1970 Buffalo Bills season

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".

1970 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	Ralph Wilson
Head coach	John Rauch
Home field	War Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	3–10–1
Division place	4th AFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	WR Marlin Briscoe

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	Defensive back	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	Tackle	Richmond
8	186	Richard Cheek	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	Tackle	Drake
13	317	Steve Schroeder	Kicker	Pacific
14	342	William Costen	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

Personnel

Coaches/Staff

1970 Buffalo Bills staff
	Front office President – Ralph Wilson Vice President and General Manager – Bob Lustig Vice President/Minority Owner – Pat McGroder Coaching staff Head Coach - John Rauch Offensive coaches Offensive Line – Marvin Bass & Chuck Gottfried Defensive coaches' Defensive Line – Ray Malavsi Linebackers – Ralph Hawkins Defensive Backfield – Bobby Hunt Kickers - Bugsy Engelberg

• Source: https://pro-football-history.com/franchise/7/buffalo-bills-coaches

Final roster

1970 Buffalo Bills roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Dan Darragh 12 James Harris 16 Dennis Shaw Running backs (RB) 41 Bill Enyart 36 Greg Jones 33 Lloyd Pate 30 Wayne Patrick 32 O. J. Simpson Wide receivers (WR) 45 Glenn Alexander 86 Marlin Briscoe 26 Clyde Glosson 25 Haven Moses Tight ends (TE) 84 Austin Denney 85 Willie Grate

Offensive linemen (OL) 74 Levert Carr T 73 Richard Cheek G 79 Paul Costa T 53 Wayne Fowler C 69 Jerome Gantt T 54 Howard Kindig T 75 Art Laster T 57 Frank Marchlewski C 67 Joe O'Donnell G 61 Jim Reilly G Defensive linemen (DL) 82 Al Cowlings DE 78 Jim Dunaway DT 65 Waddey Harvey DT 76 Mike McBath DE 72 Ron McDole DE 88 Julian Nunamaker DE 71 Bob Tatarek DT

Linebackers (LB) 56 Al Andrews 52 Edgar Chandler 51 Jerald Collins 63 Dick Cunningham 59 Paul Guidry 64 Mike McCaffrey 58 Mike Stratton Defensive backs (DB) 21 Jackie Allen FS 42 Butch Byrd CB 28 Ike Hill CB/S 20 Robert James CB 27 Tommy Pharr CB 48 John Pitts SS 47 Pete Richardson FS Special teams  7 Grant Guthrie K 55 Paul Maguire P

Reserve 22 Max Anderson RB (IR) 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

1 2 3 4 Total • Broncos 0 5 7 13 25 Bills 7 3 0 0 10 Date: September 20 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Rams 3 13 0 3 19 Bills 0 0 0 0 0 Date: September 27 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 3

1 2 3 4 Total Jets 17 7 7 0 31 • Bills 7 6 7 14 34 Date: October 4 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 4

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 3 0 7 0 10 • Steelers 3 7 3 10 23 Date: October 11 Location: Three Rivers Stadium

Week 5

1 2 3 4 Total • Dolphins 10 3 7 13 33 Bills 0 7 7 0 14 Date: October 18 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 0 3 0 7 10 Jets 0 0 6 0 6 Date: October 25 Location: Shea Stadium

Week 7

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 10 21 0 14 45 Patriots 0 0 3 7 10 Date: November 1 Location: Harvard Stadium

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total • Bengals 3 20 13 7 43 Bills 7 7 0 0 14 Date: November 8 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 9

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 7 7 0 3 17 Colts 0 7 7 3 17 Date: November 15 Location: Memorial Stadium

Week 10

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 6 0 0 7 13 • Bears 0 14 7 10 31 Date: November 22 Location: Wrigley Field

Week 11

1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 0 7 7 0 14 Bills 0 3 0 7 10 Date: November 29 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 12

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 6 0 0 6 • Giants 0 3 3 14 20 Date: December 6 Location: Yankee Stadium

Week 13

1 2 3 4 Total • Colts 10 0 7 3 20 Bills 7 7 0 0 14 Date: December 13 Location: War Memorial Stadium

Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 0 0 7 7 • Dolphins 21 10 7 7 45 Date: December 20 Location: Orange Bowl

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
Buffalo Bills	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.

References

• Bills on Pro Football Reference
• Bills on jt-sw.com
• Bills Stats on jt-sw.com