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AFC teams: West, Central, East

Cowboys

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NFC teams: West, Central, East

The1980 NFL season was the 61stregular season of theNational Football League.

Prior to the season in March 1980, fellow NFL owners voted against the proposed move by theRaiders fromOakland, California toLos Angeles. Raiders team ownerAl Davis along with theLos Angeles Coliseum sued the NFL charging that they had violated antitrust laws. A verdict in the trial would not be decided until before the1982 NFL season and thus the1980 and1981 Raiders would continue to play in Oakland while awaiting a judgement.

Meanwhile, the season ended atSuper Bowl XV played on January 25, 1981, inNew Orleans, Louisiana, with these same Oakland Raiders defeatingthe Philadelphia Eagles 27–10, making them the first Wild Card team ever to win the Super Bowl.^[1]

In 1979, Raiders owner Al Davisannounced his intention to move the Raiders to Los Angeles. Negotiations between Davis and theOakland Coliseum regarding potential improvements to the facility came to an end in February 1980. At the NFL's annual meeting on March 10, 1980, team owners voted 22–0 against allowing the move, with the Raiders not participating and five teams abstaining. Davis announced he would ignore the vote and move the team anyway.^[2]

The Raiders played the entire 1980 season in Oakland. At aMonday Night Football game against the Denver Broncos on December 1, 1980, Raider fans protested by entering the Oakland Coliseum five minutes after the start of the game and holding up signs stating "Save Our Raiders" at each half's 2-minute warning. By some estimates, "almost two-thirds" of the Coliseum's seats had been empty at the game's kickoff.^[2]

The announced move was involved in four lawsuits: the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission sued the NFL charging antitrust violations, the NFL sued the Raiders charging breach of contract, Raider season ticket holders filed a class-action lawsuit, and the City of Oakland filed for eminent domain of the team.^[2]

In May 1982, a jury ruled that the NFL had violated antitrust law by attempting to prevent the move, clearing the way for Davis to move the Raiders for the 1982 season. In April 1983, after the team's first season in Los Angeles, a separate jury awarded the Raiders $35 million in damages.^[2]

The1980 NFL draft was held from April 29 to 30, 1980 atNew York City'sSheraton Hotel. With the first pick, theDetroit Lions selected running backBilly Sims from theUniversity of Oklahoma.

The league added a 15th officiating crew, promotingBob McElwee to referee. The league previously had 15 crews in 1976 (when the league expanded to 28 teams) and 1977. After refereeBernie Ulman retired after the 1977 season, the league used only 14 crews for the 1978 and 1979 seasons, requiring all 14 of them to be on hand for the weekly workload of 14 games.

• A ten-second runoff will be implemented when a team commits the following actions to conserve time within the last minute of either half or overtime (with the half/game/regulation ending automatically if 10 or less seconds remain on the game clock; this was changed to after thetwo-minute warning in the2017 NFL season):
  • Fouls by either team that prevents the snap (e.g. false start, encroachment, etc.)
  • Intentional grounding
  • Illegal forward pass thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage
  • Throwing a backward pass out of bounds
  • Spiking or throwing the ball in the field of play after a down has ended, except after a touchdown
  • Any other intentional foul that causes the clock to stop.
  • Any excess time-out taken for injuries by either team.

Teams can take a time-out (if available) to prevent the runoff.^[3]

• Players are prohibited from striking, swinging, or clubbing to the head, face, or neck. The personal foul could be called whether or not the initial contact was made below the neck.
• A "Guidelines for Captains" section was added to the rules.

• September 15 -Jim Tyrer age 41. Offensive tackle for theKansas City Chiefs andWashington Redskins. Starting tackle for the Chiefs inSuper Bowl I andSuper Bowl IV

• The New Orleans Saints lost their first 14 games to start the season that matched a record set by the1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

From 1978 to 1989, ten teams qualified for the playoffs: the winners of each of the divisions, and two wild-card teams in each conference. These are the leaders for each playoff slot, week by week. Teams listed in week 16 indicate playoff participants.

Highlights of the 1980 season included:

• Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 27, featuring Chicago atDetroit and Seattle atDallas. Chicago would prevail in overtime, while Dallas emerged victorious in a 51–7 rout.

• Cleveland finished ahead of Houston in the AFC Central based on better conference record (8–4 to Oilers' 7–5).
• San Diego finished ahead of Oakland in the AFC West based on better net points in division games (plus 60 net points to Raiders' plus 37).
• San Diego was the top AFC playoff seed based on better conference record than Cleveland and Buffalo (9–3 to Browns' 8–4 and Bills' 8–4).
• Cleveland was the second AFC playoff seed based on better record against common opponents (5–2 to Bills' 5–3).
• Oakland was the first AFC Wild Card based on better conference record than Houston (9–3 to Oilers' 7–5).
• Kansas City finished ahead of Denver in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Philadelphia finished ahead of Dallas in the NFC East based on better net points in division games (plus 84 net points to Cowboys' plus 50).
• Atlanta was the top NFC playoff seed based on head-to-head victory over Philadelphia (1–0).
• Minnesota finished ahead of Detroit in the NFC Central based on better conference record (8–4 to Lions' 9–5).
• Tampa Bay finished ahead of Green Bay in the NFC Central based on better head-to-head record (1–0–1 to Packers' 0–1–1).

Note: The San Diego Chargers (the AFC 1 seed) did not play the Oakland Raiders (the 4 seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.

• Baltimore Colts:Mike McCormack replaced the firedTed Marchibroda.
• Cincinnati Bengals:Forrest Gregg replacedHomer Rice.
• St. Louis Cardinals:Jim Hanifan became the Cardinals' new head coach.Bud Wilkinson was fired after the team started the 1979 season at 3–10, and the team's personnel directorLarry Wilson served as interim for the last three games.

• New Orleans Saints:Dick Nolan was fired after a 0–12 start, with the 12th loss coming onMonday Night Football vs. the division rivalLos Angeles Rams. Offensive line coachDick Stanfel took over as interim.

TheLos Angeles Rams moved fromLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum toAnaheim Stadium

• TheCincinnati Bengals switched from gray to black face masks. The Bengals also added TV numbers to the sleeves of their jerseys, becoming the last NFL team to do so.
• TheDenver Broncos discontinued wearing orange pants with their white jerseys.
• TheHouston Oilers dropped the blue pants worn with their white jerseys for this season only.
• TheGreen Bay Packers switched from gray to forest green face masks.
• TheMiami Dolphins switched from gray to aqua face masks.
• TheMinnesota Vikings switched from gray to white face masks.
• TheNew York Giants went to a simpler three-stripe pattern on the sleeve cuffs and jersey collar, while also removing the white stripes on their helmets, leaving the red stripe in the center as the only stripe on the helmet. They also changed the shade of blue on their jerseys from navy to the more familiar royal blue.
• TheSeattle Seahawks switched to white shoes.

This was the third year under the league's four-year broadcast contracts withABC,CBS, andNBC to televiseMonday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively.Phyllis George returned toThe NFL Today, replacingJayne Kennedy (who had previously replaced George in 1978).^[4]

NBC made history with anannouncerless telecast of the December 20, nationally televised Saturday game between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins. With both teams out of playoff contention during the last week of the regular season, NBC executiveDon Ohlmeyer used this as a one-shot experiment in an attempt to boost ratings.^[5]

Late in the 4th Quarter of a Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins on December 8, ABC Monday Night Football announcers Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell broke the news of the passing of former Beatle, John Lennon, who was shot twice outside of his Manhattan apartment.

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1971–1980 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

• NFL seasons
• 1980 in American football
• 1980 NFL season

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013