1976 Detroit Lions: 6-8-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-2-0 (148 points scored, 80 allowed) Road record: 1-6-0 (114 points scored, 140 allowed) Head Coaches: Rick Forzano (1-3-0), Tommy Hudspeth (5-5-0) 262 points scored (16th of 28 teams), 220 points allowed (10th) NFL Averages: 19.2 points/game (268.1 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: 201 356 2,140 (14) 5.06 20 12 516 2,213 (11) 4.3 9 4,353 (14) 33 Defense: 137 313 1,686 ( 2) 4.94 11 24 496 1,901 ( 9) 3.8 13 3,587 ( 3) 39
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 1 Benny Ricardo K 8 5'9 175 22 1 San Diego State 10 Ian Sunter K 3 6'1 215 23 1 None 11 Greg Landry QB 14 6'4 205 29 9 Massachusetts 12 Errol Mann K 6 6'0 205 35 9 North Dakota 14 Joe Reed QB 13 6'1 195 28 5 Mississippi State 16 Gary Danielson QB 1 6'2 195 25 1 Purdue 18 Herman Weaver P 14 6'4 210 27 7 Tennessee 20 Lem Barney DB 14 6'0 190 31 10 Jackson State 23 Levi Johnson DB 14 6'3 200 26 4 Texas A&I 24 Dexter Bussey RB 14 6'1 210 24 3 Texas-Arlington 25 Horace King RB 7 5'10 210 23 2 Georgia 26 Dick Jauron DB 6 6'0 190 26 4 Yale 27 Maurice Tyler DB 9 6'0 188 26 5 Morgan State 27 Reggie Pierson DB 4 5'11 185 23 1 Oklahoma State 28 James Hunter DB 13 6'3 195 22 R Grambling 29 Ben Davis DB 14 5'11 180 31 10 Defiance 30 Jim Hooks RB 1 5'11 225 26 4 Central Oklahoma 33 Bobby Thompson RB 14 5'11 195 29 2 Oklahoma 38 Lawrence Gaines RB 14 6'1 240 22 R Wyoming 39 Leonard Thompson WR 14 5'10 190 24 2 Oklahoma State 40 Charlie West DB 14 6'1 190 30 9 Texas-El Paso 41 J.D. Hill WR 1 6'1 185 28 6 Arizona State 43 Andy Bolton RB 7 6'1 205 22 R Fisk 44 Bob Picard WR 8 6'1 198 26 4 Eastern Washington 45 Ray Jarvis WR 14 5'11 190 27 6 Norfolk State 49 Larry Walton WR 14 6'0 185 29 7 Arizona State 50 Paul Naumoff LB 14 6'1 215 31 10 Tennessee 52 Jim Laslavic LB 12 6'2 240 25 4 Penn State 55 Ed O'Neil LB 14 6'3 235 24 3 Penn State 57 Garth Ten Napel LB 14 6'1 210 22 R Texas A&M 59 Charlie Weaver LB 14 6'2 225 27 6 Southern California 62 Lynn Boden OG 14 6'5 270 23 2 South Dakota State 63 Jon Morris C 14 6'4 250 34 13 Holy Cross 65 Ken Long OG 13 6'3 265 23 R Purdue 66 Bob Kowalkowski OG 14 6'3 245 32 11 Virginia 68 Mark Markovich C 14 6'5 255 23 3 Penn State 70 Billy Howard DE 13 6'4 255 26 3 Alcorn State 71 Craig Hertwig OT 14 6'8 270 24 2 Georgia 72 Ernie Price DE 14 6'4 245 26 4 Texas A&I 73 Russ Bolinger OT 12 6'5 265 22 R Long Beach State 74 Larry Hand DT 10 6'4 245 36 12 Appalachian State 75 Jim Yarbrough OT 11 6'6 265 30 8 Florida 76 Rocky Freitas OT 14 6'6 275 31 9 Oregon State 77 John Woodcock LB 14 6'3 240 22 R Hawaii 78 Doug English DT 7 6'5 245 23 2 Texas 79 Don Croft DT 1 6'3 258 27 4 Texas-El Paso 80 Herb Orvis DT 2 6'5 245 30 5 Colorado 81 David Hill TE 14 6'2 220 22 R Texas A&I 82 Ken Sanders DE 14 6'5 245 26 5 Howard Payne 83 Jim Mitchell DE 14 6'3 250 29 7 Prairie View A&M 88 Charlie Sanders TE 13 6'4 230 30 9 Minnesota 89 Dennis Franklin WR 5 6'1 185 23 2 Michigan
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Greg Landry 291 168 57.7 2,191 7.53 13.0 17 5.8 8 2.7 55 397 89.6 Joe Reed 62 32 51.6 425 6.85 13.3 3 4.8 3 4.8 12 93 69.6 Herman Weaver 2 1 50.0 14 7.00 14.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 72.9 David Hill 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0 0.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Ray Jarvis 39 822 21.1 5 Charlie Sanders 35 545 15.6 5 Dexter Bussey 28 218 7.8 0 Lawrence Gaines 23 130 5.7 1 Horace King 21 163 7.8 0 Larry Walton 20 293 14.7 3 David Hill 19 249 13.1 5 Bobby Thompson 10 108 10.8 0 Leonard Thompson 3 52 17.3 0 Ed O'Neil 1 32 32.0 1 Dennis Franklin 1 16 16.0 0 J.D. Hill 1 2 2.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Dexter Bussey 196 858 4.4 3 Lawrence Gaines 155 659 4.3 4 Horace King 93 325 3.5 0 Greg Landry 43 234 5.4 1 Joe Reed 11 63 5.7 1 Bobby Thompson 13 42 3.2 0 Andy Bolton 2 27 13.5 0 Larry Walton 1 5 5.0 0 Leonard Thompson 1 0 0.0 0 Herman Weaver 1 0 0.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Bobby Thompson 22 431 19.6 0 James Hunter 14 375 26.8 0 Leonard Thompson 5 86 17.2 0 Horace King 3 63 21.0 0 Ken Long 2 18 9.0 0 Dexter Bussey 1 14 14.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Lem Barney 23 191 8.3 22 0 James Hunter 4 7 1.8 0 0 Charlie West 3 9 3.0 2 0 Garth Ten Napel 1 0 0.0 0 0 |
1976 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 10 DB James Hunter 86 Grambling [pick acquired from CHI] 1 16 RB Lawrence Gaines 43 Wyoming 2 44 OG Ken Long 13 Purdue 2 46 TE David Hill 176 Texas A&I [pick acquired from WAS via SD] 3 68 OT Russ Bolinger 121 Long Beach State [pick acquired from CHI] 3 76 DT John Woodcock 70 Hawaii 5 145 LB Steadman Scavella Miami [pick acquired from MIA] 7 198 LB Garth Ten Napel 29 Texas A&M 8 217 K Rich Sorenson Cal State-Chico [pick acquired from PHI via NE] 8 225 DB Charles Braswell West Virginia 9 253 TE Leanell Jones Long Beach State 10 279 DB Bill Bowerman New Mexico State 11 307 DE Gary Shugrue Villanova 12 335 C Mike McCabe South Carolina 13 363 WR Mel Jacobs San Diego State 14 391 WR Leonard Elston Kentucky State 15 419 WR Trent Smock Indiana 16 447 LB Craig McCurdy William & Mary 17 475 DB Jim Meeks Boise State
Traded draft picks: #4 to CHI via MIA (Wayne Rhodes), #5 to SF (Tony Leonard), #6 to NE (Greg Boyd)
Transactions:
| 03-30-1976 | Buccaneers selected Larry Ball in expansion draft |
| 03-30-1976 | Seahawks selected Gordon Jolley in expansion draft |
| 03-30-1976 | Seahawks selected John McMakin in expansion draft |
| 04-08-1976 | traded Green Bay's #1 pick in the 1976 draft to Bears for Chicago's #1 and #3 picks in the 1976 draft |
| 07-22-1976 | traded Detroit's #1 pick in the 1977 draft to Bills for J.D. Hill |
| 07-22-1976 | traded Guy Dennis and Detroit's #6 pick in the 1977 draft to Chargers for Mark Markovich |
| 08-03-1976 | Buccaneers claimed Steadman Scavella on waivers |
| 08-25-1976 | traded Leanell Jones to Chargers for $200 cash |
| 08-25-1976 | Steve Owens retired |
| 08-25-1976 | traded Altie Taylor to Oilers for two undisclosed draft picks |
| 09-06-1976 | traded Marlin Briscoe to Patriots for Minnesota's #6 pick in the 1977 draft |
| 09-06-1976 | traded Bill Munson to Seahawks for Seattle's #5 pick in the 1977 draft |
1976 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/12/76 at Chicago Bears L 3-10 0-1-0 09/19/76 vs Atlanta Falcons W 24-10 1-1-0 09/26/76 vs Minnesota Vikings L 9-10 1-2-0 10/03/76 at Green Bay Packers L 14-24 1-3-0 10/10/76 vs New England Patriots W 30-10 2-3-0 10/17/76 at Washington Redskins L 7-20 2-4-0 10/24/76 at Seattle Seahawks W 41-14 3-4-0 10/31/76 vs Green Bay Packers W 27-6 4-4-0 11/07/76 at Minnesota Vikings L 23-31 4-5-0 11/14/76 at New Orleans Saints L 16-17 4-6-0 11/21/76 vs Chicago Bears W 14-10 5-6-0 11/25/76 vs Buffalo Bills W 27-14 6-6-0 12/05/76 at New York Giants L 10-24 6-7-0 12/11/76 vs Los Angeles Rams L 17-20 6-8-0