The 1977 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 28th season with the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
. 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
Alvis Forrest Gregg (October 18, 1933 – April 12, 2019) was an American professional American football, football player and coach. A Pro Football Hall of Fame Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle for 16 seasons in the Nationa ...
was fired and replaced by
Dick Modzelewski
Richard Blair Modzelewski (February 16, 1931 – October 19, 2018) was an American football defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, and the Cleveland Browns. He al ...
.
Offseason
NFL Draft
The following were selected in the
1977 NFL Draft
The 1977 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977, at the Roosevelt Hotel ...
.
Personnel
Staff / Coaches
Roster
Preseason
Schedule
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1
The 1977 season started with a league rival and an impressive win.
Week 2
The Cleveland Browns had not hosted nor been in a
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...
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
Howard is an English language, English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (disambiguation), Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defe ...
said that it was one of the most exciting finishes to a Monday Night Football game that he ever witnessed.
Week 3 vs Steelers
Week 5
The Browns beat the Oilers 24-23 on another Cockroft last-second field goal.
Toni Fritsch
Anton K. "Toni" Fritsch (10 July 1945 – 14 September 2005) was an Austrian footballer who later started a successful career in American football in the United States. He is distinguished as being the first Austrian to play in the National Footba ...
kicks a 37-yarder with 4:28 left to give Houston a 23-21 lead, but running back
Greg Pruitt
Gregory Donald Pruitt (born August 18, 1951) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 through 1984. He was selected to five Pro Bowls, four as a member of the Cleveland Browns and one as a member o ...
leads the Browns on their final scoring drive with three runs and a 13-yard third-down completion to
. Cockroft's six points lift him past
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...
to the no. 2 spot (behind
Lou Groza
Louis Roy Groza (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000), nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional football player who was a placekicker and offensive tackle while playing his entire career for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America F ...
) on the Browns' all-time scoring list.
Week 7
Scoring their most points in 9 years, the Browns broke a team record with 34 first downs while rolling up 526 yards (322 rushing) in a rout over the Kansas City Chiefs 44-7. Greg Pruitt rushed for 153 yards. Brian Sipe threw for 200 yards and tight end Gary Parris caught two touchdown passes.
Standings
References
External links
1977 Cleveland Brownsat Pro Football Reference
1977 Cleveland Browns Statisticsat jt-sw.com
1977 Cleveland Browns Scheduleat jt-sw.com
at DatabaseFootball.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1977 Cleveland Browns Season
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
Cleveland Browns seasons
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...