1978 New England Patriots: 11-5-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (230 points scored, 182 allowed) Road record: 6-2-0 (128 points scored, 104 allowed) Head Coaches: Chuck Fairbanks (11-4-0), Hank Bullough (0-1-0), Ron Erhardt (0-1-0) 358 points scored (4th of 28 teams), 286 points allowed (13th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 196 390 2,800 ( 9) 6.76 15 25 671 3,165 ( 1) 4.7 30 5,965 ( 1) 46 Defense: 235 425 2,763 (21) 6.01 21 22 511 1,852 ( 4) 3.6 14 4,615 ( 9) 43
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 1 John Smith K 3 6'0 185 28 5 Southampton (England) 2 Mike Patrick P 1 6'0 213 26 4 Mississippi State 4 Jerrel Wilson P 14 6'4 222 37 16 Southern Mississippi 7 Nick Lowery K 2 6'4 190 22 R Dartmouth 9 David Posey K 11 5'10 167 22 1 Florida 14 Steve Grogan QB 16 6'4 200 25 4 Kansas State 17 Tom Owen QB 2 6'1 194 26 4 Wichita State 21 Sidney Brown DB 16 6'0 186 22 1 Oklahoma 22 Dick Conn DB 15 6'0 180 27 5 Georgia 23 Horace Ivory RB 15 6'0 198 24 2 Oklahoma 26 Raymond Clayborn DB 16 6'1 190 23 2 Texas 27 Doug Beaudoin DB 15 6'1 190 24 3 Minnesota 29 Harold Jackson WR 16 5'10 175 32 11 Jackson State 30 Mosi Tatupu RB 16 6'0 229 23 R Southern California 32 Andy Johnson RB 15 6'0 204 26 4 Georgia 34 Prentice McCray DB 8 6'1 187 27 5 Arizona State 37 James McAlister RB 16 6'1 205 27 3 UCLA 39 Sam Cunningham RB 16 6'3 230 28 6 Southern California 40 Mike Haynes DB 16 6'2 189 25 3 Arizona State 44 Don Calhoun RB 14 6'0 212 26 5 Kansas State 48 Tim Fox DB 16 5'11 186 24 3 Ohio State 50 Sam Hunt LB 15 6'1 240 27 5 Stephen F. Austin 52 Steve King LB 16 6'4 230 27 6 Tulsa 53 Merv Krakau LB 1 6'2 230 27 6 Iowa State 54 Steve Zabel LB 11 6'4 235 30 9 Oklahoma 55 Ray Costict LB 16 6'0 218 23 2 Mississippi State 56 Rod Shoate LB 15 6'1 211 25 3 Oklahoma 57 Steve Nelson LB 14 6'2 230 27 5 North Dakota State 58 Pete Brock C 15 6'5 260 24 3 Colorado 59 Mike Hawkins LB 12 6'2 232 23 R Texas A&I 61 Sam Adams OG 16 6'3 260 30 7 Prairie View A&M 62 Dwight Wheeler OT 2 6'3 255 23 R Tennessee State 63 Fred Sturt OG 1 6'4 255 27 4 Bowling Green 63 Ernie Holmes DT 3 6'3 260 30 7 Texas Southern 64 Richard Bishop DT 16 6'1 260 28 3 Louisville 65 Greg Boyd DE 10 6'6 265 26 2 San Diego State 66 Bob McKay OT 12 6'5 265 30 9 Texas 67 Bill Lenkaitis C 16 6'3 250 32 11 Penn State 68 Terry Falcon OG 8 6'3 260 23 R Montana 70 Leon Gray OT 16 6'3 256 26 6 Jackson State 71 Ray Hamilton DT 16 6'1 245 27 6 Oklahoma 72 Mel Lunsford DE 16 6'3 250 28 6 Central State 73 John Hannah OG 16 6'2 265 27 6 Alabama 74 Shelby Jordan OT 16 6'7 270 26 3 Washington-St.Louis 75 Bob Cryder OG 5 6'4 265 22 R Alabama 76 Greg Schaum DE 14 6'4 245 24 2 Michigan State 78 Tony McGee DE 16 6'4 245 29 8 Bishop 80 Don Hasselbeck TE 16 6'7 242 23 2 Colorado 81 Russ Francis TE 15 6'6 240 25 4 Oregon 82 Al Chandler TE 4 6'2 229 27 5 Oklahoma 83 Donald Westbrook WR 16 5'10 184 25 2 Nebraska 85 Julius Adams DE 1 6'3 260 30 8 Texas Southern 86 Stanley Morgan WR 16 5'11 176 23 2 Tennessee 88 Carlos Pennywell WR 16 6'2 180 22 R Grambling
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Steve Grogan 362 181 50.0 2,824 7.80 15.6 15 4.1 23 6.4 21 184 63.6 Tom Owen 26 15 57.7 182 7.00 12.1 0 0.0 2 7.7 3 22 47.3 Andy Johnson 2 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Russ Francis 39 543 13.9 4 Harold Jackson 37 743 20.1 6 Stanley Morgan 34 820 24.1 5 Sam Cunningham 31 297 9.6 0 Andy Johnson 26 267 10.3 0 Horace Ivory 14 122 8.7 0 Don Hasselbeck 7 107 15.3 0 Donald Westbrook 3 38 12.7 0 Don Calhoun 3 29 9.7 0 Carlos Pennywell 1 28 28.0 0 James McAlister 1 12 12.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Sam Cunningham 199 768 3.9 8 Horace Ivory 141 693 4.9 11 Andy Johnson 147 675 4.6 3 Steve Grogan 81 539 6.7 5 Don Calhoun 76 391 5.1 1 James McAlister 19 77 4.1 2 Stanley Morgan 2 11 5.5 0 Harold Jackson 1 7 7.0 0 Mosi Tatupu 3 6 2.0 0 Jerrel Wilson 1 0 0.0 0 Donald Westbrook 1 -2 -2.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Raymond Clayborn 27 636 23.6 0 James McAlister 10 186 18.6 0 Horace Ivory 7 165 23.6 0 Donald Westbrook 7 125 17.9 0 Dick Conn 1 26 26.0 0 Stanley Morgan 1 17 17.0 0 Mosi Tatupu 1 17 17.0 0 Dwight Wheeler 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Stanley Morgan 32 335 10.5 5 0 Mike Haynes 14 183 13.1 2 0 Dick Conn 1 2 2.0 2 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 18 OG Bob Cryder 107 Alabama 2 50 QB Matt Cavanaugh 112 Pittsburgh 3 77 WR Carlos Pennywell 38 Grambling 4 102 OT Dwight Wheeler 91 Tennessee State 5 129 LB Bill Matthews 48 South Dakota State 6 156 LB Ken Coleman Mississippi 7 188 LB Mike Hawkins 62 Texas A&I 8 198 OG Terry Falcon 31 Montana [pick acquired from BUF via PHI] 8 215 RB Mosi Tatupu 199 USC 9 242 LB Tim Petersen Arizona State 10 269 DB Bryan Ferguson Miami 11 296 LB Charlie Williams Florida 12 328 C John Gibney Colgate
Traded draft picks: none
Transactions:
| 04-10-1978 | Jess Phillips retired |
| 06-02-1978 | signed Ken Ellis from Browns as a free agent |
| 08-14-1978 | traded Bob McKay to Lions for Jim Mitchell |
| 08-15-1978 | traded a conditional draft pick to Broncos for Mike Burke |
| 08-16-1978 | traded New England's #3 pick in the 1979 draft and #4 pick in the 1980 draft to Rams for Harold Jackson |
| 08-22-1978 | traded New England's #6 pick in the 1979 draft to Steelers for Dave Pureifory |
| 08-23-1978 | traded a draft pick or other future considerations to Vikings for Neil Clabo |
| 08-24-1978 | traded Tom Neville to Broncos for Denver's #10 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-28-1978 | placed Bill Matthews on injured reserve |
| 08-29-1978 | Bengals claimed Dave Pureifory on waivers |
| 09-08-1978 | placed Julius Adams on injured reserve |
| 09-13-1978 | traded New England's #12 pick in the 1979 draft to Lions for Bob McKay |
| 11-30-1978 | placed Greg Boyd on injured reserve |
Playoff Results: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result 12/31/78 vs Houston Oilers L 14-31
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 vs Washington Redskins L 14-16 0-1-0 09/10/78 at St. Louis Cardinals W 16-6 1-1-0 09/18/78 vs Baltimore Colts L 27-34 1-2-0 09/24/78 at Oakland Raiders W 21-14 2-2-0 10/01/78 vs San Diego Chargers W 28-23 3-2-0 10/08/78 vs Philadelphia Eagles W 24-14 4-2-0 10/15/78 at Cincinnati Bengals W 10-3 5-2-0 10/22/78 vs Miami Dolphins W 33-24 6-2-0 10/29/78 vs New York Jets W 55-21 7-2-0 11/05/78 at Buffalo Bills W 14-10 8-2-0 11/12/78 vs Houston Oilers L 23-26 8-3-0 11/19/78 at New York Jets W 19-17 9-3-0 11/26/78 at Baltimore Colts W 35-14 10-3-0 12/03/78 at Dallas Cowboys L 10-17 10-4-0 12/10/78 vs Buffalo Bills W 26-24 11-4-0 12/18/78 at Miami Dolphins L 3-23 11-5-0