Steve Grogan needs some advocacy here, even though he toiled on many teams that sucked. On second thought after reviewing his stats do not think so.. sometimes things seem rosier and brighter in the rear view mirror, it is that freaking facts thing..
Steve Grogan Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com
Numbers do not tell the whole story.
Two seminal and earth-shaking events destroyed Super Bowl aspirations for the Pats in the 70's: Ben Dreith and his crew, and Jack Tatum. Both occurred at the same venue within 19+ months of each other. Imagine the Pats this century, minus Troy Brown. We also had the misfortune of losing Julius Adams in Game 1 for the season in '78. Not to mention Billy Sullivan screwing us in '77 in the Hannah/Gray holdout.
We played on a concrete surface at old Schaefer Stadium, and Steve suffered a plethora of injuries to rival anyone's in the sport. And mostly, he played through them. Six interceptions at Candlestick in '80 comes to mind. He even signed an insurance waiver to play at the end, wearing that huge neck brace.
While Jim Plunkett put us on the map in '74 - look at the game results, you'll see that was a very good team that very narrowly lost four games by a total of twelve points, and two others by only a touchdown - it was Grogan who led the Pats to national prominence, with an offense as good as any in the league. It was much harder to make the postseason then, and the Pats played in the dominant AFC.
Steve played hurt. Enough that by the time Tony Eason was drafted, the organization, along with everybody else in football, wrote him off as being, in his own words, "old and beat up."
But after piling up a record number of sacks and interceptions, Eason finally got knocked out of a game vs. the Bills on 10/13/85, and Grogan creaked onto the field, and led the young talented Pats to six straight wins, calling his own plays. After breaking his leg at the Meadowlands, Steve was active and ready for Super Bowl XX. But coach Raymond Berry, who overlooked the fact that the Patriots would need more than an advantage in turnovers, and would need a controlled, steady, grinding effort led by the quarterback with far more experience, savvy and knowledge than Eason - or McMahon, for that matter - to have a chance to pull off one of the major sports upsets in history; and who devised a game plan that required Eason to magically transform into Dan Marino; and/or who decided it was more important to spare the kid's feelings after the team won four straight games facing elimination.
The next season, Grogan once again was brilliant when called upon, but Berry once again started Eason (when he was healthy) and the team once again was eliminated in Denver.
By the time Eason was finally released (after legend Doug Flutie was also benched in favor of him, destroying the 1988 season), Grogan was very close to retirement.
Steve Grogan led the Patriots to a total of 75 wins. The percentage of those wins which qualify as "huge", and "clutch", and against favored teams under challenging circumstances rivals that of any other quarterback, period. And, he has more career wins than Lamonica, Jurgensen, Morrall, Conerly, Namath, & Kilmer.
Steve Grogan - Wikipedia
At the time of his retirement, Grogan led the franchise as the all-time leader in passing yards (26,886) and passing touchdowns (182). He is third in passing yards and passing touchdowns behind
Tom Brady and
Drew Bledsoe. His 16 seasons are the second most ever for a Patriots player, behind Tom Brady. He also held the Patriots previous single-game record with a 153.9
quarterback rating, achieved by completing 13-of-18 passes for 315 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions against the New York Jets on September 9, 1979, before
Drew Bledsoe posted a
perfect 158.3 rating against the Indianapolis Colts on December 26, 1993.
Statistically, Grogan's best season was the
Patriots 1979 season, when he completed 206 of 423 passes for 3,286 yards and 28 touchdowns, rushing for 368 yards and 2 touchdowns. His 28 touchdown passes led the league, tied with
Brian Sipe of Cleveland, and his rushing yards led the league for quarterbacks
Grogan rushed for 2,176 yards (4.9 per carry) and 35 touchdowns during his career,
[19] a mark which places him as the Patriots' fourth overall in rushing touchdowns.
[19] With Grogan, the Patriots made the playoffs five times (1976, 1978, 1982, 1985, and 1986 as a backup). Before Grogan was drafted, the Patriots made the playoffs just once from 1960-1974.
Grogan's injuries and his toughness in response to them are also part of his legacy. One sports writer for the
Boston Globe, wrote of the "Grogan Toughness Meter" in 2003. The writer, Nick Cafardo, gave a partial listing of Grogan's injuries over his 16-year career: "Five knee surgeries; screws in his leg after the tip of his fibula snapped; a cracked fibula that snapped when he tried to practice; two ruptured disks in his neck, which he played with for 1 1/2 seasons; a broken left hand (he simply handed off with his right hand); two separated shoulders on each side; the reattachment of a tendon to his throwing elbow; and three concussions."
