1978 New England Patriots Statistics
Team Record: 11-5
Finishing 1st in the NFL's East Division of the American Football Conference
Lost Division Playoff
Coach: Ron Erhardt (0-1)
Coach: Chuck Fairbanks (11-4)
Coach: Hank Bullough (0-1)
Location: Foxborough, Massachusetts
1978 New England Patriots Results
The New England Patriots of the National Football League ended the 1978 season with a record of 11 wins and 5 losses, finishing first in the NFL's East Division of the American Football Conference.
The Patriots piled up points with 358 points, and the defense yielded 286. Sam Cunningham rushed for a team-best 768 yards for New England, while Horace Ivory and Andy Johnson additionally aided the ground game.
Steve Grogan passed for 2,824 yards. Russ Francis caught 39 passes, while Stanley Morgan accumulated 820 receiving yards. Sam Cunningham and Harold Jackson contributed to the receiving game, too.
Mike Haynes picked off 6 errant tosses from the opposition.
Ron Erhardt, Chuck Fairbanks and Hank Bullough coached the team. The 1978 New England Patriots lost in the Division Playoff.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating | Steve Grogan | 362 | 181 | 50.0 | 2824 | 7.8 | 15 | 4.1 | 23 | 6.4 | 75 | 21 | 184 | 63.6 | Tom Owen | 26 | 15 | 57.7 | 182 | 7.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 7.7 | 23 | 3 | 22 | 47.3 | Andy Johnson | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 390 | 196 | 50.3 | 3006 | 7.7 | 15 | 3.8 | 25 | 6.4 | 75 | 24 | 206 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Sam Cunningham | 199 | 768 | 3.9 | 52 | 8 | Horace Ivory | 141 | 693 | 4.9 | 28 | 11 | Andy Johnson | 147 | 675 | 4.6 | 52 | 3 | Steve Grogan | 81 | 539 | 6.7 | 31 | 5 | Don Calhoun | 76 | 391 | 5.1 | 73 | 1 | James McAlister | 19 | 77 | 4.1 | 16 | 2 | Stanley Morgan | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 6 | 0 | Harold Jackson | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | Mosi Tatupu | 3 | 6 | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | Jerrel Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | Don Westbrook | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | -2 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 671 | 3165 | 4.7 | 73 | 30 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Russ Francis | 39 | 543 | 13.9 | 53 | 4 | Harold Jackson | 37 | 743 | 20.1 | 57 | 6 | Stanley Morgan | 34 | 820 | 24.1 | 75 | 5 | Sam Cunningham | 31 | 297 | 9.6 | 31 | 0 | Andy Johnson | 26 | 267 | 10.3 | 31 | 0 | Horace Ivory | 14 | 122 | 8.7 | 18 | 0 | Don Hasselbeck | 7 | 107 | 15.3 | 24 | 0 | Don Westbrook | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 19 | 0 | Don Calhoun | 3 | 29 | 9.7 | 15 | 0 | Carlos Pennywell | 1 | 28 | 28.0 | 28 | 0 | James McAlister | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 12 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 196 | 3006 | 15.3 | 75 | 15 |
Kicking:
| Player | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. | David Posey | 31 | 29 | 93.5 | 22 | 11 | 50.0 | 62 | John Smith | 7 | 6 | 85.7 | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 9 | Nick Lowery | 7 | 7 | 100.0 | 1 | 0.0 | 7 | Jerrel Wilson | 1 | 0.0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 46 | 42 | 91.3 | 24 | 12 | 50.0 | 78 |
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | Jerrel Wilson | 54 | 1921 | 35.6 | 57 | Mike Patrick | 7 | 216 | 30.9 | 47 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 61 | 2137 | 35.0 | 57 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Stanley Morgan | 32 | 335 | 10.5 | 48 | 0 | Mike Haynes | 14 | 183 | 13.1 | 35 | 0 | Dick Conn | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 47 | 520 | 11.1 | 48 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Raymond Clayborn | 27 | 636 | 23.6 | 60 | 0 | James McAlister | 10 | 186 | 18.6 | 32 | 0 | Horace Ivory | 7 | 165 | 23.6 | 33 | 0 | Don Westbrook | 7 | 125 | 17.9 | 33 | 0 | Dick Conn | 1 | 26 | 26.0 | 26 | 0 | Mosi Tatupu | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 | Stanley Morgan | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 | Dwight Wheeler | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 55 | 1172 | 21.3 | 60 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Mike Haynes | 6 | 123 | 20.5 | 50 | 1 | Steve Nelson | 5 | 104 | 20.8 | 37 | 0 | Raymond Clayborn | 4 | 72 | 18.0 | 44 | 0 | Doug Beaudoin | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 13 | 0 | Tim Fox | 2 | 10 | 5.0 | 10 | 0 | Dick Conn | 1 | 24 | 24.0 | 24 | 0 | Steve Zabel | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 22 | 358 | 16.3 | 50 | 1 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF | Steve Nelson | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Steve Zabel | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rod Shoate | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ray Hamilton | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Andy Johnson | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Horace Ivory | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | John Hannah | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Steve Grogan | 9 | 2 | -24 | 0 | 0 | Ray Costict | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Richard Bishop | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tim Fox | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Russ Francis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Don Westbrook | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tony McGee | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Raymond Clayborn | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ernie Holmes | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jerrel Wilson | 1 | 1 | -13 | 0 | 0 | Don Calhoun | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mike Haynes | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stanley Morgan | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | James McAlister | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Sam Cunningham | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 35 | 32 | -37 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points | Horace Ivory | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | David Posey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 29 | 0 | 62 | Sam Cunningham | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | Harold Jackson | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | Stanley Morgan | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Steve Grogan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Russ Francis | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | Andy Johnson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | James McAlister | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | John Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 9 | Nick Lowery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | Don Calhoun | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Mike Haynes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Tim Fox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Richard Bishop | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 30 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 358 |
