Steve Grogan

At 71 years old, Steve Grogan has this physical status:

Steven James Grogan (born July 24, 1953) is an American former football player who played quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons.

He spent the majority of his time with the New England Patriots.

He was a versatile, reliable double-threat quarterback in an era of pocket passers, led the league in both passing and quarterback rushing statistics several times during his career, and he tied for a record of 12 touchdowns in 1976, a record that stood for 35 seasons.

Grogan ran for over 500 yards in 1978 and led the team to a new NFL record of rushing yardage by a team.

Although he retired in 1990, he held many of the team's passing and longevity records, but most of these have since been broken.

He was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in 1995 and now owns a Massachusetts sporting goods store.

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Professional career

In the 1975 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, Grogan was chosen in the fifth round (116th overall) in the fifth round (116th overall). Although he's expected to start every game for four years in his career, Grogan's career was also marked by injuries and quarterback controversy, with him competing with other quarterbacks for the starting job. This was the first time he would start every game in a season from his second to his fifth season. Grogan will meet opposition from Matt Cavanaugh, Tony Eason, Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, and Marc Wilson after starting the job as a rookie.

Grogan played in 13 games out of the then-14 game regular season, beginning 7 of the last 8. Grogan threw for 1,976 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. The Patriots had a 3-11 record, while the Patriots lost Plunkett, their starter for the first four years, during the off-season. (Plunkett would eventually lead the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories.)

Grogan led the Patriots to an 11-3 record and the team's first playoff appearance since 1963. The eleven victories were the most Patriots victories in a season since the club's inception. The Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, the reigning Super Bowl champions, 30-27). The Oakland Raiders suffered their first regular season loss of the year by beating them 48-17. However, the Raiders lost the divisional playoffs (24-21). In 1976, Grogan scored 12 rushing touchdowns, beating a quarterback record of 11 set by Tobin Rote and Johnny Lujack. His record would stand for 35 years until it was shattered by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton's 14 in 2011.

Grogan would continue to play with his legs into a new 300+ yard offense this season, but he would only find the end zone once on a running play, as running backs Horace Ivory, Sam "Bam" Cunningham, and Andy Johnson did the majority of the scoring on the ground. In the first round of that year's draft, Rookie Stanley Morgan was drafted and became a popular target for Grogan; the two will continue to be the most successful team in the Patriots history by the time of their retirements. The team would be unable to return to 9-5 and missing the playoffs, however.

Grogan led the Patriots to an 11-5 record, a division championship, and the organization's first home playoff game against the Houston Oilers in 1978. With 3,156 yards (Grogan rushing for 539 yards and 5 touchdowns himself), the Patriots tied the all-time single season team rushing record (Grogan rushing for 539 yards and 5 touchdowns), a record that has not been broken by the 2019 Baltimore Ravens. It's also the only season an NFL team has seen four players rush for over 500 yards apiece.

Grogan's best season was the 1979 Patriots, with 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, tying with Brian Sipe of Cleveland, and his rushing yards led the league for quarterbacks. The Patriots struggled defensively and didn't have lead by Grogan, and they ended with a disappointing 9-7 record and missed the playoffs.

Grogan sustained multiple injuries in the early 1980s and split starting duties with Matt Cavanaugh. In 1980 and 1981 (when they had a horrific 2-14 record), the Patriots failed to make the playoffs, only in 1982 after the strike-shortened 1982 season. Grogan's time as a mobile dual-threat quarterback was plagued by knee surgery and discomforted in his new role as a pocket passer, were painfully lackingluster years. In the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft, the Patriots selected quarterback Tony Eason. Grogan returned to form during the 1983 season, but Eason replaced him as the primary starter in 1984, where Grogan played entirely ineffectively for the two losses in weeks two and three of the season.

Eason had been the starting quarterback position by 1985 and led the Patriots to a 2–3 record. For Grogan, coach Raymond Berry benched Eason. The Patriots won 6 straight games under their new quarterback, but they did lose Grogan after he suffered a broken leg against the New York Jets in Week 12. In QB, Eason, and the Patriots lost that Jets game 16-13 in overtime and relegated to 1st place in the AFC East Division. In the Patriots' remaining five games after Eason's return, they went 3-2. The Patriots earned a wild card berth into the playoffs and eventually reached Super Bowl XX, defeating the Chicago Bears, who had gone 15-1, in the regular season. The Patriots' defense and conference playoff games started the game, but the Bears could do nothing against the Bears' defense and Eason went 0-6 in passing attempts; Coach Berry replaced him with Grogan. In the 46-10 loss, Grogan connected on 17 of 30 passes for 177 yards, a touchdown but also two interceptions. The fact that the Patriots were the only team to score against the Bears in the playoffs this season was of no comfort.

When Eason was injured, Eason returned to full-time starter duties for the 1986 season, while Grogan appeared in only 4 games (two as a starter) when Eason was injured. Grogan, as Grogan battled for playing time not only with Eason but also with backup Tom Ramsay, local hero and fan favorite Doug Flutie, and journeyman Marc Wilson, remained a revolving door of starting quarterbacks for the remainder of the 1980s. The Patriots struggled to remain above.500 for the first four years of his career, culminating in the 1990 blustering and turbulent 1-15 campaign, after which Grogan resigned.

Grogan led the franchise as the all-time leader in passing yards (26,886) and passing touchdowns (182). He currently ranks third in passing yards, behind Brady and Drew Bledsoe and second in passing touchdowns behind Brady as of 2019. His 16 seasons were the second longest for a Patriots player, behind Tom Brady. He also held a 153.9 quarterback rating against the New York Jets on September 9, 1979, scoring 13-of-18 passes for 315 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.

Grogan played seventy-six games for the Patriots from 1975 to 1980, placing him 20th for Most consecutive starts by a quarterback (NFL). Brady knocked him out of the top ten percent.

Grogan played for 2,176 yards (4.9 per pass) and 35 touchdowns during his career, putting him fourth overall in rushing touchdowns. The Patriots made the playoffs five times (1976, 1978, 1985, 1985, 1985, 1985, and 1986 as a back up). The Patriots made the playoffs just once before Grogan was drafted.

Grogan's injuries and his tenacity in reaction to them are both part of his legacy. In 2003, one Boston Globe sports writer wrote about the "Grogan Toughness Meter." "Three knee surgeries; screws in his leg; a cracked fibula that snapped when he tried to practice; two broken disks in his neck; two fractured disks in his neck; and three concussions" -- Nick Cafardo.

NFL career statistics

Pro-Football-Reference.com has Stats from the Database of Football, the NFL, and Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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