1975 Detroit Lions season

1975 Detroit Lions season
1975 Detroit Lions season
Owner	William Clay Ford Sr.
Head coach	Rick Forzano
Home field	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium
Results
Record	7–7
Division place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	2 TE Charlie Sanders ; CB Lem Barney ;
AP All-Pros	None
	← 1974; Lions seasons; 1976 →;

The 1975 Detroit Lions season was the 46th season in franchise history. It was the first season for the Detroit Lions at the new Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium in Pontiac, a Detroit suburb, which was built specifically for the team. It was also their first ever season outside Detroit since the franchise's move and name change in 1934; its first three seasons were played in Portsmouth, Ohio as the Portsmouth Spartans. For the seventh consecutive season, the Lions finished the season in second place.

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1975 Detroit Lions draft
1	13	Lynn Boden	G	South Dakota State
2	38	Doug English *	DT	Texas
4	94	Craig Hertwig	OT	Georgia
6	138	Fred Cooper	DB	Purdue	from New Orleans
6	141	Horace King	RB	Georgia	from New England
6	144	Dennis Franklin	WR	Michigan
7	169	Mike Murphy	WR	Drake
8	194	Leonard Thompson	RB	Oklahoma State
9	219	Steve Strinko	LB	Michigan
10	250	Brad Boyd	TE	LSU
11	275	Steve Myers	G	Ohio State
12	300	Andre Roundtree	LB	Iowa State
13	325	James Smith	RB	North Carolina Central
14	350	Jim McMillan	QB	Widener
15	375	Rudy Green	RB	Yale
16	406	Les Chaves	DB	Kansas State
17	431	Mark Lancaster	G	Tulsa
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

Detroit traded its third-round pick (91st) to Minnesota in exchange for S Charlie West.
Detroit traded its fifth-round pick (119th) to Cleveland in exchange for CB Ben Davis.
Detroit traded TE Dave Thompson and its first-round pick (13th) in 1974 to New Orleans in exchange for the Saints' first-round pick (8th) in 1974 and sixth-round pick (138th) in this draft.
Detroit traded FB Leon Crosswhite to New England in exchange for the Patriots' sixth-round pick (141st) and eighth-round pick in 1976.
Detroit traded LB Jim Teal to Los Angeles in exchange for the Rams' ninth-round pick (229th), and then traded this pick to Denver in exchange for CB Leroy Mitchell.

Roster

Detroit Lions roster

Quarterbacks

10 Jack Concannon

11 Greg Landry

14 Joe Reed

Running backs

24 Dexter Bussey FB

30 Jim Hooks FB

42 Altie Taylor

33 Bobby Thompson

Wide receivers

48 Marlin Briscoe

44 George Farmer

89 Dennis Franklin

45 Ray Jarvis

39 Leonard Thompson

49 Larry Walton

Tight ends

81 John McMakin

88 Charlie Sanders

Offensive linemen

62 Lynn Boden G

-- Guy Dennis G

76 Rocky Freitas T

71 Craig Hertwig T

60 R. W. Hicks C

66 Bob Kowalkowski G

63 Jon Morris C

75 Jim Yarbrough T

Defensive linemen

78 Doug English DT

70 Billy Howard DE

83 Jim Mitchell DE

80 Herb Orvis DT

72 Ernie Price DE

82 Ken Sanders DE

Linebackers

51 Larry Ball

52 Jim Laslavic

60 Paul Naumoff

55 Ed O'Neil

59 Charlie Weaver

Defensive backs

20 Lem Barney CB

29 Ben Davis

32 Lenny Dunlap

26 Dick Jauron FS

23 Levi Johnson CB

28 Mike Weger

40 Charlie West SS

Special teams

12 Errol Mann K

15 Alan Pringle K

18 Herman Weaver P

Reserve lists

58 Mike Hennigan LB (IR)

64 Gordon Jolley G (IR)

-- Andre Roundtree LB (IR)

-- Steve Strinko LB (IR)

rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 21	at Green Bay Packers	W 30–16	1–0	Milwaukee County Stadium	52,613
2	September 28	at Atlanta Falcons	W 17–14	2–0	Atlanta Fulton County Stadium	45,218
3	October 6	Dallas Cowboys	L 10–36	2–1	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	79,384
4	October 12	Chicago Bears	W 27–7	3–1	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	74,032
5	October 19	at Minnesota Vikings	L 19–25	3–2	Metropolitan Stadium	47,872
6	October 26	at Houston Oilers	L 8–24	3–3	Astrodome	46,904
7	November 2	at San Francisco 49ers	W 28–17	4–3	Candlestick Park	43,209
8	November 9	Cleveland Browns	W 21–10	5–3	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	75,283
9	November 16	Green Bay Packers	W 13–10	6–3	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	76,946
10	November 23	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 21–24_(OT)	6–4	Arrowhead Stadium	55,161
11	November 27	Los Angeles Rams	L 0–20	6–5	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	69,552
12	December 7	at Chicago Bears	L 21–25	6–6	Soldier Field	37,772
13	December 14	Minnesota Vikings	W 17–10	7–6	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	73,130
14	December 21	St. Louis Cardinals	L 13–24	7–7	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	64,656

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 2

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Lions	0	7	3	7	17
Falcons	0	7	7	0	14

Date: September 28
Location: Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta
Game start: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: 62 °F or 16.7 °C, wind 9 miles per hour (14 km/h; 7.8 kn)

^[1]

Standings

NFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings⁽¹⁾	12	2	0	.857	5–1	8–2	377	180	W1
Detroit Lions	7	7	0	.500	4–2	6–5	245	262	L1
Chicago Bears	4	10	0	.286	2–4	4–7	191	379	W1
Green Bay Packers	4	10	0	.286	1–5	4–7	226	285	W1

References

^ Pro-Football-Reference.com

[1] Pro-Football-Reference.com

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