1983 Green Bay Packers season: Difference between revisions

1983 Green Bay Packers season
1983 Green Bay Packers season
Head coach	Bart Starr
Home field	Lambeau Field; Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify
	← 1982; Packers seasons; 1984 →;

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 12:12, 21 November 2017

The 1983 Green Bay Packers season was their 65th season overall and their 63rd in the National Football League. The club posted an 8–8 record under ninth-year head coach Bart Starr to finish second in the NFC Central division. The team set an NFL record for most overtime games played in one season with five,^[1] winning two and losing three. On Monday Night Football in October, Green Bay defeated the Washington Redskins, 48–47, in the highest-scoring game in MNF history. It was voted one of the ten best Packer games and is featured on the NFL Films collection, "The Green Bay Packers Greatest Games."

Green Bay hovered around the .500 mark all season. Entering their final regular season game on December 18 at Chicago, the Packers (8–7) could secure a playoff berth with a victory. Green Bay scored a touchdown to take a one-point lead with just over three minutes in the game, and Chicago running back Walter Payton was sidelined with a wrist injury. The Bears returned the kickoff to their 38 and drove fifty yards, down to the Packer twelve, with 1:17 remaining. Although Green Bay had all three of its timeouts, they opted not to use any, and the Bears kicked a winning 22-yard field goal with ten seconds on the clock. Green Bay fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and the Los Angeles Rams (9–7) gained the final playoff slot.^[2]^[3]

Starr was fired the following day by team president Robert Parins, ending a 26-year association with the team as a player and coach.^[4]^[5] Former player Forrest Gregg, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, was hired before the end of the week, announced on Christmas Eve.^[6] Gregg had led the Bengals to Super Bowl XVI two years earlier, but had less success in his four seasons in Green Bay, then left for his alma mater SMU in Dallas in January 1988.^[7]

Offseason

NFL draft

Pick #	Player	Position	College
11	Tim Lewis	Cornerback	Pittsburgh
48	Dave Drechsler	Guard	North Carolina
104	Mike Miller	Wide Receiver	Tennessee
132	Brian Thomas	Running Back	Pittsburgh
160	Ron Sams	Guard	Pittsburgh
188	Jessie Clark	Running Back	Arkansas
216	Carlton Briscoe	Defensive Back	McNeese State
243	Robin Ham	Center	West Texas State
253	Byron Williams	Wide Receiver	Texas Arlington
271	Jimmy Thomas	Defensive Back	Indiana
299	Bucky Scribner	Punter	Kansas
327	John Harvey	Linebacker	USC

Personnel

Staff

**1983 Green Bay Packers staff**
	Front office President – Robert J. Parins Corporate Assistant to the President – Bob Harlan Director of Player Personnel – Dick Corrick Head coaches Head Coach – Bart Starr Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Bob Schnelker Offensive Backs – John Brunner Receivers – Lew Carpenter Offensive Line – Ernie McMillan Assistant Offensive Line – Bill Meyers			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – John Meyer Defensive Line – Doc Urich Linebackers – Monte Kiffin Defensive Backs – Ross Fichtner Special teams coaches Special Teams – Dick Rehbein

^[8]

Roster

**1983 Green Bay Packers roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 19 Rich Campbell 12 Lynn Dickey 17 David Whitehurst Running backs (RB) 33 Jessie Clark 31 Gerry Ellis 25 Harlan Huckleby 40 Eddie Lee Ivery 39 Mike Meade 35 Del Rodgers 20 Chet Winters Wide receivers (WR) 88 Ron Cassidy 85 Phil Epps 83 John Jefferson 80 James Lofton Tight ends (TE) 82 Paul Coffman 81 Gary Lewis		Offensive linemen (OL) 61 Dave Drechsler G 77 Charlie Getty T 69 Leotis Harris 74 Tim Huffman G 64 Syd Kitson G 68 Greg Koch T 54 Larry McCarren C 70 Ron Sams C 67 Karl Swanke T Defensive linemen (DL) 73 Byron Braggs DE 93 Robert Brown DE 99 Charlie Johnson DT 90 Ezra Johnson DE 63 Terry Jones DT 78 Casey Merrill DE 91 Daryle Skaugstad DT 75 Richard Turner DT		Linebackers (LB) 59 John Anderson 52 George Cumby 53 Mike Douglass 62 Jim Laughlin 57 Chet Parlavecchio 51 Guy Prather 55 Randy Scott 50 Rich Wingo Defensive backs (DB) 24 Johnnie Gray SS 23 Maurice Harvey SS 38 Estus Hood CB 21 Mike Jolly 26 Tim Lewis CB 22 Mark Lee CB 37 Mark Murphy FS 29 Mike McCoy CB Special teams 11 Eddie Garcia K 13 Bucky Scribner P 10 Jan Stenerud K		Rookies in italics 00 active, 0 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Record	Notes	Venue	Attendance
1	9-04-1983	at Houston Oilers	W, 41–38 O.T.	1–0		Astrodome	44,073
2	9-11-1983	Pittsburgh Steelers	L, 21–25	1–1		Lambeau Field	55,154
3	9-18-1983	Los Angeles Rams	W, 27–24	2–1		Milwaukee County Stadium	54,037
4	9-26-1983	at New York Giants	L, 3–27	2–2	Monday Night Football	Giants Stadium	75,308
5	10-02-1983	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W, 55–13	3–2	NFL-record 49 points in 1st half	Lambeau Field	54,272
6	10-09-1983	at Detroit Lions	L, 14–38	3–3		Pontiac Silverdome	67,738
7	10-17-1983	Washington Redskins	W, 48–47	4–3	Highest MNF aggregate score	Lambeau Field	55,255
8	10-23-1983	Minnesota Vikings	L, 17–20 O.T.	4–4		Lambeau Field	55,236
9	10-30-1983	at Cincinnati Bengals	L, 14–34	4–5		Riverfront Stadium	53,349
10	11-06-1983	Cleveland Browns	W, 35–21	5–5		Milwaukee County Stadium	54,089
11	11-13-1983	at Minnesota Vikings	W, 29–21	6–5		Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	60,113
12	11-20-1983	Detroit Lions	L, 20–23 O.T.	6–6		Milwaukee County Stadium	50,050
13	11-27-1983	at Atlanta Falcons	L, 41–47 O.T.	6–7	4th O.T. game	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	35,688
14	12-04-1983	Chicago Bears	W, 31–28	7–7		Lambeau Field	51,147
15	12-12-1983	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W, 12–9 O.T.	8–7	5th O.T. game, NFL record	Tampa Stadium	50,763
16	12-18-1983	at Chicago Bears	L, 21–23	8–8		Soldier Field	35,807

Game summaries

Week 1

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
• Packers	7	21	3	7	3	41
Oilers	10	0	7	21	0	38

Date: September 4
Location: Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas
Game start: 12:00 p.m.
Game weather: indoors (dome)
Referee: Bob McElwee
TV announcers (CBS): Frank Glieber and Dick Vermeil

^[9]

Standings

NFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Detroit Lions⁽³⁾	9	7	0	.563	7–1	8–4	347	286	W1
Green Bay Packers	8	8	0	.500	4–4	6–6	429	439	L1
Chicago Bears	8	8	0	.500	4–4	7–7	311	301	W2
Minnesota Vikings	8	8	0	.500	4–4	4–8	316	348	W1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2	14	0	.125	1–7	1–11	241	380	L3

Statistics

Passing

Player	Attempts	Completion	Percentage	Yards	Avg	Long	TD	Int	Rating
Lynn Dickey	484	289	59.7%	4458	9.21	75	32	29	87.3

Receiving

Player	Receptions	Yards	Average	TD	Long
James Lofton	58	1300	22.4	8	74
John Jefferson	57	830	14.6	7	36
Paul Coffman	54	814	15.1	11	74
Gerry Ellis	52	603	11.6	2	56

Rushing

Player	Attempts	Yards	avg	TD	Long
Gerry Ellis	141	696	4.9	4	71
Eddie Lee Ivery	86	340	4.0	2	21
Jessie Clark	71	328	4.6	0	42
Harlan Huckleby	50	182	3.6	4	20

Defensive

Player	Sacks	INT'S	Yards	Average	TD	Long
John Anderson	4.5	5	54	10.8	1	27t
Greg Boyd	2.0	0	0	0.0	0	0
Byron Braggs	5.5	0	0	0.0	0	0
George Cumby	2.0	0	0	0.0	0	0
Mike Douglass	5.5	0	0	0.0	0	0
Johnnie Gray	0.0	2	5	2.5	0	5
Charles Johnson	3.5	0	0	0.0	0	0
Ezra Johnson	14.5	0	0	0.0	0	0
Mike Jolly	0.0	1	0	0.0	0	0
Jim Laughlin	0.0	1	22	22.0	0	22
Mark Lee	0.0	4	23	5.8	0	15
Cliff Lewis	2.0	0	0	0.0	0	0
Tim Lewis	0.0	5	111	22.2	0	46
Randy Scott	0.0	1	12	12.0	0	12

Records

Lynn Dickey, Club Record, Most Passing Yards in One Season, 4,458. First NFC Quarterback to ever throw for over 4,000 yards.
NFL record, Most Overtime Games played in one season, (5)
NFC Central record, Most Interceptions in a season by a passer other than the quarterback (3, Cliff Lewis).

References

^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 388
^ Feuerherd, Vic (December 19, 1983). "Bears end playoff bid by Packers". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
^ Lea, Bud (December 19, 1983). "Defeat clouds Starr's future". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
^ Feuerherd, Vic (December 20, 1983). "Sad Starr said Pack set to win". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 1.
^ Lea, Bud (December 20, 1983). "Parins shows he runs Pack". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
^ Salituro, Chuck (December 25, 1983). "Gregg shortened Parins' search". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
^ Perkins, Eddie (January 15, 1988). "The rebuilding starts for SMU, Packers". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1C.
^ "All Time Coaches Database". Packers.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com

External links

The Football Database

[1] NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 388

[bepbbp-2] Feuerherd, Vic (December 19, 1983). "Bears end playoff bid by Packers". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.

[dfcldsf-3] Lea, Bud (December 19, 1983). "Defeat clouds Starr's future". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.

[ssspstw-4] Feuerherd, Vic (December 20, 1983). "Sad Starr said Pack set to win". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 1.

[pshrp-5] Lea, Bud (December 20, 1983). "Parins shows he runs Pack". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.

[gsps-6] Salituro, Chuck (December 25, 1983). "Gregg shortened Parins' search". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.

[threbs-7] Perkins, Eddie (January 15, 1988). "The rebuilding starts for SMU, Packers". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1C.

[8] "All Time Coaches Database". Packers.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.

[9] Pro-Football-Reference.com

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

@@ Line 93: / Line 93: @@
 {{NFLplayer|31|Gerry Ellis}}
 {{NFLplayer|25|Harlan Huckleby}}
-{{NFLplayer|40|Eddie Lee Ivery}}{{NFLplayer|39|Mike Meade}}
+{{NFLplayer|40|Eddie Lee Ivery}}
+{{NFLplayer|39|Mike Meade}}
 {{NFLplayer|35|Del Rodgers}}
+{{NFLplayer|20|Chet Winters|rookie=y}}
 |Wide Receivers=
@@ Line 114: / Line 116: @@
 {{NFLplayer|68|Greg Koch|T}}
 {{NFLplayer|54|Larry McCarren|C}}
+{{NFLplayer|70|Ron Sams|rookie=y|C}}
 {{NFLplayer|67|Karl Swanke|T}}