1982 New York Jets season

The 1982 New York Jets season was the 23rd season for the franchise and its 13th in the National Football League. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 10–5–1 record from 1981 and return to the playoffs under head coach Walt Michaels. The season was marred by an eight-week players’ strike, cancelling eight scheduled games (one game was made up at the end of the season), and eliminating divisional play for the season; the top eight teams from each conference advanced to the playoffs. The Jets finished the season with a record of 6–3 and sixth place in the American Football Conference. They defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 44–17 and Los Angeles Raiders 17–14 in the first two rounds of the playoffs to advance to their first AFC Championship Game. There, they fell to their division rivals, the Miami Dolphins, 14–0.

AFC Championship: at Miami Dolphins
The “Mud Bowl”, in which the Jets were angered by the condition of the Orange Bowl’s grass field, which was not covered and was inundated with a huge amount of rainfall from a series of storms that swept through South Florida the week preceding the game (it was still overcast on the Sunday of the game but only had a minor drizzle). Don Shula responded by stating that he hadn't checked the weather reports because he was focused on getting the Dolphins ready for the game, and that both teams would face the same conditions in any case. A. J. Duhe intecepted three passes, returning the last for the game-sealing touchdown.

Awards and honors

 * Freeman McNeil, NFL rushing leader