1979 San Diego Chargers roster and stats

1979 San Diego Chargers: 12-4-0
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Home record: 7-1-0 (214 points scored, 97 allowed) Road record: 5-3-0 (197 points scored, 149 allowed) Head Coach: Don Coryell 411 points scored (3rd of 28 teams), 246 points allowed (2nd) NFL Averages: 20.1 points/game (321.0 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 338 541 3,915 ( 1) 6.84 24 25 481 1,668 (27) 3.5 25 5,583 ( 5) 35 Defense: 261 472 2,549 ( 7) 4.96 11 28 475 1,907 ( 8) 4.0 19 4,456 ( 5) 46

Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 6 Rolf Benirschke K 4 6'0 171 24 3 California-Davis 8 Jeff West P 16 6'3 210 26 5 Cincinnati 9 Roy Gerela K 3 5'10 185 31 11 New Mexico State 10 Cliff Olander QB 4 6'5 187 24 3 New Mexico State 12 James Harris QB 8 6'3 221 32 10 Grambling 14 Dan Fouts QB 16 6'3 210 28 7 Oregon 16 Mike Wood K 9 5'11 199 25 2 Southeast Missouri State 18 Charlie Joiner WR 16 5'11 183 32 11 Grambling 22 Mike Thomas RB 14 5'11 190 26 5 Nevada-Las Vegas 26 Lydell Mitchell RB 12 5'11 198 30 8 Penn State 27 Glen Edwards DB 15 6'0 183 32 9 Florida A&M 28 Willie Buchanon DB 16 6'0 195 28 8 San Diego State 29 Mike Williams DB 16 5'10 179 25 5 Louisiana State 33 Don Woods RB 15 6'1 208 28 6 New Mexico 37 Hank Bauer RB 16 5'10 200 25 3 California Lutheran 40 Clarence Williams RB 16 5'9 195 24 3 South Carolina 41 Bo Matthews RB 16 6'4 222 27 6 Colorado 42 Mike Fuller DB 1 5'9 182 26 5 Auburn 44 Pete Shaw DB 16 5'10 178 25 3 Northwestern 45 Hal Stringert DB 15 5'11 187 27 5 Willamette 47 Frank Duncan DB 4 6'1 188 22 R San Francisco State 48 Jerome Dove DB 16 6'2 193 26 3 Colorado State 50 Don Goode LB 12 6'2 231 28 6 Kansas 51 Woodrow Lowe LB 16 6'0 227 25 4 Alabama 52 Ray Preston LB 16 6'0 218 25 4 Syracuse 53 Ralph Perretta C 16 6'2 251 26 5 Purdue 55 Bob Horn LB 16 6'3 230 25 4 Oregon State 56 Bob Rush C 16 6'5 264 24 2 Memphis 57 Linden King LB 16 6'4 230 24 2 Colorado State 59 Cliff Thrift LB 16 6'2 232 23 R East Central (OK) 60 Dan Audick OT 16 6'3 253 24 3 Hawaii 62 Don Macek C 10 6'3 253 25 4 Boston College 63 Doug Wilkerson OG 12 6'2 263 32 10 North Carolina Central 66 Billy Shields OT 16 6'7 275 26 5 Georgia Tech 67 Ed White OG 16 6'2 271 32 11 California 68 Leroy Jones DE 16 6'8 260 29 4 Norfolk State 69 John Lee DE 10 6'2 259 26 4 Nebraska 70 Russ Washington OT 16 6'6 288 32 12 Missouri 71 Fred Dean DE 13 6'3 230 27 5 Louisiana Tech 73 Charles DeJurnett DT 12 6'4 260 27 4 San Jose State 74 Louie Kelcher DT 1 6'5 282 26 5 Southern Methodist 79 Gary Johnson DT 16 6'2 252 27 5 Grambling 80 Kellen Winslow TE 7 6'5 252 21 R Missouri 83 John Jefferson WR 15 6'1 198 23 2 Arizona State 84 Bob Klein TE 15 6'5 237 32 11 Southern California 85 Artie Owens WR 16 5'10 182 26 4 West Virginia 86 John Floyd WR 8 6'1 195 23 R Northeast Louisiana 87 Larry Burton WR 12 6'1 195 27 5 Purdue 88 Greg McCrary TE 14 6'3 235 27 4 Clark Atlanta 99 Wilbur Young DT 16 6'6 290 30 9 William Penn

Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Dan Fouts 530 332 62.6 4,082 7.70 12.3 24 4.5 24 4.5 28 195 82.6 James Harris 9 5 55.6 38 4.22 7.6 0 0.0 1 11.1 2 15 26.4 Mike Thomas 1 1 100.0 18 18.00 18.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 118.8 Hank Bauer 0 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 13 0.0 Mike Fuller 0 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6

Receiving             Rec  Yards    Avg   TD
Charlie Joiner         72  1,008   14.0    4
John Jefferson         61  1,090   17.9   10
Clarence Williams      51    352    6.9    0
Bob Klein              37    424   11.5    5
Mike Thomas            32    388   12.1    0
Kellen Winslow         25    255   10.2    2
Lydell Mitchell        19    159    8.4    1
Artie Owens            15    176   11.7    1
John Floyd             10    152   15.2    1
Bo Matthews             7     40    5.7    0
Greg McCrary            5     32    6.4    0
Larry Burton            4     62   15.5    0

Rushing               Att  Yards    Avg   TD
Clarence Williams     200    752    3.8   12
Mike Thomas            91    353    3.9    1
Lydell Mitchell        63    211    3.3    0
Artie Owens            40    151    3.8    1
Bo Matthews            30    112    3.7    1
Dan Fouts              26     49    1.9    2
Hank Bauer             22     28    1.3    8
James Harris            6     26    4.3    0
Mike Fuller             1      0    0.0    0
Jeff West               1     -2   -2.0    0
Charlie Joiner          1    -12  -12.0    0

Kickoff Returns       Att  Yards    Avg   TD
Artie Owens            35    791   22.6    0
Mike Fuller             6    115   19.2    0
Hank Bauer              4     92   23.0    0
Clarence Williams       1     19   19.0    0
Lydell Mitchell         1     15   15.0    0
Cliff Thrift            1     11   11.0    0
Ralph Perretta          1      9    9.0    0
Bo Matthews             1      4    4.0    0
Don Woods               0     10      ?    0

Punt Returns          Att  Yards    Avg   FC   TD
Mike Fuller            46    448    9.7    7    0
Mike Williams           3     19    6.3    0    0
Pete Shaw               2     21   10.5    2    0
Don Goode               1      0    0.0    0    0

Punting Punts Yards Avg TB In20 Blk Ret Yards Net Jeff West 75 2,736 36.5 9 23 0 34 204 31.4 Kicking 0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Total PAT Pts Mike Wood 0/0 4/4 6/6 1/1 0/3 11/14 28/31 61 Rolf Benirschke 0/0 2/2 1/1 1/1 0/0 4/ 4 12/13 24 Roy Gerela 0/0 1/2 0/2 0/3 0/0 1/ 7 6/ 7 9 Cliff Olander 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/ 1 1/ 1 1 Defense Sacks Ints Yards TD Fred Dean 9.0 Charles DeJurnett 3.0 Glen Edwards 4 99 0 Mike Fuller 4 39 0 Don Goode 1 0 0 Bob Horn 2 44 0 Gary Johnson 6.0 Leroy Jones 7.5 John Lee 0.5 Woodrow Lowe 1.0 5 150 2 Ray Preston 5 121 0 Pete Shaw 3 54 0 Mike Williams 4 55 0 Wilbur Young 14.0

1979 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 13 TE Kellen Winslow 109 Missouri [pick acquired from CLE] 3 73 LB Cliff Thrift 97 East Central Oklahoma 4 104 WR John Floyd 27 N.E. Louisiana [pick acquired from HOU] 8 210 RB Wilbert Haslip 5 Hawaii 9 237 WR Alvin Garrett 55 Angelo State 10 265 DT Tony Petruccio Penn State [pick acquired from PHI] 10 269 DB Al Green LSU 11 295 QB Dave Rader Tulsa 12 321 DB Frank Duncan 26 San Francisco State

Traded draft picks: #1 to CLE (Willis Adams), #2 to CLE (Sam Claphan), #4 to LA (Derwin Tucker), #5 to DET via BAL (Walt Brown), #6 to PIT (Bill Murrell), #7 to GB (Rich Wingo)

Transactions:

04-26-1979	traded San Diego's #7 pick in the 1979 draft and #1 pick in the 1980 draft to Packers for Willie Buchanon
05-03-1979	traded San Diego's #1 and #2 picks in the 1979 draft to Browns for Cleveland's #1 pick in the 1979 draft
05-18-1979	traded San Diego's #5 pick in the 1980 draft to Redskins for Mike Thomas
05-31-1979	traded San Diego's #10 pick in the 1980 draft to Buccaneers for Charles White
08-10-1979	traded Rickey Anderson to Browns for Cleveland's #6 pick in the 1980 draft
08-21-1979	placed Jim Laslavic on injured reserve
08-21-1979	placed Milton Hardaway on injured reserve
08-21-1979	placed Pat Curran on injured reserve

Playoff Results:   Click on the date to view the game summary.

Date        Opponent                   Result
12/29/79    vs Houston Oilers          L 14-17

1979 Regular Season Game Log:   Click on the date to view the game summary.

Date        Opponent                   Result        Record
09/02/79    at Seattle Seahawks        W 33-16       1-0-0
09/09/79    vs Oakland Raiders         W 30-10       2-0-0
09/16/79    vs Buffalo Bills           W 27-19       3-0-0
09/23/79    at New England Patriots    L 21-27       3-1-0
09/30/79    vs San Francisco 49ers     W 31-9        4-1-0
10/07/79    at Denver Broncos          L 0-7         4-2-0
10/14/79    vs Seattle Seahawks        W 20-10       5-2-0
10/21/79    at Los Angeles Rams        W 40-16       6-2-0
10/25/79    at Oakland Raiders         L 22-45       6-3-0
11/04/79    at Kansas City Chiefs      W 20-14       7-3-0
11/11/79    at Cincinnati Bengals      W 26-24       8-3-0
11/18/79    vs Pittsburgh Steelers     W 35-7        9-3-0
11/25/79    vs Kansas City Chiefs      W 28-7        10-3-0
12/02/79    vs Atlanta Falcons         L 26-28       10-4-0
12/09/79    at New Orleans Saints      W 35-0        11-4-0
12/17/79    vs Denver Broncos          W 17-7        12-4-0

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