1979 Cleveland Browns season

1979 Cleveland Browns season
Head coach	Sam Rutigliano
Owner	Art Modell
Home field	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Results
Record	9–7–0
Division place	3rd AFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1979 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 30th season with the National Football League.

Season summary

In a season which could be titled "The Birth of The Kardiac Kids" the Browns, who finished 9–7, nearly made the playoffs while involved in a number of close games. They won their first three contests, all by three points, over the New York Jets in overtime 25–22, Kansas City Chiefs 27–24 and Baltimore Colts 13–10. They lost to the Washington Redskins by four points, 13–9, midway through the season, then beat the Cincinnati Bengals by one, 28–27, the following Sunday and the Philadelphia Eagles by five, 24–19, two weeks later. The Browns proceeded to lose to the Seattle Seahawks by five points, 29–24, beat the Miami Dolphins by six, 30–24, in overtime and lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers by three, 33–30, again in OT. That was the last of the Browns three overtime games that season. Then came a virtual "blowout" – a seven-point victory over the Houston Oilers, 14–7 – followed by two "one-sided" losses, by five points to the Oakland Raiders, 19–14, and by four to the Bengals, 16–12, to end the year. Add it all up, and 12 of the Browns' 16 games were decided by seven points or less. The club went just 7–5 in those games, though, which was the difference in that season from 1980, when the Browns were 10–2 in 12 contests decided by seven points or less.

How tight was the 1979 season overall for the Browns? So much so that they outscored their foes by just seven points all year. The Browns moved to 4–0 – their fastest start since 1963 – by stunning heavily favored Dallas 26–7 on Monday Night Football. The Browns gave up 51 points at home to the Steelers, who would go on to win their second straight Super Bowl and fourth in six years, yet scored 35 on the vaunted Steel Curtain defense and lost by 16. The game was shown on national TV, but NBC cut away to another contest, leaving only the Pittsburgh and Cleveland markets watching, after the Steelers vaulted to a 27–0 lead.

RB Mike Pruitt rushed for 1,294 yards and nine TDs, while wideout Dave Logan led the team in catches with 59 and missed getting 1,000 receiving yards by just 18. Logan, TE Ozzie Newsome and veteran WR Reggie Rucker combined for 22 TD catches.

Offseason

NFL Draft

The following were selected in the 1979 NFL Draft.

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	20	Willis Adams	Wide receiver	Houston
2	40	Lawrence Johnson	Defensive back	Wisconsin
2	47	Sam Claphan	Offensive tackle	Oklahoma
3	70	Jim Ramey	Defensive end	Kentucky
4	95	Matt Miller	Offensive tackle	Colorado
5	124	Rich Dimler	Defensive tackle	USC
6	151	Clinton Burrell	Defensive back	LSU
6	163	Jim Ronan	Defensive tackle	Minnesota
7	183	Cody Risien	Offensive tackle	Texas A&M
8	204	Kent Perkov	Defensive end	San Diego State
9	234	Carl McGee	Linebacker	Duke
9	241	Curtis Weathers	Linebacker	Mississippi
10	261	John Henry Smith	Wide receiver	Tennessee State
11	287	Randy Poeschl	Defensive end	Nebraska
12	315	Dee Methvin	Center	Tulane

^[1]

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 2, 1979	at New York Jets	W 25–22	48,272
2	September 9, 1979	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 27–24	42,181
3	September 16, 1979	Baltimore Colts	W 13–10	72,070
4	September 24, 1979	Dallas Cowboys	W 26–7	80,123
5	September 30, 1979	at Houston Oilers	L 31–10	48,915
6	October 7, 1979	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 51–35	81,260
7	October 14, 1979	Washington Redskins	L 13–9	63,323
8	October 21, 1979	Cincinnati Bengals	W 28–27	75,119
9	October 28, 1979	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 38–20	47,845
10	November 4, 1979	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 24–19	69,019
11	November 11, 1979	Seattle Seahawks	L 29–24	72,440
12	November 18, 1979	Miami Dolphins	W 30–24	80,374
13	November 25, 1979	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 33–30	49,112
14	December 2, 1979	Houston Oilers	W 14–7	69,112
15	December 9, 1979	at Oakland Raiders	L 19–14	52,641
16	December 16, 1979	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 16–12	42,183

Standings

AFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers⁽²⁾	12	4	0	.750	4–2	9–3	416	262	W1
Houston Oilers⁽⁴⁾	11	5	0	.688	4–2	9–3	362	331	L1
Cleveland Browns	9	7	0	.563	2–4	6–6	359	352	L2
Cincinnati Bengals	4	12	0	.250	2–4	2–10	337	421	W1

Roster

1979 Cleveland Browns roster

Quarterbacks

15 Mark Miller
17 Brian Sipe

Running backs

Wide receivers

33 Reggie Rucker
80 Willis Adams
83 Ricky Feacher
85 Dave Logan
88 John H. Smith
89 Keith Wright KR/PR

Tight ends

82 Ozzie Newsome
87 Curtis Weathers LB

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

72 Jerry Sherk DT
74 Mike St. Clair DT
77 Lyle Alzado DE
78 Mickey Sims DT
81 Jack Gregory DE
91 Henry Bradley DT
92 Rich Dimler DT

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special Teams

8 Johnny Evans P/QB
12 Don Cockroft K
26 Dino Hall KR

Rookies in italics

Awards and records

Brian Sipe, NFL Leader, Touchdown Passes (28), Tied with another player

References

↑ "1979 NFL Draft Listing – Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-07-23.

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

1979 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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