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1979 Philadelphia Eagles season
Head Coach Dick Vermeil
Home Field Veterans Stadium
Results
Record 11–5
Place 2nd NFC East
Playoff Finish Lost NFC Divisional playoff to Tampa Bay
Timeline
Previous season Next season
1978 1980

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 PF PA STK
Dallas Cowboys 11 5 0 .688 371 313 W-3
Philadelphia Eagles 11 5 0 .688 339 282 W-1
Washington Redskins 10 6 0 .625 348 295 L-1
New York Giants 6 10 0 .375 237 323 L-3
St. Louis Cardinals 5 11 0 .313 307 358 L-1

Roster[]

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

Awards and honors[]

References[]

  1. Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
AFC East Central West East Central West NFC
Baltimore Cincinnati Denver Dallas Chicago Atlanta
Buffalo Cleveland Kansas City NY Giants Detroit Los Angeles
Miami Houston Oakland Philadelphia Green Bay New Orleans
New England Pittsburgh San Diego St. Louis Minnesota San Francisco
NY Jets Seattle Washington Tampa Bay
1979 NFL DraftNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl XIV


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