1981 New York Jets season

1981 New York Jets season
1981 New York Jets season
Owner	Leon Hess
Head coach	Walt Michaels
Home field	Shea Stadium
Results
Record	10–5–1
Division place	2nd AFC East
Playoff finish	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.

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

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1981 New York Jets draft
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) 18 Kyle Grossart 10 Pat Ryan 14 Richard Todd Running backs (RB) 25 Scott Dierking 42 Bruce Harper 20 Kenny Lewis 33 Kevin Long FB 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 65 Joe Fields C 79 Marvin Powell T 66 Randy Rasmussen G 61 John Roman G 70 Stan Waldemore G 72 Chris Ward T Defensive linemen (DL) 94 Ralph DeLoach DE 99 Mark Gastineau DE 73 Joe Klecko DT 93 Marty Lyons DE 77 Kenny Neil DE 76 Ben Rudolph DT 74 Abdul Salaam DT		Linebackers (LB) 54 Stan Blinka 51 Greg Buttle 55 Ron Crosby 56 Lance Mehl 52 Al Washington 57 John Woodring Defensive backs (DB) 26 Donald Dykes CB 45 Jerry Holmes CB 40 Bobby Jackson CB 27 Jesse Johnson CB 29 Johnny Lynn CB 28 Darrol Ray FS 48 Ken Schroy 45 Kirk Springs Special teams 5 Pat Leahy K 15 Chuck Ramsey P		Reserve 35 Mike Augustyniak FB (IR) 31 Marion Barber Jr. RB (IR) 45 Dwayne Crutchfield FB (IR) 59 Kent Clausen LB (IR) 53 Mike McKibben LB (IR) 34 John Nitti RB (IR) 62 Joe Pellegrini C (IR) 58 Marty Wetzel LB (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
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	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)