1976 Cleveland Browns season

1976 Cleveland Browns season
Head coach	Forrest Gregg
Owner	Art Modell
Home field	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Results
Record	9–5
Division place	3rd AFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1976 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 27th season with the National Football League. The Browns were coached by second year coach Forrest Gregg, and ended their season with a record of 9–5, being third in their division. The team's top draft choice was running back Mike Pruitt. Brian Sipe firmly took control at quarterback. Sipe had been inserted into the lineup after a Mike Phipps injury in the season-opening win against the New York Jets on September 12. After a 1–3 start brought visions of another disastrous year, the Browns jolted the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers with an 18–16 victory on October 10. Third-string quarterback Dave Mays helped lead the team to that victory, while defensive end Joe "Turkey" Jones' pile-driving sack of quarterback Terry Bradshaw fueled the heated rivalry between the two teams. That win was the first of eight in the next nine weeks, helping put the Browns in contention for the AFC playoffs. A loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season finale cost them a share of the division title, but running back Greg Pruitt continued his outstanding play by rushing for exactly 1000 yards, his second-straight four-digit season.

Offseason

NFL Draft

The following were selected in the 1976 NFL Draft.

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	7	Mike Pruitt	Running back	Purdue
3	65	Dave Logan	Wide receiver	Colorado
4	97	Gene Swick	Quarterback	Toledo
4	99	Mike St. Clair	Defensive end	Grambling
5	130	Henry Sheppard	Guard	SMU
7	189	Steve Cassidy	Defensive tackle	LSU
9	242	James Reed	Running back	Mississippi
9	261	Craig Nagel	Quarterback	Purdue
10	271	Doug Kleber	Offensive tackle	Illinois
11	297	Doug Celek	Defensive end	Kent State
13	354	Brian Murray	Offensive tackle	Arizona
14	381	Joe Smalzer	Tight end	Illinois
15	408	Luther Philyaw	Defensive back	Loyola(CA)
16	438	Chris Lorenzen	Defensive tackle	Arizona State
17	464	Tom Fleming	Wide receiver	Dartmouth

^[1]

Exhibition schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	July 31, 1976	vs. Baltimore Colts at Lincoln, Nebraska	L 21–0	20,304
2	August 7, 1976	vs. Atlanta Falcons at Stillwater, Oklahoma	W 31–7	24,227
3	August 16, 1976	Minnesota Vikings	W 31–7	44,336
4	August 23, 1976	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 21–17	20,600
5	August 30, 1976	New England Patriots	W 30–27	36,016
6	September 3, 1976	at Buffalo Bills	L 28–10	37,951

Regular season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Results		Stadium	Attendance^[2]
Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Record	Stadium	Attendance^[2]
1	September 12, 1976	New York Jets	W 38–17	1–0	Cleveland Stadium	67,496
2	September 19, 1976	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 14–31	1–1	Three Rivers Stadium	49,169
3	September 26, 1976	at Denver Broncos	L 13–44	1–2	Mile High Stadium	62,775
4	October 3, 1976	Cincinnati Bengals	L 24–45	1–3	Cleveland Stadium	75,817
5	October 10, 1976	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 18–16	2–3	Cleveland Stadium	76,411
6	October 17, 1976	at Atlanta Falcons	W 20–17	3–3	Atlanta Stadium	33,364
7	October 24, 1976	San Diego Chargers	W 21–17	4–3	Cleveland Stadium	60,018
8	October 31, 1976	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 6–21	4–4	Riverfront Stadium	54,776
9	November 7, 1976	at Houston Oilers	W 21–7	5–4	Astrodome	39,828
10	November 14, 1976	Philadelphia Eagles	W 24–3	6–4	Cleveland Stadium	62,120
11	November 21, 1976	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 24–7	7–4	Tampa Stadium	36,930
12	November 28, 1976	Miami Dolphins	W 17–13	8–4	Cleveland Stadium	74,715
13	December 5, 1976	Houston Oilers	W 13–10	9–4	Cleveland Stadium	56,025
14	December 12, 1976	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 14–39	9–5	Arrowhead Stadium	34,340

Standings

AFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers⁽³⁾	10	4	0	.714	5–1	9–3	342	138	W9
Cincinnati Bengals	10	4	0	.714	4–2	8–3	335	210	W1
Cleveland Browns	9	5	0	.643	3–3	6–5	267	287	L1
Houston Oilers	5	9	0	.357	0–6	3–9	222	273	L2

Roster

1976 Cleveland Browns roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

30 Cleo Miller FB
34 Greg Pruitt
35 Brian Duncan
38 Larry Poole
43 Mike Pruitt FB

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

81 Oscar Roan
84 Gary Parris

Offensive Linemen

54 Tom DeLeone C
61 Al Dennis G
63 Barry Darrow T
65 Henry Sheppard G
68 Robert E. Jackson G
69 Pete Adams G
73 Doug Dieken T
79 Gerry Sullivan T/C

Defensive Linemen

Linebackers

50 John Garlington OLB
52 Dick Ambrose ILB
55 Dave Graf ILB
59 Charlie Hall OLB
60 Bob Babich ILB
86 Gerald Irons OLB

Defensive Backs

20 Tony Peters CB/SS
21 Van Green CB/S
22 Clarence Scott CB
23 Bill Craven S
24 Terry Brown SS
27 Thom Darden FS
28 Ron Bolton CB
49 Neal Craig SS

Special Teams

12 Don Cockroft K/P

Rookies in italics

^[3]

Game summaries

Week 5

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	7	3	0	6	16
• Browns	3	3	9	3	18

Date: October 10
Location: Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
Game attendance: 76,411
Game weather: 48°F; wind 13

Scoring summary

Q1	CLE	Cockroft 43 yard field goal	CLE 3–0

Q1	PIT	Harris 1 yard run (Gerela kick)	PIT 7–3

Q2	CLE	Cockroft 28 yard field goal	PIT 7–6

Q2	PIT	Gerela 30 yard field goal	PIT 10–6

Q3	CLE	Miller 1 yard run (kick failed)	CLE 12–10

Q3	CLE	Cockroft 50 yard field goal	CLE 15–10

Q4	CLE	Cockroft 40 yard field goal	CLE 18–10

Q4	PIT	Kruczek 22 yard run (two-point conversion failed)	CLE 18–16

^[4]

Week 6: at Atlanta

Week 6: Cleveland Browns at Atlanta Falcons – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	14	0	6	0	20
Falcons	0	14	3	0	17

at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta

Date: October 17
Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Game weather: 57°F, relative humidity 78%, round (wind) 11 MPH
Game attendance: 33,364
TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph (play–by–play) and Floyd Little (color commentator)

Game information

First Quarter

CLE – Pruitt 1 yard rush (Cockroft kick)
Browns 7, Falcons 0
CLE – Miller 1 yard rush (Cockroft kick)
Browns 14, Falcons 0

Second Quarter

ATL – Bean 23 yard rush (Mike-Mayer kick)
Browns 14, Falcons 7
ATL – Gilliam 18 yard pass from McQuilken (Mike-Mayer kick)
Browns 14, Falcons 14

Third Quarter

ATL – Mike-Mayer 33 yard field goal
Falcons 17, Browns 14
CLE – Pruitt 2 yard rush (run failed)
Browns 20, Falcons 17

Fourth Quarter

No scoring

Top passers

CLE – Brian Sipe 12/18, 134 yds, 2 INT
ATL – Kim McQuilken 15/28, 180 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

Top rushers

CLE – Greg Pruitt 26 carr, 191 yds, 2 TD
ATL – Bubba Bean 14 carr, 54 yds, 1 TD

Top receivers

CLE – Paul Warfield 4 rec, 69 yds
ATL – Alfred Jenkins 6 rec, 74 yds

Turnovers

CLE – 3
ATL – 1

Notes and references

↑ "1976 NFL Draft Listing – Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
↑ "Cleveland Browns History – 1976.". Retrieved 2010-10-24.
↑ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/1976_roster.htm
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Dec-05.

Cleveland Browns

Founded in 1946 Based in Cleveland, Ohio Headquartered in Berea, Ohio

Franchise	History Players Head coaches Seasons Logos and uniforms First-round draft picks 1999 expansion draft

Stadiums	Cleveland Stadium FirstEnergy Stadium

Key personnel	Owners: Jimmy Haslam Dee Haslam President (de facto): Paul DePodesta General manager (de facto): Sashi Brown Head coach: Hue Jackson

Culture and lore	Art Modell Cleveland sports curse Dawg Pound Draft Day Hot Tub Time Machine Kardiac Kids Paul Brown Marty Ball Red Right 88 Relocation controversy "The Best Man" The Drive The Express The Fortune Cookie The Fumble

Rivalries	Cincinnati Bengals Pittsburgh Steelers

Playoff appearances (28)	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1957 1958 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1971 1972 1980 1982 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1994 2002

Division titles (12)	1946 1947 1948 1967 1968 1969 1971 1980 1985 1986 1987 1989

Conference titles (11)	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1957 1964 1965 1968 1969

League titles (8)	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1954 1955 1964

Retired numbers	14 32 45 46 76

Hall of Fame inductees	Players: Brown DeLamielleure Ford Gatski Graham Groza Hickerson Kelly Lavelli McCormack Mitchell Motley Newsome Warfield Willis Coach: Brown

Media	Broadcasters Radio network Flagships: WKNR WKRK-FM WNCX Television: WEWS-TV

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League (1950–present) Conference: American Football Conference Division: North Division

Former league affiliation	League: All-America Football Conference (1946–1949)

Seasons (67)	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

Cleveland Browns seasons

1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Bold indicates AAFC championship (through 1949) or NFL championship

1976 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Baltimore	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Buffalo	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	Los Angeles
Miami	Houston	Oakland	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Tampa Bay	Washington		Seattle

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