| 1981 New England Patriots season | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Billy Sullivan |
| General manager | Bucko Kilroy |
| Head coach | Ron Erhardt |
| Home field | Schaefer Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 2–14 |
| Division place | T-4th AFC East |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers | G John Hannah |
| AP All-Pros | G John Hannah (1st team) |
The 1981 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 12th season in the National Football League and 22nd overall.
Looking to improve on two consecutive winning seasons under head coach Ron Erhardt, including a 10–6 mark in 1980, the Patriots instead regressed significantly and ended the season with a record of two wins and fourteen losses, and finished tied for last in the AFC East Division with the Baltimore Colts, with whom they also tied for the worst record in the league. A porous defensive line and linebacking corps [1] was the chief weakness: in one game against the Steelers the Patriot secondary made 27 of the team's 33 tackles. [2] The 2–14 record resulted in Erhardt losing his job at the end of the season. [3]
The Patriots lost their first four games, and then ten of their last eleven, including the last nine games of the season. Eight of their losses were by margins of seven or fewer points; the largest margin of defeat was only 14 points. The Patriots were defeated in both the first and last games of the season by the Baltimore Colts; the Patriots' bookend losses proved to be Baltimore's only two wins of the 1981 season. It was known that the loser of that last game would have the first pick in the 1982 NFL Draft, and the game was nicknamed “The Stupor Bowl.” [4] With the Patriots’ defeat, the team had the first pick, choosing University of Texas defensive end Kenneth Sims, an eventual “draft bust” as first overall pick in the NFL draft. 22 years later, in their Super Bowl XXXVIII-winning season, the Patriots went 14–2, becoming the second franchise in NFL history to have both a 2–14 season and a 14–2 season. [Note 1]
| 1981 New England Patriots draft | |||||
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Brian Holloway * | Tackle | Stanford | |
| 2 | 47 | Tony Collins * | Running back | East Carolina | |
| 4 | 102 | Don Blackmon | Linebacker | Tulsa | |
| 5 | 130 | Stevan Clark | Defensive tackle | Kansas State | |
| 6 | 157 | Ron Wooten | Guard | North Carolina | |
| 7 | 185 | Ken Toler | Wide receiver | Ole Miss | |
| 8 | 194 | Ken Naber | Placekicker | Stanford | |
| 8 | 212 | Lin Dawson | Tight end | North Carolina State | |
| 11 | 295 | Brian Buckley | Quarterback | Harvard | |
| 12 | 323 | Cris Crissy | Defensive back | Princeton | |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career | |||||
| New England Patriots 1981 staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
| Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
| |||||
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 6 | Baltimore Colts | L 28–29 | 0—1 | 49,572 |
| 2 | September 13 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 3–13 | 0—2 | 71,089 |
| 3 | September 21 | Dallas Cowboys | L 21–35 | 0—3 | 60,311 |
| 4 | September 27 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 21–27 (OT) | 0—4 | 53,344 |
| 5 | October 4 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 33–17 | 1—4 | 55,931 |
| 6 | October 11 | at New York Jets | L 24–28 | 1—5 | 55,093 |
| 7 | October 18 | Houston Oilers | W 38–10 | 2—5 | 60,474 |
| 8 | October 25 | at Washington Redskins | L 22–24 | 2—6 | 50,394 |
| 9 | November 1 | at Oakland Raiders | L 17–27 | 2—7 | 44,246 |
| 10 | November 8 | Miami Dolphins | L 27–30 (OT) | 2—8 | 60,436 |
| 11 | November 15 | New York Jets | L 6–17 | 2—9 | 45,342 |
| 12 | November 22 | at Buffalo Bills | L 17–20 | 2—10 | 71,593 |
| 13 | November 29 | St. Louis Cardinals | L 20–27 | 2—11 | 39,946 |
| 14 | December 6 | at Miami Dolphins | L 14–24 | 2—12 | 50,421 |
| 15 | December 13 | Buffalo Bills | L 10–19 | 2—13 | 42,549 |
| 16 | December 20 | at Baltimore Colts | L 21–23 | 2—14 | 17,073 |
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
| AFC East | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK | |
| Miami Dolphins (2) | 11 | 4 | 1 | .719 | 5–2–1 | 8–3–1 | 345 | 275 | W4 |
| New York Jets (4) | 10 | 5 | 1 | .656 | 6–1–1 | 8–5–1 | 355 | 287 | W2 |
| Buffalo Bills (5) | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 6–2 | 9–3 | 311 | 276 | L1 |
| Baltimore Colts | 2 | 14 | 0 | .125 | 2–6 | 2–10 | 259 | 533 | W1 |
| New England Patriots | 2 | 14 | 0 | .125 | 0–8 | 2–10 | 322 | 370 | L9 |
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