Robert James Weathers (born September 13, 1960) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round of the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sh ...

. He played college football at

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. His brother,

Clarence Weathers Clarence Weathers (born January 10, 1962 in Greenville, South Carolina) is a former professional American football wide receiver in the National Football League. Weathers played nine seasons for the New England Patriots (1983–1984), the Clevela ...

, also played in the NFL.

1982 season

Weathers' rookie season saw him post 83 yards rushing in 6 games, starting 2. Tony Collins would handle the majority of the touches in 1982 for the team (as he would throughout Weathers' career), but Weathers still managed to score a touchdown on September 12 at the Baltimore Colts.

1983 season

Weathers posted 630 total yards from scrimmage during the 1983 season, which included 418 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, which came on a 9-yard rush against the Baltimore Colts on September 4, 1983. In 1983, the Patriots would sign Weathers' brother,

, who would play alongside Robert until the end of Robert's career.

1984 season

Weathers made only 2 appearances in 1984, making no starts. In total Weathers was only on the active roster for four total games due to an injury to his right knee on a clipping penalty at Miami, which occurred on September 9. Due to this injury, Weathers had and

Arthroscopy Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the ...

procedure and ended up placed on IR on September 13. Though he was reactivated on December 8, he recorded no statistics this season.

1985 season

Weathers finished the 1985 season fourth in rushing, recording 174 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. Weathers scored a crucial touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1985 season finale at Sullivan Stadium. On fourth-and-one, after the 2-minute-warning, Weathers ran 42 yards to put the Patriots up 34-23 and secure New England an AFC wild-card berth and an 11-5 record. Weathers recorded 87 yards rushing on 16 attempts, 2 yards receiving on 1 attempt, and a receiving touchdown on January 12, 1986, in the Patriots 31-14

AFC Championship The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

victory over the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

. His 45-yard rush was the longest of the game by any player in the game. Prior to Super Bowl XX the New England Patriots produced a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

in response to

The Super Bowl Shuffle "The Super Bowl Shuffle" is a song performed by the Chicago Bears football team (credited as the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew) in . It was released in December 1985 on Chicago-based Red Label Records and distributed through Capitol Records two mo ...

, the Chicago Bears

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

hit. The Patriots response, "New England, The Patriots and We" failed to chart, however Weathers is featured in the video, delivering the line "run through the wind, for a big T.D." In Super Bowl XX, Weathers recorded a single carry for 3 yards, and a single reception for 3 yards, in the Patriots 46-10 loss to the

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

1986 season

The 1986 season would prove to be Weathers' final in the NFL. He spent most of the 1986 season on Injured Reserve after suffering ankle injury in car accident during the preseason, which caused him to miss the first three regular season games. He'd post a record-low 58 yards on 21 carries before being placed on IR on November 14, missing the final six games of the season. Weathers would still manage to score a touchdown at Buffalo on October 26.

References

External links

New England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weathers, Robert 1960 births American football running backs Arizona State Sun Devils football players Living people New England Patriots players People from Westfield, New York Sportspeople from Chautauqua County, New York Players of American football from New York (state)