
9	213	Larry Poole	Running back	Kent State
9	215	Floyd Hogan	Safety	Arkansas
10	238	Stan Lewis	Defensive end	Wayne
11	265	Tom Marinelli	Guard	Boston College
12	290	Dick Ambrose	Linebacker	Virginia
13	317	Willie Armstead	Wide receiver	Utah
14	341	Tim Barrett	Running back	John Carroll
15	369	Willie Moore	Defensive tackle	Johnson C. Smith
16	394	J.K. McKay	Wide receiver	USC
17	421	Dave Graf	Linebacker	Penn State

Exhibition schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	August 10, 1975	at San Francisco 49ers	L 17–13	45,560
2	August 16, 1975	Philadelphia Eagles	W 14–6	35,769
3	August 22, 1975	at Washington Redskins	L 23–14	15,513
4	September 1, 1975	Buffalo Bills	L 34–20	31,155
5	September 7, 1975	vs. New York Giants at Seattle	W 24–20	20,000
6	September 13, 1975	Detroit Lions	L 27–24	32,341

Regular season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 21, 1975	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 24–17	52,874
2	September 28, 1975	Minnesota Vikings	L 42–10	68,064
3	October 5, 1975	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 42–6	73,595
4	October 12, 1975	Houston Oilers	L 40–10	46,531
5	October 19, 1975	at Denver Broncos	L 16–15	52,590
6	October 26, 1975	Washington Redskins	L 23–7	56,702
7	November 2, 1975	at Baltimore Colts	L 21–7	35,235
8	November 9, 1975	at Detroit Lions	L 21–10	75,283
9	November 16, 1975	at Oakland Raiders	L 38–17	50,461
10	November 23, 1975	Cincinnati Bengals	W 35–23	56,427
11	November 30, 1975	New Orleans Saints	W 17–16	44,753
12	December 7, 1975	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 31–17	47,962
13	December 14, 1975	Kansas City Chiefs	W 40–14	44,368
14	December 21, 1975	at Houston Oilers	L 21–10	43,770

Standings

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

Roster

1975 Cleveland Browns roster
Quarterbacks 15 Mike Phipps 16 Will Cureton 17 Brian Sipe Running backs 30 Ken Brown 31 Cleo Miller 34 Greg Pruitt KR/PR 36 Henry Hynoski 37 Hugh McKinnis FB 38 Larry Poole 39 Billy Pritchett FB Wide receivers 26 Billy Lefear KR 33 Reggie Rucker 80 Willie Miller PR 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 E. Jackson G 73 Doug Dieken T 78 Bob McKay T 79 Gerry Sullivan T/C Defensive Linemen 64 Joe Jones DE 70 Mack Mitchell DE 71 Walter Johnson DT 72 Jerry Sherk DT 74 Carl Barisich DT 75 Stan Lewis DE 77 Ron East DE		Linebackers 50 John Garlington OLB 52 Dick Ambrose MLB 55 Dave Graf MLB 56 Jack LeVeck 59 Charlie Hall OLB 60 Bob Babich Defensive backs 20 Tony Peters CB 21 Van Green SS 22 Clarence Scott CB 24 Pete Athas CB/S 28 Eddie Brown S 42 Neal Craig FS 48 John Pitts S 49 Jim Hill S Special Teams 12 Don Cockroft K/P		Reserve Lists 27 Thom Darden FS (IR) Rookies in italics Jack Jorgensen UCLA

Awards and records

Milestones

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

External links

• Season summary and statistics at Cleveland Browns.com