1981 Denver Broncos: 10-6-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 8-0-0 (187 points scored, 125 allowed) Road record: 2-6-0 (134 points scored, 164 allowed) Head Coach: Dan Reeves 321 points scored (17th of 28 teams), 289 points allowed (9th) NFL Averages: 20.7 points/game (330.8 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 289 485 3,531 ( 8) 6.47 27 21 515 1,895 (21) 3.7 12 5,426 (14) 39 Defense: 267 497 2,873 ( 5) 5.39 13 23 467 2,005 (13) 4.3 17 4,878 ( 6) 46
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 7 Craig Morton QB 15 6'4 211 38 17 California 11 Luke Prestridge P 16 6'4 235 25 3 Baylor 17 Steve DeBerg QB 14 6'2 205 27 4 San Jose State 19 Fred Steinfort K 16 5'11 180 28 6 Boston College 20 Louis Wright DB 8 6'2 200 28 7 San Jose State 22 Aaron Kyle DB 16 5'11 185 27 6 Wyoming 24 Rick Parros RB 16 5'11 200 23 1 Utah State 25 Haven Moses WR 16 6'3 201 35 14 San Diego State 31 Mike Harden DB 16 6'0 188 23 2 Michigan 32 Tony Reed RB 15 5'11 197 26 5 Colorado 35 Larry Canada RB 16 6'2 226 26 3 Wisconsin 36 Bill Thompson DB 16 6'1 197 35 13 Maryland Eastern Shore 37 Steve Trimble DB 3 5'10 181 23 R Maryland 39 Roland Solomon DB 4 6'0 189 25 2 Utah 41 Rob Lytle RB 16 6'1 195 26 5 Michigan 43 Steve Foley DB 16 6'2 190 27 6 Tulane 45 Perry Smith DB 12 6'1 190 30 9 Colorado State 46 Dave Preston RB 16 5'10 195 26 4 Bowling Green 49 Dennis Smith DB 16 6'3 200 22 R Southern California 50 Jim Ryan LB 16 6'1 212 24 3 William & Mary 51 Bob Swenson LB 16 6'3 225 28 6 California 53 Randy Gradishar LB 16 6'3 231 29 8 Ohio State 56 Larry Evans LB 16 6'2 220 28 6 Mississippi College 57 Tom Jackson LB 16 5'11 228 30 9 Louisville 58 Steve Busick LB 16 6'4 227 22 R Southern California 59 Mark Merrill LB 15 6'4 240 26 3 Minnesota 60 Paul Howard OG 16 6'3 260 31 8 Brigham Young 62 Tom Glassic OG 16 6'3 250 27 6 Virginia 64 Billy Bryan C 14 6'2 244 26 5 Duke 65 Glenn Hyde C 16 6'3 252 30 6 Pittsburgh 66 Brison Manor DE 16 6'4 248 29 5 Arkansas 68 Rubin Carter DT 16 6'0 253 28 7 Miami 70 Dave Studdard OT 16 6'4 255 25 3 Texas 71 Claudie Minor OT 13 6'4 275 30 8 San Diego State 72 Don Latimer DT 16 6'3 253 26 4 Miami 73 Kelvin Clark OT 16 6'3 245 25 3 Nebraska 75 Rulon Jones DE 16 6'6 260 23 2 Utah State 76 Ken Lanier OT 8 6'3 269 22 R Florida State 77 Greg Boyd DE 15 6'6 280 29 4 San Diego State 79 Barney Chavous DE 16 6'3 245 30 9 South Carolina State 80 Rick Upchurch WR 13 5'10 176 29 7 Minnesota 81 Steve Watson WR 16 6'4 192 24 3 Temple 83 Wade Manning WR 16 5'11 190 26 2 Ohio State 85 Ron Egloff TE 16 6'5 227 26 5 Wisconsin 87 James Wright TE 16 6'3 240 25 3 Texas Christian 88 Riley Odoms TE 15 6'4 230 31 10 Houston
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Craig Morton 376 225 59.8 3,195 8.50 14.2 21 5.6 14 3.7 54 394 90.5 Steve DeBerg 108 64 59.3 797 7.38 12.5 6 5.6 6 5.6 7 67 77.6 Tony Reed 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0 0.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Steve Watson 60 1,244 20.7 13 Dave Preston 52 507 9.8 0 Riley Odoms 38 516 13.6 5 Tony Reed 34 317 9.3 0 Rick Upchurch 32 550 17.2 3 Rick Parros 25 216 8.6 1 Ron Egloff 17 231 13.6 1 Haven Moses 15 246 16.4 1 Rob Lytle 6 47 7.8 1 Wade Manning 3 49 16.3 0 Larry Canada 3 37 12.3 1 James Wright 3 22 7.3 1 Dave Studdard 1 10 10.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Rick Parros 176 749 4.3 2 Dave Preston 183 640 3.5 3 Tony Reed 68 156 2.3 0 Larry Canada 33 113 3.4 3 Rob Lytle 30 106 3.5 4 Rick Upchurch 5 56 11.2 0 Steve DeBerg 9 40 4.4 0 Craig Morton 8 18 2.2 0 James Wright 1 11 11.0 0 Steve Watson 2 6 3.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Wade Manning 26 514 19.8 0 Mike Harden 11 178 16.2 0 Rob Lytle 5 80 16.0 0 Larry Canada 2 19 9.5 0 Ron Egloff 1 7 7.0 0 Jim Ryan 1 2 2.0 0 Dave Preston 1 1 1.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Wade Manning 41 378 9.2 4 0 Rick Upchurch 9 63 7.0 1 0 Aaron Kyle 1 0 0.0 0 0 |
1981 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 15 DB Dennis Smith 184 USC 2 42 TE Clay Brown 4 Brigham Young 4 98 QB Mark Herrmann 40 Purdue 5 125 OT Ken Lanier 179 Florida State 6 151 RB Alvin Lewis Colorado State 7 181 LB Steve Busick 78 USC 9 234 DE Rusty Olsen Washington 11 290 WR Pat Walker Miami 12 317 LB John Hankerd Notre Dame 12 321 RB Mandel Robinson Wyoming [pick acquired from DET]
Traded draft picks: #8 to NYG (Mark Reed), #10 to STL (Jim Joiner)
Transactions:
| 03-1981 | Bears signed Emery Moorehead as a free agent |
| 04-28-1981 | traded Cleveland's #3 pick in the 1981 draft and Denver's #4 pick in the 1982 draft to Chiefs for Tony Reed |
| 08-31-1981 | traded Denver's #4 pick in the 1983 draft to 49ers for Steve DeBerg |
| 08-31-1981 | traded Rob Nairne to Saints for New Orleans' #5 pick in the 1983 draft |
1981 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/06/81 vs Oakland Raiders W 9-7 1-0-0 09/13/81 at Seattle Seahawks L 10-13 1-1-0 09/20/81 vs Baltimore Colts W 28-10 2-1-0 09/27/81 vs San Diego Chargers W 42-24 3-1-0 10/04/81 at Oakland Raiders W 17-0 4-1-0 10/11/81 vs Detroit Lions W 27-21 5-1-0 10/18/81 at Kansas City Chiefs L 14-28 5-2-0 10/25/81 at Buffalo Bills L 7-9 5-3-0 11/02/81 vs Minnesota Vikings W 19-17 6-3-0 11/08/81 vs Cleveland Browns W 23-20 (OT) 7-3-0 11/15/81 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 24-7 8-3-0 11/22/81 at Cincinnati Bengals L 21-38 8-4-0 11/29/81 at San Diego Chargers L 17-34 8-5-0 12/06/81 vs Kansas City Chiefs W 16-13 9-5-0 12/13/81 vs Seattle Seahawks W 23-13 10-5-0 12/20/81 at Chicago Bears L 24-35 10-6-0