# 1979 Denver Broncos season

The 1979 Denver Broncos season was the team's 20th year in professional football and its 10th with the National Football League (NFL). Led by third-year head coach Red Miller, the Broncos were 10–6, second in the AFC West, and made the postseason a third consecutive year. In the Wild Card round the Broncos lost to the Houston Oilers 13–7.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

1979 Denver Broncos draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 22 | Kelvin Clark | Tackle | Nebraska |
| 3 | 77 | Bruce Radford | NT | Grambling State |
| 4 | 105 | Charles Jefferson | DB | McNeese State |
| 5 | 132 | Rick Leach | QB | Michigan |
| 6 | 148 | Jeff McIntyre | LB | Arizona State |
| 7 | 188 | Luke Prestridge * | P | Baylor |
| 9 | 242 | Charlie Taylor | WR | Rice |
| 11 | 297 | Zach Dixon | RB | Temple |
| 12 | 325 | Dave Jacobs | K | Syracuse |
| 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 |
| Wylie Turner | Defensive Back | Angelo State |

## Personnel
### Roster

    Source:

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 2 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 10–0 | 1–0 | Mile High Stadium | 74,788 |
| 2 | September 6 | Los Angeles Rams | L 9–13 | 1–1 | Mile High Stadium | 74,884 |
| 3 | September 16 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 20–17$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 57,677 |
| 4 | September 23 | Seattle Seahawks | W 37–34 | 3–1 | Mile High Stadium | 74,879 |
| 5 | September 30 | at Oakland Raiders | L 3–27 | 3–2 | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 52,632 |
| 6 | October 7 | San Diego Chargers | W 7–0 | 4–2 | Mile High Stadium | 74,997 |
| 7 | October 14 | at Kansas City Chiefs | W 24–10 | 5–2 | Arrowhead Stadium | 74,292 |
| 8 | October 22 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 7–42 | 5–3 | Three Rivers Stadium | 49,699 |
| 9 | October 28 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 20–3 | 6–3 | Mile High Stadium | 74,908 |
| 10 | November 4 | New Orleans Saints | W 10–3 | 7–3 | Mile High Stadium | 74,482 |
| 11 | November 11 | New England Patriots | W 45–10 | 8–3 | Mile High Stadium | 74,379 |
| 12 | November 18 | at San Francisco 49ers | W 38–28 | 9–3 | Candlestick Park | 42,910 |
| 13 | November 25 | Oakland Raiders | L 10–14 | 9–4 | Mile High Stadium | 74,186 |
| 14 | December 2 | at Buffalo Bills | W 19–16 | 10–4 | Rich Stadium | 37,886 |
| 15 | December 8 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 23–28 | 10–5 | Kingdome | 60,038 |
| 16 | December 17 | at San Diego Chargers | L 7–17 | 10–6 | San Diego Stadium | 51,906 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Game summaries
#### Week 1

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bengals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • Broncos | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |

#### Week 5

* Date: September 30, 1979
* Network: NBC
* Announcers: Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen
All-Pro Dave Casper returns to Oakland's starting lineup after four weeks as a second stringer, caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Ken Stabler to open the scoring as the Oakland Raiders upset the Denver Broncos, and ending their three-game losing streak. The Raiders used a two tight end formation throughout most of this game. Casper who reported late to training camp following a contract dispute caught four passes for 92 yards. Casper's final catch of the day was a 42-yard bomb from Stabler which set up one of two Jim Breech field goals in the final period. The Raiders drove 81 yards for their first touchdown late in the first quarter. Denver's Jim Turner made the score 7-3 late in the second period with a 19-yard field goal, but Larry Brunson's 50-yard kickoff return put the Raiders in scoring position and Mark Van Eeghen ran one yard for a touchdown 16 seconds before halftime. The Raiders, 2-3 used a four-man defensive line. It was a switch from their usual three-man front, and Ray Guy of Oakland contribute to the offensive frustrations of 3-2 Denver with some great punting. Guy's last punt pinned the Broncos near their goal line and linebacker Monte Johnson fell on the fumble in the end zone late in the game for the Raiders' final touchdown.

#### Week 12 (Sunday, November 18, 1979): at San Francisco 49ers

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Broncos (9–3) | 3 | 14 | 21 | 0 | 38 |
| 49ers (1–11) | 0 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
at Candlestick Park • San Francisco, California
* Date: November 18
* Game time: 2:00 p.m. MST
* Game attendance: 42,910
* Referee: Gene Barth
* TV announcers (NBC): Sam Nover (play–by–play) and Bob Trumpy (color commentator)
| Team | Category |
| DEN | Passing |
| DEN | Rushing |
| DEN | Receiving |
| SF | Passing |
| SF | Rushing |
| SF | Receiving |
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | DEN | SF |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 38 | 28 |
* Point spread: Broncos —9
* Over/Under: 39.0 (over)
* Time of Game:
| Broncos | Game Statistics | 49ers |
| 22 | First downs | 18 |
| 28–144 | Rushes–yards | 34–74 |
| 225 | Passing yards | 166 |
| 19–35–1 | Passes | 23–41–0 |
| 0–0 | Sacked–yards | 0–0 |
| 225 | Net passing yards | 166 |
| 369 | Total yards | 240 |
| 109 | Return yards | 239 |
| 6–38.5 | Punts | 6–45.2 |
| 1–1 | Fumbles–lost | 4–2 |
| 11–90 | Penalties–yards | 9–75 |
| | Time of possession | |
Individual stats

### Standings

AFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| San Diego Chargers$^{(1)}$ | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 6–2 | 9–3 | 411 | 246 | W2 |
| Denver Broncos$^{(5)}$ | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 4–4 | 7–5 | 289 | 262 | L2 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 3–5 | 6–6 | 378 | 372 | W2 |
| Oakland Raiders | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 3–5 | 5–7 | 365 | 337 | L1 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 4–4 | 7–7 | 238 | 262 | L1 |

## Playoffs

| Round | Date | Opponent (seed) | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| Wild Card | December 23 | at Houston Oilers (4) | L 7–13 | 0–1 | Astrodome | 48,776 |
    Source:
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Broncos | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Oilers | 3 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
at Astrodome, Houston, Texas
* Game time: 3:00 p.m. CST
* Game attendance: 48,776
* Referee: Gene Barth
* TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Len Dawson
The Oilers managed to shut down the Broncos offense for most of the game en route to a 13–7 win, holding the Broncos to 216 yards and recording six sacks.
After Toni Fritsch kicked a 31-yard field goal on Houston's first drive, Denver marched 80 yards in 13 plays to score on quarterback Craig Morton's 7-yard touchdown pass to running back Dave Preston. From that point on, the Oilers controlled the rest of the game. With less than 3 minutes left in the first half, Houston advanced 74 yards to score on running back Earl Campbell's 3-yard touchdown run. Although Campbell and starting quarterback Dan Pastorini both missed the second half with injuries, the Oilers defense continued to dominate. In the fourth quarter, a 15-yard interception return by linebacker Gregg Bingham set up Fritsch's 20-yard field goal with 4:18 left in regulation.