Steven James Grogan (born July 24, 1953) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for sixteen seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats and was selected by the Patriots in the fifth round of the 1975 NFL draft.
Grogan led the league in both passing and quarterback rushing statistics several times in his career, and ran for a quarterback-record 12 touchdowns in 1976, a record that stood for 35 seasons. Grogan ran for over 500 yards in 1978 and led the team to 3,156 rushing yards, an NFL record that was eclipsed only by the 2019 Baltimore Ravens. He had his statistically best year in 1979, before being hobbled by injuries for much of the 1980s. He only had one season during the rest of his career, 1983, when he started more than half of his team's games, and spent the majority of the rest of his career splitting starting time with a number of other quarterbacks. He played in Super Bowl XX, coming off the bench to throw a pass for the only touchdown the Patriots scored on the day. When he retired in 1990, he held many of the team's passing and longevity records. He was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in 1995.
Early life and college
Grogan grew up in Ottawa Kansas, a few blocks away from Ottawa University. Both of his parents were alumni and took Grogan to many sporting events there when he was younger. At Ottawa High School, Grogan led his team to state titles in track in 1970, basketball in 1971, and a 3A state runner-up finish in football in 1970. He was named the team MVP six different times and won the Inspiration & Leadership Award in 1975. He was also a member of National Honor Society and was named Mr. O.H.S.
Grogan spent his collegiate career at Kansas State University, where he started as a quarterback for his junior and senior years. He threw for 2,214 yards, completing 166 of 371 pass attempts, with 12 TDs and 26 interceptions. He was named academic "All Big 8" twice and was honorable mention All-American. Grogan would later face competition from Matt Cavanaugh, Tony Eason, Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, and Marc Wilson.
In his first season, Grogan played in 13 games out of the then-14 game regular season, starting 7 of the last 8. The Patriots finished with a 3–11 record, and traded Plunkett, their starter for the previous four years,
For the Patriots 1976 season, Grogan scored 30 combined touchdowns through the air and the ground, leading the Patriots to an 11–3 record the franchise's first playoff berth since 1963. The eleven wins were the most Patriots wins in a season since the club's inception. Along the way the Patriots defeated the defending Super Bowl champion, Pittsburgh Steelers (30–27). They also handed the Oakland Raiders their only regular season loss that year by defeating them 48–17. They lost the divisional playoffs (24–21), however, to the Raiders. Grogan scored 12 rushing touchdowns in 1976, breaking a quarterback record of 11 previously held by Tobin Rote and Johnny Lujack. His record would stand for 35 years until broken by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton's 14 in 2011. Grogan would lead the league in quarterback rushing yards with 397. On October 10, 1976, in a game vs the Jets, Grogan became the first quarterback in Patriots history to rush for 100+ yards in a game, in a 41–7 victory.
During the 1977 season, Grogan advanced the ball with his legs, amassing another 300+ yard rushing season, although he would only find the end zone once on a running play, as running backs Horace Ivory, Sam "Bam" Cunningham, and Andy Johnson did most of the scoring on the ground. Rookie Stanley Morgan was drafted in the first round of that year's draft and the two became the most successful tandem in Patriots history by the time of their retirements. The team fell to 9–5, however, and missed the playoffs. At the end of the season Grogan led the league in rushing yards among all other quarterbacks for a second straight season.
In the Patriots 1978 season, Grogan scored 20 combined touchdowns and threw just shy of 3000 yards. He led the Patriots to an 11–5 record, a division title and the organization's first ever home playoff game, a 31–14 loss to the Houston Oilers. The Patriots set the all-time single season team rushing record with 3,156 yards (Grogan rushing for 539 yards and 5 touchdowns himself), a record that stood until broken by the 2019 Baltimore Ravens. Grogan led all quarterbacks in rushing at the end of the year. This is also the only season an NFL team has had 4 players rush for over 500 yards apiece. His 28 touchdown passes led the league, tied with Brian Sipe of Cleveland, and his rushing yards led the league for quarterbacks for a fourth consecutive year. The Patriots finished with a 9–7 record, however, missing the playoffs.
1980–1985: injuries and recovery
In the early 1980s, Grogan suffered several injuries, Filling in again at QB, Eason and the Patriots lost that Jets game 16–13 in overtime, and relinquished first place in the AFC East Division. With Eason's return, the Patriots went 3–2 in their remaining five games. Finishing the season with an 11–5 record, the Patriots earned a wild card berth into the playoffs and eventually reached Super Bowl XX, where they faced the Chicago Bears, who, with their defensive coach Buddy Ryan's "46" defense, had gone 15–1 during the regular season. Eason, who had led the Patriots to victory in the wild card, divisional, and conference playoff games, started the game, but the Patriots could do little against the Bears' defense and Eason went 0–6 in passing attempts; Berry replaced him with Grogan. Grogan went on to connect on 17 of 30 passes for 177 yards, a touchdown, but also two interceptions, in the 46–10 loss. The Patriots were the only team to score against the Bears in the playoffs that season. As of 2019, he is ranked third in passing yards behind Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe, and second in passing touchdowns behind 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. Grogan rushed for 2,176 yards (4.9 per carry) and 35 touchdowns during his career, a mark which places him as the Patriots' fourth overall in rushing touchdowns. 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." During an interview with Fox Sports in 2016 Grogan talked about the injuries stating "It takes a toll, but I loved to play the game, and if I could get out there without hurting my team by playing through aches or pains, I was going to be out there to play."
After football
After retiring from the Patriots, Grogan attempted to get a coaching job, but found that no one above the high school level would hire him (except for the New England Blitz of the Professional Spring Football League, which announced Grogan as their head coach in 1992, but folded before playing a game). He was approached by the then-owner of Marciano Sporting Goods in Mansfield, Massachusetts (a business originally started by Rocky Marciano's brother Peter) to purchase the struggling business from him. Living only five miles from the store, and seeing it as a good investment, Grogan agreed to purchase the store, renamed it Grogan Marciano Sporting Goods, and continues to run the business as of 2013. In addition to running the sporting goods shop, he also makes appearances at other local businesses and civic organizations.
Grogan and his wife have also dedicated time to charitable events in the Massachusetts area. Grogan has been part of numerous charity events to help people with mental disabilities and taken part in charity golf events. Grogan is married and has three children. His oldest son Tyler also played football in college and had a career in the CIFL. He started out as a quarterback like his father but eventually converted to wide receiver.
NFL career statistics
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
Regular season
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="3"| Games
! colspan="8"| Passing
! colspan="4"| Rushing
! colspan="2"| Sacked
! colspan="2"| Fumbles
|-
! GP !! GS !! Record !! Cmp !! Att !! Pct !! Yds !! Avg !! TD !! Int !! Rtg !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! TD !! Sck !! SckY !! Fum !! Lost
|-
! 1975 !! NE
| 13 || 7 || 1–6 || 139 || 274 || 50.7 || 1,976 || 7.2 || 11 || 18 || 60.4 || 30 || 110 || 3.7 || 3 || 22 || 207 || 6 || 2
|-
! 1976 !! NE
| 14 || 14 ||11–3 || 145 || 302 || 48.0 || 1,903 || 6.3 || 18 || 20 || 60.6 || 60 || 397 || 6.6 || 12 || 18 || 155 || 6 || 2
|-
! 1977 !! NE
| 14 || 14 || 9–5 || 160 || 305 || 52.5 || 2,162 || 7.1 || 17 || 21 || 65.2 || 61 || 324 || 5.3 || 1 || 14 || 155 || 7 || 5
|-
! 1978 !! NE
| 16 || 16 || 11–5 || 182 || 362 || 50.0 || 2,824 || 7.8 || 15 || 23 || 63.6 || 81 || 539 || 6.7 || 5 || 21 || 184 || 9 || 7
|-
! 1979 !! NE
| 16 || 16 || 9–7 || 206 || 423 || 48.7 || 3,286 || 7.8 || style="background:#cfecec;"|28 || 20 || 77.4 || 64 || 368 || 5.8 || 2 || 45 || 341 || 12 || 8
|-
! 1980 !! NE
| 12 || 12 || 7–5 || 175 || 306 || 57.2 || 2,475 || style="background:#cfecec;"|8.1 || 18 || 22 || 73.1 || 30 || 112 || 3.7 || 1 || 17 || 138 || 4 || 3
|-
! 1981 !! NE
| 8 || 7 || 1–6 || 117 || 216 || 54.2 || 1,859 || 8.6 || 7 || 16 || 63.0 || 12 || 49 || 4.1 || 2 || 19 || 137 || 5 || 3
|-
! 1982 !! NE
| 6 || 6 || 4–2 || 66 || 122 || 54.1 || 930 || 7.6 || 7 || 4 || 84.4 || 9 || 42 || 4.7 || 1 || 8 || 48 || 2 || 1
|-
! 1983 !! NE
| 12 || 12 || 6–6 || 168 || 303 || 55.4 || 2,411 || 8.0 || 15 || 12 || 81.4 || 23 || 108 || 4.7 || 2 || 29 || 195 || 4 || 3
|-
! 1984 !! NE
| 3 || 3 || 2–1 || 32 || 68 || 47.1 || 444 || 6.5 || 3 || 6 || 46.4 || 7 || 12 || 1.7 || 0 || 7 || 45 || 4 || 2
|-
! 1985 !! NE
| 7 || 6 || 5–1 || 85 || 156 || 54.5|| 1,311 || 8.4 || 7 || 5 || 84.1 || 20 || 29 || 1.5 || 2 || 11 || 86 || 6 || 5
|-
! 1986 !! NE
| 4 || 2 || 1–1 || 62 || 102 || 60.8 || 976 || 9.6 || 9 || 2 || 113.8 || 9 || 23 || 2.6 || 1 || 4 || 34 || 2 || 1
|-
! 1987 !! NE
| 7 || 6 || 4–2 || 93 || 161 || 57.8 || 1,183 || 7.4 || 10 || 9 || 78.2 || 20 || 37 || 1.9 || 2 || 7 || 55 || 8 || 2
|-
! 1988 !! NE
| 6 || 4 || 1–3 || 67 || 140 || 47.9 || 834 || 6.0 || 4 || 13 || 37.6 || 6 || 12 || 2.0 || 1 || 8 || 77 || 2 || 1
|-
! 1989 !! NE
| 7 || 6 || 2–4 || 133 || 261 || 51.0 || 1,697 || 6.5 || 9 || 14 || 60.8 || 9 || 19 || 2.1 || 0 || 8 || 64 || 3 || 1
|-
! 1990 !! NE
| 4 || 4 || 1–3 || 50 || 92 || 54.3 || 615 || 6.7 || 4 || 3 || 76.1 || 4 || −5 || −1.3 || 0 || 9 || 68 || 1 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"| Total !! 4 !! 3 !! 0–3 || 48 !! 95 !! 50.5 !! 571 !! 6.0 !! 3 !! 7 !! 49.1 !! 9 !! 54 !! 6.0 !! 0 !! 9 !! 65 !! 0 !! 0
|}
Honors
Grogan's high school, Ottawa High School in Ottawa, Kansas has named its football stadium after him, he was inducted into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame in 1976 and he was also inducted into the State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Kansas State has retired the number Grogan wore for the Wildcats, #11, to jointly honor him and Lynn Dickey, who also wore #11. It is the only number retired by Kansas State. Grogan was inducted into the Kansas State athletics hall of fame in 1995. In 2002 he was a part of the inaugural class of players to have their name enshrined on the Kansas State football ring of honor. Grogan received the Kansas State Alumni Medallion in 1995. The award is the most prestigious of all the organizations achievements, it was given to Grogan for his charitable efforts. and was elected into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 1995. He was also elected to the Patriot's All-Decade teams of the 1970s and the 1980s. In 2018, Bleacher Report named Grogan number 48 on their list of Bostons 50 greatest athlete of all time.
Notes and references
External links
- New England Patriots bio