1990 New England Patriots season

1990 New England Patriots season
Owner	Victor Kiam
General manager	Patrick Sullivan
Head coach	Rod Rust
Home field	Foxboro Stadium
Results
Record	1–15
Division place	5th AFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	T Bruce Armstrong
AP All-Pros	none

The 1990 New England Patriots season was the team's 31st, and 21st in the National Football League. It was the first and only season for head coach Rod Rust.

The Patriots finished the season with a record of 1–15, the worst record in franchise history. They finished last in the AFC East Division and dead last in the NFL. Notably, they lost a nationally televised game to the Washington Redskins in which they were down 9–0 before the Redskins even ran an offensive play. The Redskins' two first-quarter scores came on a Kurt Gouveia fumble return for a touchdown, and the Patriots snapping the ball out of the end zone for a safety. The announced crowd for the game, played in a driving rain, was 22,286. In a humiliating Week 9 blowout loss in Philadelphia, Eagles' QB Randall Cunningham scored on a long run where the defense was split between Patriots who did not even try to tackle Cunningham and a few who completely whiffed on such attempts; this highlight was shown on all the national NFL-related TV shows (including ESPN's NFL Primetime and Monday Night Football) and made the 1990 Patriots' incompetence both a national story and a collective joke.

The Patriots’ final game of the season, against the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants, drew a sellout crowd to Foxboro, but over 40,000 fans were rooting for the visitors, as tickets to Giants home games were nearly impossible to come by for non-season-ticket holders.

The Patriots’ negative-265 point-differential (181 points scored, 446 points surrendered) was the worst total of the 1990s. It is notable that like the previous season's Dallas Cowboys, the Patriots played only three teams with non-winning records – divisional rivals the Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets plus one game against the Phoenix Cardinals – all season.

The 1990 Patriots and 1981 Baltimore Colts are the only NFL teams since 1940 to have eleven losses during which they never led in one season.

The 1990 Patriots became the third team to end a season at 1-15, and were matched by the 1991 Colts the next year. They also tied the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers for most consecutive losses inside one season (the Buccaneers lost all 14 games at a time when the NFL had not adopted a 16-game schedule yet), a record later eclipsed by the 15-straight losing 2001 Carolina Panthers. It was then topped by the 0-16 2008 Detroit Lions and 0-16 2017 Cleveland Browns.

Sexual harassment incident against female reporter

Main article: Lisa Olson § Sexual harassment incident

The day after the Patriots' only victory of the season, tight end Zeke Mowatt, running back Robert Perryman and wide receiver Michael Timpson allegedly stood in front of Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson semi-naked and sexually harassed her in the Patriots locker room at Foxboro Stadium. The incident proved a major embarrassment for the franchise, and the team lost its final 14 games, and was accused in the media of quitting in most of the losses.

Personnel

Staff

1990 New England Patriots staff

Front office Chairman and CEO – Victor Kiam Vice Chairman – Fran Murray President – Billy Sullivan Vice President – Bucko Kilroy General Manager – Patrick Sullivan Director of Player Operations – Joe Mendes Director of Pro Scouting – Bill McPeak Head coaches Head coach – Rod Rust Special Assistant to the Head Coach – John Polonchek Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Jimmy Raye Offensive Backs – Bobby Grier Receivers – Dick Wood Tight Ends – Steve Crosby Offensive Line – Rod Humenuik

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs – Charlie Sumner Defensive Line – Dale Lindsey Outside Linebackers – Don Blackmon Inside Linebackers – Steve Nelson Special teams coaches Special Teams – Steve Crosby Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Jerry Simmons

Roster

1990 New England Patriots roster

	Quarterbacks 14 Steve Grogan 15 Marc Wilson Running backs 34 Bob Perryman FB 44 John Stephens 30 Mosi Tatupu FB Wide receivers 88 Hart Lee Dykes 80 Irving Fryar 83 Cedric Jones 82 Sammy Martin KR 45 Michael Timpson Tight ends 85 Marv Cook 87 Lin Dawson		Offensive linemen 78 Bruce Armstrong T 63 Gene Chilton C 65 Elbert Crawford G 73 Danny Villa G Defensive linemen 92 Ray Agnew DT 72 Tim Goad DT 60 Garin Veris DE 96 Brent Williams DE		Linebackers 59 Vincent Brown ILB 52 Johnny Rembert ILB 95 Ed Reynolds ILB 55 Chris Singleton OLB 56 Andre Tippett OLB Defensive backs 35 Maurice Hurst CB 42 Ronnie Lippett CB 31 Fred Marion FS Special teams		Reserve lists {{{reserve_lists}}} Practice squad {{{practice_squad}}} Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Opponent	Result	Stadium	Record	Attendance
1	Miami Dolphins	L 24–27	Foxboro Stadium	0–1	45,305
2	at Indianapolis Colts	W 16–14	Hoosier Dome	1–1	49,256
3	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 7–41	Riverfront Stadium	1–2	56,470
4	New York Jets	L 13–37	Foxboro Stadium	1–3	36,724
5	Seattle Seahawks	L 20–33	Foxboro Stadium	1–4	39,735
6	Bye
7	at Miami Dolphins	L 10–17	Joe Robbie Stadium	1–5	62,630
8	Buffalo Bills	L 10–27	Foxboro Stadium	1–6	51,959
9	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 20–48	Veterans Stadium	1–7	65,514
10	Indianapolis Colts	L 10–13	Foxboro Stadium	1–8	28,924
11	at Buffalo Bills	L 0–14	Rich Stadium	1–9	74,270
12	at Phoenix Cardinals	L 14–34	Sun Devil Stadium	1–10	30,110
13	Kansas City Chiefs	L 7–37	Foxboro Stadium	1–11	26,280
14	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 3–24	Three Rivers Stadium	1–12	48,354
15	Washington Redskins	L 10–25	Foxboro Stadium	1–13	22,286
16	at New York Jets	L 7–42	The Meadowlands	1–14	30,250
17	New York Giants	L 10–13	Foxboro Stadium	1–15	60,410

Season summary

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total • Dolphins 3 10 7 7 27 Patriots 7 14 3 0 24 Date: September 9 Location: Foxboro Stadium

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 0 7 3 6 16 Colts 7 0 0 7 14 Date: September 16 Location: Hoosier Dome Game weather: Indoors (dome)

Scoring summary Q1 0:51 IND Bentley 1 yard run (Biasucci kick) IND 7–0 Q2 6:50 NE Dykes 27 yard pass from Grogan (Staurovsky kick) Tie 7–7 Q3 3:25 NE Staurovsky 39 yard field goal NE 10–7 Q4 9:26 NE Staurovsky 27 yard field goal NE 13–7 Q4 2:36 NE Staurovsky 25 yard field goal NE 16–7 Q4 2:16 IND Brooks 68 yard pass from George (Biasucci kick) NE 16–14

Week 3

1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 0 7 0 0 7 • Bengals 17 14 3 7 41 Date: September 23 Location: Riverfront Stadium

Week 4

1 2 3 4 Total • Jets 7 17 10 3 37 Patriots 3 3 0 7 13 Date: September 30 Location: Foxboro Stadium

Week 5

1 2 3 4 Total • Seahawks 13 6 0 14 33 Patriots 3 7 7 3 20 Date: October 7 Location: Foxboro Stadium

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
(1) Buffalo Bills	13	3	0	.813	7–1	10–2	428	263	L1
(4) Miami Dolphins	12	4	0	.750	7–1	10–2	336	242	W1
Indianapolis Colts	7	9	0	.438	3–5	5–7	281	353	L1
New York Jets	6	10	0	.375	2–6	4–10	295	345	W2
New England Patriots	1	15	0	.063	1–7	1–11	181	446	L14

See also

• New England Patriots seasons