1979 Philadelphia Eagles season
NFL team season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1979 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's 47th season in the National Football League (NFL).
| 1979 Philadelphia Eagles season | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Leonard Tose |
| General manager | Jim Murray |
| Head coach | Dick Vermeil |
| Home stadium | Veterans Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 11–5 |
| Division place | 2nd NFC East |
| Playoffs | Won Wild Card Playoffs (vs. Bears) 27–17 Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Buccaneers) 17–24 |
They appeared in the postseason for the second consecutive year, an attainment that the team had not achieved for three decades. They would make the playoffs again in the following two seasons before a six-year drought. The Eagles managed to host and win their first playoff game since 1960. They would ultimately fall in the divisional round to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a score of 24–17.
Offseason
After going 9–7 in the 1978 season and making the playoffs, the Eagles found themselves having to follow rule 3 of the draft – "Teams that made the playoffs are then ordered by which round of the playoffs they are eliminated" – meaning four teams with a record the same or better than the Eagles would pick in front of them.
NFL draft
The 1979 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 May 3–4, 1979 in New York City. As was started with the 1977 NFL draft, this was 12 rounds.
The Philadelphia Eagles got the 19th to the 21st picks in the 12 rounds. They had overcome the traded-away draft picks of the Mike McCormack era. The Eagles had waited but they finally had a first-round pick and other low-round draft picks. They would use these and build a team as 7 of the 10 draft picks made the team for the coming years.
The draft began with first overall pick of Tom Cousineau, linebacker from Ohio State, by the Buffalo Bills. With the number 7 pick the New York Giants selected Phil Simms, a quarterback from Morehead State. The crowd, made up of mostly New York fans, voiced their displeasure of his selection.
Player selections
The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another trade the Eagles made. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.
| = Pro Bowler [1] | = Hall of Famer |
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School |
| 1 | 21 | Jerry Robinson | LB | UCLA |
| 2 | 48 | Petey Perot | G | Northwestern State University |
| 3 | 74 | Tony Franklin | Kicker | Texas A & M |
| 4 | 94 | Ben Cowins | RB | Arkansas |
| 5 | 126 | Scott Fitzkee | TE | Penn State |
| 6 | 158 | Pick Traded to New York Giants | ||
| 7 | 178 | Don Swafford | OT | Florida |
| 7 | 185 | Curtis Bunche | DT | Albany State |
| 8 | 196 | Chuck Correal | C | Penn State |
| 8 | 211 | Max Runager | Punter | South Carolina |
| 9 | Pick Traded to | |||
| 10 | Pick Traded to | |||
| 11 | 296 | Al Chesley | LB | Pittsburgh |
| 12 | Pick Traded to | |||
Personnel
Staff / Coaches
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Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
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Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
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Roster
Regular season
Schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 2, 1979 | New York Giants | W 23–17 | 1–0 | 67,366 |
| 2 | September 10, 1979 | Atlanta Falcons | L 14–10 | 1–1 | 66,935 |
| 3 | September 16, 1979 | at New Orleans Saints | W 26–14 | 2–1 | 54,212 |
| 4 | September 23, 1979 | at New York Giants | W 17–13 | 3–1 | 74,265 |
| 5 | September 30, 1979 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 17–14 | 4–1 | 70,352 |
| 6 | October 7, 1979 | Washington Redskins | W 28–17 | 5–1 | 69,142 |
| 7 | October 14, 1979 | at St. Louis Cardinals | W 24–20 | 6–1 | 48,367 |
| 8 | October 21, 1979 | at Washington Redskins | L 17–7 | 6–2 | 54,442 |
| 9 | October 28, 1979 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 37–13 | 6–3 | 42,036 |
| 10 | November 4, 1979 | Cleveland Browns | L 24–19 | 6–4 | 69,019 |
| 11 | November 12, 1979 | at Dallas Cowboys | W 31–21 | 7–4 | 62,417 |
| 12 | November 18, 1979 | St. Louis Cardinals | W 16–13 | 8–4 | 70,235 |
| 13 | November 25, 1979 | at Green Bay Packers | W 21–10 | 9–4 | 50,023 |
| 14 | December 2, 1979 | Detroit Lions | W 44–7 | 10–4 | 66,128 |
| 15 | December 8, 1979 | Dallas Cowboys | L 24–17 | 10–5 | 71,434 |
| 16 | December 16, 1979 | at Houston Oilers | W 26–20 | 11–5 | 49,407 |
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 5: Pittsburgh Steelers at Philadelphia Eagles
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steelers | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| Eagles | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 17 |
at Veterans Stadium • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Date: September 30, 1979
- Game time: 1:00 p.m.
- Game attendance: 70,352
- Referee: Cal Lepore
- TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Len Dawson
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Week 6
Week 6: Washington Redskins at Philadelphia Eagles
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redskins | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 17 |
| Eagles | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 28 |
at Veterans Stadium • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Date: October 7, 1979
- Game time: 1:00 p.m.
- Game attendance: 69,142
- TV announcers (CBS): Gary Bender and Sonny Jurgensen
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Week 7
Week 8
Week 8: Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Redskins | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 |
at RFK Stadium • Washington, D.C.
- Date: October 21, 1979
- Game time: 1:00 p.m.
- Game attendance: 54,442
- TV announcers (CBS): Vin Scully and George Allen
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 11: Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 31 |
| Cowboys | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
at Texas Stadium • Irving, Texas
- Date: November 12, 1979
- Game time: 9:00 p.m.
- Game attendance: 62,417
- Referee: Gene Barth
- TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 15: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowboys | 10 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| Eagles | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
at Veterans Stadium • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Date: December 8, 1979
- Game time: 12:30 p.m.
- Game attendance: 71,434
- Referee: Jim Tunney
- TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall, Tom Brookshier, Frank Glieber and Irv Cross
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Week 16
Week 16: Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Oilers
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 9 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 26 |
| Oilers | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
at Astrodome • Houston, Texas
- Date: December 16, 1979
- Game time: 4:00 p.m.
- Game attendance: 49,407
- TV announcers (CBS): Gary Bender and Sonny Jurgensen
- Pro-Football-Reference.com
| Game information | ||
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Standings
| NFC East | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK | |
| (1) Dallas Cowboys | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 6–2 | 10–2 | 371 | 313 | W3 |
| (4) Philadelphia Eagles | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 6–2 | 9–3 | 339 | 282 | W1 |
| Washington Redskins | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 5–3 | 8–4 | 348 | 295 | L1 |
| New York Giants | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 1–7 | 5–9 | 237 | 323 | L3 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 2–6 | 4–8 | 307 | 358 | L1 |
Postseason
Schedule
| Round | Date | Opponent (seed) | Result | Record | Venue | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card | December 23, 1979 | Chicago Bears (5) | W 27–17 | 1–0 | Veterans Stadium | Recap |
| Divisional | December 29, 1979 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2) | L 17–24 | 1–1 | Tampa Stadium | Recap |
Game summaries
NFC Wild Card Playoffs: vs. (5) Chicago Bears
NFC Wild Card Playoffs: (5) Chicago Bears at (4) Philadelphia Eagles – Game summary
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bears | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Eagles | 7 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 27 |
at Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
- Date: December 23, 1979
- Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST
- Game attendance: 69,397
- Referee: Red Cashion
- TV announcers (CBS): Vin Scully and George Allen
| Game information |
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First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
Top passers
Top rushers
Top receivers
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NFC Divisional Playoffs: at (2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC Divisional Playoffs: (4) Philadelphia Eagles at (2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Game summary
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 0 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| Buccaneers | 7 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 24 |
at Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida
- Date: December 29, 1979
- Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST
- Game weather: 73 °F (23 °C), scattered clouds
- Game attendance: 71,402
- Referee: Fred Silva
- TV announcers (CBS): Curt Gowdy and Hank Stram
| Game information |
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First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
Top passers
Top rushers
Top receivers
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