1979 Cleveland Browns: 9-7-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (179 points scored, 168 allowed) Road record: 4-4-0 (180 points scored, 184 allowed) Head Coach: Sam Rutigliano 359 points scored (9th of 28 teams), 352 points allowed (20th) NFL Averages: 20.1 points/game (321.0 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 289 545 3,491 ( 6) 5.94 28 27 504 2,281 (14) 4.5 16 5,772 ( 3) 44 Defense: 271 468 3,046 (19) 6.10 14 16 577 2,604 (27) 4.5 25 5,650 (24) 32
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 8 Johnny Evans P 16 6'1 197 23 2 North Carolina State 12 Don Cockroft K 16 6'1 195 34 12 Adams State 15 Mark Miller QB 2 6'2 176 23 2 Bowling Green 17 Brian Sipe QB 16 6'1 195 30 6 San Diego State 21 Oliver Davis DB 16 6'1 205 25 3 Tennessee State 22 Clarence Scott DB 16 6'0 190 30 9 Kansas State 24 Randy Rich DB 16 5'10 181 25 3 New Mexico 25 Pat Moriarty RB 16 6'0 195 24 1 Georgia Tech 26 Dino Hall RB 11 5'7 165 23 1 Rowan 27 Thom Darden DB 16 6'2 193 29 7 Michigan 28 Ron Bolton DB 16 6'2 170 29 8 Norfolk State 30 Cleo Miller RB 16 5'11 214 27 6 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 33 Reggie Rucker WR 16 6'2 190 32 10 Boston University 34 Greg Pruitt RB 6 5'10 190 28 7 Oklahoma 35 Calvin Hill RB 14 6'3 227 32 11 Yale 43 Mike Pruitt RB 16 6'0 225 25 4 Purdue 47 Ricky Jones DB 16 6'1 215 24 3 Tuskegee 48 Lawrence Johnson DB 16 5'11 204 22 R Wisconsin 49 Clinton Burrell DB 16 6'2 192 23 R Louisiana State 52 Dick Ambrose LB 15 6'0 235 26 5 Virginia 54 Tom DeLeone C 16 6'2 248 29 8 Ohio State 55 Dave Graf LB 16 6'2 221 26 5 Penn State 56 Robert Jackson LB 16 6'1 230 25 2 Texas A&M 57 Clay Matthews LB 16 6'2 230 23 2 Southern California 59 Charlie Hall LB 16 6'3 235 30 9 Houston 63 Cody Risien OG 16 6'7 255 22 R Texas A&M 64 George Buehler OG 11 6'2 270 32 11 Stanford 65 Henry Sheppard OT 16 6'6 263 26 4 Southern Methodist 68 Robert Jackson OG 16 6'5 260 26 5 Duke 72 Jerry Sherk DT 10 6'4 250 31 10 Oklahoma State 73 Doug Dieken OT 16 6'5 252 30 9 Illinois 74 Mike St. Clair DE 16 6'5 253 26 4 Grambling 77 Lyle Alzado DE 15 6'3 250 30 9 Yankton 77 Matt Miller OT 16 6'6 270 23 R Colorado 78 Mickey Sims DT 16 6'5 270 24 3 South Carolina State 79 Gerry Sullivan C 16 6'4 250 27 6 Illinois 80 Willis Adams WR 16 6'2 194 23 R Houston 81 Jack Gregory DE 16 6'6 255 35 13 Delta State 82 Ozzie Newsome TE 16 6'2 232 23 2 Alabama 83 Ricky Feacher WR 16 5'10 174 25 4 Mississippi Valley State 85 Dave Logan WR 16 6'4 216 25 4 Colorado 86 Gerald Irons LB 16 6'2 230 32 10 Maryland Eastern Shore 87 Curtis Weathers TE 16 6'5 220 23 R Mississippi 88 John Smith WR 6 6'0 175 23 R Tennessee State 89 Keith Wright WR 5 5'10 175 23 2 Memphis 91 Henry Bradley DT 5 6'2 265 26 1 Alcorn State 92 Rich Dimler DT 12 6'6 260 23 R Southern California
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Brian Sipe 535 286 53.5 3,793 7.09 13.3 28 5.2 26 4.9 43 347 73.4 Mark Miller 8 2 25.0 31 3.88 15.5 0 0.0 1 12.5 0 0 3.6 Johnny Evans 2 1 50.0 14 7.00 14.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 72.9
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Dave Logan 59 982 16.6 7 Ozzie Newsome 55 781 14.2 9 Reggie Rucker 43 749 17.4 6 Mike Pruitt 41 372 9.1 2 Calvin Hill 38 381 10.0 2 Cleo Miller 26 251 9.7 0 Greg Pruitt 14 155 11.1 1 Ricky Feacher 7 103 14.7 1 Dino Hall 2 14 7.0 0 Pat Moriarty 1 17 17.0 0 Curtis Weathers 1 14 14.0 0 Keith Wright 1 13 13.0 0 Willis Adams 1 6 6.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Mike Pruitt 264 1,294 4.9 9 Greg Pruitt 62 233 3.8 0 Cleo Miller 39 213 5.5 1 Calvin Hill 53 193 3.6 1 Brian Sipe 45 178 4.0 2 Dino Hall 22 152 6.9 1 Pat Moriarty 14 11 0.8 2 Ozzie Newsome 1 6 6.0 0 Willis Adams 2 4 2.0 0 Ricky Feacher 1 -1 -1.0 0 Mark Miller 1 -2 -2.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Dino Hall 50 1,014 20.3 0 Keith Wright 15 402 26.8 0 Ricky Feacher 2 51 25.5 0 Randy Rich 2 10 5.0 0 Greg Pruitt 1 22 22.0 0 Robert Jackson 1 18 18.0 0 Cleo Miller 1 14 14.0 0 Matt Miller 1 0 0.0 0 Curtis Weathers 1 0 0.0 0 Pat Moriarty 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Dino Hall 29 295 10.2 5 0 Keith Wright 12 50 4.2 6 0 Clinton Burrell 0 0 ? 2 0 Ozzie Newsome 0 0 ? 1 0 |
1979 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 20 WR Willis Adams 75 Houston [pick acquired from SD] 2 40 DB Lawrence Johnson 96 Wisconsin 2 47 OT Sam Claphan 87 Oklahoma [pick acquired from SD] 3 70 DE Jim Ramey 10 Kentucky 4 95 OT Matt Miller 41 Colorado 5 124 DT Rich Dimler 15 USC [pick acquired from WAS via LA] 6 151 DB Clinton Burrell 67 LSU 6 163 DT Jim Ronan Minnesota [pick acquired from LA] 7 183 OT Cody Risien 146 Texas A&M [pick acquired from OAK] 8 204 DE Kent Perkov San Diego State 9 234 LB Carl McGee 6 Duke 9 241 TE Curtis Weathers 94 Mississippi [pick acquired from OAK] 10 261 WR John Smith 6 Tennessee State 11 287 DE Randy Poeschl Nebraska 12 315 C Dewitt Methvin Tulane [pick acquired from WAS]
Traded draft picks: #1 to SD (Kellen Winslow), #5 to LA (Victor Hicks), #7 to PHI (Don Swafford), #12 to OAK (Dirk Abernathy)
Transactions:
| 01-1979 | traded Detroit's #7 pick and Cleveland's #12 pick in the 1979 draft to Raiders for Oakland's #7 and #9 picks in the 1979 draft |
| 01-1979 | traded Joe Jones to Redskins for Washington's #12 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 05-03-1979 | traded Cleveland's #1 pick in the 1979 draft to Chargers for San Diego's #1 and #2 picks in the 1979 draft |
| 05-30-1979 | traded Oscar Roan and Cleveland's #5 pick in the 1979 draft to Rams for Washington's #5 pick and Los Angeles' #6 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-01-1979 | traded Cleveland's #7 pick in the 1980 draft to Giants for Jack Gregory |
| 08-10-1979 | traded Cleveland's #6 pick in the 1980 draft to Chargers for Rickey Anderson |
| 08-12-1979 | traded Cleveland's #2 pick and San Diego's #5 pick in the 1980 draft, and Cleveland's #3 pick in the 1981 draft to Broncos for Lyle Alzado |
| 08-14-1979 | placed Jon Bradford on injured reserve |
| 08-14-1979 | placed Larry Collins on injured reserve |
| 08-17-1979 | traded Tony Peters to Redskins for San Diego's #5 pick in the 1980 draft (?), Washington's #4 pick in the 1981 draft and a #10 pick in the 1981 draft |
| 08-27-1979 | placed Rickey Anderson on injured reserve |
| 08-27-1979 | placed Sam Claphan on injured reserve |
| 08-28-1979 | Bengals claimed Mack Mitchell on waivers |
1979 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/02/79 at New York Jets W 25-22 (OT) 1-0-0 09/09/79 at Kansas City Chiefs W 27-24 2-0-0 09/16/79 vs Baltimore Colts W 13-10 3-0-0 09/24/79 vs Dallas Cowboys W 26-7 4-0-0 09/30/79 at Houston Oilers L 10-31 4-1-0 10/07/79 vs Pittsburgh Steelers L 35-51 4-2-0 10/14/79 vs Washington Redskins L 9-13 4-3-0 10/21/79 vs Cincinnati Bengals W 28-27 5-3-0 10/28/79 at St. Louis Cardinals W 38-20 6-3-0 11/04/79 at Philadelphia Eagles W 24-19 7-3-0 11/11/79 vs Seattle Seahawks L 24-29 7-4-0 11/18/79 vs Miami Dolphins W 30-24 (OT) 8-4-0 11/25/79 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 30-33 (OT) 8-5-0 12/02/79 vs Houston Oilers W 14-7 9-5-0 12/09/79 at Oakland Raiders L 14-19 9-6-0 12/16/79 at Cincinnati Bengals L 12-16 9-7-0