1967 Denver Broncos season

1967 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Gerald Phipps
General manager	Lou Saban
Head coach	Lou Saban
Home stadium	Bears Stadium
Results
Record	3–11
Division place	4th AFL Western
Playoffs	Did not qualify
←  1966 Broncos seasons 1968  →

The 1967 Denver Broncos season was the eighth season for the team in the American Football League (AFL). Led by first-year head coach and general manager Lou Saban, the Broncos posted a record of three wins and eleven losses, last in the AFL's Western division. Running back Floyd Little, a first round draft choice (sixth overall), was team captain in his rookie season. ^[1] After an opening win at home, the Broncos lost nine straight games, then split the last four.

Inter-league play between the AFL and NFL in the exhibition season began this year. In the first matchup on August 5, the Broncos defeated the Detroit Lions 13–7 and became the first AFL team to beat an NFL team. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Before the season, the Broncos changed from orange helmets to blue helmets. ^[5]

This was the first season that the Broncos wore their now famous "Orange Crush" uniforms, but the famous D logo on the helmets was not introduced until the next season. The team made slight modifications to the uniforms until they were retired 30 years later, after the 1996 season. The Orange Crush uniforms returned in 2024, albeit in a slightly different design, retaining the helmet design from the 1997 uniforms (but retiring the '97 uniforms all together), along with the 1977 uniforms as a throwback.

Hired in December 1966, Saban left the University of Maryland after just one season; he had previously been an AFL head coach at Boston and Buffalo, where he won consecutive AFL titles. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Personnel

Staff

1967 Denver Broncos staff

Front office Chairman of the Board – Gerald Phipps President – Allan R Phipps Director of Player Personnel – Fred Gehrke Head coaches General Manager/Head Coach – Lou Saban Offensive coaches Offensive Backfield – Hunter Enis Offensive Receivers – Sam Rutigliano Offensive Line – Whitey Dovell

Defensive coaches Defensive Line – Stan Jones Defensive Backfield – Dick MacPherson

Roster

1967 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Jim LeClair 13 Steve Tensi Running backs (RB) 27 Charley Mitchell 32 Mike Kellogg 33 Wendell Hayes 44 Floyd Little Wide receivers (WR) 41 Eric Crabtree 49Neal Sweeney 82 Bob Scarpitto P 88 Al Denson Tight ends (TE) 85 Tom Beer 89Andre White

Offensive linemen (OL) 56 Dave Behrman C 59 Larry Kaminski C 60 Ernie Park G 64 Sam Brunelli T 67 George Goeddeke LG 73 Pat Matson G 78 Tom Cichowski T Defensive linemen (DL) 55 Pete Duranko DE 62 Jerry Inman DT 63 Dave Costa DT 66 Larry Cox DE 75 Rex Mirich 77 Bob Young G 87 Rich Jackson DE

Linebackers (LB) 50 Carl Cunningham OLB 51 Henry Sorrell OLB 54 Chip Myrtle OLB 57 John Huard MLB 58Frank RichterOLB Defensive backs (DB) 21 Goldie Sellers CB 22 Lonnie Wright SS/FS 25 Errol Prisby CB/S 28 Jack Lentz FS 43 Pete Jaquess CB 45 Tom Cassese SS 46Jim SummersCB 48 Nemiah Wilson CB Special teams (ST)  2 Bob Humphreys K

Practice squad 71 Mike Current T  3 Rick Duncan K 17 Scotty Glacken QB 70Don SmithG 72 Dick Tyson G Reserve 84 Lou Andrus LB Military 34 Cookie Gilchrist RB (IR) 31 Bo Hickey RB (IR) 51 Gene Jeter LB (IR) 53 Roger LeClerc (IR) 81 Max Leetzow DE (IR) 22 Fran Lynch RB Military 22 Bobby Ply S (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Main article: 1967 American Football League season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 3	Boston Patriots	W 26–21	1–0	Bears Stadium	35,488	Recap
2	September 10	at Oakland Raiders	L 0–51	1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	25,423	Recap
3	September 17	at Miami Dolphins	L 21–35	1–2	Orange Bowl	29,381	Recap
4	September 24	New York Jets	L 24–38	1–3	Bears Stadium	35,365	Recap
5	October 1	at Houston Oilers	L 6–10	1–4	Rice Stadium	21,798	Recap
6	October 8	Buffalo Bills	L 16–17	1–5	Bears Stadium	35,188	Recap
7	Bye
8	October 22	San Diego Chargers	L 21–38	1–6	Bears Stadium	34,464	Recap
9	October 29	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 9–52	1–7	Municipal Stadium	44,002	Recap
10	November 5	Oakland Raiders	L 17–21	1–8	Bears Stadium	29,043	Recap
11	November 12	Houston Oilers	L 18–20	1–9	Bears Stadium	30,392	Recap
12	November 19	at Buffalo Bills	W 21–20	2–9	War Memorial Stadium	30,891	Recap
13	November 23	at San Diego Chargers	L 20–24	2–10	San Diego Stadium	34,586	Recap
14	December 3	at New York Jets	W 33–24	3–10	Shea Stadium	61,615	Recap
15	Bye
16	December 17	Kansas City Chiefs	L 24–38	3–11	Bears Stadium	31,660	Recap
17	Bye
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

• Thursday (November 23: Thanksgiving) ^[9]
• With the expansion Miami Dolphins joining the AFL in 1966, there were an odd-number (9)
  of teams for two seasons, resulting in multiple bye weeks for each team.

Game summaries

Week 14

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Chiefs	14	14	7	3	38
Broncos	0	7	10	7	24

• Date: December 17
• Location: Bears Stadium

Standings

AFL Western Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	13	1	0	.929	6–0	468	233	W10
Kansas City Chiefs	9	5	0	.643	2–4	408	254	W3
San Diego Chargers	8	5	1	.615	4–2	360	352	L4
Denver Broncos	3	11	0	.214	0–6	256	409	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings in the AFL.

References

1. Sports Illustrated, July 26, 2010, The Unexpected Hero by Gary Smith, p.60, Published by Time Inc.
2. "Broncs stun NFL's Lions in exhibition". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). August 6, 1967. p. 2, sports.
3. "AFL's Broncos shock Lions, 13-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. August 6, 1967. p. 2B.
4. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN   0-7611-2480-2, p.283
5. Saccomano, Jim (August 7, 2022). "Sacco Sez: How the orange and blue began". DenverBroncos.com. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
6. "Denver Broncos offer Lou Saban 10-year contract to coach AFL club". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). Associated Press. December 16, 1966. p. 23.
7. "Saban leaves Md. for Denver". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 17, 1966. p. 11.
8. Chass, Murray (December 17, 1966). "Lou Saban returning to bottom". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). Associated Press. p. 6.
9. "Oakland holds lead; Cowboys, Rams win". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 24, 1967. p. 35.

External links

• Denver Broncos – 1967 media guide
• 1967 Denver Broncos at Pro-Football-Reference.com
• 1967 Denver Broncos at jt-sw.com