| Heading into the 1984 season, the Patriots were hoping for the offense to improve on their 24th ranking in scoring offense from 1983. Any improvement would give the team balance and compliment their 3rd ranked scoring defense from 1983. With the continued maturation of Tony Eason and the arrival of Craig James from the USFL, the offense did improve. Unfortunately, the defense slid and it led to Ron Meyer's firing at midseason despite a winning record (5-3). In 1984, the AFC East was Dan Marino's and the Miami Dolphins play ground. The difference in the Dolphins and the rest of the AFC East was shown in the second week. After opening with a 21-17 victory in Buffalo, the Patriots traveled to Miami for an early AFC East showdown. Two Dan Marino scoring strikes to Mark Clayton propelled the Dolphins froma halftime tie to an easy 28-7 victory. The Patriots bounced back with a 38-23 victory over Seattle in week 3 and would bring a 5-2 record into a mid-season rematch with the 7-0 Dolphins. The Patriots attempted to stand toe-to-toe with the Dolphins and wound up getting battered. After exchanging scores early, the Dolphins broke a 10-10 tie right before the half on a Marino TD pass to Nat Moore. The Dolphins would surge ahead 23-10 early in third on a second Marino TD pass only to have Tony Eason respond with a 76 yard strike to Stanley Morgan. After exchanging scores to make the score 30-24, Marino would throw his fourth TD pass of the game to put lead back to 13 enroute to an eventual 44-24 victory. Unfortunately, for the Patriots the loss to the Dolphins was not the last loss of the week. After the defense was riddled by the Dolphins, Coach Ron Meyer fired defensive coordinator Rod Rust. The players protested the firing and Patriots' management sided with the players and Ron Meyer was fired immediately. Colts' Hall of Fmaer Raymond Berry was hired in Meyer's place. The players responded to Coach Berry's coaching style and reponded with three wins in his first four games as Coach, including blowout wins of divsion foes Buffalo (38-10) and Indianapolis (50-17). With an 8-4 record, the Patriots were contending for a wildcard spot and set to face three NFC East foes. The Patriots would lose to Dallas, St. Louis and Philadelphia on successive weekends to fall to 8-7 and out of playoff contention. A 16-10 win over the Colts gave the Patriots a 9-7 record and their first winning season in a noon-strike year since 1980. Tony Eason blossomed into a top rated QB by passing for 3228 yards, 23 TDs and 9 interceptions, which gave him a team record 93.4 quarterback rating. Craig James ran for 790 yards after earning the starting running back job and the defense made strides in the second half showing they could become a unit to fear in the future as Andre Tippett sacked oppossing QBs 18.5 times. |
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| Passing Cmp Att Pct. Yards TDs INTs QBRtg Tony Eason 259-431 60.1 3228 23 8 93.4 Steve Grogan 32-68 47.1 444 3 6 46.4 Mike Kerrigan 1-1 100 13 0 0 118.8 |
| Rushing Att. Yards AVG TDs Craig James 160 790 4.9 1 Mosi Tatupu 133 553 4.2 4 Tony Collins 138 550 4.0 5 Tony Eason 40 154 3.9 5 Steve Grogan 7 12 1.7 0 Irving Fryar 2 -11 -5.5 0 Stephen Starring 2 -16 -8.0 0 Receiving Rec Yards AVG TDs Derrick Ramsey 66 792 12.0 7 Stephen Starring 46 657 14.3 4 Lin Dawson 39 427 10.9 4 Stanley Morgan 38 709 18.7 5 Craig James 22 159 7.2 0 Cedric Jones 19 244 12.8 2 Mosi Tatupu 16 159 9.9 0 Tony Collins 16 100 6.3 0 Irving Fryar 11 164 14.9 1 Robert Weathers 8 115 14.4 2 Greg Hawthorne 7 127 18.1 0 Bo Robinson 4 32 8.0 1 Interceptions Raymond Clayborn 3; Ronnie Lippett 3; Rick Sanford 2; Fred Marion 2; Roland James 2; Ernest Gibbons 2; Paul Dombroski 1; Steve Nelson 1; Don Blackmon 1 Sacks Andre Tippett 18.5; Dennis Owens 6.5; Toby Williams 6; Don Blackmon 5; Steve Nelson 4; Julius Adams 4; Kenneth Sims 3.5; Luther Henson 2; Doug Rogers 2; Lester Williams 1.5; Fred Marion 1; Johnny Rembert 0.5; Larry McGrew 0.5 Kicking XP XPA FG FGA PTS Tony Franklin 42 42 22 28 108 @Buffalo 21-17 1-0 @Miami 7-28 1-1 Seattle 38-23 2-1 Washington 10-26 2-2 @N.Y. Jets 28-21 3-2 @Cleveland 17-16 4-2 Cincinnati 20-14 5-2 Miami 24-44 5-3 N.Y. Jets 30-21 6-3 @Denver 19-26 6-4 Buffalo 38-10 7-4 @Indianapolis 50-17 8-4 @Dallas 17-20 8-5 St. Louis 10-33 8-6 @Philadelphia 17-27 8-7 Indianapolis 16-10 9-7 Offense Ranking Points: 362 (10 of 28) Run: 482-2032 (11 of 28) Pass: 3685 (14 of 28) Defense Ranking Points: 352 (18 of 28) Run: 498-1886 (12 of 28) Pass: 3666 (14 of 28) |
| AFC East W L T .Pct PF PA Dolphins 14 2 0 .875 513 298 Patriots 9 7 0 .562 362 352 Jets 7 9 0 .438 332 364 Colts 4 12 0 .250 239 414 Bills 2 14 0 .125 250 454 Wildcard Seattle 13 Los Angeles 7 Division Playoffs Pittsburgh 24 Denver 17 Miami 31 Seattle 10 AFC Championship Miami 45 Pittsburgh 28 Superbowl XV San Francisco 38 Miami 16 |
| 1984 |
| Roster QB- Tony Eason QB - Steve Grogan QB - Mike Kerrigan HB - Tony Collins HB - Jonathan Williams FB - Greg Hawthorne FB - Craig James FB - Bo Robinson FB - Mosi Tatupu FB - Robert Weathers WR - Irving Fryar WR - Cedric Jones WR - Stanley Morgan WR - Stephen Starring WR - Clarence Weathers TE - Lin Dawson TE - Derrick Ramsey T - Darryl Haley T - Brian Holloway T - Steve Moore G - Paul Fairchild G - John Hannah G - Ron Wooten C - Pete Brock C - Guy Morriss DE - Julius Adams DE - Doug Rogers DE - Kenneth Sims DE - Scott Virkus DE - Toby Williams NT - Luther Henson NT - Dennis Owens NT - Lester Williams LB - Don Blackmon LB - Tim Golden LB - Brian Ingram LB - Larry McGrew LB - Steve Nelson LB - Johnny Rembert LB - Andre Tippett LB - Clayton Weishun LB - Ed Williams DB - Raymond Clayborn DB - Paul Dombroski DB - Ermest Gibson DB - Roland James DB - Keith Lee DB - Fred Marion DB - Rod McSwain DB - Rick Sanford P - Rich Camarillo P - Luke Prestridge K - Tony Franklin Injury DE - George Crump (Knee) WR - Darryl Wilson (Knee) |
| Pro Bowlers: G - John Hannah T - Brian Holloway LB - Steve Nelson LB - Andre Tippett |
| 1985 |
| Coach: Ron Meyer 1984: 5-3 Coach: Raymond Berry 1984: 4-4 |
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