| As the 1986 season began, the New England Patriots seemed to be entering the dawn of a new ERA. Fresh off their first Superbowl appearance, the team was a mix of young and verteran talent poised to finally be a contender in the AFC. The Patriots biggest loss of the offseason was Future Hall-of-Famer John Hannah's retirement. His loss helped cripple the running game. With the Craig James led running game halted, the Patriots had to rely on the arms of Tony Eason and Steve Grogan. Hannah was not the only loss. Long time defensive stalwart Julius Adams hung-up the cleats for the 1986 season. The defense struggled against the run despite the Pro Bowl performance of Andre Tippett. The Patriots looked like defending AFC Champions when they crushed the Colts 33-3 at home and then beat the Jets 20-6 in New York. The Patriots followed their 2-0 start with back-to-back losses to the Seahawks (38-31) and Denver (27-20). The Patriots had their next two games at home. After crushing the Dolphins 34-7, the Patriots fell behind the Jets 24-0 at half before rallying and coming up short in their rematch to the Jets 31-24. The loss to the Jets left the Patriots 3-3 and two games behind the Jets in the AFC East. The Patriots appeared to be in trouble at 3-3 and with four of their next five games on the road. Grogan won his first game as a replaement for the injured Eason by throwing 3 TD passes in a 34-0 rout of Pittsburgh. The Patriots followed the win with an equally impressive dismantling of the Bills 23-3. Against Atlanta, Irving Fryar's 59 yard punt return TD in the 3rd provided the winning margin in a 25-17 victory. Trailing 14-3 in the first half, Tony Eason's two TD passes sparked the Patriots to 27 straight points in the 30-21 victory over the Colts. The win left the Patriots at 7-3. The Patriots traveled to Los Angeles for a battle with the 7-3 Rams. The two playoff contending teams did not disappoint. The Patriots jumped out to an early 13-0 lead on the strngth of two Tony Franklin fieldgoals and a Rod McSwain blocked punt. Jim Evertt rallied his team on three TD passes. The last of which gave the Rams a 28-16 lead in the 4th quarter. Not to be out done, Tony eason cut the deficit to 28-23 when Tony Eason hit Irving Fryar with a 6 yard pass. With time running out, Tony Eason led the Patriots on one last drive. On the last play of the game and with no time on the clock, Tony Eason again hooked up with Irving Fryar. This time their 25 yard connection was the game winning score with no time on the clock. |
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| Passing Cmp Att Pct. Yards TDs INTs QBRtg Tony Eason 276 448 61.6 3328 19 10 89.2 Steve Groga 62 102 60.8 976 9 2 113.8 Tom Ramsey 1 3 33.3 7 0 0 42.3 |
| Rushing Att. Yards AVG TDs Craig James 154 427 2.8 4 Tony Collins 156 412 2.6 3 Mosi Tatupu 71 172 2.4 1 Tony Eason 35 170 4.9 0 Irving Fryar 4 80 20.0 0 Robert Weathers 21 58 2.8 1 Reggie Dupard 15 39 2.6 0 Steve Grogan 9 23 2.6 1 Greg Hawthorne 1 5 5.0 0 Stephen Starring 1 0 0.0 0 Tom Ramsey 1 (-6) -6.0 0 Cedric Jones 1 (-7) -7.0 0 Receiving Rec Yards AVG TDs Stanley Morgan 84 1491 17.8 10 Tony Collins 77 684 8.9 5 Irving Fryar 43 737 17.1 6 Greg Baty 37 331 8.9 2 Greg Hawthorne 24 192 8.0 0 Craig James 18 129 7.2 0 Stephen Starring 16 295 18.4 2 Mosi Tatupu 15 145 9.7 0 Cedric Jones 14 222 15.9 1 Willie Scott 8 41 5.1 3 Derwin Williams 2 35 17.5 0 Robert Weathers 1 14 14.0 0 Brian Holloway 1 5 5.0 0 Interceptions Ronnie Lippett 8; Raymond Clayborn 3; Fred Marion 2; Roland James 2; Larry Mcgrew 2; Steve Nelson 2; Rod Mcswain 1; Johnny Rembert 1 Sacks Garin Veris 11; Andre Tippett 10; Don Blackmon 8; Brent Williams 7; Johnny Rembert 4; Roland James 1; Ed Reynolds 1; Larry Mcgrew 1; Steve Nelson 1; Kenneth Sims 1; Mike Ruth 1; Milfordl Hodge 1; Dennis Owens 1; Toby Williams 1 Kicking XP XPA FG FGA PTS Tony Franklin 44 45 32 41 140 Indianapolis 33-3 1-0 @N.Y. Jets 20-6 2-0 Seattle 31-38 2-1 @Denver 20-27 2-2 Miami 34-7 3-2 N.Y. Jets 24-31 3-3 @Pittsburgh 34-0 4-3 @Buffalo 23-3 5-3 Atlanta 25-17 6-3 @Indianapolis 30-21 7-3 @L.A. Rams 30-28 8-3 Buffalo 22-19 9-3 @New Orleans 21-20 10-3 Cincinnati 7-31 10-4 San Francisco 24-29 10-5 @Miami 34-27 11-5 Conference Playoffs - Recap/Boxscore New England 0 10 7 0 - 17 Denver 3 7 10 2 - 22 Offense Ranking Points: 412 (2 of 28) Run: 469-1373 (28 of 28) Pass: 4321 (2 of 28) Defense Ranking Points: 307 (6 of 28) Run: 510-2203 (24 of 28) Pass: 3324 (8 of 28) |
| AFC East W L T .Pct PF PA Patriots 11 5 0 .683 412 307 Jets 10 6 0 .625 364 386 Dolphins 8 8 0 .500 430 405 Bills 4 12 0 .250 287 348 Colts 3 13 0 .188 229 400 Wildcard N.Y. Jets 35 Kanas City 15 Division Playoffs Denver 22 New England 17 - Box Cleveland 23 N.Y. Jets 20 OT AFC Championship Denver 23 Cleveland 20 OT Superbowl XXI N.Y. Giants 39 Denver 20 |
| 1986 |
| Roster QB- Tony Eason QB - Steve Grogan QB - Tom Ramsey HB - Craig James HB - Tony Collins HB- Reggie Dupard FB - Mosi Tatupu FB - Robert Weathers WR - Irving Fryar WR - Cedric Jones WR - Stanley Morgan WR - Stephen Starring WR - Darwin Williams TE - Greg Baty TE - Greg Hawthorne TE - Willie Scott T - Bill Bain T - Brian Holloway T/G - Darryl Haley T - Steve Moore G - Paul Fairchild G - Ron Wooten G/C - Guy Morriss C - Pete Brock C - Trevro Matich DE /NT - Milford Hodge DE - Kenneth Sims DE - Garin Veris DE/NT - Toby Williams DE/NT - Brent Williams NT - Dennis Owens NT - Mike Ruth LB - Mel Black LB - Don Blackmon LB - Steve Doig LB - Larry McGrew LB - Steve Nelson LB - Johnny Rembert LB - Ed Reynolds LB - Andre Tippett LB - Clayton Weisuhn LB - Ed Williams DB - Jim Bowman DB - Raymond Clayborn DB - Ermest Gibson DB - Roland James DB - Ronnie Lippett DB - Fred Marion DB - Rod McSwain DB - Eugene Profit P - Rich Camarillo K - Tony Franklin Injury TE - Lin Dawson (Knee) T - Art Plunkett (Knee) |
| Pro Bowlers: LB - Andre Tippett CB - Raymond Clayborn WR - Stanley Morgan RB - Mosi Tatupu |
| 1987 |
| Coach: Raymond Berry |
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| The cardiac kids would not be done. The Patriots needed a late TD against the Bills to save a 22-19 victory that saw them squander a nine point fourth quarter lead. Trailing 13-7 in the 4th against the Saints, the Patriots followed a Mosi Tatupu TD on a blocked punt with a fumble return TD by Brent Williams for a 21-20 victory. The victory allowed the Patriots to tie the Jets for first place inthe East at 10-3. With their winning streak at seven and the AFC East within their grasp, the Patriots hosted Cincinnati and San Francisco. The Bengals would use two long TD runs to blown open a close game win handily 31-7. The 49ers scored 13 points in the 4th quarter to take a 29-24 victory. The two losses normally could not have come at a worse time. Luckily for the Patriots, the jets were in the midst of a historic collapse. The Patriots closed the season in Miami on Monday Night. The Jets had lost to the Bengals 52-21 on Sunday. The AFC East and a first round bye could be theirs with a victory. The Patriots surged to an early lead (10-0) before Dan Marino started rally his Dolphins on the strength of three touchdown passes. Steve Grogan subing for Tony Eason, hit Tony Collins for a 12 yard score to tie the score and then hit a streaking Stanley Morgan from 30 yards out to cap a 34-27 victory. With the win the Patriots clinched their second division ever. With the victory a date with Denver was in store. A back and forth affair saw the Broncos and Patriots trade leads all night. The Broncos jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first half only to see the Patriots tie the score by halftime on an Eason to Morgan strike. Eason would hit Morgan again inthe third to give the Patriots a temporary 17-13 lead. The Broncos would answer with a TD of their own and the 20-17 Broncos lead stood up until the late in the fourth. the Broncos would pin the Patriots deep in their end. Unlike the last second heroics in Los Angles, there would be no miracle comebacks. The Broncos would sack Tony Easoninthe endzone for the final points of the game. A season that began with promise eneded on a cold night in Denver with Tony Eason under a pile of Broncos. The Patriots time with the contenders lasted one season. 1987 would see the team and league in turmoil. |