1977 Cleveland Browns season

1977 Cleveland Browns season
Head coach	Forrest Gregg Dick Modzelewski (interim)
Owner	Art Modell
Home field	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Results
Record	6–8–0
Division place	4th AFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1977 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 28th season with the National Football League. After a 6-4 start, the Browns lost their final four games of the season, to finish with a disappointing 6-8 record. With one game left in the season, head coach Forrest Gregg was fired and replaced by Dick Modzelewski.

Offseason

NFL Draft

The following were selected in the 1977 NFL Draft.

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	17	Robert L. Jackson	Linebacker	Texas A&M
2	46	Tom Skladany	Punter	Ohio State
4	102	Oliver Davis	Defensive back	Tennessee State
4	110	Mickey Sims	Defensive tackle	South Carolina State
7	173	Kenny Randle	Wide receiver	SMU
7	184	Blane Smith	Linebacker	Purdue
7	188	Bob Lingenfelter	Offensive tackle	Nebraska
8	213	Bill Armstrong	Defensive back	Wake Forest
9	240	Daryl Brown	Defensive back	Tufts
10	269	Tom Burkett	Offensive tackle	North Carolina
11	296	Charles Nash	Wide receiver	Arizona
12	325	Leo Tierney	Center	Georgia Tech

^[1]

Exhibition schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	August 8, 1977	Washington Redskins	L 16–14	32,554
2	August 13, 1977	at Minnesota Vikings	L 34–33	45,379
3	August 19, 1977	St. Louis Cardinals	W 19–10	31,308
4	August 25, 1977	Chicago Bears	W 14–7	36,598
5	September 3, 1977	at Green Bay Packers	W 19–14	53,180
6	September 9, 1977	at Detroit Lions	L 24–20	49,168

Regular season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 18, 1977	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 13–3	52,847
2	September 26, 1977	New England Patriots	W 30–27	76,418
3	October 2, 1977	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 28–14	80,588
4	October 9, 1977	Oakland Raiders	L 26–10	80,236
5	October 16, 1977	at Houston Oilers	W 24–23	47,888
6	October 23, 1977	at Buffalo Bills	W 27–16	60,905
7	October 30, 1977	Kansas City Chiefs	W 44–7	60,381
8	November 6, 1977	Cincinnati Bengals	L 10–7	81,932
9	November 13, 1977	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 35–31	47,055
10	November 20, 1977	at New York Giants	W 21–7	72,576
11	November 27, 1977	Los Angeles Rams	L 9–0	70,352
12	December 4, 1977	at San Diego Chargers	L 37–14	37,312
13	December 11, 1977	Houston Oilers	L 19–15	30,898
14	December 18, 1977	at Seattle Seahawks	L 20–19	61,583

Game summaries

Week 1

The 1977 season started with a league rival and an impressive win.

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Browns	3	10	0	0	13
Bengals	0	0	3	0	3

Date: September 18
Location: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati
Game start: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: 74°F • Wind 12

Scoring summary

1	CLE	Don Cockroft 41 yard field goal	Browns 3–0

2	CLE	Don Cockroft 25 yard field goal	Browns 6–0

2	CLE	Larry Poole 12 yard run (Don Cockroft kick)	Browns 13–0

3	CIN	Chris Bahr 25 yard field goal	Browns 13–3

^[2]

Week 2

The Cleveland Browns had not hosted nor been in a Monday Night Football game since the 1973 season, when they lost at home against the Miami Dolphins. The Cleveland Stadium was sold out that beautiful night along the lakefront and the crowd looked forward to a great game. Indeed, the game went into overtime, and with a little more than 10 minutes left in over time, Don Cockroft kicked a 35-yard field goal to end the game with a win for the Browns. Howard Cosell said that it was one of the most exciting finishes to a Monday Night Football game that he ever witnessed.

Standings

AFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers⁽³⁾	9	5	0	.643	4–2	7–5	283	243	W1
Houston Oilers	8	6	0	.571	3–3	6–6	299	230	W2
Cincinnati Bengals	8	6	0	.571	3–3	6–5	238	235	L1
Cleveland Browns	6	8	0	.429	2–4	5–7	269	267	L4

Roster

1977 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

33 Reggie Rucker
42 Paul Warfield
80 Lawrence Williams
83 Ricky Feacher
85 Dave Logan
90 Reggie Craig

Tight ends

81 Oscar Roan
84 Gary Parris

Offensive Linemen

54 Tom DeLeone C
62 Al Dennis G
63 Barry Darrow T
65 Henry Sheppard G
68 Robert E. Jackson G
73 Doug Dieken T
75 Bob Lingenfelter T
79 Gerry Sullivan T/C

Defensive Linemen

64 Joe Jones DE
66 Earl Edwards DT
70 Mack Mitchell DE
72 Jerry Sherk DT
74 Mike St. Clair DE
78 Mickey Sims DT

Linebackers

47 Ricky Jones
50 John Garlington OLB
52 Dick Ambrose ILB
55 Dave Graf
58 Mark Johnson OLB
59 Charlie Hall OLB
60 Bob Babich ILB
86 Gerald Irons OLB

Defensive backs

20 Tony Peters SS
21 Oliver Davis CB
22 Clarence Scott CB
25 Rolly Woolsey CB/PR
27 Thom Darden FS
28 Ron Bolton CB
48 Ken Ellis CB/S

Special Teams

Reserve Lists

8 Gary Marangi QB (Inactive)

Rookies in italics

^[3]

References

↑ "1977 NFL Draft Listing – Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
↑ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/1977_roster.htm

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

1977 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		Seattle	Washington	Tampa Bay

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