1975 Cleveland Browns season

rdf:langString 1975 Cleveland Browns season

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rdf:langString * Head Coaches – Forrest Gregg

rdf:langString Signed with Edmonton Eskimos

rdf:langString Signed with Calgary Stampeders

rdf:langString Signed with Southern California Sun

rdf:langString Willie Moore

rdf:langString Jim Cope

rdf:langString Barry Santini

rdf:langString Floyd Hogan

rdf:langString John Zimba

rdf:langString Merle Wang

rdf:langString Stan Lewis

rdf:langString Tim Barrett

rdf:langString Tom Marinelli

rdf:langString Linebacker

rdf:langString Running back

rdf:langString Defensive back

rdf:langString Defensive end

rdf:langString Wide receiver

rdf:langString Tight end

rdf:langString Cleveland Browns

rdf:langString Cleveland Browns

rdf:langString Browns seasons

rdf:langString None

rdf:langString Did not qualify

rdf:langString * Defensive Coordinator - Dick Modzelewski * Linebackers – Walt Corey * Secondary / Defensive Backs – Richie McCabe

rdf:langString * Owner and President – Art Modell * Executive Vice President/General Manager – Harold Sauerbrai

rdf:langString * Quarterbacks - Blanton Collier * Running Backs – George Sefcik * Wide Receivers – Doug Gerhart * Offensive line – Rod Humenuik

rdf:langString 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 quarterback 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.

rdf:langString * Special Teams – Al Tabor * Film Coordinator - Ed Ulinski * Athletic Trainer - Leo Murphy