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1970 Buffalo Bills season

1970 Buffalo Bills season
Ralph Wilson
John Rauch
War Memorial Stadium
3–10–1
4th AFC East
Did not qualify
WR Marlin Briscoe

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".

This would also mark the final season for Bills punter and linebacker Paul Maguire, as he retired after the season to go into broadcasting.

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
1970 Buffalo Bills draft
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	Cornerback	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	Offensive tackle	Richmond
8	186	Richard Cheek	Offensive 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	Offensive tackle	Drake
13	317	Steve Schroeder	Kicker	Pacific
14	342	William Costen	Offensive 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
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Made roster

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

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6	Column 7
Quarterbacks (QB)
10 Dan Darragh

12 James Harris 16 Dennis Shaw Running backs (RB)

41 Bill Enyart 40 Roland Moss 33 Lloyd Pate 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 DT | | Linebackers (LB) 56 Al Andrews OLB 52 Edgar Chandler MLB 51 Jerald Collins OLB 63 Dick Cunningham MLB 59 Paul Guidry OLB 64 Mike McCaffrey OLB Defensive backs (DB)

21 Jackie Allen FS 42 Butch Byrd CB 28 Ike Hill CB 20 Robert James CB 27 Tommy Pharr SS 48 John Pitts SS 47 Pete Richardson FS Special teams (ST)

7 Grant Guthrie K 55 Paul Maguire P | | Reserve

22 Max Anderson RB (IR) 36 Greg Jones RB (IR) 30 Wayne Patrick RB (IR) 32 O. J. Simpson RB (IR) 58 Mike Stratton LB (IR) 71 Bob Tatarek DT (IR)

Rookies in italics |

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue
September 20	Denver Broncos	L 10–25	0–1	War Memorial Stadium	34,882
September 27	Los Angeles Rams	L 0–19	0–2	War Memorial Stadium	46,206
October 4	New York Jets	W 34–31	1–2	War Memorial Stadium	46,206
October 11	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 10–23	1–3	Three Rivers Stadium	42,140
October 18	Miami Dolphins	L 14–33	1–4	War Memorial Stadium	41,312
October 25	at New York Jets	W 10–6	2–4	Shea Stadium	62,712
November 1	at Boston Patriots	W 45–10	3–4	Harvard Stadium	31,148
November 8	Cincinnati Bengals	L 14–43	3–5	War Memorial Stadium	43,587
November 15	at Baltimore Colts	T 17–17	3–5–1	Memorial Stadium	60,240
November 22	at Chicago Bears	L 13–31	3–6–1	Wrigley Field	41,015
November 29	Boston Patriots	L 10–14	3–7–1	War Memorial Stadium	31,427
December 6	at New York Giants	L 6–20	3–8–1	Yankee Stadium	62,870
December 13	Baltimore Colts	L 14–20	3–9–1	War Memorial Stadium	34,346
December 20	at Miami Dolphins	L 7–45	3–10–1	Miami Orange Bowl	70,990
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

AFC East
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.

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

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