| Through the Patriots' first twenty-six years, the team had consistently come up short. In the Early 60s, the team always seemed to be a contender in the AFL East, but by the end of the season they always seemed to come up short for the playoffs. The late 70s brought a new era and talented Patriots team that sported one of the best records in the NFL from 1976-1980, but had one divsiion title and zero playoff wins to show for their efforts. The 1985 Patriots were shaping upto be a good team with a young quarterback, running back and receiver to complement an attacking defense. However, the Patriots' appeared to be the 'same old Patiots' when the struggled early. Tony Eason, who would have garned more attention for his sophmore season if not for Dan Marino's record breaking season, looked more like the rookie Tony Eason as the team stumbled out of the gate. After a 2-1 start back-to-back losses to the Raiders (35-20) and Cleveland (24-20) dropped the team to 2-3. Already two games behind division leaders Miami and New York, the season appeared to be lost as Tony Eason was lost to injury. In stepped fan favorite and much maligned Steve Grogan to the rescue. Led by the veteran quarterback, the Patriots went on a six game winning streak, including wins over division leaders New York (20-13) and Miami (17-13), and propelled themselves into the playoff hunt with a 8-3 record. The Jets would end the winning streak at six with a 16-13 victroy. The teams would continue to fight out and all three teams headed into week 15 with 10-4 records. The Jets would lose at home to the Bears setting up the Dolphins/Patriots Monday night game for the division title. The Dolphins raced out to an early lead and led 17-7 at halftime. They led 27-13 in the fourth when a little Patriots magic struck. After a Mosi Tatupu touchdown cut the defeicit down to 7 at 27-20, Cedric James picked up a Dolphins fumble on the ensuing kickoff and returned is 15 yards to tie the score. The Dolphins would win the game 30-27 on a late field goal, but the Patriots showed they might be a team to reckon with in the playoffs. The Patriots would wrap up their first playoff berth in a non-strike season with a 34-23 win over the Bengals. The Patriots traveled to New York for a wildcard game against division foe Jets. After falling behind 7-3, the Patriots defense stymied the Jets' offense and forced four turnovers enroute to a 26-14 victory. Their first playoff victory since 1963. The Patriots next traveled to Los Angeles to face the Raiders. After taking an early 7-0 lead, the Raiders took control and scored the games next 17 points. The Patriots rallied to close the gap to 20-17 at halftime behind a Craig James TD and Tony Franklin field goal. After a second Tony Franklin field goal tied the score at 20, Jim Bowman recovered a fumble in the endzone, one of six Raider turnovers on the day for a 27-20 lead. The Patriots would hold onto the 7 point lead through a scorless 4th quarter and set-up a rematch with the Dolphins in Miami for the AFC Championship. The Orange Bowl had long been a place Patriots' teams went to lose, 18 straight games dating back to 1966. Like the previous two playoff wins, the Patriots' capitalized on the other teams mistakes and a vaunted running game. The Patriots' struck first after a Dolphins turnover and led 3-0 behind a Tony Franklin field goal. After the Dolphins went ahead 7-3 the Patriots' regained the lead on a Eason to Tony Collins touchdown pass and then stretched the lead to 17-7 after another Dolphins' turnover led to a Derrick Ramsey touchdown. The Dolphins had a chance to cut into the Patriots' 17-7 haltime lead, but turned the ball over early on their opening drive of the second half. Robert Weathers capped the short drive with a 2 yard touchdown run pushing the Patriots' lead to 17 at 24-7. The Dolphins would close the gap to 10 at 24-14, but the Patriots' rushing attack, which grinded out 255 yards on 59 carries, would clinch their first Superbowl trip when Mosi Tatupu scored a one yard plunge to seal the 31-14 victory. |
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| Passing Cmp Att Pct. Yards TDs INTs QBRtg Tony Eason 168 299 56.2 2156 11 17 59.3 Steve Grogan 85 156 54.5 1311 7 5 70.7 Craig James 2 2 100 16 2 0 139.6 |
| Rushing Att. Yards AVG TDs Craig James 263 1227 4.7 5 Tony Collins 163 657 4.0 3 Robert Weathers 41 174 4.2 1 Mosi Tatupu 47 152 3.2 2 Tony Eason 22 70 3.2 1 Steve Grogan 20 29 1.5 2 Irving Fryar 7 27 3.9 1 Stanley Morgan 1 0 0.0 0 Tony Franklin 1 -5 -5.0 0 Receiving Rec Yards AVG TDs Tony Collins 52 549 10.6 2 Stanley Morgan 39 760 19.5 5 Irving Fryar 39 670 17.2 7 Derrick Ramsey 28 285 10.2 1 Craig James 27 360 13.3 2 Cedric Jones 21 237 11.3 2 Lin Dawson 17 148 8.7 0 Stephen Starring 16 235 14.7 0 Derwin Williams 9 163 18.1 0 Greg Hawthorne 3 42 14.0 1 Robert Weathers 2 18 9.0 0 Mosi Tatupu 2 16 8.0 0 Interceptions Fred Marion 7; Raymond Clayborn 6; Roland James 4; Ronnie Lippett 3; Rod Mcswain 1; Larry Mcgrew 1; Don Blackmon 1 Sacks Andre Tippett 17; Garin Veris 10; Don Blackmon 8; Kenneth Sims 6; Julius Adams 5; Steve Nelson 2; Toby Williams 2; Larry Mcgrew 1; Lester Williams 1 Kicking XP XPA FG FGA PTS Tony Franklin 40 41 24 30 112 Green Bay 28-20 1-0 @Chicago 7-20 1-1 @Buffalo 17-14 2-1 L.A. Raiders 20-35 2-2 @Cleveland 20-24 2-3 Buffalo 14-3 3-3 N.Y. Jets 20-13 4-3 @Tampa Bay 32-14 5-3 Miami 17-13 6-3 Indianapolis 34-15 7-3 @Seattle 20-13 8-3 @N.Y. Jets 13-16 8-4 @Indianapolis 32-31 9-4 Detroit 23-6 10-4 @Miami 27-30 10-5 Cincinnati 34-23 11-5 Wilcard Playoffs - Recap/Boxscore New England 3 10 10 3 - 26 N.Y. Jets 0 7 7 0 - 14 Conference Playoffs - Recap/Boxscore New England 7 10 10 0 - 27 L.A. Raiders 3 17 0 0 - 20 AFC Championship - Recap/Boxscore New England 3 14 7 7 - 31 Miami 0 7 0 7 - 14 Superbowl XX - Recap/Boxscore Chicago 13 10 21 2 - 46 New England 3 0 0 7 - 10 Offense Ranking Points: 362 (10 of 28) Run: 565-2331 (6 of 28) Pass: 3483 (16 of 28) Defense Ranking Points: 290 (6 of 28) Run: 466-1655 (6 of 28) Pass: 3393 (9 of 28) |
| AFC East W L T .Pct PF PA Dolphins 12 4 0 .750 428 320 Patriots 11 5 0 .683 362 290 Jets 11 5 0 .683 393 264 Colts 5 11 0 .317 320 386 Bills 2 14 0 .125 200 381 Wildcard New England 26 N.Y. Jets 14 - Box Division Playoffs New England 27 Los Angeles 20 - Box Miami 24 Cleveland 21 AFC Championship New England 31 Miami 14 - Box Superbowl XX Chicago 46 New England 10 - Box |
| 1985 |
| Roster QB- Tony Eason QB - Steve Grogan QB - Tom Ramsey HB - Craig James HB - Tony Collins FB - Mosi Tatupu FB - Robert Weathers WR - Irving Fryar WR/HB - Greg Hawthorne WR - Cedric Jones WR - Stanley Morgan WR - Stephen Starring WR - Darwin Williams TE - Lin Dawson TE - Derrick Ramsey T - Brian Holloway T - Art Plunkett G - Tom Condon G/T - Steve Moore G - Paul Fairchild G - John Hannah G - Ron Wooten C - Pete Brock C - Trevro Matich G/C - Guy Morriss DE - Julius Adams DE - Kenneth Sims DE - Ben Thomas DE - Garin Veris DE - Toby Williams NT - Dennis Owens NT - Lester Williams LB - Don Blackmon LB - Brian Ingram LB - Larry McGrew LB - Steve Nelson LB - Johnny Rembert LB - Ed Reynolds LB - Andre Tippett LB - Ed Williams DB - Jim Bowman DB - Raymond Clayborn DB - Ermest Gibson DB - Roland James DB - Ronnie Lippett DB - Fred Marion DB - Rod McSwain P - Rich Camarillo K - Tony Franklin Injury FB - Bon Robinson (Groin) HB - Jon Williams (Knee) Eric Jordan (Jaw) LB - Clayton Weishun (Knee) T - Daryle Hayley (Colitus) |
| Pro Bowlers: G - John Hannah T - Brian Holloway LB - Steve Nelson LB - Andre Tippett CB - Raymond Clayborn WR - Irving Fryar RB - Craig James CB - Fred Marion |
| 1986 |
| Coach: Raymond Berry |
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| The Patriots' first trip to the Superbowl was against arguably one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL. The 1985 Bears dominated the league behind Buddy Ryan's 4-6 defense. The Patriots' prohibitive underdogs to the Bears in the Superbowl, were the first team in NFL history to win three road playoff games in one year and did so behind an opportunistic defense which forced 16 turnovers. The Patriots' first trip to the Superbowl would not be without controversey as Irving Fryar had a domestic dispute with his wife and injured his hand before the game. As the game kicked off, the opportunistic Patriots' defense would strike early forcing a Walter Payton fumble. The Patriots' started their first drive at the 19 and three plays later were still at the 19 and down one TE as Lin Dawson broke his leg on one play. The Patriots' settled for a Tony Franklin field goal and led 3-0 a minute and nineteen seconds into the game. The Patriots' Cinderella story quickly came to a crashing halt. The Bears quickly tied the score and totally shutdown the Patriots' offense. After two field goals, Matt Suhey ran in from 11 yards to give the Bears a 13-3 lead after one quarter. Jim McMahon boosted the lead to 20-3 and a third Kevin Butler field goal in the first half made the score 23-3 at half. Tony Eason was replaced in the first half after an ineffective 0-6 start. Steve Grogan had little if or no success as the Patriots' QB either. With the game already out of hand, the Bears put a hammerlock on the game when they scored three touchdowns in a four minute span to boost their lead to 44-3 in the third quarter. Jim McMahon and William "The Refrigerator" Perry sandwiched 1 yard touchdown runs around a Reggie Phillips 28 yard interception return for a TD. The Patriots' first Superbowl trip was a forgettable 46-10 laugher. |