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1966 Cleveland Browns season
General managerHarold Sauerbrei
Head coachBlanton Collier
Home fieldCleveland Stadium
Local radioWERE
Results
Record9–5
Division placeT–2nd NFL Eastern
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersLB Johnny Brewer, FL Gary Collins, FB Ernie Green, RG Gene Hickerson, HB Leroy Kelly, QB Frank Ryan, LT Dick Schafrath, LG John Wooten
AP All-ProsHB Leroy Kelly

The 1966 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 17th season with the National Football League. They finished just 9–5, their worst record since 1962, and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1963.

Season summary

Save for a devastating 16–6 upset loss to a Pittsburgh Steelers team that would finish just 5–8–1, the Browns offense scored points in bunches. In later years, Browns players from that era said the 1966 team had the best offense—even better than the one in 1964, when the club won the NFL championship—and there's evidence to support that contention. The flurry of points started in the opener when the Browns blew out the Washington Redskins 38–14. It continued in a stretch of five straight games in which they lost 34–28 to the St. Louis Cardinals, beat the New York Giants 28–7, routed the Steelers 41–10, turned back the Dallas Cowboys 30–21 and crushed the expansion Atlanta Falcons 49–17.

Then, as they were finishing the season, the Browns outscored the Giants 49–40 and walloped the Cardinals 38–10.

The Browns scored 403 points in all, averaging a healthy 28.8 per contest. Even in the game that eventually did in their playoff chances—a 33–21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the next-to-last week—they were able to score a decent number of points. Quarterback Frank Ryan was as good – or better – than he was in any of his previous three seasons as the full-time starter, including 1964, when he helped lead the Browns to the NFL championship. He threw for a career-high 2,974 yards and had better than a 2-to-1 ratio of touchdown passes (29) to interceptions (14). He also posted his second-best quarterback rating at 88.2.

NFL draft

The following were selected in the 1966 NFL draft.

1966 Cleveland Browns Draft
Round Selection Player Position College Notes
1 14 Milt Morin Tight End Massachusetts
2 29 Rick Norton Quarterback Kentucky
4 61 Pete Duranko Defensive End Notre Dame
5 74 Randy Schultz Running Back Northern Iowa
5 78 Dan Fulford End Auburn
6 90 Jim Battle Tackle Saginaw Valley
6 93 Fred Hoaglin Center Pittsburgh
7 109 Leroy Carter Flanker Grambling
8 123 Tom Talaga End Notre Dame
9 139 Jack Gregory Defensive End Delta St.
10 153 Monte Ledbetter Wide Receiver Northwestern St. (LA)
11 169 Tony Fire Tackle Bowling Green
11 183 Rich Czap Tackle Nebraska
13 199 Jim Boudreaux Tackle Louisiana Tech
14 213 Pete Lammons Tight End Texas
15 229 Bob Ellis Defensive End Massachusetts
16 243 David Ray Kicker Alabama
17 259 Gene Modzelewski Tackle New Mexico St.
18 273 Charley Harraway Running Back San Jose St.
19 289 Karl Singer Tackle Purdue
20 303 Joe Petro Defensive Back Temple

[1]

Exhibition schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 August 6 at Los Angeles Rams L 6–16 63,285
2 August 14 at San Francisco 49ers W 28–17 27,867
3 August 20 at Atlanta Falcons W 42–3 48,548
4 August 26 Baltimore Colts L 17–24 83,418
5 September 3 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
  (at Birmingham) 		W 13–10 23,590

There was a doubleheader on August 26, 1966 Redskins vs Vikings and Colts vs Browns.

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance
1 September 11 at Washington Redskins W 38–14 1–0 48,643
2 September 18 Green Bay Packers L 20–21 1–1 83,943
3 September 25 St. Louis Cardinals L 28–34 1–2 74,814
4 October 2 at New York Giants W 28–7 2–2 62,916
5 October 8 Pittsburgh Steelers W 41–10 3–2 82,687
6 October 16 Bye
7 October 23 Dallas Cowboys W 30–21 4–2 84,721
8 October 30 at Atlanta Falcons W 49–17 5–2 57,235
9 November 6 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 6–16 5–3 39,690
10 November 13 Philadelphia Eagles W 27–7 6–3 77,698
11 November 20 Washington Redskins W 14–3 7–3 78,466
12 November 24 at Dallas Cowboys L 14–26 7–4 75,504
13 December 4 New York Giants W 49–40 8–4 61,651
14 December 11 at Philadelphia Eagles L 21–33 8–5 58,074
15 December 17 at St. Louis Cardinals W 38–10 9–5 47,721
  • A bye week was necessary in 1966, as the league expanded to an odd-number (15) of teams (Atlanta); one team was idle each week.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 234Total
• Browns 7 01021 38
Redskins 14 000 14
Scoring summary
Q1WSHTaylor 5 yard run (Gogolak kick)WSH 7–0
Q1WSHTaylor 34 yard pass from Jurgensen (Gogolak kick)WSH 14–0
Q1CLEKelly 29 yard run (Groza kick)WSH 14–7
Q3CLECollins 20 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick)Tie 14–14
Q3CLEGroza 35 yard field goalCLE 17–14
Q4CLEWarfield 16 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick)CLE 24–14
Q4CLEGreen 1 yard run (Groza kick)CLE 31–14
Q4CLECollins 5 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick)CLE 38–14

[2]

Week 4 at New York Giants

Week Four: Cleveland Browns (1-2) at New York Giants (0-2-1)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Browns 7 7 01428
Giants 0 7 007

at Yankee Stadium, New York City

  • Date: October 2
  • Game weather: 52 °F (11 °C)
  • Box Score
Game information

Week 6: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 6: Cleveland Browns at Atlanta Falcons – Game summary
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Browns 14 7 72149
Falcons 0 10 0717

at Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, GA

  • Date: October 30
  • Game time: 1:30 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: 58 °F (14 °C), relative humidity 62%, round (wind) 10 mph
  • Game attendance: 57,235
  • TV announcers (CBS): Frank Glieber (play–by–play) and Warren Lahr (color commentator) (second half)
  • [1]
Game information

Week 9 at Pittsburgh Steelers

Week Nine: Cleveland Browns (5–2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1–5–1)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Browns 0 6 006
Steelers 0 3 31016

at Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Date: November 6
  • Game weather: 35 °F (2 °C)
  • Game attendance: 36,690
  • Box Score
Team Category Player Statistics
Browns Passing Frank Ryan 19/37, 228 Yds, TD, 5 INT
Rushing Leroy Kelly 19 Rush, 82 Yds
Receiving Gary Collins 7 Rec, 93 Yds, TD
Steelers Passing Ron Smith 11/19, 151 Yds, TD
Rushing Willie Asbury 17 Rush, 94 Yds
Receiving Gary Ballman 7 Rec, 88 Yds, TD

Week 12 at Cowboys

See also: 1966 Dallas Cowboys season
Week Twelve: Cleveland Browns (7–3) at Dallas Cowboys (7–2–1)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Browns 0 14 0014
Cowboys 6 7 6726

at Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

  • Date: November 24
  • Game attendance: 80,259
  • Box Score
Game information

Week 13 vs New York Giants

Week Thirteen: Cleveland Browns (7-4) vs New York Giants (1-9-1)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Giants 14 17 6340
Browns 7 7 142149

at Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland

  • Date: December 4
  • Game weather: 18 °F (−8 °C)
  • Box Score
Game information


Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
Dallas Cowboys 10 3 1 .769 9–3–1 445 239 W1
Philadelphia Eagles 9 5 0 .643 8–5 326 340 W4
Cleveland Browns 9 5 0 .643 9–4 403 259 W1
St. Louis Cardinals 8 5 1 .615 7–5–1 264 265 L3
Washington Redskins 7 7 0 .500 7–6 351 355 L1
Pittsburgh Steelers 5 8 1 .385 4–8–1 316 347 W2
Atlanta Falcons 3 11 0 .214 2–5 204 437 L1
New York Giants 1 12 1 .077 1–11–1 263 501 L8
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Personnel

Roster

1966 Cleveland Browns roster
Quarterbacks


Running backs


Wide receivers


Tight ends

Offensive linemen


Defensive linemen


Linebackers


Defensive backs


Special teams


rookies in italics

[3]

Staff/coaches

1966 Cleveland Browns staff
Front office

Coaches

Offensive coaches

  Defensive coaches

Strength & conditioning

  • Athletic Trainer - Leo Murphy
  • Equipment Manager - Morris Kono

[4]

References

  1. ^ "1966 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.
  2. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-15.
  3. ^ "1966 Cleveland Browns Starters, Roster, & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  4. ^ 1966 Cleveland Browns (NFL) - Pro Football Archives
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Cleveland_Browns_season