1992 New York Jets season

1992 New York Jets season
Owner	Leon Hess
Head coach	Bruce Coslet
Home field	The Meadowlands
Results
Record	4–12
Division place	4th AFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None

The 1992 New York Jets season was the 33rd season for the team and the 23rd in the National Football League. The Jets were looking to improve on their 8–8 record under head coach Bruce Coslet in 1991 and also make a second consecutive trip to the postseason.

Background

The Jets' problems began in the offseason when veteran quarterback Ken O'Brien announced he was holding out of training camp to get a new contract. O'Brien’s holdout continued into the season and Coslet named second-year backup Browning Nagle as the team's starter. Nagle did not have an effective year, only winning three of his thirteen starts. He was eventually replaced by O'Brien late in the year, but was pressed back into action after the veteran suffered a season-ending injury. The Jets didn't win a game until Week 5 against the New England Patriots and only won three more times the rest of the year to finish with a 4–12 record. Two of those wins came against division rivals, the eventual AFC Champion Buffalo Bills and the AFC East winner and conference runner up Miami Dolphins.

In addition to O'Brien’s injury, the Jets saw three of their starters lost to catastrophic injuries. In Week 2 defensive end Jeff Lageman, who had been a defensive star for the Jets during their 1991 playoff push, went down with a season-ending injury. Then, in a Week 10 loss to the Denver Broncos, star receiver Al Toon suffered a concussion. It was his ninth in eight seasons as a professional, and on the morning following the game Toon announced his immediate retirement due to the accumulation of concussions during his career.

Dennis Byrd

Finally, in a Week 13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at home, another major injury befell the Jets. During a Chiefs offensive series, Byrd advanced on quarterback Dave Krieg and was attempting to sack him. As he was doing this, his teammate Scott Mersereau was approaching from the other side of the formation. Byrd reached Krieg first and was able to strip the ball from him, forcing a fumble. A second later, Byrd collided with Mersereau, whom he did not see approaching, hitting him in the chest with the crown of his helmet. The collision broke the C5 vertebrae in Byrd’s neck, leaving him paralyzed.

The Jets wore a decal on their helmets for the rest of the season with Byrd's #90 surrounding an ichthys. With Byrd's injury still fresh in their minds the Jets went to Buffalo for their Week 14 matchup with the Bills and defeated them for their fourth and last win of the season.

Byrd began undergoing an aggressive physical therapy regimen and would eventually regain the ability to walk. He returned to Giants Stadium as an honorary captain for the team’s home opener the following season. His jersey number was never issued again by the Jets, but was not officially retired until 2012.

After the season, Jets star running back Freeman McNeil announced his retirement. At the time of his retirement he was the all-time leading rusher in Jets history, but he has since been surpassed by Curtis Martin.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1992 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	15	Johnny Mitchell	Tight End	Nebraska
2	42	Kurt Barber	Linebacker	USC
3	68	Siupeli Malamala	Offensive Tackle	Washington
4	96	Keo Coleman	Linebacker	Mississippi State
5	127	Cal Dixon	Center	Florida
6	154	Glenn Cadrez	Linebacker	Houston
6	166	Jeff Blake	Quarterback	East Carolina
8	219	Vincent Brownlee	Wide Receiver	Ole Miss
10	266	Mario Johnson	Defensive Tackle	Missouri
11	293	Eric Boles	Wide Receiver	Central Washington

Undrafted free agents

1992 Undrafted Free Agents of note

Player	Position	College
Richard Holt	Safety	Arizona
Claude Jones	Guard	Miami (FL)
Scott McAlister	Punter	North Carolina
Clarence Miller	Wide receiver	Illinois State
Patrick Nelson	Wide receiver	Liberty
Brad Sullivan	Guard	New Mexico
Wayne Wicka	Defensive Tackle	Winona State
Matt Willig	Offensive Tackle	USC

Personnel

Staff

1992 New York Jets staff

Front office Chairman of the board – Leon Hess President – Steve Gutman Vice president/general manager – Dick Steinberg Director of player personnel – Dick Haley Director of pro personnel – Jim Royer Assistant director of pro personnel – Pat Kirwan Head coaches Head coach – Bruce Coslet Offensive coaches Quarterbacks – Walt Harris Running backs – Kippy Brown Receivers – Chip Myers Offensive line – Larry Beightol Offensive assistant/tight ends – Paul Alexander

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Pete Carroll Defensive line – Greg Robinson Linebackers – Foge Fazio Defensive assistant/defensive backs – Ed Donatell Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Al Roberts Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – Greg Mackrides

Roster

1992 New York Jets roster

Quarterbacks (QB)  9 Jeff Blake  8 Browning Nagle  1 Mike Norseth Running backs (RB) 30 Brad Baxter FB 29 A. B. Brown 21 Sheldon Canley 35 Scottie Graham 34 Johnny Hector Wide receivers (WR) 87 Chris Burkett 82 Rob Carpenter 89 Dale Dawkins 81 Terance Mathis 85 Rob Moore Tight ends (TE) 80 Mark Boyer 83 Johnny Mitchell 86 Ken Whisenhunt

Offensive linemen (OL) 66 Dave Cadigan T 52 Cal Dixon C 62 Roger Duffy G 70 Siupeli Malamala T 72 Brett Miller T 53 Jim Sweeney C 67 Dwayne White G 77 Matt Willig T Defensive linemen (DL) 91 Paul Frase DT 96 Mark Gunn DE 78 Mario Johnson DT 94 Scott Mersereau DT 71 Bill Pickel DT 97 Marvin Washington DE

Linebackers (LB) 98 Kurt Barber OLB 50 Glenn Cadrez OLB 59 Kyle Clifton MLB 99 Keo Coleman OLB 55 Bobby Houston OLB 51 Donald Jones MLB 57 Mo Lewis OLB Defensive backs (DB) 43 Mike Brim CB 40 James Hasty CB 25 R. J. Kors FS 22 Erik McMillan FS 27 Kevin Porter SS 20 Dennis Price CB 23 Marcus Turner CB 48 Brian Washington SS Special teams  4 Louie Aguiar P 10 Cary Blanchard K

Practice squad 76 James Brown T 37 Anthony Prior CB Reserve 18 Eric Boles WR (IR) 90 Dennis Byrd DE (IR) 28 Pat Chaffey RB (IR) 69 Jeff Criswell T (IR) 75 Irv Eatman T (IR) 58 Joe Kelly LB (IR) 56 Jeff Lageman DE (IR) 24 Freeman McNeil RB (IR)  7 Ken O'Brien QB (IR) 32 Blair Thomas RB (IR) ♦88 Al Toon WR (IR) 31 Lonnie Young S (IR) ♦retired Rookies in italics 47 active, 12 reserve, 2 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Attendance
1	September 6, 1992	at Atlanta Falcons	L 20–17	Georgia Dome	65,585
2	September 13, 1992	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 27–10	Three Rivers Stadium	56,050
3	September 20, 1992	San Francisco 49ers	L 31–14	The Meadowlands	71,020
4	September 27, 1992	at Los Angeles Rams	L 18–10	Anaheim Stadium	42,005
5	October 4, 1992	New England Patriots	W 30–21	The Meadowlands	60,180
6	October 11, 1992	at Indianapolis Colts	L 6–3	Hoosier Dome	48,393
7	Bye
8	October 26, 1992	Buffalo Bills	L 24–20	The Meadowlands	68,181
9	November 1, 1992	Miami Dolphins	W 26–14	The Meadowlands	69,313
10	November 8, 1992	at Denver Broncos	L 27–16	Mile High Stadium	74,678
11	November 15, 1992	Cincinnati Bengals	W 17–14	The Meadowlands	60,196
12	November 22, 1992	at New England Patriots	L 24–3	Foxboro Stadium	27,642
13	November 29, 1992	Kansas City Chiefs	L 23–7	The Meadowlands	57,375
14	December 6, 1992	at Buffalo Bills	W 24–17	Rich Stadium	75,876
15	December 13, 1992	Indianapolis Colts	L 10–6	The Meadowlands	33,684
16	December 20, 1992	at Miami Dolphins	L 19–17	Joe Robbie Stadium	68,275
17	December 26, 1992	New Orleans Saints	L 20–0	The Meadowlands	45,614

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
(2) Miami Dolphins	11	5	0	.688	5–3	9–3	340	281	W3
(4) Buffalo Bills	11	5	0	.688	5–3	7–5	381	283	L1
Indianapolis Colts	9	7	0	.563	5–3	7–7	216	302	W5
New York Jets	4	12	0	.250	3–5	4–8	220	315	L3
New England Patriots	2	14	0	.125	2–6	2–10	205	363	L5

External links

• 1992 statistics