| After their most successful season in team history, great things were expected from the Patriots entering 1977. Unfortunately a disturbing trend would be set by the 1977 Patriots, an immensely talented team that would lose games to teams they should beat and a team that would fall just short of the playoffs. The cornerstones of the Patriots ground game, Leon Gray and John Hannah, were holdouts and wound up missing three games and their abscence punctuated an up and down start by the Patriots. After winning their opener 21-17 over Kansas City, the Patriots would lose their next two games 30-27 to Cleveland and the Jets respectivel. In both games, the Patriots held the lead into the 4th, only to lose late. The Patriots would rebound and win four straight, including knocking off undefeated Baltimore, before losing back to back division games to Buffalo and Miami. With the playoffs slipping through their finger tips, the Patriots would go on a tear and win four straight to close within one game of first place Baltimore and Miami and set-up a showdown with Baltimore. Leading 14-3 at the half, the Patriots Raymond Clayborn took the second half kickoff 101 yards to give the Pattriots a 21-3 lead. The Colts led by Bert Jones 340 yards passing, would rally by scoring the games last three touchdowns as the Colts pulled out a 30-24 victory and won the AFC East. Sam 'Bam' Cunningham and rookie Raymond Clayborn highlighted the season with their excellent play. Cunningham became the first Patriots' back, since Jim Nance in 1967, to break the 1,000 yard barrier as he finished with 1,015 yards on the season. Raymond Clayborn led the league in kickoff return average as he blazed to a 31 yard average on 28 returns. He also had 3 kicoff returns for touchdowns on the season. |
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| Passing Cmp Att Pct. Yards TDs INTs QBRtg Steve Grogan 160 305 52.5 2162 17 21 65.2 |
| Rushing Att. Yards AVG TDs Sam Cunningham 270 1015 3.8 4 Don Calhoun 198 727 3.7 4 Steve Grogan 61 324 6.3 1 Ike Forte 62 157 2.5 2 Darryl Stingley 3 33 11.0 1 Jess Phillips 5 27 5.4 1 Stanley Morgan 1 10 10.0 0 Horace Ivory 3 10 3.3 0 |
| Receiving Rec Yards AVG TDs Sam Cunningham 42 370 8.8 1 Darryl Stingley 39 657 16.8 5 Stanley Morgan 21 443 21.1 3 Russ Francis 16 229 14.3 4 Don Calhoun 13 152 11.7 0 Don Hasselbeck 9 76 8.4 4 Ike Forte 8 88 11.0 0 Al Chandler 7 68 9.7 0 Steve Burks 5 79 15.8 0 |
| Kicking XP XPA FG FGA PTS John Smith 33 33 15 21 78 |
| Interceptions
Mike Haynes 5, Prentice McCray 4, Bob Howard 4, Tim Fox 3, Sam Hunt 2, Pete Barnes 1 |
| AFC East W L T .Pct PF PA Colts 10 4 0 .714 295 221 Dolphins 10 4 0 .714 313 197 Patriots 9 5 0 .643 278 217 Jets 3 11 0 .214 191 300 Bills 3 11 0 .214 160 313 AFC Division Playoffs: Denver 34 Pittsburgh 21 Oakland 37 Baltimore 31 (OT) AFC Championship Denver 20 Oakland 17 Superbowl X Dallas 27 Denver 10 |
| 1977 |
| Kansas City 21-17 1-0 @Cleveland 27-30 1-1 @ N.Y. Jets 27-30 1-2 Seattle 31-0 2-2 @San Diego 24-20 3-2 Baltimore 17-3 4-2 N.Y. Jets 24-13 5-2 Buffalo 14-24 5-3 @Miami 5-17 5-4 @Buffalo 20-7 6-4 Philadelphia 14-6 7-4 @Atlanta 16-10 8-4 Miami 14-10 9-4 @Baltimore 24-30 9-5 |
| Roster QB - Steve Grogan QB - Tom Owen HB/FB - Don Calhoun HB - Ike Forte HB - Horace Ivory FB - Sam Cunningham FB - Jess Phillips WR - Steve Burks WR - Stanley Morgan WR - Darryl Stingley WR - Don Wetsbrook TE - Al Chandler TE - Russ Francis TE - Don Hasselbeck T - Leon Gray T - Shelby Jordan T - Bob McKay T - Tom Neville G - Sam Adams G - Pete Brock G - John Hannah G - Fred Sturt C - Bob Hyland C - Bill Lenkaitis DE - Julius Adams DE - Greg Boyd DE - Mel Lunsford DE - Tony McGee NT - Richard Bishop NT - Ray Hamilton NT - Art Moore LB - Pete Barnes LB - Ray Costict LB - Sam Hunt LB - Steve King LB - Steve Nelson LB - Rod Shoate LB - Steve Zabel DB - Doug Beaudoin DB - Raymond Clayborn DB - Dick Conn DB - Tim Fox DB - Mike Haynes DB - Bob Howard DB - Prentice McCray P - Mike Patrick K - John Smith Injury HB - Andy Johnson (Knee) LB - Jim Romaniszyn (?) NT - Pete Cusick (Knee) |
| Offense Ranking Points: 278 (9 of 28) Run: 603-2303 (6 of 28) Pass: 2162 (19 of 28) Defense Ranking Points: 217 (7 of 28) Run: 452-1605 (2 of 28) Pass: 2504 (24 of 28) |
| Pro Bowlers: TE - Russ Francis DB - Mike Haynes |
| 1978 |
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| Coach: Chuck Fairbanks |
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