Steve Grogan was the man — a man’s man.
He was a little bit of “Dirty Harry” mixed with “Shaft” and a side of “Rocky.” Tougher than Teflon and more courageous than a bomb squad agent, Grogan is one of the three greatest quarterbacks to ever don a New England Patriots uniform. And for a number of Pats fans who grew up during Grogan’s era (1975-90), he is still their favorite player.
“I think Steve should go down as the toughest guy that ever played for the Patriots,” said former Patriots linebacker Steve Nelson, Grogan’s teammate for 13 years. “His willingness to do anything to help the team win, he was a great teammate and an inspiration to all of us. Obviously, the way he played and the injuries he suffered, they don’t make them like Steve. They really don’t. He kind of broke that old mold. He was a football player playing quarterback.”
Grogan is the longest-tenured player in Patriots history and helped lead the turnaround of a struggling franchise before his arrival in 1975, when, as a rookie, he wrestled the starting job away from Jim Plunkett. As a result, the Pats shipped Plunkett to the San Francisco 49ers that offseason for three first-round draft picks and a second-rounder, quite possibly the Patriots’ most prosperous trade ever.
Grogan, who retired as New England’s career leader in every significant passing category and was inducted into the team’s hall of fame in 1995, was also an extremely cerebral player. He knew every assignment for all 11 offensive players on any given play, which was so remarkable that it kept former Patriots kicker and Grogan’s road-trip roommate John Smith awake at night trying to stump Grogan with the playbook. Smith, of “Snow Plow Game” fame, said he never got one past the quarterback.
“Why the guy isn’t a head coach, I do not know,” Smith said, “the smartest son of a gun I’ve ever met in my whole life.”
Grogan takes pride in his ability to transform from a running quarterback to a guy who could lead the offense as an efficient passer. In 1976, he became the first and only quarterback in league history to rush for 12 touchdowns in a single season, and he eventually became the 26th NFL player to throw for 25,000 career yards.
The statistics eternally legitimize Grogan’s place among the game’s greats, sight unseen. But those who watched Grogan — teammates, coaches and fans alike — have the utmost respect for a guy whose grit helped revolutionize the position.
Grogan understands why so many former players admired his no-holds-barred style, and he thinks part of his physical nature might have even come from watching so many westerns when he grew up. But when it’s all said and done, Grogan was trying to complete a job — rush for one extra yard, lead a game-winning drive or kill the clock in the final minutes of the fourth quarter — and he only knew one way to accomplish that.
“I guess it’s just because I played football like a football player and not a quarterback,” Grogan said. “I learned at a young age that football was a tough, physical game that had to be played that way to be successful. That’s the way I played the quarterback position. I didn’t look at myself as anything special that needed to be treated with a hands-off mentality. I was out there playing with guys that were butting heads on every play, and if I had to get hit, I was going to get hit. I was going to try to get done whatever it was that I was trying to get done and not worry about being a sissy kind of quarterback.”
(Note: Check back Friday for the second part of this story, in which Grogan lists his favorite football players of all time.)
