1979 New York Giants season

The 1979 New York Giants season was the franchise's 55th season in the National Football League (NFL). The Giants had a 6–10 record in 1979 and finished in fourth place in the National Football Conference East Division.^[1]

1979 New York Giants season
Owner	Timothy J. Mara Wellington Mara
General manager	George Young
Head coach	Ray Perkins
Home field	Giants Stadium
Results
Record	6–10
Division place	4th NFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	Brad Van Pelt Harry Carson Dave Jennings
← 1978 Giants seasons 1980 →

The Giants were one of three franchises, not including the Seattle Seahawks (an expansion team that began play in 1976), which did not make the playoffs during any year of the 1970s. The others were the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints.^[2]

Offseason

Before the 1979 NFL Draft, Bill Walsh, who was the new coach of the San Francisco 49ers, flew to Morehead State University with assistant coach Sam Wyche to work out quarterback Phil Simms.^[3] Walsh was so impressed with him that he planned to draft Simms, actually preferring him over another young quarterback they scouted and ultimately drafted, Joe Montana.^[4] The Giants, however, decided to make Simms their first-round pick to the surprise of many.^[5] As Simms acknowledged, "most people have never heard of me."^[5] When Simms' name was announced by Commissioner Pete Rozelle, his selection was booed loudly by Giants fans.^[6] However, he became more popular with his teammates, who jokingly dubbed him "Prince Valiant" in his rookie training camp.^[7]

Draft

See also: 1979 NFL draft

1979 New York Giants draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	7	Phil Simms *	QB	Morehead State
2	36	Earnest Gray	WR	Memphis
4	90	Phillip Tabor	DE	Oklahoma
5	117	Cleveland Jackson	TE	UNLV
6	145	Bob Torrey	RB	Penn State
6	158	Eddie Hicks	RB	East Carolina
7	172	Steve Alvers	TE	Miami (FL)
8	200	D.K. Perry	DB	SMU
8	201	Roy Simmons	OG	Georgia Tech
9	227	Tom Rusk	LB	Iowa
10	256	Dan Fowler	OG	Kentucky
11	282	Mike Mince	DB	Fresno State
11	284	Ken Johnson	RB	Miami (FL)
12	310	Tim Gillespie	OG	NC State
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[8]

Personnel

Staff

1979 New York Giants staff

Front office President – Wellington Mara General manager – George Young Director of Pro Personnel – Jim Trimble Head coaches Head coach – Ray Perkins Offensive coaches Offensive Backfield – Bob Lord Receivers – Pat Hodgson Offensive Line – Bill Austin Offensive Assistant – Ernie Adams

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Ralph Hawkins Defensive Line – Jim Stanley Linebackers – Ralph Hawkins Defensive Backfield – Deek Pollard Special teams coaches Special Teams – Bill Belichick

Roster

1979 New York Giants roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 15 Randy Dean 17 David Rader 11 Phil Simms Running backs (RB) 34 Zachary Dixon 29 Eddie Hicks 44 Doug Kotar 38 Billy Taylor Wide receivers (WR) 83 Earnest Gray 84 Steve Odom 86 Johnny Perkins 85 Jimmy Robinson 88 Dwight Scales Tight ends (TE) 89 Loaird McCreary 80 Emery Moorehead 87 Gary Shirk

Offensive linemen (OL) 60 Brad Benson T 56 Jim Clack C 78 Gus Coppens T 58 Keith Eck C 72 Gordon King G 74 Tom Neville T 69 Roy Simmons G 68 J. T. Turner G 63 Doug Van Horn G Defensive linemen (DL) 70 Gary Jeter DE 75 George Martin DE 64 John Mendenhall DT 76 Calvin Miller DT 80 Phil Tabor DE 73 Jeff Weston DT

Linebackers (LB) 53 Harry Carson 59 Randy Coffield 55 Brian Kelley 51 Frank Marion 57 John Skorupan 10 Brad Van Pelt Defensive backs (DB) 45 Alan Caldwell CB 24 Terry Jackson CB 23 Odis McKinney SS 25 Ray Oldham FS 28 Beasley Reece SS 22 Ray Rhodes CB Special teams 18 Joe Danelo K 13 Dave Jennings P

Reserve —- Steve Alvers TE (IR) 81 Cleveland Jackson TE (IR) 48 Kenny Johnson RB (IR) 31 Ernie Jones FS (IR) 54 Dan Lloyd LB (IR) 79 Mike McCoy DT (IR) 9 Joe Pisarcik QB (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Simms won his first four starts in his rookie year.^[9] He led the team to a 6–4 record as a starter, throwing for 1,743 yards and 13 touchdown passes, and was named to the NFL All Rookie Team.^[10] According to his 1981 Topps trading card, he was runner-up in 1979 for Rookie of the Year, losing out to future teammate Ottis Anderson.^[11]

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 2	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 17–23	0–1	67,366
2	September 9	St. Louis Cardinals	L 14–27	0–2	71,370
3	September 17	at Washington Redskins	L 0–27	0–3	54,672
4	September 23	Philadelphia Eagles	L 13–17	0–4	74,265
5	September 30	at New Orleans Saints	L 14–24	0–5	51,543
6	October 7	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 17–14	1–5	72,841
7	October 14	San Francisco 49ers	W 32–16	2–5	70,352
8	October 21	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 21–17	3–5	44,362
9	October 28	at Los Angeles Rams	W 20–14	4–5	43,376
10	November 4	Dallas Cowboys	L 14–16	4–6	76,490
11	November 11	Atlanta Falcons	W 24–3	5–6	60,860
12	November 18	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 3–31	5–7	70,261
13	November 25	Washington Redskins	W 14–6	6–7	72,641
14	December 2	at Dallas Cowboys	L 7–28	6–8	63,787
15	December 9	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 20–29	6–9	39,802
16	December 16	Baltimore Colts	L 7–31	6–10	58,711

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total Buccaneers 0 7 0 7 14 • Giants 0 14 0 3 17 Date: October 7 Location: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 60 °F or 15.6 °C, wind 16 miles per hour (26 km/h; 14 kn) TV announcers (CBS): Curt Gowdy and Hank Stram

Scoring summary 2 NYG Billy Taylor 2 yard run (Joe Danelo kick) Giants 7–0 2 NYG Billy Taylor 1 yard run (Joe Danelo kick) Giants 14–0 2 TB Larry Mucker 14 yard pass from Doug Williams (Neil O'Donoghue kick) Giants 14–7 4 NYG Joe Danelo 47 yard field goal Giants 17–7 4 TB Jimmie Giles 11 yard pass from Doug Williams (Neil O'Donoghue kick) Giants 17–14

^[12]

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys(1)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	10–2	371	313	W3
Philadelphia Eagles(4)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	9–3	339	282	W1
Washington Redskins	10	6	0	.625	5–3	8–4	348	295	L1
New York Giants	6	10	0	.375	1–7	5–9	237	323	L3
St. Louis Cardinals	5	11	0	.313	2–6	4–8	307	358	L1

See also

• 1979 NFL season

References

1. "1979 New York Giants". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on July 8, 2009. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
2. 2000 National Football League Record & Fact Book. New York City: Workman Publishing Company. 2000. pp. 293–295. ISBN 0-7611-1982-5.
3. Simms, Phil and Meier, Rick. Phil Simms On Passing. New York City: William Morrow and Company, 1998. pp. 74–75. ISBN 0-688-16108-1.
4. King, Peter (August 27, 2001). "The Rating Game: NFL Quarterback". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
5. Katz, Michael (May 5, 1979). "Giants Defend 'Value' in Choice of Simms". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
6. Mooney, Roger. "No team takes Phil Simms first in today's NFL", The Bradenton Herald, April 22, 2007, p. 1D.
7. Katz, Michael (May 11, 1979). "Giants Test Simms in A Workout". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
8. "1979 New York Giants Draft". The Football Database. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
9. Smith, Michael David (November 17, 2020). "Tua Tagovailoa aims to be first rookie QB since Ben Roethlisberger to win first 4 starts". NBC Sports. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
10. Neft, David S., Cohen, Richard M., and Korch, Rick. The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the Present. New York City: St. Martin's Press, 1994. p. 660. ISBN 0-312-11435-4.
11. Topps Football (1981). Card #55.
12. "Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14 at New York Giants 17". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved October 18, 2013.