Greatest Patriots Teams: The 1985 New England Patriots

June 29, 12:01 AMNew England Patriots ExaminerSean Crowe

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(AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

It’s hard for me to put the 1985 New England Patriots on this list. I summed up my feelings on this team pretty well in an article I wrote for Sports Central back in January of 1998.

1) I can't take any team quarterbacked by Tony Eason seriously.

2) I was 6-years-old.

3) The Patriots weren't the best team in the AFC that season, they just caught an overconfident Miami Dolphins team in the AFC championship.

4) Because of the 1985 Patriots, the Super Bowl Shuffle, Mike Ditka, and Refrigerator Perry all live on. I cannot forgive them for this.

But the 1985 New England Patriots were a very good team. They were a surprisingly good team. The problem was, they had an awful, awful quarterback.

Tony Eason was drafted to replace an injury prone Steve Grogan in 1983. You may remember that draft for its abundance of great quarterbacks. The Patriots remember that draft for the exact opposite reason.

In 1985, nobody expected much from the Patriots. Tony Eason was generally regarded as the reason why nobody expected much. Because, and it's worth stating again, Tony Eason was AWFUL.

After starting the season 2-3, head coach Raymond Berry had seen enough. He benched Tony Eason in favor of fan favorite and Patriots legend Steve Grogan.

Grogan and the Patriots went on to win six straight games and proved to be one of the best teams in the AFC. They did it with a combination of an underrated but talented defense and a suddenly pretty good offense.

In the week 11 game against the Jets, just when everyone in New England was starting to believe, Grogan broke his leg. He was replaced by Tony Eason, and Eason's loserness (new word I just made up) rubbed off on the rest of the team once again, causing them to lose in overtime.

The Patriots somehow managed to win three of their last four games to squeak into the playoffs as a wildcard.

What happened next is as inconceivable as anything that’s ever happened in the NFL. The Patriots, led by their “special” quarterback, a great running game, and a feisty defense, went on a magical run.

They beat the Jets in New York (avenging their overtime loss).

They beat the Raiders in Oakland.

They squished the fish in Miami.

Unbelievably, the New England Patriots were going to the Super Bowl.

I prefer not to think about what happened next. Needless to say, it was awful. Grogan was cleared to play, but didn’t start. Eason was as terrible as we all knew he’d be. Grogan replaced him after the game was already over.

It was ugly. Even uglier than the 46-10 score would indicate.

Raymond Clayborn, John Hannah, Brian Holloway, Craig James, Fred Marion, Steve Nelson, and Andre Tippett (all Pro Bowlers) deserved a better outcome.

Irving Fryar, who was also on that team, might have deserved a better outcome had he not gotten into a knife fight with his wife immediately prior to the biggest game of his career.

In retrospect, this loss sent the Patriots on a downward spiral that they would not recover from until a decade later, when two guys named Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells saved football in New England.

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Questions? Comments? Insults? You can email them to Sean Crowe at scrowe@gmail.com.

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