1980 Denver Broncos season

1980 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Gerald Phipps
General manager	Fred Gehrke
Head coach	Red Miller
Home field	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	4th AFC West
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1980 Denver Broncos season was the team's 21st year in professional football and its 11th with the National Football League (NFL). It was Red Miller's final season as the team's head coach.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1980 NFL Draft

1980 Denver Broncos draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
2	42	Rulon Jones *	Defensive end	Utah State
3	74	Larry Carter	DB	Kentucky
4	107	Rick Parros	RB	Utah State
5	131	Mike Harden	DB	Michigan
5	136	Laval Short	DT	Colorado
6	157	Keith Bishop *	G	Baylor
7	184	John Havekost	G	Nebraska
8	197	Don Coleman	WR	Oregon
9	243	Greg Bracelin	LB	California
10	270	Virgil Seay	WR	Troy
11	297	Phil Farris	WR	North Carolina
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1980 Denver Broncos staff

Front office Chairman of the Board – Gerald Phipps President – Allan Phipps Vice President/General Manager – Fred Gehrke Director of Player Personnel – Carroll Hardy Director of Pro Personnel – John Beake Head coaches Head Coach – Red Miller Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Rod Dowhower Offensive Backs – Paul Roach Wide Receivers – Fran Polsfoot Offensive Line – Whitey Dovell

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Joe Collier Defensive Line – Stan Jones Linebackers – Bob Zeman Defensive Backs – Richie McCabe Special teams coaches Special Teams – Marv Braden

Roster

1980 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 Jeff Knapple 7 Craig Morton 17 Matt Robinson Running backs (RB) 24 Otis Armstrong 30 Jim Jensen 32 Jon Keyworth FB 41 Rob Lytle 34 Don Norman 46 Dave Preston Wide receivers (WR) 82 Larry Brunson 25 Haven Moses 80 Rick Upchurch 81 Steve Watson Tight ends (TE) 85 Ron Egloff 86 Emery Moorehead 88 Riley Odoms

Offensive linemen (OL) 54 Keith Bishop G 64 Billy Bryan C 73 Kelvin Clark T 62 Tom Glassic G 65 Glenn Hyde G 60 Paul Howard G 71 Claudie Minor T 70 Dave Studdard T Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Greg Boyd DE 79 Barney Chavous DE 68 Rubin Carter DT 75 Rulon Jones DE 72 Don Latimer DT 66 Brison Manor DE

Linebackers (LB) 52 Greg Bracelin 56 Larry Evans 53 Randy Gradishar 57 Tom Jackson 58 Rob Nairne 59 Joe Rizzo 50 Jim Ryan 51 Bob Swenson Defensive backs (DB) {{{defensive_back}}} Special teams 11 Luke Prestridge P 19 Fred Steinfort K

Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Attendance	Record
1	Sep 7	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 6–27	Veteran's Stadium	70,307	0–1
2	Sep 14	Dallas Cowboys	W 41–20	Mile High Stadium	74,919	1–1
3	Sep 21	San Diego Chargers	L 13–30	Mile High Stadium	74,970	1–2
4	Sep 29	at New England Patriots	L 14–23	Schaefer Stadium	60,153	1–3
5	Oct 5	at Cleveland Browns	W 19–16	Municipal Stadium	81,065	2–3
6	Oct 13	Washington Redskins	W 20–17	Mile High Stadium	74,657	3–3
7	Oct 19	Kansas City Chiefs	L 17–23	Mile High Stadium	74,459	3–4
8	Oct 26	at New York Giants	W 14–9	Giants Stadium	67,598	4–4
9	Nov 2	Houston Oilers	L 16–20	Mile High Stadium	74,717	4–5
10	Nov 9	at San Diego Chargers	W 20–13	San Diego Stadium	51,435	5–5
11	Nov 16	New York Jets	W 31–24	Mile High Stadium	72,114	6–5
12	Nov 23	Seattle Seahawks	W 36–20	Mile High Stadium	73,274	7–5
13	Dec 1	at Oakland Raiders	L 3–9	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	51,593	7–6
14	Dec 7	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 14–31	Arrowhead Stadium	40,237	7–7
15	Dec 14	Oakland Raiders	L 21–24	Mile High Stadium	73,974	7–8
16	Dec 21	at Seattle Seahawks	W 25–17	Kingdome	51,853	8–8

Game summaries

Week 10

1 2 3 4 Total • Broncos 0 7 6 7 20 Chargers 0 6 0 7 13 Date: November 9 Location: Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 61°F, wind 6 mph

Scoring summary 2 SD Rolf Benirschke 30 yard field goal Chargers 3–0 2 SD Rolf Benirschke 34 yard field goal Chargers 6–0 2 DEN Rob Lytle 3 yard run (Fred Steinfort kick) Broncos 7–6 3 DEN Fred Steinfort 28 yard field goal Broncos 10–6 3 DEN Fred Steinfort 42 yard field goal Broncos 13–6 4 DEN Dave Preston 4 yard run (Fred Steinfort kick) Broncos 20–6 4 SD John Jefferson 3 yard pass from Dan Fouts (Rolf Benirschke kick) Broncos 20–13

Standings

AFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
San Diego Chargers(1)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	9–3	418	327	W2
Oakland Raiders(4)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	9–3	364	306	W2
Kansas City Chiefs	8	8	0	.500	4–4	6–8	319	336	W1
Denver Broncos	8	8	0	.500	3–5	5–7	310	323	W1
Seattle Seahawks	4	12	0	.250	1–7	3–9	291	408	L9

External links

• 1980 Denver Broncos at Pro-Football-Reference.com