1981 New York Jets season

1981 season of NFL team New York Jets

1981 New York Jets season
Owner	Leon Hess
Head coach	Walt Michaels
Home stadium	Shea Stadium
Results
Record	10–5–1
Division place	2nd AFC East
Playoffs	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (vs. Bills) 27–31
Pro Bowlers	C Joe Fields T Marvin Powell DE Joe Klecko DE Mark Gastineau
← 1980 Jets seasons 1982 →

The Jets playing the Bills in the 1981 AFC wild card game.

Shea Stadium in 1981

The 1981 New York Jets season was the 22nd season for the franchise and its twelfth in the National Football League (NFL). It began with the team trying to improve upon its 4–12 record from 1980 under head coach Walt Michaels. The Jets sputtered early, starting 0–3 and (combined with the previous season's 4–12 finish) fueling a quarterback controversy and altercation between quarterback Richard Todd and sports writer Steve Serby and speculation about Michaels’ job. After the 0–3 start, however, the Jets would catch fire, and go on a 10–2–1 run. The team ultimately finished the season with a record of 10–5–1 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1969, breaking a twelve-season drought. In the playoffs, however, they fell to their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills, 31–27.

Offseason

Draft

1981 New York Jets draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	2	Freeman McNeil *	RB	UCLA
2	30	Marion Barber Jr.	RB	Minnesota
3	60	Ben Rudolph	DT	Long Beach State
4	86	Al Washington	LB	Ohio State
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Undrafted free agents

1981 undrafted free agents of note

Player	Position	College
Todd Benson	Linebacker	Maryland
Ted Blackwell	Running back	Rutgers
Kent Clausen	Linebacker	Montana
Gary England	Guard	Nebraska
Scott Fanz	Guard	Maryland
John Nitti	Running back	Yale
John Wojtowicz	Guard	Penn State

Personnel

Staff

1981 New York Jets staff

Front office Leon Hess – Owner Jim Kensil – President/CEO Mike Hickey – Director of player personnel Jim Royer – Director of pro personnel Carroll Huntress – Scout Connie Carberg – Personnel assistant Head coaches Walt Michaels – Head coach Offensive coaches Joe Walton – Offensive coordinator Bob Ledbetter – Running backs Bob Fry – Offensive line Pete McCulley – Receivers

Defensive coaches Joe Gardi – Defensive coordinator

Roster

1981 New York Jets roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Pat Ryan 14 Richard Todd Running backs (RB) 25 Scott Dierking 42 Bruce Harper 33 Kevin Long 24 Freeman McNeil 44 Tom Newton Wide receivers (WR) 81 Derrick Gaffney 89 Bobby Jones 80 Lam Jones 87 Kurt Sohn 85 Wesley Walker Tight ends (TE) 83 Jerome Barkum 82 Mickey Shuler 86 Steve Stephens

Offensive linemen (OL) 60 Dan Alexander G 64 Guy Bingham C/G 65 Joe Fields C 79 Marvin Powell T 66 Randy Rasmussen G 61 John Roman T 70 Stan Waldemore G/C 72 Chris Ward T Defensive linemen (DL) 99 Mark Gastineau DE 73 Joe Klecko DE 93 Marty Lyons DT 77 Kenny Neil DE 76 Ben Rudolph DT 74 Abdul Salaam DT

Linebackers (LB) 54 Stan Blinka MLB 51 Greg Buttle OLB 55 Ron Crosby OLB 56 Lance Mehl OLB 52 Al Washington OLB 58 Marty Wetzel OLB 57 John Woodring MLB Defensive backs (DB) 26 Donald Dykes CB 47 Jerry Holmes CB 27 Jesse Johnson CB/S 29 Johnny Lynn CB/S 28 Darrol Ray FS 48 Ken Schroy SS 45 Kirk Springs CB/S Special teams (ST)  5 Pat Leahy K 15 Chuck Ramsey P

Reserve 35 Mike Augustyniak RB (IR) 31 Marion Barber RB (IR) 59 Kent Clausen LB (IR) 40 Bobby Jackson CB (IR) 20 Kenny Lewis RB (IR) 53 Mike McKibben LB (IR) 34 John Nitti RB (IR) 62 Joe Pellegrini C (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 6	at Buffalo Bills	L 0–31	0–1	Rich Stadium	79,754
2	September 13	Cincinnati Bengals	L 30–31	0–2	Shea Stadium	49,454
3	September 20	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 10–38	0–3	Three Rivers Stadium	52,973
4	September 27	Houston Oilers	W 33–17	1–3	Shea Stadium	50,309
5	October 4	at Miami Dolphins	T 28–28	1–3–1	Miami Orange Bowl	68,723
6	October 11	New England Patriots	W 28–24	2–3–1	Shea Stadium	55,093
7	October 18	Buffalo Bills	W 33–14	3–3–1	Shea Stadium	54,607
8	October 25	Seattle Seahawks	L 3–19	3–4–1	Shea Stadium	49,678
9	November 1	at New York Giants	W 26–7	4–4–1	Giants Stadium	74,740
10	November 8	at Baltimore Colts	W 41–14	5–4–1	Memorial Stadium	31,521
11	November 15	at New England Patriots	W 17–6	6–4–1	Schaefer Stadium	45,342
12	November 22	Miami Dolphins	W 16–15	7–4–1	Shea Stadium	59,962
13	November 29	Baltimore Colts	W 25–0	8–4–1	Shea Stadium	53,593
14	December 6	at Seattle Seahawks	L 23–27	8–5–1	Kingdome	53,105
15	December 12	at Cleveland Browns	W 14–13	9–5–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	56,866
16	December 20	Green Bay Packers	W 28–3	10–5–1	Shea Stadium	56,340
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 15 at Browns

Week Fifteen: New York Jets (8–5–1) at Cleveland Browns (5–9)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Jets	0	14	0	0	14
Browns	0	3	7	3	13

at Municipal Stadium • Cleveland, Ohio

• Date: December 12
• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EDT
• Game weather: 32 °F (0 °C) • Wind 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn)
• Game attendance: 56,866
• Referee: Jerry Seeman
• TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information
Jets Richard Todd 15/28, 159 Yds, 2 TD, 2 INT Scott Dierking 13 Rush, 76 Yds Johnny Lam Jones 5 Rec, 83 Yds, TD Browns Brian Sipe 20/35, 280 Yds, TD Mike Pruitt 15 Rush, 41 Yds Ozzie Newsome 5 Rec, 79 Yds

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP NYJ CLE 2 Jets Johnny Lam Jones 28-yard touchdown reception from Richard Todd, Pat Leahy kick good 7 0 2 Browns 26-yard field goal by Matt Bahr 7 3 2 Jets Bruce Harper 7-yard touchdown reception from Richard Todd, Pat Leahy kick good 14 3 3 Browns Calvin Hill 8-yard touchdown reception from Brian Sipe, Matt Bahr kick good 14 10 4 Browns 20-yard field goal by Matt Bahr 14 13 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 14 13

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
Wildcard	December 27	Buffalo Bills (5)	L 27–31	0–1	Shea Stadium	57,050

TV Announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones, Len Dawson

AFC: Buffalo Bills 31, New York Jets 27

Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Bills	17	7	0	7	31
Jets	0	10	3	14	27

at Shea Stadium, Flushing, Queens, New York

• Game time: 12:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 35 °F (2 °C), drizzle
• Game attendance: 57,050
• Referee: Bob McElwee
• TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones (play-by-play) and Len Dawson (color commentator)

Game information

Scoring BUF – Romes 26 fumble return (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 7–0 BUF – Lewis 50 pass from Ferguson (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 14–0 BUF – field goal Mike-Mayer 29 BUF 17–0 BUF – Lewis 26 pass from Ferguson (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 24–0 NYJ – Shuler 30 pass from Todd (Leahy kick) BUF 24–7 NYJ – field goal Leahy 26 BUF 24–10 NYJ – field goal Leahy 19 BUF 24–13 BUF – Cribbs 45 run (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 31–13 NYJ – Jones 30 pass from Todd (Leahy kick) BUF 31–20 NYJ – Long 1 run (Leahy kick) BUF 31–27

Standings

AFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Miami Dolphins(2)	11	4	1	.719	5–2–1	8–3–1	345	275	W4
New York Jets(4)	10	5	1	.656	6–1–1	8–5–1	355	287	W2
Buffalo Bills(5)	10	6	0	.625	6–2	9–3	311	276	L1
Baltimore Colts	2	14	0	.125	2–6	2–10	259	533	W1
New England Patriots	2	14	0	.125	0–8	2–10	322	370	L9

References

External links

• 1981 statistics

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