1980 Philadelphia Eagles season

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1980 Philadelphia Eagles season
Owner Leonard Tose
General manager Jim Murray
Head coach Dick Vermeil
Home stadium Veterans Stadium
Results
Record12–4
Division place1st NFC East
PlayoffsWon Divisional Playoffs
(vs. Vikings) 31–16
Won NFC Championship
(vs. Cowboys) 20–7
Lost Super Bowl XV
(vs. Raiders) 10–27
The Eagles defeated the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game and earned their first Super Bowl appearance. 1986 Jeno's Pizza - 05 - Wilbert Montgomery.jpg
The Eagles defeated the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game and earned their first Super Bowl appearance.

The 1980 Philadelphia Eagles season was the team's 48th season in the National Football League (NFL). The Eagles won twelve of their sixteen games, winning their division for the first time in twenty years. The Eagles started the season winning eleven of their first twelve games, only to finish the season losing three of their final four. Still, the 12–4 record (the best finish in the Vermeil era) was good enough to win the NFC East division title for the first time in franchise history since the NFC East had been formed.

Contents

The 1980 season marked the Eagles' third consecutive playoff appearance under coach Dick Vermeil, and culminated in the team's first Super Bowl appearance, where they were defeated by the Oakland Raiders 27–10. The 1980 NFC Championship long stood as the proudest moment of the Super Bowl era in Eagles history until they won Super Bowl LII 37 years later.

Offseason

NFL draft

After going 11–5 in the 1979 season and making the playoffs as a wildcard team, the Eagles found themselves looking to improve in 1980 through the NFL Draft.

The 1980 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 April 29–30, 1979. As was started with the 1977 NFL Draft, this consisted of 12 rounds over two days. ESPN covered all 12 rounds live for the first time.

The Philadelphia Eagles had the 23rd to 25th pick in each of the 12 rounds. The Eagles drafted 10 players.

1980 Philadelphia Eagles Draft
RoundSelectionPlayerPositionCollege
1 23 Roynell Young DB Alcorn State University
253 Perry Harrington RB Jackson State University
5135Nate RiversWR South Carolina State
6161Greg MurthaT University of Minnesota
7188Terrell WardDB San Diego State
8218Mike CurcioLB Temple University
9245Bob HarrisT Bowling Green
11298Lee JukesWR North Carolina State
302Thomas BrownDE Baylor University
12329Howard FieldsDBBaylor

Personnel

Staff

1980 Philadelphia Eagles staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special Teams – Lynn Stiles


Roster

1980 Philadelphia Eagles roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams (ST)

Reserve


Rookies in italics

[1]

Regular season

The 1980 season schedule was set based on how the Eagles finished the previous season: 2nd in NFC East. The way the schedule was laid out, 4 of the 5 teams in the same division could end up having 10 to 14 common opponents during the 1980 season. Also, when the last regular-season game was over, each team knew who its opponents would be the next year.

Schedule

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordLocationAttendance
1September 7, 1980 Denver Broncos W 27–61–0 Veterans Stadium 70,307
2September 14, 1980at Minnesota Vikings W 42–72–0 Metropolitan Stadium 46,460
3September 22, 1980 New York Giants W 35–33–0 Veterans Stadium 70,767
4September 28, 1980at St. Louis Cardinals L 24–143–1 Busch Memorial Stadium 49,079
5October 5, 1980 Washington Redskins W 24–144–1 Veterans Stadium 69,044
6October 12, 1980at New York Giants W 31–165–1 Giants Stadium 71,051
7October 19, 1980 Dallas Cowboys W 17–106–1 Veterans Stadium 70,696
8October 26, 1980 Chicago Bears W 17–147–1 Veterans Stadium 68,752
9November 2, 1980at Seattle Seahawks W 27–208–1 Kingdome 61,047
10November 9, 1980at New Orleans Saints W 34–219–1 Louisiana Superdome 44,340
11November 16, 1980at Washington Redskins W 24–010–1 RFK Stadium 51,897
12November 23, 1980 Oakland Raiders W 10–711–1 Veterans Stadium 68,535
13November 30, 1980at San Diego Chargers L 22–2111–2 Jack Murphy Stadium 51,567
14December 7, 1980 Atlanta Falcons L 20–1711–3 Veterans Stadium 70,205
15December 14, 1980 St. Louis Cardinals W 17–312–3 Veterans Stadium 68,969
16December 21, 1980at Dallas Cowboys L 35–2712–4 Texas Stadium 62,548

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

[2]

Week 1

1234Total
Broncos00606
Eagles7130727

Week 2

1234Total
Eagles140141442
Vikings07007

Week 3

1234Total
Giants30003
Eagles7147735

Week 4

1234Total
Eagles070714
Cardinals737724

Week 5

1234Total
Redskins700714
Eagles7143024
  • Date: October 5
  • Location: Veterans Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 69,044
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 61 °F (16 °C)
  • Referee: Pat Haggerty
  • TV announcers (CBS): Gary Bender and John Madden

Week 6

1234Total
Eagles03141431
Giants790016
  • Date: October 12
  • Location: Giants Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 71,051
  • Game weather: 57 °F (14 °C); wind 16 mph (26 km/h)
  • Referee: Gene Barth
  • TV announcers (CBS): Vin Scully and George Allen

Week 7

1234Total
Cowboys730010
Eagles0100717

Week 8

1234Total
Bears0014014
Eagles707317
  • Date: October 26
  • Location: Veterans Stadium
  • Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 68,752
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 46 °F (8 °C)
  • Referee: Red Cashion
  • TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier

Week 9

1234Total
Eagles07101027
Seahawks607720
  • Date: November 2
  • Location: Kingdome
  • Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 61,047
  • Game weather: Indoors (dome)
  • Referee: Jerry Markbreit
  • TV announcers (CBS): Gary Bender and John Madden

Week 10

1234Total
Eagles01771034
Saints777021

Week 11

1234Total
Eagles1437024
Redskins00000
  • Date: November 16
  • Location: RFK Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 51,897
  • Game weather: 45 °F (7 °C); wind 16 mph (26 km/h)
  • Referee: Jerry Seeman
  • TV announcers (CBS): Gary Bender and John Madden

Week 12

1234Total
Raiders00077
Eagles003710

Week 13

1234Total
Eagles0071421
Chargers9100322

Week 14

1234Total
Falcons377320
Eagles0140317
  • Date: December 7
  • Location: Veterans Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 70,205
  • Game weather: Light rain; 55 °F (13 °C)
  • Referee: Pat Haggerty

Week 15

1234Total
Cardinals00033
Eagles0071017
  • Date: December 14
  • Location: Veterans Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 68,969
  • Game weather: Sunny; 44 °F (7 °C)
  • Referee: Bob Frederic
  • TV announcers (CBS): Vin Scully and George Allen

Week 16

1234Total
Eagles00101727
Cowboys7147735

Standings

NFC East
WLTPCTDIVCONFPFPASTK
Philadelphia Eagles (2)1240.7506–29–3384222L1
Dallas Cowboys (4)1240.7506–29–3454311W1
Washington Redskins 6100.3754–45–7261293W3
St. Louis Cardinals 5110.3132–64–10299350L2
New York Giants 4120.2502–63–9249425L2

Playoffs

RoundDateOpponentResultRecordLocationAttendance
Divisional January 3, 1981 Minnesota Vikings W 31–161–0 Veterans Stadium 68,434
Conference Championship January 11, 1981 Dallas Cowboys W 20–72–0 Veterans Stadium 70,696
Super Bowl January 25, 1981 Oakland Raiders L 27–102–1 Louisiana Superdome 75,500

Divisional

1234Total
Vikings772016
Eagles07141031
  • Date: January 3
  • Location: Veterans Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 68,434
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 26 °F (−3 °C)
  • Referee: Jim Tunney

Conference Championship

NFC Championship: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
Quarter1234Total
Cowboys07007
Eagles7010320

at Veterans StadiumPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania

Game information
Veterans Stadium during the 1980 NFC Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys, January 11, 1981. VeteransStadium1981.jpg
Veterans Stadium during the 1980 NFC Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys, January 11, 1981.

Super Bowl

1234Total
Raiders14010327
Eagles030710

Awards and honors

References

  1. "1980 Philadelphia Eagles starters and roster". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  2. "1980 Philadelphia Eagles Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  3. "Bert Bell Award – Professional Player of the Year: Past Recipients". Maxwell Football Club. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2022.