1985 Cleveland Browns season

1985 Cleveland Browns season
Owner	Art Modell
General manager	Ernie Accorsi
Head coach	Marty Schottenheimer
Home stadium	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	1st AFC Central
Playoffs	Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Dolphins) 21–24
Pro Bowlers	TE Ozzie Newsome FB Kevin Mack NT Bob Golic OLB Clay Matthews Jr. OLB Chip Banks
←  1984 Browns seasons 1986  →

The 1985 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 36th season with the National Football League.

This was the first of three consecutive AFC Central titles for the Browns. In Marty Schottenheimer's first full year as head coach, the Browns bounced back from a 5–11 season in 1984 to make the playoffs, despite a .500 season. Rookie quarterback Bernie Kosar led the Browns' offense; Ozzie Newsome's 62 receptions earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl; Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack each rushed for over 1,000 yards.

In the Divisional Playoffs, the Browns led the Miami Dolphins 21–3 in the third quarter, but in a scene that would be repeated 4 more times in the 1980s, the Browns collapsed down the stretch as the Dolphins came back to score three touchdowns to win the game 24–21.

In 2004, Football Outsiders named the 1985 Browns as one of the "worst playoff teams ever": ^[1]

Opponents outscored them 287–294, and they were blown out in two of their last three games (31–13 by the Seahawks and 37–10 by the Jets). They took a 21–3 lead over the Dolphins in the playoffs, only to watch Dan Marino and company score 21 unanswered points to win the game.

The 1985 Browns are probably best known for having two 1,000-yard rushers in Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack. Despite that impressive feat, the Browns were only fourth in the AFC in team rushing yards. They were 13th in the conference in passing yards, thanks to rookie quarterback Bernie Kosar and journeyman Gary Danielson. What that team did very well was play defense and take advantage of a weak division. The Browns swept the 5–11 Oilers and split with the 7–9 Bengals and Steelers. A 28–21 win in week 15 against the Oilers proved to be the division capper: Kosar threw three TDs to open up a 28–7 lead, and the defense withstood a comeback driven by Warren Moon.

Until 2011, Cleveland's .500 winning percentage held the record for the lowest such percentage for a division winning playoff team in a non-strike season; the record was tied by the 2008 San Diego Chargers, then broken by the 2010 Seattle Seahawks. ^[a] (Incidentally, in 1985 and 2008, teams with 11–5 records – Denver in 1985, New England in 2008—missed the playoffs.)

Personnel

Staff

1985 Cleveland Browns staff

Front office President and Owner – Art Modell Executive Vice President of football operations – Ernie Accorsi Head coaches Head coach – Marty Schottenheimer Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Joe Pendry Quarterbacks – Greg Landry Running backs – Steve Crosby Receivers – Richard Mann Offensive line – Howard Mudd

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Tom Bettis Defensive line – Tom Pratt Linebackers – Tom Olivadotti Special assistant – Darvin Wallis Special teams coaches Special teams – Bill Cowher Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – Dave Redding

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Roster

1985 Cleveland Browns roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 Paul McDonald 18 Gary Danielson 19 Bernie Kosar Running backs (RB) 28 Herman Fontenot 30 Boyce Green 33 Curtis Dickey 34 Kevin Mack 38 Johnny Davis 44 Earnest Byner Wide receivers (WR) 83 Fred Banks 84 Glen Young 85 Clarence Weathers 86 Brian Brennan 88 Reggie Langhorne Tight ends (TE) 82 Ozzie Newsome 87 Travis Tucker

Offensive linemen (OL) 61 Mike Baab C 62 George Lilja G 63 Cody Risien T 68 Robert Jackson G 69 Dan Fike G 74 Paul Farren T 75 Bill Contz T 77 Rickey Bolden G/T Defensive linemen (DL) 72 Dave Puzzuoli NT 78 Carl Hairston DE 79 Bob Golic NT 91 Sam Clancy DE 96 Reggie Camp DE 99 Keith Baldwin DE

Linebackers (LB) 50 Tom Cousineau ILB 51 Eddie Johnson ILB 55 Curtis Weathers OLB 56 Chip Banks OLB 57 Clay Matthews OLB 58 Scott Nicolas ILB Defensive backs (DB) 20 Don Rogers FS 22 Felix Wright SS 27 Al Gross SS 29 Hanford Dixon CB 31 Frank Minnifield CB 37 Chris Rockins FS 47 Larry Braziel CB Special teams (ST)  7 Jeff Gossett P  9 Matt Bahr K

Reserve 80 Willis Adams WR (IR) 26 Greg Allen RB (IR) 81 Harry Holt TE (IR) 97 Dave Morrill NT (IR) 24 Stanley Shakespeare WR (IR) 70 Larry Williams G (IR) Rookies in italics

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Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 8	St. Louis Cardinals	L 24–27	0–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	62,107	Recap
2	September 16	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 17–7	1–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	79,042	Recap
3	September 22	at Dallas Cowboys	L 7–20	1–2	Texas Stadium	61,456	Recap
4	September 29	at San Diego Chargers	W 21–7	2–2	Jack Murphy Stadium	52,107	Recap
5	October 6	New England Patriots	W 24–20	3–2	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	62,139	Recap
6	October 13	at Houston Oilers	W 21–6	4–2	Houston Astrodome	38,386	Recap
7	October 20	Los Angeles Raiders	L 20–21	4–3	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	77,928	Recap
8	October 27	Washington Redskins	L 7–14	4–4	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	78,540	Recap
9	November 3	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 9–10	4–5	Three Rivers Stadium	51,976	Recap
10	November 10	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 10–27	4–6	Riverfront Stadium	57,293	Recap
11	November 17	Buffalo Bills	W 17–7	5–6	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	54,478	Recap
12	November 24	Cincinnati Bengals	W 24–6	6–6	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	74,439	Recap
13	December 1	at New York Giants	W 35–33	7–6	Giants Stadium	66,482	Recap
14	December 8	at Seattle Seahawks	L 13–31	7–7	Kingdome	58,477	Recap
15	December 15	Houston Oilers	W 28–21	8–7	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	50,793	Recap
16	December 22	at New York Jets	L 10–37	8–8	Giants Stadium	59,073	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Postseason

See also: 1985–86 NFL playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
Divisional	January 4, 1986	at Miami Dolphins (2)	L 21–24	0–1	Miami Orange Bowl	75,128	Recap

Standings

AFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Cleveland Browns (3)	8	8	0	.500	4–2	7–5	287	294	L1
Cincinnati Bengals	7	9	0	.438	4–2	5–7	441	437	L2
Pittsburgh Steelers	7	9	0	.438	3–3	6–6	379	355	L1
Houston Oilers	5	11	0	.313	1–5	4–8	284	412	L4

Notes

1. It has also been subsequently beaten by the 2014 Carolina Panthers and by Washington in 2020.

References

1. Football Outsiders: Skin of the Teeth: The Worst Playoff Teams Ever
2. "All-Time Assistant Coaches". ClevelandBrowns.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2009.
3. "1985 Cleveland Browns Starters, Roster, & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com .

External links

• 1985 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference
• 1985 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com
• 1985 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com
• 1985 Cleveland Browns ^[usurped] at DatabaseFootball.com