The 1980 Seattle Seahawks season was the team's fifth season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). The 1980 season was a strange season for the Seattle Seahawks. The team started off 4–3, then lost the remaining nine games of the season. They accumulated four road wins, but lost all eight regular season home games. The offense struggled, especially after losing

Sherman Smith Sherman Smith (born November 1, 1954) is a former professional American football running back who played eight seasons for the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers between 1976 and 1983. He was also the running backs coach for the Seahawks ...

to a knee injury for the season. With the running game struggling, the team gave up 52 sacks, up from 23 in 1979. The offense went from 7th to 21st. Even though the defense improved from 27th to 13th, the Seahawks still gave up 405 points. Memorable moments included a 26–7 road win against the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

, intercepting Kenny Stabler five times; a 17–16 road win against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

(their last at Arrowhead Stadium until

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

); and a 14–0 road win against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, with the offense rushing for over 220 yards. More indicative of the season were the home losses: a week 1 34–13 rout at home inflicted by the San Diego Chargers, a 37–31 loss to the New England Patriots, featuring several lead changes, as the Seattle defense could not hold on; losing to the Kansas City Chiefs 31–30, after going into the 4th quarter with a 23–10 lead, and the Chiefs intercepting Jim Zorn a season-high five times, leading to 17 Kansas City points. The low point of the season was a 27–21 loss to a struggling New York Giants team, one which finished 4–12 (although one was over the Cowboys). On

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, November 27, the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

defeated the Seahawks 51–7, in Dallas, but many people believe the Giants loss was worse. The successes of the 1978 and 1979 seasons were long forgotten by the season's end.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

Staff

Final roster

* Starters in bold.

Schedule

Preseason

:Source: Seahawks Media Guides

Regular season

Divisional matchups have the AFC West playing the NFC East. :Bold indicates division opponents. :Source: 1980 NFL season results1980 NFL season results
NFL.com, accessed February 14, 2015.

Standings

Game summaries

Preseason

Week P1: vs. Atlanta Falcons

Week P2: vs. Miami Dolphins

Week P3: at San Francisco 49ers

Week P4: vs. New England Patriots

Regular season

Week 1: vs. San Diego Chargers

Week 2: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 3: vs. New England Patriots

Week 4: at Washington Redskins

Week 5: at Houston Oilers

Week 6: vs. Cleveland Browns

Week 7: at New York Jets

Week 8: at Oakland Raiders

Week 9: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Week 10: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 11: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 12: at Denver Broncos

Week 13: at Dallas Cowboys

Week 14: vs. New York Giants

Week 15: at San Diego Chargers

Week 16: vs. Denver Broncos

References

External links

Seahawks draft history at NFL.com

1980 NFL season results at NFL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1980 Seattle Seahawks Season

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Seattle Seahawks seasons