The 1988 New York Jets season was the 29th season for the team and the 19th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 6–9 record from 1987 under head coach

Joe Walton Joseph Frank Walton (December 15, 1935 – August 15, 2021) was an American professional football player and coach who retired after 20 years as the head coach and creator of the football program at Robert Morris University. Walton played eight ...

. The Jets finished the season with a record of 8–7–1. Although for the second straight year they failed to qualify for the playoffs, they would play the spoiler, as a victory over their cross-town rival

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in week 16 kept the Giants out of the playoffs due to a series of tiebreakers. For the third time in his career,

Ken O'Brien Kenneth John O'Brien Jr. (born November 27, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. One of the six quarterbacks in the f ...

had the lowest rate of interceptions among quarterbacks. He had 7 interceptions in 424 passing attempts. The Jets endured a major distraction when

Mark Gastineau Marcus Dell Gastineau (born November 20, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for 10 seasons with the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). During his NFL career, he was named Defensiv ...

, the team's main pass rusher who appeared to be experiencing a career-renaissance, abruptly retired in midseason to tend to ailing actress

Brigitte Nielsen Brigitte Nielsen (; born Gitte Nielsen; 15 July 1963) is a Danish actress, model, and singer. She began her career modelling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton. She subsequently acted in the 1985 films ''Red Sonja'' and ''Rocky IV'', later retu ...

Offseason

Draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Starters

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Pro-Football-Reference.com
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Standings

External links

References

{{1988 NFL season by team New York Jets seasons

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

New York Jets season 20th century in East Rutherford, New Jersey Meadowlands Sports Complex