1985 New England Patriots season
OwnerBilly Sullivan
General managerPatrick Sullivan
Head coachRaymond Berry
Home fieldSullivan Stadium
Results
Record11–5
Division place3rd AFC East
Playoff finishWon Wild Card Playoffs
(at Jets) 26–14
Won Divisional Playoffs
(at Raiders) 27–20
Won AFC Championship
(at Dolphins) 31–14
Lost Super Bowl XX
(vs. Bears) 10–46
Pro Bowlers
AP All-Pros
Craig James rushes the ball past the Dolphins' defense in the AFC Championship game.

The 1985 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 16th season in the National Football League (NFL) and 26th overall. The Patriots had a record of eleven wins and five losses and finished third in the AFC East Division. They then became the first team in NFL history ever to advance to the Super Bowl by winning three playoff games on the road, defeating the New York Jets 26–14 in the AFC Wild Card Game, the Los Angeles Raiders 27–20 in the AFC Divisional Game and the Miami Dolphins 31–14 in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots' win in Miami was their first victory at the Miami Orange Bowl since 1966 and while they did defeat Miami on the road in 1969 that game was played in Tampa Bay. The win over the Dolphins in the game has gone down as one of the greatest upsets in NFL history, as the Dolphins were heavily favored.[3]

But despite the Patriots' success in the playoffs, they proved unable to compete with the acclaimed 15–1 Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX, losing 46–10 in what was at the time the most lopsided defeat in Super Bowl history. The Patriots were held to a Super Bowl record of just 7 rushing yards and their quarterbacks, Tony Eason and Steve Grogan, were sacked a combined 7 times by the powerful Bears defense.

"We couldn't protect the quarterback and that was my fault. I couldn't come up with a system to handle the Bears' pass rush," head coach Raymond Berry acknowledged.[4]

Personnel

Staff

1985 New England Patriots staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

 Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Dean Brittenham

Roster

1985 New England Patriots final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 8 Green Bay Packers W 26–20 1–0 Sullivan Stadium 49,488
2 September 15 at Chicago Bears L 7–20 1–1 Soldier Field 60,533
3 September 22 at Buffalo Bills W 17–14 2–1 Rich Stadium 40,334
4 September 29 Los Angeles Raiders L 20–35 2–2 Sullivan Stadium 60,686
5 October 6 at Cleveland Browns L 20–24 2–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 62,139
6 October 13 Buffalo Bills W 28–6 3–3 Sullivan Stadium 40,462
7 October 20 New York Jets W 20–13 4–3 Sullivan Stadium 58,163
8 October 27 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 32–14 5–3 Tampa Stadium 34,661
9 November 3 Miami Dolphins W 17–13 6–3 Sullivan Stadium 58,811
10 November 10 Indianapolis Colts W 34–15 7–3 Sullivan Stadium 54,176
11 November 17 at Seattle Seahawks W 20–13 8–3 Kingdome 60,345
12 November 24 at New York Jets L 13–16 (OT) 8–4 Giants Stadium 74,100
13 December 1 at Indianapolis Colts W 38–31 9–4 Hoosier Dome 56,740
14 December 8 Detroit Lions W 23–6 10–4 Sullivan Stadium 59,078
15 December 16 at Miami Dolphins L 27–30 10–5 Miami Orange Bowl 69,489
16 December 22 Cincinnati Bengals W 34–23 11–5 Sullivan Stadium 57,953
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 234Total
Packers 0 6014 20
• Patriots 7 1207 26
  • Date: September 8
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 49,488
  • Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C); wind 10 mph (16 km/h)
  • Referee: Bob McElwee
  • TV announcers (CBS): Jim Hill and John Dockery
Scoring summary
Q19:33NECollins 11 yard run (Franklin kick)NE 7–0
Q211:40NEFranklin 34 yard field goalNE 10–0
Q210:24NEDickey tackled by Blackmon in end zoneNE 12–0
Q22:20GBEllis 1 yard run (kick failed)NE 12–6
Q20:08NEJones 3 yard pass from Eason (Franklin kick)NE 19–6
Q46:23NEJames 65 yard run (Franklin kick)NE 26–6
Q43:51GBCoffman 8 yard pass from Dickey (Del Greco kick)NE 26–13
Q40:25GBClark 23 yard run (Del Greco kick)NE 26–20

[5] [6]

Week 2

1 234Total
Patriots 0 007 7
• Bears 7 3100 20

Week 3

1 234Total
• Patriots 3 770 17
Bills 0 707 14
Scoring summary
1NETony Franklin 32-yard field goalPatriots 3–0
2BUFGreg Bell 16-yard pass from Vince Ferragamo (Scott Norwood kick)Bills 7–3
2NETony Collins 5-yard pass from Craig James (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 10–7
3NEIrving Fryar 85-yard punt return (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 17–7
4BUFAndre Reed 18-yard pass from Vince Ferragamo (Scott Norwood kick)Patriots 17–14

[7]

Week 4

1 234Total
• Raiders 14 0714 35
Patriots 10 1000 20
  • Date: September 29
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Referee: Gordon McCarter
  • TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert and Bob Griese

Week 5

1 234Total
Patriots 0 1370 20
• Browns 7 737 24

Week 6

1 234Total
Bills 0 300 3
• Patriots 0 077 14
Scoring summary
2BUFScott Norwood 47-yard field goalBills 3–0
3NEIrving Fryar 16-yard pass from Steve Grogan (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 7–3
4NERaymond Clayborn 27-yard interception return (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 14–3

[8]

Week 7 vs Jets

Week Seven: New York Jets (5–1) at New England Patriots (3–3)
Period 1 2 34Total
Jets 0 3 3713
Patriots 3 3 01420

at Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts

  • Date: October 20
  • Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: 54 °F (12 °C)
  • Game attendance: 58,163
  • Referee: Fred Silva
  • TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert & Bob Griese
  • Box Score, Box Score
Game information

Week 8

1 234Total
• Patriots 0 13316 32
Buccaneers 14 000 14

Week 9

1 234Total
Dolphins 7 330 13
• Patriots 0 3014 17
  • Date: November 3
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Referee: Fred Wyant
  • TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph and Bob Griese

Week 10

1 234Total
Colts 0 609 15
• Patriots 0 71710 34

Week 11

1 234Total
• Patriots 0 7013 20
Seahawks 0 3100 13

Week 12

1 234OTTotal
Patriots 0 30100 13
• Jets 6 0703 16
  • Date: November 24
  • Location: Giants Stadium
  • Referee: Bob Frederic
  • TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Merlin Olsen

Week 13

1 234Total
• Patriots 7 17014 38
Colts 7 10014 31

Week 14

1 234Total
Lions 3 030 6
• Patriots 7 1006 23
  • Date: December 8
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Referee: Gene Barth
  • TV announcers (CBS): Jim Hill and John Dockery

Week 15

1 234Total
Patriots 7 0317 27
• Dolphins 7 10310 30
  • Date: December 16
  • Location: Orange Bowl
  • Game start: 9:00 EST
  • Referee: Dick Jorgensen
  • TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Joe Namath, OJ Simpson

Week 16

1 234Total
Bengals 3 3710 23
• Patriots 10 10014 34
Scoring summary
1NETony Franklin 25 yard field goalPatriots 3–0
1CINJim Breech 42 yard field goalTie 3–3
1NEStanley Morgan 50 yard pass from Tony Eason (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 10–3
2CINJim Breech 22 yard field goalPatriots 10–6
2NETony Collins 9 yard run (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 17–6
2NETony Franklin 30 yard field goalPatriots 20–6
3CINEddie Brown 33 yard pass from Boomer Esiason (Jim Breech kick)Patriots 20–13
4CINJim Breech 30 yard field goalPatriots 20–16
4NECraig James 11 yard run (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 27–16
4CINCris Collinsworth 8 yard pass from Boomer Esiason (Jim Breech kick)Patriots 27–23
4NERobert Weathers 42 yard run (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 34–23

[9]

After winning against the Bengals, fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts. Fans proceeded to walk down Route 1 with the goalposts, accidentally hitting an overhead wire and nearly electrocuting themselves.[10]

Postseason

Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Attendance
Wild card playoff December 28 at New York Jets (4) W 26–14 1–0 Giants Stadium 70,958
Divisional Playoff January 5, 1986 at Los Angeles Raiders (1) W 27–20 2–0 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 88,936
AFC Championship January 12, 1986 at Miami Dolphins (2) W 31–14 3–0 Miami Orange Bowl 74,978
Super Bowl XX January 26, 1986 Chicago Bears (N1) L 10–46 3–1 Louisiana Superdome 73,818

Wild card

1 234Total
• Patriots 3 10103 26
Jets 0 770 14

This was only the second postseason win in Patriots history, and the first since 1963.

Divisional

1 234Total
• Patriots 7 10100 27
Raiders 3 1700 20

Conference championship

1 234Total
• Patriots 3 1477 31
Dolphins 0 707 14
  • Date: January 12, 1986
  • Location: Orange Bowl
  • Referee: Gene Barth
  • TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

In the 1986 AFC Championship Game, the Patriots ran the ball on 59 out of 71 offensive plays, amassing 255 rushing yards in an upset of the favored Dolphins.[11]

Super Bowl

1 234Total
• Bears 13 10212 46
Patriots 3 007 10

Standings

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Miami Dolphins(2) 12 4 0 .750 6–2 9–3 428 320 W7
New York Jets(4) 11 5 0 .688 6–2 9–3 393 264 W1
New England Patriots(5) 11 5 0 .688 6–2 8–4 362 290 W1
Indianapolis Colts 5 11 0 .313 1–7 2–10 320 386 W2
Buffalo Bills 2 14 0 .125 1–7 2–12 200 381 L6

References

  1. ↑ "1985 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  2. ↑ "1985 NFL All-Pros". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  3. ↑ "Patriots Run Down Dolphins, 31-14 : Miami Can't Overcome Six Turnovers in Losing AFC Title". Los Angeles Times. January 13, 1986. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  4. ↑ Tales From The Patriots Sideline (Illinois:Sports Publishing LLC, 2006) by Michael Felger, p. 80
  5. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Aug-01.
  6. ↑ Gainesville Sun. 1985 Sept 9. Retrieved 2017-Nov-01.
  7. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  8. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  9. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  10. ↑ "Foxboro Stadium History - 1985 | New England Patriots". Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  11. ↑ 100 Things Dolphins Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Armando Salguero, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2020, ISBN 978-1-62937-722-3, p.147
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