1977 Philadelphia Eagles season

1977 Philadelphia Eagles season
OwnerLeonard Tose
General managerJim Murray
Head coachDick Vermeil
Home fieldVeterans Stadium
Results
Record5–9
Division place4th NFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersLB Bill Bergey
Eagles wide receiver Harold Carmichael scoring a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints in 1977

The 1977 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's 45th season in the National Football League (NFL). The team improved upon their previous output of 4–10, winning five games.[1] Despite the improvement, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventeenth consecutive season.

Offseason

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NFL Draft

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Player selections

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The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler[note 1] = Hall of Famer
Round Pick Player Position School
1 8 Pick Traded to Cincinnati Bengals
2 35 Pick Traded to Oakland Raiders
3 62 Pick Traded to Dallas Cowboys
4 92 Pick Traded to Kansas City Chiefs
5 119 Skip Sharp Defensive back Kansas
6 145 Kevin Russell Defensive back Tennessee State
6 154 Wilbert Montgomery Running back Abilene Christian
6 158 Mark Mitchell Defensive back Tulane
7 175 Charlie Johnson Defensive tackle Colorado
8 202 Cleveland Franklin Running back Baylor
9 229 T.J. Humphreys Guard Arkansas State
10 259 John Mastronardo Wide receiver Villanova
11 283 Rocco Moore Tackle Western Michigan
11 286 Mike Cordova Quarterback Stanford
12 313 Pick Traded to New York Jets

Roster

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1977 Philadelphia Eagles roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Reserve


Rookies in italics

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 18 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 13–3 1–0 Veterans Stadium 63,132
2 September 25 at Los Angeles Rams L 0–20 1–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 46,031
3 October 2 at Detroit Lions L 13–17 1–2 Pontiac Silverdome 57,236
4 October 9 at New York Giants W 28–10 2–2 Giants Stadium 48,824
5 October 16 St. Louis Cardinals L 17–21 2–3 Veterans Stadium 60,535
6 October 23 Dallas Cowboys L 10–16 2–4 Veterans Stadium 65,507
7 October 30 at Washington Redskins L 17–23 2–5 RFK Stadium 55,031
8 November 6 New Orleans Saints W 28–7 3–5 Veterans Stadium 53,482
9 November 13 Washington Redskins L 14–17 3–6 Veterans Stadium 60,702
10 November 20 at St. Louis Cardinals L 16–21 3–7 Busch Memorial Stadium 48,768
11 November 27 at New England Patriots L 6–14 3–8 Schaefer Stadium 57,893
12 December 4 at Dallas Cowboys L 14–24 3–9 Texas Stadium 60,289
13 December 11 New York Giants W 17–14 4–9 Veterans Stadium 47,731
14 December 18 New York Jets W 27–0 5–9 Veterans Stadium 19,241
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

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NFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Dallas Cowboys(1) 12 2 0 .857 7–1 11–1 345 212 W4
Washington Redskins 9 5 0 .643 4–4 8–4 196 189 W3
St. Louis Cardinals 7 7 0 .500 4–4 7–5 272 287 L4
Philadelphia Eagles 5 9 0 .357 2–6 4–8 220 207 W2
New York Giants 5 9 0 .357 3–5 5–7 181 265 L2

Regular season

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Week 1: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Quarterback Ron Jaworski threw two touchdown passes and the defense allowed just 152 yards as the Eagles got their first opening-day victory in 10 years. Jaworski, playing for the Eagles for the first time since being traded from the Los Angeles Rams for tight end Charle Young, floated a seven-yard touchdown pass in the first period to running back Tom Sullivan. After Bucs kicker Dave Green kicked a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter to reduce the Eagles' lead to 7–3, Jaworski hit Keith Krepfle with a 17-yard score. The last time the Eagles had won their season opener was 1967 when they beat the Washington Redskins. It was the 15th straight loss for the Buccaneers, who entered the league in 1976 and had yet to win a game. The Eagles' defense, led by defensive end Art Thomas who had recently been obtained from Oakland, and linebacker Bill Bergey, gave up 82 yards on the ground and 70 in the air.

Week 4: at New York Giants

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Ron Jaworski hit tight end Keith Krepfle for a 55-yard touchdown pass and Charlie Smith with a 28-yarder, and Herb Lusk ran for touchdowns of 1 and 70 yards in a steady rain as Philadelphia evened their season record at 2–2 with an impressive road victory over the New York Giants. Giants QB Joe Pisarcik, who would later join the Eagles in 1980, threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Robinson for New York's only TD of the day.

Week 8: vs. New Orleans Saints

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  • at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Television: CBS
  • Announcers: Don Criqui and Johnny Unitas

Ron Jaworski had a great day, running for two touchdowns and passing for two more, as the Eagles won their third game of the season. In the first half, after Jaworski ran for his first touchdown on a 13-play 68-yard drive, he drove the Eagles on a 6-play 35-yard drive that ended with a 11-yard touchdown pass from Jaworski to Harold Carmichael. In the second half, Eagles' safety John Sanders returned an intercepted pass 26 yards to the Eagles' 7-yard line, where 3 plays later Jaworski passed to Carmichael for another score. The Saints finally got on the scoreboard with an 8-play 62-yard drive that ended with a Bobby Douglass 9-yard touchdown pass to Henry Childs. But the Eagles answered to finish off the Saints with a 10-play 57-yard drive that ended with Jaworski's 2-yard touchdown run to cap a great day for the Eagles, with the final score 28–7.

Notes

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  1. ^ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.

References

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