Today in Patriots History
Pats rally from 3-TD deficit to defeat Chicago
on David Patten last minute tiptoe catch
Nov 10, 2002 at 4:15
Week 10, Game 9 at Memorial Field (University of Illinois)
Patriots 33, Bears 30
Head Coaches: Bill Belichick, **** Jauron
QBs: Tom Brady; Chris Chandler, Jim Miller
Odds: New England favored by 5
Pats improve to 5-4, T-1 with Miami and Buffalo
Chicago drops to 2-7
The Patriots scored 27 second half points, including 14 points in the final three minutes to defeat the Bears in Champaign. The defending Super Bowl champs were down 27-6 late in the third quarter before scoring five times in the final 18:04 in a stunning turnaround.
Chicago was leading 30-25 with under three minutes to go and a 2nd-and-one, but the Pats defense forced a punt with
Willie McGinest and then
Tedy Bruschi stuffing
Anthony Thomas on run attempts.
Troy Brown then returned a short punt eleven yards, and the Pats had the ball on their own 44-yard line.
Chicago DL
Bryan Robinson appeared to seal the win with an interception, but rather than go down with the ball he tried to run with it – and dropped it, for an incomplete pass. Then on a 4th-and-3 at the 30 the Pats - who were out of timeouts after using them on defense on the previous Chicago possession - got a first down on a long
Tom Brady quarterback sneak.
David Patten then beat Bears' CB
R.W. McQuarters in the corner of the end zone, and was able to just barely drag both feet just in bounds - and the Patriots got the victory.
Kevin Faulk had seven catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns, including a 36-yard 4th quarter TD that set up the winning score. Troy Brown had 11 receptions for 90 yards to go with 47 yards on punt returns, and Brady finished the game 36-55 with 328 yards passing and three touchdowns.
Adam Vinatieri connected on four field goals, including a team-record 57-yarder in the second quarter.
Highlights:
Full Game:
Nov 10, 1996 at 1:00
Week 11, Game 10 at Giants Stadium
Patriots 31, Jets 27
Head Coaches: Bill Parcells, Rich Kotite
QBs: Drew Bledsoe, Frank Reich
Odds: New England favored by 6½
Pats improve to 7-3, T-1 with Buffalo
Jets drop to 1-9
Drew Bledsoe turned the ball over three times on New England's first nine snaps, to gift the Jets an early 21-0 lead. After that sleepy start the Pats finally woke up with a touchdown just before halftime, finally scoring the go ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The Jets, who earlier had been embarrassed by the famous fake spike by
Dan Marino, bit hard on multiple fakes that turned into highly successful plays for the Pats. The Patriots had a 28-yard flea-flicker, a 26-yard end around, and two screen passes for 43 yards – all big plays in which the Jets were caught out of position.
Terry Glenn scored the first touchdown on a 26 yard pass from Bledsoe, then on the opening drive of the second half set up another score on a 26 yard end around. Early in the fourth quarter a
Curtis Martin 31 yard catch and run set up a 17 yard TD from Bledsoe to
Ben Coates to tie the score. The go-ahead touchdown came on a 2-yard pass from Bledsoe to
Keith Byars, set up by a 28-yard flea flicker to Glenn.
There was still 4:03 left to play, and the Jet quarterback was
Frank Reich, current head coach of the Colts. Reich had engineered perhaps the greatest comeback in NFL history when he led the Bills from 32 points down to a victory over the Oilers in the 1992 playoffs. Reich drove the Jets from their own 21 to the New England 11 with just under a minute to play. His next four passes fell incomplete, thanks to defelections by
Otis Smith and
Lawyer Milloy to preserve the narrow victory.
Bledsoe finished with 297 yards passing and three touchdowns, Curtis Martin had 124 yards (43 yards rushing, 81 receiving), and Terry Glenn had 109 yards (83 receiving and 26 rushing);
Willie Clay also had a 35-yard interception return.
Sun Nov 10, 1991 at 8:00
Week 11, Game 10 at Joe Robbie Stadium
Dolphins 30, Patriots 20
Head Coaches: **** MacPherson, Don Shula
QBs: Hugh Millen, Dan Marino
Odds: Miami favored by 6½
Pats drop to 3-7, 4th in 5-team AFC East
Miami improves to 5-5, 4 games behind Buffalo
On Sunday Night Football the Pats rallied to tie the score in the 4th quarter, but
Dan Marino did his thing after that for a Miami victory with his 28th game winning drive and 18th fourth quarter comeback.
Marino threw a pair of touchdowns early, including a 31-yarder to
Mark Clayton, to put the Dolphins up by two touchdowns before
Charlie Baumann kicked his second field goal to make the score 17-6 at halftime.
The Pats came back with a pair of
Hugh Millen touchdown passes, 40 yards to
Irving Fryar and five yards to
Marv Cook, and the score was tied 20-20 in the 4th quarter. Millen deserved a better fate in a losing cause on this day, completing 20 of 26 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns.
After
Pete Stoyanovich missed a 49-yard field goal with 5:30 remaining the Pats had the ball with good field position, but Millen stumbled and fell on third-and-4 on the next drive, and the Pats had to punt.
Marino noticed that Clayton was in single coverage and audibled with a hand signal to his receiver, and Clayton burned CB
David Pool with 1:54 remaining for a 32-yard game winning touchdown.
Full Game:
Nov 10, 1985 at 1:00
Week 10, Game 10 at Sullivan Stadium
Patriots 34, Colts 15
Head Coaches: Raymond Berry, Rod Dowhower
QBs: Steve Grogan; Mike Pagel, Matt Kofler
Odds: New England favored by 9½
Pats improve to 7-3, T-1 with the Jets
Indy drops to 3-7
The Pats scored 34 unanswered points to win their fifth straight game and improve to 7-3 on the season. The victory put them in a first place tie with the Jets, who lost 21-17 at Miami.
On defense
Fred Marion had a 36 yard interception return, a fumble recovery and made nine tackles.
Raymond Clayborn added a pick, and the Pats pass rush came up with seven sacks: three by
Andre Tippett, two by
Don Blackmon, and two by
Garin Veris.
Stanley Morgan got the Pats on the scoreboard with a 19-yard pass from
Steve Grogan to give the Patriots a 7-6 halftime lead. After a
Tony Franklin field goal,
Irving Fryar scored twice – first on a 5-yard pass from Grogan, and then on a 77-yard punt return - and the Pats were up 24-6 after three quarters.
Tony Collins scored on a 2-yard run and Franklin added another field goal to give the Patriots an insurmountable 34-6 4th quarter lead before the Colts scored in garbage time for the final score.
Stanley Morgan led Pats’ receivers with seven receptions for 120 yards, while
Craig James was the leading rusher with 92 yards on 18 carries.
Mon Nov 10, 1980 at 9:00
Week 10, Game 10 at the Astrodome
Oilers 38, Patriots 34
Head Coaches: Ron Erhardt, Bum Phillips
QBs: Steve Grogan, Ken Stabler
Odds: Houston favored by 3
Pats drop to 7-3, T-1 with Buffalo
Oilers improve to 7-3, T-1 with Cleveland in AFC Central
This Monday Night Football matchup between two of the league's best teams lived up to the hype in an exciting game, though the Patriots did not emerge victorious. Just as was the case two years earlier in the Pats first ever home playoff game,
Earl Campbell carried the Oilers to a victory on his back.
Houston dominated early and went into halftime with a 24-6 lead on two
Ken Stabler touchdown passes and a rushing TD by Campbell. The Pats came back with a touchdown run by Don Calhoun and 39-yard scoring pass from
Steve Grogan to
Harold Jackson to cut the lead to 24-20 at the end of three quarters.
Campbell - who finished with 130 yards rushing - scored again on a short run to put Houston back up by 11, but the Pats came back with a 21-yard touchdown from Grogan to
Russ Francis. Stabler responded by throwing his third touchdown pass, and then the Pats came right back with another Grogan-to-Francis score, this one from 15 yards to pull the Pats within four – but Houston held on for the win.
Campbell went on to rush for 1,934 yards in 1980, including four 200-yard rushing games that year – and also went on to Canton as a well-deserving member of the Hall of Fame. Grogan finished the game with three touchdowns and 374 yards, the second highest passing total of his NFL career.
Nov 10, 1974 at 1:00
Week 9, Game 9 at Schaefer Stadium
Browns 21, Patriots 14
Head Coaches: Chuck Fairbanks, Nick Skorich
QBs: Jim Plunkett, Brian Sipe
Pats drop to 6-3, one game behind Dolphins and Bills
Cleveland improves to 3-6
Greg Pruitt returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown in what was a sign of things to come, and the Browns upset the Patriots. On the following Patriot possession Cleveland safety
Thom Darden recovered a fumble 29 yards for another touchdown and a quick 14-0 Browns lead.
The Pats regrouped and scored twice in the second quarter on a pair of runs by
Sam Cunningham to tie the score. By the time the game was over though the Patriots had turned the ball over six times, negating a 287-183 advantage in total yards and 17-10 edge in first downs. Darden had two interceptions to go with his fumble recovery to lead the Browns. For the Patriots Cunningham finished with 75 yards rushing while
Mack Herron had 103 yards from scrimmage with 61 yards rushing and another 42 yards on four receptions.
Nov 10, 1968 at 1:00
Week 10, Game 9 at Fenway Park
Chargers 27, Patriots 17
Head Coaches: Mike Holovak, Sid Gillman
QBs: Tom Sherman, John Hadl
Pats drop to 3-6, half game behind 2nd place Houston
San Diego improves to 7-2
On a cold and rainy day a late rally fell short: the Pats lost their third game in a row to fall to 3-6, while the Chargers avoided an upset loss to remain a half game behind KC in the west.
The Patriots defense limited
John Hadl to just five completions in 23 attempts and only one completion to
Lance Alworth, but Hadl hit SE
Gary Garrison on a 67-yard bomb to give the Chargers a 17-3 halftime lead. The Pats came back with a touchdown run by
Jim Nance (23 carries for 96 yards) and a
Gino Cappelletti 19-yard TD reception, but it was too little, too late. That last score was very noteworthy from an historical perspective though: with that touchdown Gino became the first player in AFL history to score more than 1,000 points in his career.
Nov 10, 1963 at 1:00
Week 10, Game 10 at Fenway Park
Chargers 7, Patriots 6
Head Coaches: Mike Holovak, Sid Gillman
QBs: Babe Parilli, Tobin Rote
Pats drop to 5-5, one game behind Houston in AFL East
San Diego improves to 7-2, first place in AFL West
Future Hall of Famer
Lance Alworth's first quarter touchdown pass from Tobin Rote turned out to be the winning score in a defensive battle of what would become the prequel to the 1963 AFL title game.
The Patriot defense held San Diego to 21 points below their season average with something modern day Pats fans can relate to: a bend-don't-break defense. The Charger offense was a one-man show as Alworth, in his second year of pro football, went for 210 yards on 13 receptions. However, when San Diego got close to the goal line the Pats D stood tall, limiting the Chargers to that one 27-yard score early in the game while holding San Diego to just 32 yards on the ground on 21 rushes.
On this rainy day the Patriot offense was unable to capitalize, turning the ball over five times.
Larry Garron ran for 91 yards and
Art Graham had 64 yards receiving for the Pats. The loss, coupled with a win by Buffalo dropped the Patriots to second place, a half game behind the Oilers in the AFL East.
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