1976 Buffalo Bills season

Last updated

1976 Buffalo Bills season
Owner Ralph Wilson
Head coach Lou Saban (resigned)
Jim Ringo (interim)
Home stadium Rich Stadium
Results
Record2–12
Division place5th AFC East
PlayoffsDid not qualify
Pro Bowlers G Joe DeLamielleure
RB O. J. Simpson
All-Pros G Joe DeLamielleure (1st team)
RB O. J. Simpson (1st team)

The 1976 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 7th season in the National Football League, and the 17th overall.

Contents

Buffalo's season was troubled from the start, as the team was in a contract dispute with star running back O. J. Simpson. Simpson had been demanding a trade, before finally agreeing to a three-year, $2.5 million contract. [1]

The Bills started the season 2–2, before losing their final ten games of the season. Quarterback Joe Ferguson only started the first seven games before being sidelined for the season with a back injury. Backup quarterback Gary Marangi started Buffalo's final seven games, all losses.

Fullback Jim Braxton injured his knee in the Bills' season opener and was lost for the season. Simpson still led the NFL in rushing in 1976, even without Braxton's blocking. [1]

Bills head coach Lou Saban resigned after the fifth game of the season, with the Bills struggling at 2–3. Offensive line coach Jim Ringo took over, but would not win a game for the rest of the year.

The lowest point of the season was when O. J. Simpson was ejected from a game for getting into a fight with New England Patriots defensive end Mel Lunsford. [2] [3] Lunsford was also ejected from the game as well. Neither player was fined or suspended by the league.

Offseason

Before the 1976 season, Buffalo lost some key players, notably wide receivers Ahmad Rashad and J. D. Hill, and defensive linemen Earl Edwards, Walt Patulski and Pat Toomay. [1]

1976 Expansion Draft

Buffalo Bills selected during the Expansion Draft
RoundOverallNamePositionExpansion Team
00 Gary Hayman Running back Seattle Seahawks
00Frank OliverDefensive back Tampa Bay Buccaneers
00 Pat Toomay Defensive end Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFL draft

Note: 1976 was the final year in which the NFL draft was seventeen rounds; it would be reduced to twelve rounds in 1977.

The Bills' 1976 draft produced four long-time starters with their first four picks. First round pick Mario Clark played for seven seasons with the Bills. Offensive guard Ken Jones played for the Bills for eleven years. Offensive tackle Joe Devlin played every game of his 14-year career with the Bills, playing in all 191 regular-season games until his retirement after the 1989 season. [4] Defensive end Ben Williams played for the Bills for 10 years; he was a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro for the 1982 season.

1976 Buffalo Bills draft
RoundPickPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
118 Mario Clark   Cornerback Oregon
242 Ken Jones   Guard Arkansas State
252 Joe Devlin   Offensive tackle Iowa
378 Ben Williams  *  Defensive end Ole Miss
4109 Dan Jilek   Linebacker Michigan
5142 Fred Coleman   Tight end Northeast Louisiana
6164Leslie Benson Defensive end Baylor
6171 Scott Piper   Wide receiver Arizona
6175 Darnell Powell   Running back Tennessee-Chattanooga
7195Jackie Williams Defensive back Texas A&M
8215Scott Gardner  Quarterback Virginia
8226Bobby Joe Easter Running back Middle Tennessee State
8227Art Meadowcroft Guard Minnesota
9241Jeff Turner Linebacker Kansas
9255Bob Kotzur Defensive tackle Southwest Texas State
10280 Keith Moody  Cornerback Syracuse
11309 Forry Smith  Wide receiver Iowa State
12336Joe Lowery Running back Jackson State
13365Will Wilcox Guard Texas
14392Tony Williams Wide receiverMiddle Tennessee State
15421Arnold Robinson Linebacker Bethune-Cookman
16448Gary Gorrell Linebacker Boise State
17477Bob Berg  Kicker New Mexico
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff/coaches

1976 Buffalo Bills staff
Front office

Coaching staff

Offensive coaches

Defensive/Special teams coaches

Scouting

  • Director of Scouting - Marvin Bass

Roster

1976 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

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenueAttendance
1September 13 Miami Dolphins L 21–300—1 Rich Stadium 77,683
2September 19 Houston Oilers L 3–130—2Rich Stadium61,384
3September 26at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 14–91—2 Tampa Stadium 44,505
4October 3 Kansas City Chiefs W 50–172—2Rich Stadium51,909
5October 10at New York Jets L 14–172—3 Shea Stadium 59,110
6October 17 Baltimore Colts L 13–312—4Rich Stadium71,009
7October 24 New England Patriots L 22–262—5Rich Stadium45,144
8October 31 New York Jets L 14–192—6Rich Stadium41,285
9November 7at New England Patriots L 10–202—7 Schaefer Stadium 61,157
10November 15at Dallas Cowboys L 10–172—8 Cotton Bowl 51,799
11November 21 San Diego Chargers L 13–342—9Rich Stadium36,539
12November 25at Detroit Lions L 14–272—10 Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium 66,875
13December 5at Miami Dolphins L 45–272—11 Miami Orange Bowl 43,475
14December 12at Baltimore Colts L 20–582—12 Memorial Stadium 50,451
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 3

1234Total
• Bills070714
Buccaneers60039
  • Date: September 26
  • Location: Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 80 °F or 26.7 °C; wind 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn)
Scoring summary
Q1TB Green 39 yard field goalTB 3–0
Q1TBGreen 24 yard field goalTB 6–0
Q2BUF Chandler 58 yard pass from Ferguson (Ricardo kick)BUF 7–6
Q4TBGreen 19 yard field goalTB 9–7
Q4BUF Gant 15 yard pass from Ferguson (Ricardo kick)BUF 14–9

[5]

Week 4

1234Total
Chiefs0107017
•Bills16772050
Scoring summary
1BUFGeorge Jakowenko 30 yard field goalBills 3–0
1BUF Bob Chandler 1 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (George Jakowenko kick)Bills 10–0
1BUFBob Chandler 5 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (kick failed)Bills 16–0
2KC Henry Marshall 31 yard pass from Tony Adams (Jan Stenerud kick)Bills 16–7
2BUFBob Chandler 7 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (George Jakowenko kick)Bills 23–7
2KCJan Stenerud 33 yard field goalBills 23–10
3BUF Jeff Kinney 1 yard run (George Jakowenko kick)Bills 30–10
3KC Tommy Reamon 49 yard pass from Tony Adams (Jan Stenerud kick)Bills 30–17
4BUF O. J. Simpson 1 yard run (kick failed)Bills 36–17
4BUFO. J. Simpson 5 yard run (George Jakowenko kick)Bills 43–17
4BUF Tony Greene 101 yard interception return (George Jakowenko kick)Bills 50–17

[6]

Week 12

O. J. Simpson rushed for 273 yards, setting a Thanksgiving Day record that still holds as of the end of the 2016 season.

Standings

AFC East
WLTPCTDIVCONFPFPASTK
Baltimore Colts (2)1130.7867–111–1417246W1
New England Patriots (4)1130.7866–210–2376236W6
Miami Dolphins 680.4295–36–6263264L1
New York Jets 3110.2142–63–9169383L4
Buffalo Bills 2120.1430–82–10245363L10

Awards and honors

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Neft, David S.; Cohen, Richard M.; and Korch, Rich The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Football, 12th Edition, p. 306, Martin's Press, August 1994, ISBN   0-312-11073-1
  2. ↑ "Buffalo Bills' O.J. Simpson walks along sidelines after being ejected".
  3. ↑ "Simpson Ejected for Fighting" (PDF).
  4. ↑ Databasefootball.com: Joe Devlin [usurped]
  5. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Nov-06.
  6. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  7. ↑ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN   0-7611-2480-2, p. 377
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