1981 Denver Broncos Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 10-6
Finishing 1st in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference
Coach: Dan Reeves (10-6)
Location: Denver, Colorado
1981 Denver Broncos RosterTeam Record: 10-6
Finishing 1st in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference
Coach: Dan Reeves (10-6)
Location: Denver, Colorado
1981 Denver Broncos Results
The Denver Broncos of the National Football League ended the 1981 season with a record of 10 wins and 6 losses, finishing first in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference.
The Broncos scored 321 points, and the defensive squad gave up 289. Craig Morton passed for 3,195 yards. Steve Watson paced the receiving corps, hauling in 60 passes for 1,244 yards. Dave Preston contributed to the receiving game, too.
Rick Parros ran for a team-best 749 yards for Denver, and Dave Preston also aided the ground game.
Steve Foley picked off 5 errant tosses from the opposition.
Dan Reeves coached the team.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Morton | 376 | 225 | 59.8 | 3195 | 8.5 | 21 | 5.6 | 14 | 3.7 | 95 | 54 | 394 | 90.5 |
| Steve DeBerg | 108 | 64 | 59.3 | 797 | 7.4 | 6 | 5.6 | 6 | 5.6 | 44 | 7 | 67 | 77.6 |
| Tony Reed | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 485 | 289 | 59.6 | 3992 | 8.2 | 27 | 5.6 | 21 | 4.3 | 95 | 61 | 461 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Parros | 176 | 749 | 4.3 | 25 | 2 |
| Dave Preston | 183 | 640 | 3.5 | 23 | 3 |
| Tony Reed | 68 | 156 | 2.3 | 10 | 0 |
| Larry Canada | 33 | 113 | 3.4 | 11 | 3 |
| Rob Lytle | 30 | 106 | 3.5 | 18 | 4 |
| Rick Upchurch | 5 | 56 | 11.2 | 37 | 0 |
| Steve DeBerg | 9 | 40 | 4.4 | 11 | 0 |
| Craig Morton | 8 | 18 | 2.2 | 5 | 0 |
| James Wright | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Steve Watson | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 6 | 0 |
| Totals | 515 | 1895 | 3.7 | 37 | 12 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Watson | 60 | 1244 | 20.7 | 95 | 13 |
| Dave Preston | 52 | 507 | 9.8 | 37 | 0 |
| Riley Odoms | 38 | 516 | 13.6 | 28 | 5 |
| Tony Reed | 34 | 317 | 9.3 | 33 | 0 |
| Rick Upchurch | 32 | 550 | 17.2 | 63 | 3 |
| Rick Parros | 25 | 216 | 8.6 | 26 | 1 |
| Ron Egloff | 17 | 231 | 13.6 | 40 | 1 |
| Haven Moses | 15 | 246 | 16.4 | 30 | 1 |
| Rob Lytle | 6 | 47 | 7.8 | 14 | 1 |
| Wade Manning | 3 | 49 | 16.3 | 34 | 0 |
| Larry Canada | 3 | 37 | 12.3 | 20 | 1 |
| James Wright | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 14 | 1 |
| Dave Studdard | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 |
| Totals | 289 | 3992 | 13.8 | 95 | 27 |
Kicking:
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Prestridge | 86 | 3478 | 40.4 | 67 |
| Totals | 86 | 3478 | 40.4 | 67 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wade Manning | 41 | 378 | 9.2 | 39 | 0 |
| Rick Upchurch | 9 | 63 | 7.0 | 15 | 0 |
| Aaron Kyle | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 51 | 441 | 8.6 | 39 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wade Manning | 26 | 514 | 19.8 | 31 | 0 |
| Mike Harden | 11 | 178 | 16.2 | 23 | 0 |
| Rob Lytle | 5 | 80 | 16.0 | 24 | 0 |
| Larry Canada | 2 | 19 | 9.5 | 13 | 0 |
| Ron Egloff | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Jim Ryan | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Dave Preston | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 47 | 801 | 17.0 | 31 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Foley | 5 | 81 | 16.2 | 24 | 0 |
| Randy Gradishar | 4 | 38 | 9.5 | 16 | 0 |
| Bill Thompson | 4 | 14 | 3.5 | 14 | 0 |
| Bob Swenson | 3 | 53 | 17.7 | 32 | 0 |
| Aaron Kyle | 2 | 40 | 20.0 | 40 | 0 |
| Mike Harden | 2 | 34 | 17.0 | 38 | 0 |
| Dennis Smith | 1 | 65 | 65.0 | 65 | 0 |
| Brison Manor | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 |
| Larry Evans | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 23 | 342 | 14.9 | 65 | 0 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Solo | Ast | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Smith | 45 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron Kyle | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bob Swenson | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Steve Busick | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Steve Watson | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Bill Thompson | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Tom Jackson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Rick Parros | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Rulon Jones | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Larry Evans | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Don Latimer | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Louis Wright | 0 | 1 | -5 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| James Wright | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Rubin Carter | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Tom Glassic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Mike Harden | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Steve Foley | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Larry Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Barney Chavous | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Ron Egloff | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |||||
| Wade Manning | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Steve DeBerg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Haven Moses | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Dave Preston | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Tony Reed | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Luke Prestridge | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Craig Morton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Bill Bryan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Rob Lytle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Riley Odoms | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 45 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Fred Steinfort | 17 | 36 | 0 | 87 | ||||||||||
| Steve Watson | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | ||||||||
| Rob Lytle | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | |||||||
| Riley Odoms | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | |||||||||
| Larry Canada | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |||||||
| Rick Upchurch | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||
| Rick Parros | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||||||||
| Dave Preston | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||
| Haven Moses | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Ron Egloff | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| James Wright | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Totals | 12 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 321 |
