1976 Buffalo Bills season

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

1976 Buffalo Bills season
OwnerRalph Wilson
Head coachLou Saban (resigned)
Jim Ringo (interim)
Home fieldRich Stadium
Results
Record2–12
Division place5th AFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify

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 Rashād and J. D. Hill, and defensive linemen Earl Edwards, Walt Patulski and Pat Toomay.[1]

1976 Expansion Draft
Main article: 1976 NFL expansion draft
Buffalo Bills selected during the Expansion Draft
Round Overall Name Position Expansion Team
00Gary HaymanRunning backSeattle Seahawks
00Frank OliverDefensive backTampa Bay Buccaneers
00Pat ToomayDefensive endTampa Bay Buccaneers

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.[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.

= Pro Bowler [5]
1976 Buffalo Bills Draft
RoundSelectionPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
1 18 Mario Clark DB Oregon
2 45 Ken Jones OG Arkansas State
52 Joe Devlin T Iowa
3 78 Ben Williams[6] DE Mississippi
4 109 Dan Jilek LB Michigan
5 142 Fred Coleman TE N.E. Louisiana
6 164 Leslie Benson DE Baylor
171 Scott Piper WR Arizona
175 Darnell Powell RB Tennessee-Chattanooga
7 195 Jackie Williams DB Texas A & M
8 215 Scott Gardner QB Virginia
226 Bobby Joe Easter RB Middle Tennessee State
227 Art Meadowcroft G Minnesota
9 241 Jeff Turner LB Kansas
255 Bob Kotzur DT Southwest Texas State
10 280 Keith Moody DB Syracuse
11 309 Forry Smith WR Iowa State
12 336 Joe Lowery RB Jackson State
13 365 Will Wilcox G Texas
14 392 Tony Williams WR Middle Tennessee State
15 421 Arnold Robinson LB Bethune-Cookman
16 448 Gary Gorrell LB Boise State
17 477 Bob Berg K New Mexico

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

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

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

Week 3
1 234Total
• Bills 0 707 14
Buccaneers 6 003 9

[7]

Week 4
1 234Total
Chiefs 0 1070 17
• Bills 16 7720 50

[8]

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
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Baltimore Colts(2) 11 3 0 .786 7–1 11–1 417 246 W1
New England Patriots(4) 11 3 0 .786 6–2 10–2 376 236 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 [9]

First Team All-Pros
Main article: 1976 All-Pro Team

See also

References
  1. 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
  4. Databasefootball.com: Joe Devlin Archived November 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  6. 1982 Pro Bowler
  7. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Nov-06.
  8. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  9. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 377
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