# 1979 New York Jets season

The 1979 New York Jets season was the 20th season for the franchise and its tenth in the National Football League. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 8–8 record from 1978 under head coach Walt Michaels. The Jets again finished the season with a record of 8–8.
Matt Robinson started the season at quarterback, but was hurt and Richard Todd took the bulk of the duties at Quarterback as the Jets played .500 football posting an 8–8 record for the second straight season, finishing in third place. With the 1979 season, the Jets became one of only three non-expansion teams to not make the playoffs in the 1970s (the others being the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints).

## Offseason
### Draft

1979 New York Jets draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 14 | Marty Lyons | DT | Alabama |
| 2 | 41 | Mark Gastineau * | DE | East Central |
| 3 | 68 | Donald Dykes | CB | Southeastern Louisiana |
| 4 | 96 | Eric Cunningham | T | Penn State |
| 4 | 98 | Johnnie Lynn | CB | UCLA |
| 5 | 123 | Kelly Kirchbaum | LB | Kentucky |
| 5 | 125 | Stan Blinka | LB | Sam Houston State |
| 6 | 149 | Bill Dufek | OG | Michigan |
| 7 | 179 | Emmett King | RB | Houston |
| 7 | 187 | Keith Brown | DB | Minnesota |
| 8 | 198 | Marshall K. Harris | DT | TCU |
| 8 | 205 | Willie Beamon | LB | Boise State |
| 9 | 232 | Gordy Sprattler | RB | North Dakota State |
| 10 | 262 | Steve Sybeldon | OT | North Dakota |
| 10 | 263 | Ed McGlasson | C | Youngstown State |
| 11 | 288 | Danny Sanders | QB | Carson-Newman |
| 12 | 314 | Paul Darby | WR | Southwest Texas State |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

### Undrafted free agents

1979 Undrafted Free Agents of note :
| Player | Position | College |
| Jim Boran | Linebacker | Columbia |
| John Gallo | Tackle | Rutgers |
| Kevin Mannix | Running back | Rutgers |

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 2 | Cleveland Browns | L 22–25 (OT) | 0–1 | Shea Stadium | 48,472 |
| 2 | September 9 | at New England Patriots | L 3–56 | 0–2 | Schaefer Stadium | 53,113 |
| 3 | September 16 | Detroit Lions | W 31–10 | 1–2 | Shea Stadium | 49,612 |
| 4 | September 23 | at Buffalo Bills | L 31–46 | 1–3 | Rich Stadium | 68,731 |
| 5 | September 30 | Miami Dolphins | W 33–27 | 2–3 | Shea Stadium | 51,496 |
| 6 | October 7 | at Baltimore Colts | L 8–10 | 2–4 | Memorial Stadium | 32,142 |
| 7 | October 15 | Minnesota Vikings | W 14–7 | 3–4 | Shea Stadium | 54,479 |
| 8 | October 21 | Oakland Raiders | W 28–19 | 4–4 | Shea Stadium | 55,802 |
| 9 | October 28 | at Houston Oilers | L 24–27 (OT) | 4–5 | Astrodome | 45,825 |
| 10 | November 4 | at Green Bay Packers | W 27–22 | 5–5 | Lambeau Field | 54,201 |
| 11 | November 11 | Buffalo Bills | L 12–14 | 5–6 | Shea Stadium | 50,647 |
| 12 | November 18 | at Chicago Bears | L 13–23 | 5–7 | Soldier Field | 52,635 |
| 13 | November 26 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 7–30 | 5–8 | Kingdome | 59,977 |
| 14 | December 2 | Baltimore Colts | W 30–17 | 6–8 | Shea Stadium | 47,744 |
| 15 | December 9 | New England Patriots | W 27–26 | 7–8 | Shea Stadium | 45,131 |
| 16 | December 15 | at Miami Dolphins | W 27–24 | 8–8 | Miami Orange Bowl | 49,915 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Standings

AFC East :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Miami Dolphins$^{(3)}$ | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 5–3 | 6–6 | 341 | 257 | L1 |
| New England Patriots | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 4–4 | 6–6 | 411 | 326 | W1 |
| New York Jets | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 4–4 | 5–7 | 337 | 383 | W3 |
| Buffalo Bills | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 4–4 | 5–7 | 268 | 279 | L3 |
| Baltimore Colts | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 3–5 | 4–10 | 271 | 351 | W1 |

### Week 1: vs. Cleveland Browns

Matt Robinson was named starting quarterback for the Jets against the Cleveland Browns but hid a thumb injury on his throwing hand from three days before the game, until swelling forced him to acknowledge the injury to an angered Walt Michaels and team president Jim Kensil. The injury was treated and Robinson had the tape taken off late in the game with the Jets leading, but a Brian Sipe drive aided by a roughing the passer call against Mark Gastineau led to a game-tying Don Cockroft field goal; forced to play in overtime, Robinson's thumb swelled again and the result was a sloppy pass that was intercepted and led to the game-winning Cockroft field goal. Michaels seethed, "You work, you plan all week, and then the kid hides an injury from you." He refused to play Robinson the rest of the season.

### Week 2: at New England Patriots

The Jets were crushed 56–3 in a game where Steve Grogan of the Patriots set a club touchdown record that would stand until Tom Brady broke it in 2007.

### Week 7: vs. Minnesota Vikings

In the first Monday Night Football game to be broadcast from the New York City area, the Jets beat the Minnesota Vikings 14-7 in front of a raucous crowd, many of whom showed up intoxicated and began throwing bottles onto the field. One Shea Stadium security worker described the scene as worse than the celebration that ensued after the Mets won the 1969 World Series. In all, more than 30 fans and three security guards were hurt and two people were arrested.

### Week 13: at Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks cornerback Cornell Webster blocked a punt by the Jets' Chuck Ramsey, leading to a Seattle score in a 30–7 Seahawks win. Following the game Michaels called out Ramsey in front of Jets players by snarling, "I can fart farther than you can kick!"