1976 Cleveland Browns season
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox NFL team season The 1976 Cleveland Browns season was the franchise's 31st as a professional sports franchise and their 27th season as a member of 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 1,000 yards, his second-straight 1,000-yard season.
Offseason
1976 expansion draft
| style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Round | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Overall | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Name | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Position | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Expansion team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | Carl Barisich | Defensive tackle | Seattle Seahawks |
| 0 | 0 | John Demarie | Guard | Seattle Seahawks |
| 0 | 0 | J. K. McKay | Wide receiver | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
NFL draft
The following were selected in the 1976 NFL draft.
| Round | Selection | Player | Position | College | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Marymount | |
| 16 | 438 | Chris Lorenzen | Defensive tackle | Arizona State | |
| 17 | 464 | Tom Fleming | Wide receiver | Dartmouth |
Staff / Coaches
Roster
Exhibition schedule
| style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Dow tooltip | vs. Baltimore Colts | L 0–21 | 0–1 | Memorial Stadium (Lincoln) | 20,304 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Recap |
| 2 | Template:Dow tooltip | vs. Atlanta Falcons | W 31–7 | 1–1 | Lewis Field | 24,227 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Recap |
| 3 | Template:Dow tooltip | Minnesota Vikings | W 31–7 | 2–1 | Cleveland Stadium | 44,336 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Recap |
| 4 | Template:Dow tooltip | at Philadelphia Eagles | W 21–17 | 3–1 | Veterans Stadium | 20,600 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Recap |
| 5 | Template:Dow tooltip | New England Patriots | W 30–27 | 4–1 | Cleveland Stadium | 36,016 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Recap |
| 6 | Template:Dow tooltip | at Buffalo Bills | L 10–28 | 4–2 | Rich Stadium | 37,951 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Recap |
Regular season schedule
| style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance | style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 12 | New York Jets | W 38–17 | 1–0 | Cleveland Stadium | 67,496 | Recap |
| 2 | September 19 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 14–31 | 1–1 | Three Rivers Stadium | 49,169 | Recap |
| 3 | September 26 | at Denver Broncos | L 13–44 | 1–2 | Mile High Stadium | 62,775 | Recap |
| 4 | October 3 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 24–45 | 1–3 | Cleveland Stadium | 75,817 | Recap |
| 5 | October 10 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 18–16 | 2–3 | Cleveland Stadium | 76,411 | Recap |
| 6 | October 17 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 20–17 | 3–3 | Atlanta Stadium | 33,364 | Recap |
| 7 | October 24 | San Diego Chargers | W 21–17 | 4–3 | Cleveland Stadium | 60,018 | Recap |
| 8 | October 31 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 6–21 | 4–4 | Riverfront Stadium | 54,776 | Recap |
| 9 | November 7 | at Houston Oilers | W 21–7 | 5–4 | Astrodome | 39,828 | Recap |
| 10 | November 14 | Philadelphia Eagles | W 24–3 | 6–4 | Cleveland Stadium | 62,120 | Recap |
| 11 | November 21 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 24–7 | 7–4 | Tampa Stadium | 36,930 | Recap |
| 12 | November 28 | Miami Dolphins | W 17–13 | 8–4 | Cleveland Stadium | 74,715 | Recap |
| 13 | December 5 | Houston Oilers | W 13–10 | 9–4 | Cleveland Stadium | 56,025 | Recap |
| 14 | December 12 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 14–39 | 9–5 | Arrowhead Stadium | 34,340 | Recap |
| colspan="8" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"|Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |
Standings
Template:1976 AFC Central standings
Game summaries
Week 5 vs Steelers
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steelers | 7 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 16 |
| Browns | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 18 |
at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
- Date: October 10, 1976
- Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
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- Game attendance: 76,411
- Referee: Bernie Ulman
- TV: NBC
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Turkey Jones knocked out Terry Bradshaw in this contest.
Week 6: at Atlanta
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
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- Game attendance: 33,364
- TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph (play–by–play) and Floyd Little (color commentator)
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Notes and references
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External links
- 1976 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference
- 1976 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com
- 1976 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com
- 1976 Cleveland BrownsTemplate:Category handler[<span title="Script error: No such module "string".">usurped]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". at DatabaseFootball.com
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