1976 Buffalo Bills season

1976 Buffalo Bills season
Head coach	Lou Saban (resigned) Jim Ringo (interim)
Owner	Ralph Wilson
Home field	Rich Stadium
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	5th AFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1976 Buffalo Bills season was the 17th season for the club and its seventh in the National Football League.

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.

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]

NFL Draft

Main article: 1976 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.^[2] 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.

= Pro Bowler ^[3]

Round	Pick #	Player	Position	College
1	18	Mario Clark	Defensive back	Oregon
2	45	Ken Jones	Guard	Arkansas State
2	52	Joe Devlin	Tackle	Iowa
3	78	Ben Williams^[4]	Defensive end	Mississippi
4	109	Dan Jilek	Linebacker	Michigan
5	142	Fred Coleman	Tight end	N.E. Louisiana
6	164	Leslie Benson	Defensive end	Baylor
6	171	Scott Piper	Wide receiver	Arizona
6	175	Darnell Powell	Running back	Tennessee-Chattanooga
7	195	Jackie Williams	Defensive back	Texas A & M
8	215	Scott Gardner	Quarterback	Virginia
8	226	Bobby Joe Easter	Running back	Middle Tennessee State
8	227	Art Meadowcroft	Guard	Minnesota
9	241	Jeff Turner	Linebacker	Kansas
9	255	Bob Kotzur	Defensive tackle	Southwest Texas State
10	280	Keith Moody	Defensive back	Syracuse
11	309	Forry Smith	Wide receiver	Iowa State
12	336	Joe Lowery	Running back	Jackson State
13	365	Will Wilcox	Guard	Texas
14	392	Tony Williams	Wide receiver	Middle Tennessee State
15	421	Arnold Robinson	Linebacker	Bethune-Cookman
16	448	Gary Gorrell	[Linebacker	Boise State
17	477	Bob Berg	Kicker	New Mexico

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 13, 1976	Miami Dolphins	L 30–21	77,683
2	September 19, 1976	Houston Oilers	L 13–3	61,384
3	September 26, 1976	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 14–9	44,505
4	October 3, 1976	Kansas City Chiefs	W 50–17	51,909
5	October 10, 1976	at New York Jets	L 17–14	59,110
6	October 17, 1976	Baltimore Colts	L 31–13	71,009
7	October 24, 1976	New England Patriots	L 26–22	45,144
8	October 31, 1976	New York Jets	L 19–14	41,285
9	November 7, 1976	at New England Patriots	L 20–10	61,157
10	November 15, 1976	at Dallas Cowboys	L 17–10	51,799
11	November 21, 1976	San Diego Chargers	L 34–13	36,539
12	November 25, 1976	at Detroit Lions	L 27–14	66,875
13	December 5, 1976	at Miami Dolphins	L 45–27	43,475
14	December 12, 1976	at Baltimore Colts	L 58–20	50,451

Season summary

Week 3

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bills	0	7	0	7	14
Buccaneers	6	0	0	3	9

Date: September 26
Location: Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL
Game start: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: 80°F; wind 6

Scoring summary

Q1	TB	Green 39 yard field goal	TB 3–0

Q1	TB	Green 24 yard field goal	TB 6–0

Q2	BUF	Chandler 58 yard pass from Ferguson (Ricardo kick)	BUF 7–6

Q4	TB	Green 19 yard field goal	TB 9–7

Q4	BUF	Gant 15 yard pass from Ferguson (Ricardo kick)	BUF 14–9

^[5]

Week 4

	1	2	3	4	Total
Chiefs	0	10	7	0	17
• Bills	16	7	7	20	50

Date: October 3
Location: Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York
Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
Game weather: 55°F, wind 7 mph

Scoring summary

1	BUF	George Jakowenko 30 yard field goal	Bills 3–0

1	BUF	Bob Chandler 1 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (George Jakowenko kick)	Bills 10–0

1	BUF	Bob Chandler 5 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (kick failed)	Bills 16–0

2	KC	Henry Marshall 31 yard pass from Tony Adams (Jan Stenerud kick)	Bills 16–7

2	BUF	Bob Chandler 7 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (George Jakowenko kick)	Bills 23–7

2	KC	Jan Stenerud 33 yard field goal	Bills 23–10

3	BUF	Jeff Kinney 1 yard run (George Jakowenko kick)	Bills 30–10

3	KC	Tommy Reamon 49 yard pass from Tony Adams (Jan Stenerud kick)	Bills 30–17

4	BUF	O.J. Simpson 1 yard run (kick failed)	Bills 36–17

4	BUF	O.J. Simpson 5 yard run (George Jakowenko kick)	Bills 43–17

4	BUF	Tony Greene 101 yard interception return (George Jakowenko kick)	Bills 50–17

^[6]

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts⁽²⁾	11	3	0	.786	7–1	11–1	376	236	W1
New England Patriots⁽⁴⁾	11	3	0	.786	6–2	10–2	246	171	W6
Miami Dolphins	6	8	0	.429	5–3	6–6	263	264	L1
New York Jets	3	11	0	.214	2–6	3–9	169	383	L4
Buffalo Bills	2	12	0	.143	0–8	2–10	245	363	L10

Awards and honors

O.J. Simpson, Thanksgiving Day Record, Most Rushing Yards in One Game, 273 yards vs. Detroit Lions, Nov 25 ^[7]

First Team All-Pros

Main article: 1976 All-Pro Team

Joe DeLamielleure, Guard
O.J. Simpson, Running back

References

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
↑ Databasefootball.com: Joe Devlin
↑ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
↑ 1982 Pro Bowler
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Nov-06.
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
↑ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 377

Buffalo Bills

Founded in 1960 Based and headquartered in Orchard Park, New York

Franchise	Franchise History Players Seasons List of Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl selections First-round draft picks Starting quarterbacks Coaches Logos and uniforms NFL in Toronto Bills series

Stadiums	War Memorial Stadium New Era Field Rogers Centre (Bills Toronto Series) New Era Field II (proposed)

Culture	Buffalo sports curse Ralph Wilson Billy Buffalo Buffalo Jills Ken "Pinto Ron" Johnson Second String "Shout" (The Isley Brothers song) Four Falls of Buffalo

Lore	AAFC Buffalo Bills Electric Company The Comeback Wide Right Music City Miracle

Rivalries	Miami Dolphins New England Patriots New York Jets

Division championships (10)	1964 1965 1966 1980 1988 1989 1990 1991 1993 1995

Conference championships (4)	1990 1991 1992 1993

League championships (2)	1964 1965

Wall of Fame	Simpson Kemp McGroder Sestak Shaw Wilson 12th Man Dubenion Stratton Ferguson Levy DeLamielleure James Abramoski Kalsu Saimes Kelly Smerlas Hull Talley Ritcher Thomas Reed Tasker Smith Edgerson Hansen Polian Miller Saban

Media	Radio Radio network WGR 550 Television MSG Western New York Personalities: John Murphy Van Miller Mark Kelso Steve Tasker

Owners	Wilson Pegula family Terry Kim

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League (1970–present) Conference: American Football Conference Division: East Division

Former league affiliation	League: American Football League (1960–1969)

Seasons (56)	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

Buffalo Bills seasons

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Bold indicates AFL Championship or Super Bowl victory Italics indicates AFL Championship or Super Bowl appearance

1976 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Baltimore	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Buffalo	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	Los Angeles
Miami	Houston	Oakland	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Tampa Bay	Washington		Seattle

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