1970 Buffalo Bills season

1970 Buffalo Bills season
OwnerRalph Wilson
Head coachJohn Rauch
Home stadiumWar Memorial Stadium
Results
Record3–10–1
Division place4th AFC East
PlayoffsDid not qualify
Pro BowlersWR Marlin Briscoe

The 1970 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's first season in the National Football League, and eleventh overall. The team looked to improve on its 4–10 record from 1969 and make the playoffs for the first time since 1966. However, the Bills started out on the wrong foot, losing four of their first five games. After winning two consecutive road games against the Patriots and Jets and suffering a blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bills and Colts played to a 17–17 draw in week 9, Buffalo's first tie since 1968. The Bills would then lose five straight to end the season and finished 3–10–1, for fourth place in the AFC East. Their Week 5 game against the Miami Dolphins would start an era of futility during which the Bills would lose twenty consecutive games against the Dolphins. The Bills would not defeat the Dolphins at any point during the 1970s and next beat Miami in 1980. This would become known as "The Streak".

This would also mark the final season for Bills punter and linebacker Paul Maguire, as he retired after the season to go into broadcasting.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1970 NFL draft
1970 Buffalo Bills draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 5 Al Cowlings  Defensive tackle USC
2 30 Dennis Shaw  Quarterback San Diego State
3 57 Jim Reilly  Guard Notre Dame
3 67 Glenn Alexander  Cornerback Grambling
4 82 Jerome Gantt  Defensive end North Carolina Central
5 109 Steve Starnes  Linebacker Tampa
6 134 Ken Edwards  Running back Virginia Tech
6 135 Grant Guthrie  Kicker Florida State
7 161 Wayne Fowler  Offensive tackle Richmond
8 186 Richard Cheek  Offensive tackle Auburn
9 213 Bill Bridges  Guard Houston
10 238 Willie Dixon  Defensive back Albany State
11 265 Terry Williams  Running back Grambling
12 290 Dave Simpson  Offensive tackle Drake
13 317 Steve Schroeder  Kicker Pacific
14 342 William Costen  Offensive tackle Morris Brown
15 369 Dave Farris  Tight end Central Michigan
16 394 Larry Davis  Wide receiver Rice
17 421 George Bevan  Defensive back LSU
      Made roster  

[1]

Personnel

Coaches/Staff

1970 Buffalo Bills staff
Front office

Coaching staff

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches'

  • Defensive Line – Ray Malavsi
  • Linebackers – Ralph Hawkins
  • Defensive Backfield – Bobby Hunt
  • Kickers - Bugsy Engelberg

Final roster

1970 Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams (ST)

Reserve


Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 20 Denver Broncos L 10–25 0–1 War Memorial Stadium 34,882
2 September 27 Los Angeles Rams L 0–19 0–2 War Memorial Stadium 46,206
3 October 4 New York Jets W 34–31 1–2 War Memorial Stadium 46,206
4 October 11 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 10–23 1–3 Three Rivers Stadium 42,140
5 October 18 Miami Dolphins L 14–33 1–4 War Memorial Stadium 41,312
6 October 25 at New York Jets W 10–6 2–4 Shea Stadium 62,712
7 November 1 at Boston Patriots W 45–10 3–4 Harvard Stadium 31,148
8 November 8 Cincinnati Bengals L 14–43 3–5 War Memorial Stadium 43,587
9 November 15 at Baltimore Colts T 17–17 3–5–1 Memorial Stadium 60,240
10 November 22 at Chicago Bears L 13–31 3–6–1 Wrigley Field 41,015
11 November 29 Boston Patriots L 10–14 3–7–1 War Memorial Stadium 31,427
12 December 6 at New York Giants L 6–20 3–8–1 Yankee Stadium 62,870
13 December 13 Baltimore Colts L 14–20 3–9–1 War Memorial Stadium 34,346
14 December 20 at Miami Dolphins L 7–45 3–10–1 Miami Orange Bowl 70,990
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 1

Team 1 234Total
• Broncos 0 5713 25
Bills 7 300 10

Week 2

Team 1 234Total
• Rams 3 1303 19
Bills 0 000 0
  • Date: September 27
  • Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 3

Team 1 234Total
Jets 17 770 31
• Bills 7 6714 34
  • Date: October 4
  • Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 4

Team 1 234Total
Bills 3 070 10
• Steelers 3 7310 23

Week 5

Team 1 234Total
• Dolphins 10 3713 33
Bills 0 770 14
  • Date: October 18
  • Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 6

Team 1 234Total
• Bills 0 307 10
Jets 0 060 6

Week 7

Team 1 234Total
• Bills 10 21014 45
Patriots 0 037 10

Week 8

Team 1 234Total
• Bengals 3 20137 43
Bills 7 700 14
  • Date: November 8
  • Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 9

Team 1 234Total
Bills 7 703 17
Colts 0 773 17

Week 10

Team 1 234Total
Bills 6 007 13
• Bears 0 14710 31

Week 11

Team 1 234Total
• Patriots 0 770 14
Bills 0 307 10
  • Date: November 29
  • Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 12

Team 1 234Total
Bills 0 600 6
• Giants 0 3314 20

Week 13

Team 1 234Total
• Colts 10 073 20
Bills 7 700 14
  • Date: December 13
  • Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 14

Team 1 234Total
Bills 0 007 7
• Dolphins 21 1077 45

Standings

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Baltimore Colts 11 2 1 .846 6–1–1 8–2–1 321 234 W4
Miami Dolphins 10 4 0 .714 6–2 8–3 297 228 W6
New York Jets 4 10 0 .286 2–6 2–9 255 286 L3
3 10 1 .231 3–4–1 3–7–1 204 337 L5
Boston Patriots 2 12 0 .143 2–6 2–9 149 361 L3
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ "1970 NFL Draft". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
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