1979 Philadelphia Eagles season

1979 Philadelphia Eagles season
Head coach Dick Vermeil
General manager Jim Murray
Owner Leonard Tose
Home field Veterans Stadium
Results
Record 11–5
Division place 2nd NFC East
Playoff finish Lost NFC Divisional playoff to Tampa Bay

The 1979 Philadelphia Eagles season resulted in an appearance in the postseason for the second consecutive year, a feat the team had not achieved for three decades. They would make the playoffs again in the following two seasons before a six-year drought.

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
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

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 2, 1979 New York Giants W 23–17
67,366
2 September 10, 1979 Atlanta Falcons L 14–10
66,935
3 September 16, 1979 at New Orleans Saints W 26–14
54,212
4 September 23, 1979 at New York Giants W 17–13
74,265
5 September 30, 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers W 17–14
70,352
6 October 7, 1979 Washington Redskins W 28–17
69,142
7 October 14, 1979 at St. Louis Cardinals W 24–20
48,367
8 October 21, 1979 at Washington Redskins L 17–7
54,442
9 October 28, 1979 at Cincinnati Bengals L 37–13
42,036
10 November 4, 1979 Cleveland Browns L 24–19
69,019
11 November 12, 1979 at Dallas Cowboys W 31–21
62,417
12 November 18, 1979 St. Louis Cardinals W 16–13
70,235
13 November 25, 1979 at Green Bay Packers W 21–10
50,023
14 December 2, 1979 Detroit Lions W 44–7
66,128
15 December 8, 1979 Dallas Cowboys L 24–17
71,434
16 December 16, 1979 at Houston Oilers W 26–20
49,407

Standings

NFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Dallas Cowboys(1) 11 5 0 .688 6–2 10–2 371 313 W3
Philadelphia Eagles(4) 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

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Wildcard December 23, 1979 Chicago Bears W 27–17
69,397
Divisional December 29, 1979 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 24–17
71,402

References

  1. ↑ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.


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