1984 New England Patriots season

1984 New England Patriots season
Head coach	Ron Meyer Raymond Berry
General manager	Patrick Sullivan
Owner	Billy Sullivan
Home field	Sullivan Stadium
Results
Record	9–7
Division place	2nd AFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	G John Hannah T Brian Holloway LB Steve Nelson LB Andre Tippett
AP All-Pros	G John Hannah (2nd team)

The 1984 New England Patriots season was the team's 35th, and 25th in the National Football League. The Patriots finished the season with a record of nine wins and seven losses, and finished second in the AFC East Division.

Head coach Ron Meyer, who had coached the Patriots for the previous two seasons, was fired halfway through the season. Meyer had angered several of his players with public criticism. After a 44–22 loss to Miami in Week 8, Meyer fired popular defensive coordinator Rod Rust; Meyer himself was fired by Patriots management shortly thereafter.^[1]

The Patriots went outside the organization to hire Raymond Berry, who had been New England's receivers coach from 1978 to 1981 under coaches Chuck Fairbanks and Ron Erhardt. Berry had been working in the private sector in Medfield, Massachusetts, when the Patriots called him to replace Meyer. Berry's first order of business was to immediately rehire Rust.

Under Berry's leadership, the Patriots won four of their last eight games. Berry's importance to the team was reflected less in his initial win-loss record than in the respect he immediately earned in the locker room – "Raymond Berry earned more respect in one day than Ron Meyer earned in three years", according to running back Tony Collins.^[2]

Staff

New England Patriots 1984 staff

Front Office

President – Billy Sullivan
Executive Vice President – Chuck Sullivan
Vice President – Bucko Kilroy
General Manager – Patrick Sullivan
Director of Player Development – Dick Steinberg
Director of College Scouting – Joe Mendes
Director of Pro Scouting – Bill McPeak

Head Coaches

Head Coach – Raymond Berry

Offensive Coaches

Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Lew Erber
Offensive Backfield – Cleve Bryant
Receivers – Steve Endicott
Offensive Line – Bill Muir

Defensive Coaches

Defensive Coordinator – Rod Rust
Linebackers – Tommy Brasher
Linebackers – Steve Sidwell
Defensive Backs – Steve Walters

Special Teams Coaches

Special Teams/Tight Ends – Dante Scarnecchia

Strength and Conditioning

Strength and Conditioning – LeBaron Caruthers

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Notes	Attendance
1	September 2, 1984	at Buffalo Bills	W 21–17	Steve Grogan threw two touchdowns	48,528
2	September 9, 1984	at Miami Dolphins	L 28–7		66,083
3	September 16, 1984	Seattle Seahawks	W 38–23	Patriots erased 23–0 gap	43,140
4	September 23, 1984	Washington Redskins	L 26–10	Tony Eason's first start	60,503
5	September 30, 1984	at New York Jets	W 28–21		68,978
6	October 7, 1984	at Cleveland Browns	W 17–16		53,036
7	October 14, 1984	Cincinnati Bengals	W 20–14		48,154
8	October 21, 1984	Miami Dolphins	L 44–24	Ron Meyer fired following game	60,711
9	October 28, 1984	New York Jets	W 30–20	Raymond Berry took over as coach	60,513
10	November 4, 1984	at Denver Broncos	L 26–19		74,908
11	November 11, 1984	Buffalo Bills	W 38–10		43,313
12	November 18, 1984	at Indianapolis Colts	W 50–17	First trip to Indianapolis	60,009
13	November 22, 1984	at Dallas Cowboys	L 20–17	Patriots' first Thanksgiving Day game	55,341
14	December 2, 1984	St. Louis Cardinals	L 33–10		53,558
15	December 9, 1984	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 27–17		41,581
16	December 16, 1984	Indianapolis Colts	W 16–10		22,383

Notable Games

Week 1

The Patriots behind two Steve Grogan touchdown throws raced to a 21–0 lead and withstood a second-half Bills comeback to win 21–17.

Week 2

Grogan had a miserable day as he was intercepted four times; William Judson ran back one for a 60-yard touchdown. The Dolphins behind two Dan Marino scores won 28–7.

Week 3

The first home game of the season ended Grogan's season as he failed to complete any of his four passes and Kenny Easley ran back his interception for a 25-yard touchdown. The Seahawks scored three touchdowns marred by a missed PAT. Tony Eason replaced Grogan with six minutes left in the first half and in the final minute ran in a 25-yard touchdown. From there three Patriots backs rushed for 189 yards and three touchdowns and Eason tossed scores to Derrick Ramsey and Irving Fryar while Dave Krieg of the Seahawks was bullied into two interceptions. The 38–23 win was the largest comeback in Patriots history until 2013.

Week 9

New York Jets at New England Patriots

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jets	10	10	0	0	20
• Patriots	0	6	10	14	30

Date: October 28
Location: Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts
Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
Game weather: 59°F, wind 13 mph

Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary

1	Jets	Pat Leahy 46-yard field goal	Jets 3–0

1	Jets	Rocky Klever 7-yard pass from Ken O'Brien (Pat Leahy kick)	Jets 10–0

2	Patriots	Tony Franklin 20-yard field goal	Jets 10–3

2	Jets	Pat Leahy 18-yard field goal	Jets 13–3

2	Jets	Marion Barber 2-yard run (Pat Leahy kick)	Jets 20–3

2	Patriots	Tony Franklin 27-yard field goal	Jets 20–6

3	Patriots	Tony Franklin 47-yard field goal	Jets 20–9

3	Patriots	Craig James 25-yard run (Tony Franklin kick)	Jets 20–16

4	Patriots	Stephen Starring 5-yard pass from Tony Eason (Tony Franklin kick)	Patriots 23–20

4	Patriots	Tony Collins 4-yard run (Tony Franklin kick)	Patriots 30–20

Raymond Berry's first game as Patriots' head coach.

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Miami Dolphins⁽¹⁾	14	2	0	.875	8–0	10–2	513	298	W2
New England Patriots	9	7	0	.563	6–2	9–3	362	352	W1
New York Jets	7	9	0	.438	3–5	7–7	332	364	L1
Indianapolis Colts	4	12	0	.250	2–6	4–8	239	414	L5
Buffalo Bills	2	14	0	.125	1–7	1–11	250	454	L2

Roster

New England Patriots 1984 roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

33 Tony Collins
32 Craig James FB
30 Mosi Tatupu FB
24 Robert Weathers
44 Jon Williams

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

85 Julius Adams DE
60 Luther Henson NT
98 Dennis Owens NT
65 Doug Rogers DE
77 Kenneth Sims DE
70 Scott Virkus DE
72 Lester Williams NT
90 Toby Williams DE

Linebackers

55 Don Blackmon OLB
59 Tim Golden LB
51 Brian Ingram LB
50 Larry McGrew ILB
57 Steve Nelson ILB
52 Johnny Rembert ILB
95 Ed Reynolds LB
56 Andre Tippett OLB
53 Clayton Weishuhn ILB
54 Ed Williams LB

Defensive Backs

26 Raymond Clayborn CB
47 Paul Dombroski S
43 Ernest Gibson CB
38 Roland James SS
22 Keith Lee CB
42 Ronnie Lippett CB
31 Fred Marion FS
31 Rod McSwain S
25 Rick Sanford FS
27 Ricky Smith CB

Special Teams

References

↑ Neft, David S.; Cohen, Richard M.; and Korch, Rich The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Football, 12th Edition, p. 486, Martin's Press, August 1994, ISBN 0-312-11073-1
↑ Quoted in Tales From The Patriots Sideline (Illinois:Sports Publishing LLC, 2006) by Michael Felger, p. 76

New England Patriots

Founded in 1960 Formerly the Boston Patriots (1960–1970) Based and headquartered in Foxborough, Massachusetts

Franchise	Franchise History Seasons Players Coaches First-round draft picks Starting quarterbacks Strategy Broadcasters Current season

Stadiums	Nickerson Field Fenway Park Alumni Stadium Harvard Stadium Foxboro Stadium Gillette Stadium

Culture	Billy Sullivan Robert Kraft Jonathan Kraft Pat Patriot Cheerleaders "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" "Crazy Train" Patriot Reign (book) Family Guy "Stunning and Brave" (South Park episode)

Lore	Snowplow Game St. Louis Stallions Snow Bowl Spygate 16–0 Helmet Catch Butt fumble Deflategate

Rivalries	Buffalo Bills New York Jets Indianapolis Colts (Brady vs. Manning)

Division championships (18)	1963 1978 1986 1996 1997 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Conference championships (8)	1985 1996 2001 2003 2004 2007 2011 2014

League championships (4)	2001 (XXXVI) 2003 (XXXVIII) 2004 (XXXIX) 2014 (XLIX)

Retired numbers	20 40 56 57 73 78 79 89

Media	Broadcasters WBZ-FM Radio network Gil Santos Gino Cappelletti Bob Socci Scott Zolak

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League (1970–present) Conference: American Football Conference Division: East Division

Former league affiliation	League: American Football League (1960–1969)

Seasons (56)	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

Boston / New England Patriots seasons

Boston 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 New England 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Bold indicates Super Bowl victory Italics indicates Super Bowl appearance

1984 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Buffalo	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Indianapolis	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	LA Rams
Miami	Houston	LA Raiders	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Seattle	Washington	Tampa Bay

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