1977 Baltimore Colts

1977 Baltimore Colts season
Team Owner:	Robert Irsay
Head Coach:	Ted Marchibroda
Home Field	Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	10–4
Place	T-1st AFC East
Playoff Finish	Lost AFC Divisional (Raiders) 37–31 (2OT)
Uniform
Timeline
Previous Season	Next Season
1976	1978

The 1977 Baltimore Colts season was the 25th season for the team in the National Football League. The Baltimore Colts finished the National Football League's 1977 season with a record of 10 wins and 4 losses, and finished 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.

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.

Regular season

Schedule

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

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	10	4	0	.714	295	221	W-1
Miami Dolphins	10	4	0	.714	313	197	W-1
New England Patriots	9	5	0	.643	278	217	L-1
Buffalo Bills	3	11	0	.214	160	313	L-1
New York Jets	3	11	0	.214	191	300	L-2

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	Game Site	Attendance
Divisional	December 24	Oakland Raiders (4)	L 31–37 (2 OT)	Memorial Stadium	60,763

Personnel

Staff/Coaches

1977 Baltimore Colts staff
Front Office President and Treasurer – Robert Irsay General Manager – Dick Szymanski Assistant General Manager – Ernie Accorsi Coachig Staff 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 Strength and Conditioning

Roster

1977 Baltimore Colts roster
Quarterbacks  7 Bert Jones 12 Bill Troup Running Backs 48 Roosevelt Leaks FB 34 Ron Lee 23 Don McCauley 26 Lydell Mitchell 27 Howard Stevens PR 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 50 Forrest Blue C 66 Elmer Collett G 69 Wade Griffin T 62 Ken Huff G 75 George Kunz T 57 Ken Mendenhall C 61 Robert Pratt G 64 David Taylor T 67 Bob Van Duyne G 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 Reserve lists None Note: Rookies in italics

External links

• 1977 Baltimore Colts article at Wikipedia