1977 Baltimore Colts season

1977 Baltimore Colts season
Head coach	Ted Marchibroda
General manager	Dick Szymanski
Owner	Robert Irsay
Home field	Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	10–4
Division place	T-1st AFC East
Playoff finish	Lost AFC Divisional

The 1977 Baltimore Colts season was the 25th season for the team in the National Football League (NFL). The Colts finished the NFL's 1977 season with a record of 10 wins and 4 losses, and tied for first in the AFC East division with the Miami Dolphins. However, the Colts finished ahead of Miami based on better conference record (9–3 to Dolphins' 8–4). This season would mark the final season in which the Colts would make the playoffs as a Baltimore-based franchise (the Colts next appearance in the playoffs came 10 years later in 1987, by which time the team moved to Indianapolis). Baltimore would not be in the playoffs again until the Baltimore Ravens, the Colts' successors in Baltimore, advanced to Super Bowl XXXV just over 23 years later.

Offseason

The Colts fired general manager Joe Thomas before the 1977 season, due to a power struggle he was having with head coach Ted Marchibroda.

Personnel

Staff

1977 Baltimore Colts staff

Front office

President and Treasurer – Robert Irsay
General Manager – Dick Szymanski
Assistant General Manager – Ernie Accorsi

Head coaches

Head Coach – Ted Marchibroda

Offensive coaches

Receivers – Dick Bielski
Offensive Line – Whitey Dovell

Defensive coaches

Defensive Coordinator – Maxie Baughan
Defensive Line – Ed Khayat
Defensive Backfield – Frank Lauterbur

Special teams coaches

Special Teams – George Boutselis

Roster

1977 Baltimore Colts roster

Quarterbacks

7 Bert Jones
12 Bill Troup

Running backs

Wide receivers

81 Roger Carr
35 Glenn Doughty
28 Perry Griggs
80 Marshall Johnson
28 Howard Satterwhite
86 Freddie Scott
88 Ricky Thompson

Tight ends

83 Mack Alston
87 Raymond Chester
85 Jimmie Kennedy

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

63 Mike Barnes DT
72 Fred Cook DE
78 John Dutton DE
76 Joe Ehrmann DT
73 Ron Fernandes DE
79 Greg Johnson DE
74 Ken Novak DT

Linebackers

55 Dan Dickel MLB
58 Derrel Luce OLB
52 Tom MacLeod OLB
54 Sanders Shiver OLB
56 Ed Simonini MLB
53 Stan White OLB

Defensive backs

47 Tim Baylor FS
44 Lyle Blackwood FS
40 Bruce Laird SS/KR
42 Lloyd Mumphord CB
31 Nelson Munsey CB
30 Doug Nettles CB
25 Ray Oldham SS
43 Norm Thompson CB

Special teams

2 Toni Linhart K
49 David Lee P

Rookies in italics

^[1]

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game Site	Attendance
1	September 18, 1977	at Seattle Seahawks	W 29–14	1–0	Kingdome	58,991
2	September 25, 1977	at New York Jets	W 20–12	2–0	Shea Stadium	43,439
3	October 2, 1977	Buffalo Bills	W 17–14	3–0	Memorial Stadium	49,247
4	October 9, 1977	Miami Dolphins	W 45–28	4–0	Memorial Stadium	57,829
5	October 16, 1977	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 17–6	5–0	Arrowhead Stadium	63,076
6	October 23, 1977	at New England Patriots	L 3–17	5–1	Schaeffer Stadium	60,958
7	October 30, 1977	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 31–21	6–1	Memorial Stadium	60,225
8	November 7, 1977	Washington Redskins	W 10–3	7–1	Memorial Stadium	57,740
9	November 13, 1977	at Buffalo Bills	W 31–13	8–1	Rich Stadium	39,444
10	November 20, 1977	New York Jets	W 33–12	9–1	Memorial Stadium	50,957
11	November 27, 1977	at Denver Broncos	L 13–27	9–2	Mile High Stadium	74,939
12	December 5, 1977	at Miami Dolphins	L 6–17	9–3	Miami Orange Bowl	68,977
13	December 11, 1977	Detroit Lions	L 10–13	9–4	Memorial Stadium	45,124
14	December 18, 1977	New England Patriots	W 30–24	10–4	Memorial Stadium	42,250

This was the last NFL regular season with 14 games, the regular season was expanded to 16 games in 1978.

Week 1

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Colts	7	7	5	10	29
Seahawks	0	7	0	7	14

Date: September 18
Location: Kingdome, Seattle, WA
Game start: 4:00 p.m.
Game weather: Indoors (dome)

Scoring summary

Q1	BAL	McCauley 6 yard run (Linhart kick)	BAL 7–0

Q2	SEA	Testerman 1 yard pass from Zorn (Leypoldt kick)	Tie 7–7

Q2	BAL	Leaks 10 yard run (Linhart kick)	BAL 14–7

Q3	BAL	Safety, Nettles blocked punt out of end zone	BAL 16–7

Q3	BAL	Linhart 38 yard field goal	BAL 19–7

Q4	BAL	Linhart 42 yard field goal	BAL 22–7

Q4	SEA	Beamon 17 yard blocked punt return (Leypoldt kick)	BAL 22–14

Q4	BAL	Carr 21 yard pass from Jones (Linhart kick)	BAL 29–14

Lydell Mitchell 32 Rush, 114 Yds

^[2]

Week 2

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Colts	7	7	6	0	20
Jets	0	3	0	9	12

Date: September 25
Location: Shea Stadium • Flushing, New York
Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
Game weather: 55°F • Wind 17

Scoring summary

1	BAL	Roosevelt Leaks 6-yard run (Toni Linhart kick)	Colts 7–0

2	BAL	Don McCauley 2-yard run (Toni Linhart kick)	Colts 14–0

2	NYJ	Pat Leahy 25 yard field goa,	Colts 14–3

3	BAL	Don McCauley 1-yard run (Toni Linhart kick)	Colts 21–3

4	NYJ	Safety, David Lee ran out of end zone	Colts 21–5

4	NYJ	Charlie White 1-yard run (Pat Leahy kick)	Colts 21–12

^[3]

Week 10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jets	3	0	3	6	12
• Colts	6	13	7	7	33

Date: November 20
Location: Memorial Stadium • Baltimore, Maryland
Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
Game weather: 43°F • Wind 6

Scoring summary

1	NYJ	Pat Leahy 24-yard field goal	Jets 3–0

1	BAL	Raymond Chester 53-yard pass from Bert Jones (kick failed)	Colts 6–3

2	BAL	Toni Linhart 30-yard field goal	Colts 9–3

2	BAL	Toni Linhart 31-yard field goal	Colts 12–3

2	BAL	Glenn Doughty 33-yard pass from Bert Jones (Toni Linhart kick)	Colts 19–3

3	NYJ	Pat Leahy 22-yard field goal	Colts 19–6

3	BAL	Lydell Mitchell 28-yard pass from Bert Jones (Toni Linhart kick)	Colts 26–6

4	NYJ	Jerome Barkum 18-yard pass from Matt Robinson (Pat Leahy kick)	Colts 26–12

4	BAL	Robert Pratt 21-yard fumble return (Toni Linhart kick)	Colts 33–12

^[4]

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts⁽²⁾	10	4	0	.714	6–2	9–3	295	221	W1
Miami Dolphins	10	4	0	.714	6–2	8–4	313	197	W1
New England Patriots	9	5	0	.643	4–4	7–5	278	217	L1
New York Jets	3	11	0	.214	2–6	2–10	191	300	L2
Buffalo Bills	3	11	0	.214	2–6	2–10	160	313	L1

Playoffs

The team made it to the playoffs as a No. 2 seed and played host to the Oakland Raiders in the divisional round. The Colts held a 31–28 lead with time running out, when the famous "Ghost to the Post" play to Casper advanced the Raiders to the Baltimore 14-yard line, where Errol Mann kicked the tying field goal to send the contest into overtime. After the first overtime went scoreless, Casper caught a 10-yard touchdown pass 43 seconds into the period to win the game for the Raiders.

Playoff Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Game Site	Attendance
Divisional	December 24, 1977	Oakland Raiders (4)	L 31–37	0–1	Memorial Stadium	60,763

References

↑ "1977 Baltimore Colts starters and roster". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Oct-24.
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com

Seasons (63)

1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts seasons

Baltimore 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Indianapolis 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Bold indicates NFL Championship or Super Bowl victory Italics indicates NFL Championship or Super Bowl appearance

1977 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Baltimore	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Buffalo	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	Los Angeles
Miami	Houston	Oakland	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Seattle	Washington	Tampa Bay

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