1973 Cleveland Browns season

Summary

The 1973 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 24th season with the National Football League. After a solid 1972 season, which included a playoff appearance, the Browns got off to a solid start, winning three of their first four games on the way to a 7-3-1 start. However, the Browns did not win another game the rest of the season and settled for third place with a 7-5-2 record.

1973 Cleveland Browns season
OwnerArt Modell
General managerHarold Sauerbrei
Head coachNick Skorich
Home fieldCleveland Municipal Stadium
Local radioWHK
Results
Record7–5–2
Division place3rd AFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersNone

Offseason edit

Draft edit

1973 Cleveland Browns draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 16 Steve Holden  WR Arizona St
1 22 Pete Adams  OG USC
2 30 Greg Pruitt *  RB Oklahoma
2 47 Jim Stienke  DB Texas St
3 67 Bob Crum  DE Arizona
4 93 Andy Dorris  DE New Mexico St
4 100 Randy Mattingly  QB Evansville
6 150 Van Green  DB Shaw
9 228 Curtis Wester  OG Texas A&M-Commerce
10 256 Tommy Humphrey  C Abilene Christian
11 281 Carl Barisich  DT Princeton
12 306 Stan Simmons  TE Lewis & Clark
13 334 Jim Romaniszyn  LB Edinboro
14 359 Robert Popelka  DB SMU
15 384 Dave Sullivan  WR Virginia
16 412 George Greenfield  RB Murray St
17 437 Robert McClowry  C Michigan St
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[1]

Personnel edit

Staff / coaches edit

1973 Cleveland Browns staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special Teams – Al Tabor
  • Athletic Trainer - Leo Murphy


Final roster edit

1973 Cleveland Browns roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

Vacant - none


Practice squad Vacant - none


Rookies in italics

Preseason edit

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 August 6 San Francisco 49ers L 16–27 0–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 65,707
2 August 11 at Los Angeles Rams T 21–21 0–1–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 54,385
3 August 19 Cincinnati Bengals W 24–6 1–1–1 Ohio Stadium 73,421
4 August 25 vs. Atlanta Falcons W 20–17 2–1–1 Neyland Stadium 40,831
5 September 1 Detroit Lions L 13–16 2–2–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 64,088
6 September 8 vs. New York Giants L 10–21 2–3–1 Rubber Bowl 30,751

Regular season schedule edit

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap
1 September 16 Baltimore Colts W 24–14 1–0 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 74,303 Recap
2 September 23 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 6–33 1–1 Three Rivers Stadium 49,396 Recap
3 September 30 New York Giants W 12–10 2–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 76,065 Recap
4 October 7 Cincinnati Bengals W 17–10 3–1 Cleveland Browns Stadium 70,805 Recap
5 October 15 Miami Dolphins L 9–17 3–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 72,070 Recap
6 October 21 Houston Oilers W 42–13 4–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 61,146 Recap
7 October 28 San Diego Chargers T 16–16 4–2–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 68,244 Recap
8 November 4 at Minnesota Vikings L 3–26 4–3–1 Metropolitan Stadium 45,590 Recap
9 November 11 at Houston Oilers W 23–13 5–3–1 Houston Astrodome 37,230 Recap
10 November 18 at Oakland Raiders W 7–3 6–3–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 47,398 Recap
11 November 25 Pittsburgh Steelers W 21–16 7–3–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 67,773 Recap
12 December 2 at Kansas City Chiefs T 20–20 7–3–2 Arrowhead Stadium 70,296 Recap
13 December 9 at Cincinnati Bengals L 17–34 7–4–2 Riverfront Stadium 58,266 Recap
14 December 16 at Los Angeles Rams L 17–30 7–5–2 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 73,948 Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary edit

Week 1 edit

1 234Total
Colts 0 770 14
• Browns 7 1070 24

[2]

Week 2 edit

Week 3 edit

1 234Total
Giants 0 1000 10
• Browns 0 066 12
  • Date: September 30
  • Location: Cleveland Municipal Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 76,065
  • Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C); wind 9 mph (14 km/h)

[3]

Week 4 edit

1 234Total
Bengals 3 007 10
• Browns 0 773 17
  • Date: October 7
  • Location: Cleveland Municipal Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 70,805
  • Game weather: 60 °F (16 °C); wind 4 mph (6.4 km/h)

[4]

Week 5 edit

Week 6 edit

1 234Total
Oilers 0 0130 13
• Browns 14 14014 42

[5]

Week 7 edit

Week 8 edit

1 234Total
Browns 3 000 3
• Vikings 3 6710 26
  • Date: November 4
  • Location: Metropolitan Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 27 °F (−3 °C); wind 11 mph (18 km/h)

[6]

Week 9 edit

1 234Total
• Browns 17 033 23
Oilers 0 337 13

[7]

Week 10 edit

1 234Total
• Browns 0 700 7
Raiders 0 003 3

[8]

Week 11 edit

1 234Total
Steelers 7 333 16
• Browns 7 707 21

[9]

Week 12 edit

Week 13 edit

Week 14 edit

Standings edit

AFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Cincinnati Bengals 10 4 0 .714 4–2 8–3 286 231 W6
Pittsburgh Steelers 10 4 0 .714 4–2 7–4 347 210 W2
Cleveland Browns 7 5 2 .571 4–2 6–3–2 234 255 L2
Houston Oilers 1 13 0 .071 0–6 1–10 199 447 L6

References edit

  1. ^ "1973 NFL Draft Listing – Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on May 31, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  2. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  3. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  4. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  5. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  6. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  7. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  8. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  9. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2015.

External links edit

  • 1973 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference
  • 1973 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com
  • 1973 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com
  • 1973 Cleveland Browns at DatabaseFootball.com