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 Notes114Milt MorinTight End Massachusetts229Rick NortonQuarterback Kentucky461Pete DurankoDefensive End Notre Dame574Randy SchultzRunning Back Northern Iowa578Dan FulfordEnd Auburn690Jim BattleTackle Saginaw Valley693Fred HoaglinCenter Pittsburgh7109Leroy CarterFlanker Grambling8123Tom TalagaEnd Notre Dame9139Jack GregoryDefensive End Delta St.10153Monte LedbetterWide Receiver Northwestern St. (LA)11169Tony FireTackle Bowling Green11183Rich CzapTackle Nebraska13199Jim BoudreauxTackle Louisiana Tech14213Pete LammonsTight End Texas15229Bob EllisDefensive End Massachusetts16243David RayKicker Alabama17259Gene ModzelewskiTackle New Mexico St.18273Charley HarrawayRunning Back San Jose St.19289Karl SingerTackle Purdue20303Joe PetroDefensive Back Temple

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 , as the league expanded to an odd-number (15) of teams (Atlanta); one team was idle each week.

Game summaries

Week 1

Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-15.

Week 4 at New York Giants

Week 6: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 9 at Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 12 at Cowboys

Week 13 vs New York Giants

Standings

Personnel

Roster 1966 Cleveland Browns roster Quarterbacks

Running backs

33 Randy Schultz

Wide receivers

Tight ends

89 Milt Morin Offensive linemen 54 Fred Hoaglin C

Defensive linemen

79 Jim Battle DE Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams Taxi squad

Reserve list

rookies in italics

Staff/coaches 1966 Cleveland Browns staff Front office Majority owner/CEO & president – Art Modell Minority owner – Al Lerner General manager – Harold Sauerbrei

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 & conditioning Athletic Trainer - Leo Murphy Equipment Manager - Morris Kono 1966 Cleveland Browns (NFL) - Pro Football Archives

References

External links 1966 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference 1966 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com 1966 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com at DatabaseFootball.com