1970 Denver Broncos season

1970 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Gerald Phipps
General manager	Lou Saban
Head coach	Lou Saban
Home stadium	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	5–8–1
Division place	4th AFC West
Playoffs	Did not qualify
←  1969 Broncos seasons 1971  →

The 1970 Denver Broncos season was the team's 11th season in professional football and first in the National Football League (NFL) after the merger. Led by fourth-year head coach and general manager Lou Saban, the Broncos posted a record of five wins, eight losses, and one tie, the same as the previous season, and were last in the new four-team AFC West division.

Denver won four of its first five games, ^[1] but then had only one win and one tie in the final nine games. Running back Floyd Little became the first player to lead his conference in rushing for a last place team. ^[2]

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1970 NFL draft

1970 Denver Broncos draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	11	Bobby Anderson	RB	Colorado
2	37	Alden Roche	DE	Southern
3	63	John Kohler	OT	South Dakota
4	89	Jerry Hendren	WR	Idaho
5	115	Bill McKoy	LB	Purdue
6	141	John Mosier	TE	Kansas
7	167	Randy Montgomery	CB	Weber State
8	208	Louis Porter	RB	Southern
9	219	Dave Washington *	LB	Alcorn State
10	245	Maurice Fullerton	DT	Tuskegee
11	271	Cleve Bryant	QB	Ohio
12	297	Greg Jones	RB	Wisconsin-Whitewater
13	323	Jim McKoy	DB	Parsons
14	349	Jeff Slipp	LB	BYU
15	375	Maher Barakat	K	South Dakota Tech
16	401	Bob Stewart	QB	Northern Arizona
17	427	Frank Kalfoss	K	Montana State
Made roster    †    Pro Football Hall of Fame     *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

1970 Denver Broncos staff

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

Defensive coaches Defensive Line – Stan Jones Linebackers – Dick MacPherson Defensive Backfield – Joe Collier

Roster

1970 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 14 Pete Liske 12 Alan Pastrana Running backs (RB) 11 Bobby Anderson 33 Willis Crenshaw 44 Floyd Little 22 Fran Lynch 35 Clem Turner 29 Wandy Williams Wide receivers (WR) 88 Al Denson 89 John Embree 84 Mike Haffner 86 Jerry Hendren 42 Billy Van Heusen P Tight ends (TE) 81 Billy Masters 83 Jim Whalen

Offensive linemen (OL) 68 Steve Alexakos T/G 72 Sam Brunelli T 74 Mike Current T 67 George Goeddeke G 59 Larry Kaminski C 64 Mike Schnitker G 60 Bob Young G Defensive linemen (DL) 73 Walt Barnes DT 63 Dave Costa DT 55 Pete Duranko DE 62 Jerry Inman DT 87 Rich Jackson DE 77 Alden Roche DE 70 Paul Smith DT

Linebackers (LB) 78 Ken Criter MLB 50 Carl Cunningham OLB 52 Fred Forsberg MLB 58 Bill McKoy OLB 54 Chip Myrtle OLB 56 Dave Washington OLB Defensive backs (DB) 28 Cornell Gordon CB 20 Charlie Greer SS 43 Pete Jaquess CB/S 47 Paul Martha FS 26 George Saimes FS 37 Bob Wade CB Special teams (ST)  3 Bobby Howfield K

Practice squad 61 George Gaiser T 49 Alvin Mitchell CB 85 John Mosier TE Reserve 56 Jay Bachman T (IR) 24 Booker Edgerson CB (IR) 23 Drake Garrett CB (IR) 57 John Huard LB (IR) 21 Randy Montgomery (IR) 13 Steve Tensi QB (IR) 36 Bill Thompson CB (IR) Rookies in italics

Source:

Regular season

Main article: 1970 NFL season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 20	at Buffalo Bills	W 25–10	1–0	War Memorial Stadium	34,882	Recap
2	September 27	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 16–13	2–0	Mile High Stadium	50,705	Recap
3	October 4	Kansas City Chiefs	W 26–13	3–0	Mile High Stadium	50,705	Recap
4	October 11	at Oakland Raiders	L 23–35	3–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,436	Recap
5	October 18	Atlanta Falcons	W 24–10	4–1	Mile High Stadium	50,705	Recap
6	October 25	at San Francisco 49ers	L 14–19	4–2	Kezar Stadium	39,515	Recap
7	November 1	Washington Redskins	L 3–19	4–3	Mile High Stadium	50,705	Recap
8	November 8	at San Diego Chargers	L 21–24	4–4	San Diego Stadium	48,327	Recap
9	November 15	Oakland Raiders	L 19–24	4–5	Mile High Stadium	50,959	Recap
10	November 22	at New Orleans Saints	W 31–6	5–5	Tulane Stadium	66,837	Recap
11	November 29	at Houston Oilers	L 21–31	5–6	Astrodome	35,733	Recap
12	December 6	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 0–16	5–7	Municipal Stadium	50,454	Recap
13	December 13	San Diego Chargers	T 17–17	5–7–1	Mile High Stadium	50,959	Recap
14	December 20	Cleveland Browns	L 13–27	5–8–1	Mile High Stadium	51,001	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 6 (Sunday, October 25, 1970): at San Francisco 49ers

Week 6: Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Broncos (4–2)	7	7	0	0	14
49ers (4–1–1)	3	3	10	3	19

at Kezar Stadium • San Francisco, California

• Date: October 25
• Game time: 2:00 p.m. MST
• Game attendance: 39,515
• Referee: Jack Reader
• TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph (play–by–play) and Gordie Soltau (color commentator)
• ^[3]

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
DEN	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
SF	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Scoring summary
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP DEN SF "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 14 19

• Point spread: Broncos +6½
• Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes

Broncos	Game Statistics	49ers
15	First downs	16
33–162	Rushes–yards	34–128
134	Passing yards	234
12–27–3	Passes	16–35–0
2–13	Sacked–yards	0–0
121	Net passing yards	234
283	Total yards	362
88	Return yards	71
8–40.6	Punts	7–39.3
0–0	Fumbles–lost	1–0
5–50	Penalties–yards	9–87
	Time of possession

Individual stats

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	8	4	2	.667	4–0–2	7–2–2	300	293	L1
Kansas City Chiefs	7	5	2	.583	2–3–1	7–3–1	272	244	L2
San Diego Chargers	5	6	3	.455	2–2–2	4–4–3	282	278	W1
Denver Broncos	5	8	1	.385	1–4–1	3–6–1	253	264	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Awards and honors

• Floyd Little, AFC Rushing champion

References

1. "Broncs kick Falcons by 24 to 10". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. October 19, 1970. p. 29.
2. Sports Illustrated, July 26, 2010, The Unexpected Hero by Gary Smith, p.60, Published by Time Inc.
3. Pro Football Reference ; Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers – October 25, 1970

External links

• Denver Broncos – 1970 media guide
• 1970 Denver Broncos season at jt-sw.com
• 1970 Denver Broncos at Pro-Football-Reference.com