1966 Cleveland Browns season

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.

1966 Cleveland Browns season
Head coach	Blanton Collier
Home field	Cleveland Stadium
Local radio	WERE
Results
Record	9–5
Division place	T-2nd NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None

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.

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School/Club Team
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	Charlie 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, 1966	at Los Angeles Rams	L 16–6	63,285
2	August 14, 1966	at San Francisco 49ers	W 28–17	27,867
3	August 20, 1966	at Atlanta Falcons	W 42–3	48,548
4	August 26, 1966	Baltimore Colts	L 24–17	83,418
5	September 3, 1966	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 21–20	1–1	83,943
3	September 25	St. Louis Cardinals	L 34–28	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 16–6	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 26–14	7–4	75,504
13	December 4	New York Giants	W 49–40	8–4	61,651
14	December 11	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 33–21	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 2 3 4 Total • Browns 7 0 10 21 38 Redskins 14 0 0 0 14 Date: September 11 Location: D.C. Stadium, Washington, D.C. Game weather: 65°F; wind 8

Scoring summary Q1 WSH Taylor 5 yard run (Gogolak kick) WSH 7–0 Q1 WSH Taylor 34 yard pass from Jurgensen (Gogolak kick) WSH 14–0 Q1 CLE Kelly 29 yard run (Groza kick) WSH 14–7 Q3 CLE Collins 20 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick) Tie 14–14 Q3 CLE Groza 35 yard field goal CLE 17–14 Q4 CLE Warfield 16 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick) CLE 24–14 Q4 CLE Green 1 yard run (Groza kick) CLE 31–14 Q4 CLE Collins 5 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick) CLE 38–14

[2]

Week 6: at Atlanta

Week 6: Cleveland Browns at Atlanta Falcons – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	14	7	7	21	49
Falcons	0	10	0	7	17

at Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, GA

• Date: October 30
• Game time: 1:30 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 58°F, 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)

Game information

First Quarter CLE – Kelly 70 yard rush (Groza kick) Browns 7, Falcons 0 CLE – Warfield 36 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick) Browns 14, Falcons 0 Second Quarter ATL – Wheelwright 1 yard rush (Kirouac kick) Browns 14, Falcons 7 CLE – Collins 17 yard pass from Ryan (Houston pass from Ninowski) Browns 21, Falcons 7 ATL – Kirouac 23 yard field goal Browns 21, Falcons 10 Third Quarter CLE – Green 6 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick) Browns 28, Falcons 10 Fourth Quarter CLE – Kelly 30 yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick) Browns 35, Falcons 10 ATL – Hawkins 22 yard pass from Johnson (Kirouac kick) Browns 35, Falcons 17 CLE – McNeil 44 yard pass from Ninowski (Groza kick) Browns 42, Falcons 17 CLE – Smith 15 yard pass from Ninowski (Groza kick) Browns 49, Falcons 17 Top passers CLE – Frank Ryan 13/21, 223 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT ATL – Randy Johnson 14/25, 158 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT Top rushers CLE – Leroy Kelly 14 carr, 98 yds, 1 TD ATL – Junior Coffey 17 carr, 117 yds Top receivers CLE – Gary Collins 4 rec, 48 yds, 1 TD ATL – Vern Burke 5 rec, 60 yds Turnovers CLE – 1 ATL – 3

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 11 Jim Ninowski 13 Frank Ryan 15 Gary Lane Running Backs 31 Charley Harraway 33 Randy Schultz 36 Nick Pietrosante FB 44 Leroy Kelly KR/PR 48 Ernie Green FB Wide Receivers 27 Walter Roberts KR/PR 42 Paul Warfield 85 Clifton McNeil 86 Gary Collins P Tight Ends 41 Ralph Smith 89 Milt Morin		Offensive Linemen 54 Fred Hoaglin C 56 John Morrow C 60 John Wooten G 61 Joe Bob Isbell G 66 Gene Hickerson G 70 John Brown T 73 Monte Clark T 77 Dick Schafrath T 79 Jim Battle T Defensive Linemen 69 Jim Kanicki DT 71 Walter Johnson DT 74 Dick Modzelewski DT 78 Frank Parker DT 80 Bill Glass DE 84 Paul Wiggin DE		Linebackers 35 Galen Fiss OLB 50 Vince Costello MLB 51 Dale Lindsey MLB 67 Sid Williams OLB 82 Jim Houston OLB 83 Johnny Brewer OLB Defensive Backs 20 Ross Fichtner S 22 Bobby Franklin S 24 Ernie Kellermann S 30 Bernie Parrish CB 34 Mike Howell CB 40 Erich Barnes CB 49 Walter Beach CB Special Teams 76 Lou Groza K Rookies in italics

[3]

Staff/Coaches

1966 Cleveland Browns staff
	Front Office Majority Owner/CEO & President - Art Modell Minority Owner - Al Lerner Coaches Head Coach – Blanton Collier Offensive Coaches Quarterbacks/Running Backs - Dub Jones Offensive Guards – Fritz Heisler Offensive Tackles – Ed Ulinski Offensive Backfield and Ends – Bob Nussbaumer			Defensive Coaches Defensive Line – Nick Skorich Linebackers – Ed Ulinski Strength & Coditioning Athletic Trainer - Leo Murphy Equipment Manager - Morris Kono

[4]

References

1. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1966.htm
2. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-15.
3. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/1966_roster.htm
4. https://www.profootballarchives.com/1966nflcle.html

External links

• Season summary and stats at Cleveland Browns.com