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1964 Buffalo Bills AFL Highlights


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First half of the season highlights (7-0 start), then a jump to a late punt in the AFL championship game. Ends with Daryle Lamonica selling season tickets.

 

I've seen a lot of film from the 60's and 70's but still had no idea what a vertical passing game the Bills had, who were known for defense and running the ball in the AFL.

In retrospect that offense was loaded:

 

QBs: Kemp and Lamonica (!)

FB: Gilchrist

WRs: Dubenion and Bass

TE: Warlick

 

Also note, the Bills have never been afraid to swap out QBs. Multiple times they swapped Daryle Lamonica in for Kemp.

Not sure if it was for injuries or to 'mix things up' Ralph Wilson/ Music City Miracle style.

 

https://youtu.be/ObTRT_EGDp8

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Kemp used to take a beating, one of the original tough guys. 

 

Had 40 rushing touchdowns in 10 years, I think Cam has the record with 44, in much longer seasons.

 

He was a master at the hard count, eye fakes, and just lowering his head behind Billy Shaw.

 

Lamonica threw a pretty long ball.

 

 

 

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Thanks so much.  Loved seeing that.  I was too young to remember any of this, but my Dad spoke of all those players with reverence.  I recall seeing many of them play later (Butch Byrd bought a Pontiac from Don Davis Pontiac where my Mom worked and gave us his autograph, Jack Kemp put me on his should during 1966 training camp while he signed an autograph for me - I was four), but I really became aware of the Bills in 1967 and it was all downhill for the remaining players from this championship group.

 

Couple of things:

 

1. I can't believe we traded Lamonica!

 

2. Dubenion looks like Paul Warfield.  Kemp under threw him by about 10 yards on many of those completed long passes.  I wonder what he could have done if we kept Lamonica!

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2 hours ago, HOF4LOU said:

Lou Saban, who only recently was inducted on the WOF, should be considered for the HOF.   1 win away from the 1st superbowl - and who knows what may have happened.

Actually he was one season away from the Superbowl. Joe Collier took over as head coach in 66 after Saban resigned. The difference in the team without Saban was rather obvious. Had Saban stayed I think that 1st Superbowl would not have been as one sided as it was.

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2 hours ago, RememberTheRockpile said:

Actually he was one season away from the Superbowl. Joe Collier took over as head coach in 66 after Saban resigned. The difference in the team without Saban was rather obvious. Had Saban stayed I think that 1st Superbowl would not have been as one sided as it was.

 

 

The only reason Saban wasn't coaching the Bills in 1966 was Lou Saban--he up and quit for no reason after the 1965 championship. When he came back to the Bills, he also up and quit in 1976. A strange character who consistently undermined himself, which is a big reason why he isn't in the Hall of Fame. He also traded away Marlin Briscoe and James Harris, because he had a thing against black QBs (he had screwed Marlin when Marlin played for him in Denver)... A very odd man, though an effective coach, when he was willing to do it..

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2 hours ago, MarlinTheMagician said:

Thanks so much.  Loved seeing that.  I was too young to remember any of this, but my Dad spoke of all those players with reverence.  I recall seeing many of them play later (Butch Byrd bought a Pontiac from Don Davis Pontiac where my Mom worked and gave us his autograph, Jack Kemp put me on his should during 1966 training camp while he signed an autograph for me - I was four), but I really became aware of the Bills in 1967 and it was all downhill for the remaining players from this championship group.

 

Couple of things:

 

1. I can't believe we traded Lamonica!

 

2. Dubenion looks like Paul Warfield.  Kemp under threw him by about 10 yards on many of those completed long passes.  I wonder what he could have done if we kept Lamonica!

  It's been put out many times that Lamonica was having an affair with a defensive player's wife and a defensive player who was significantly larger than Lamonica if it came down to a brawl.  Lamonica was shipped to to stabilize the locker room.  Probably one reason we only got chicken feed for him as most likely enough of the AFL knew the Bills had a problem to take care of so it amounted to a fire sale.  Maybe somebody in the know such as Paul Maguire can speak on this  at some point.  Maybe somebody is waiting until all the suspects are no longer with us before they tell.

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59 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  It's been put out many times that Lamonica was having an affair with a defensive player's wife and a defensive player who was significantly larger than Lamonica if it came down to a brawl.  Lamonica was shipped to to stabilize the locker room.  Probably one reason we only got chicken feed for him as most likely enough of the AFL knew the Bills had a problem to take care of so it amounted to a fire sale.  Maybe somebody in the know such as Paul Maguire can speak on this  at some point.  Maybe somebody is waiting until all the suspects are no longer with us before they tell.

 

Really interesting, I never heard that before.  Art Powell and Tom Flores were < chicken feed!

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Very cool video. I love watching these and getting a sense of what Bills football was like back then.

 

Also, one of the most head-scratching decisions ever made in sports. Why did they ever put the FG posts at the front of the end zone. It made sense for rugby, but did it ever make sense for american football?

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3 hours ago, Mickey said:

Lamonica? Don't you know how bad his completion percentage was? He had to have been terrible, he just had to be.  Numbers don't lie, do they?

That was the nature of the game back then.  Look at HOF Joe Namath, his completion and his TD/int ratios were terrible by today's standards.  QBs got hit hard and on almost very other pass play back then, defenders were basically given two steps before they hit the QB. Those guys took more serious hits in one game than Brady has takenn his entire carerr. And look at what the defernders could do to the WRs back then.  Cant compare te game, nt even close.

 

Lamonica was one of the most dynamic and best QBs of his time.

2 hours ago, MarlinTheMagician said:

 

Really interesting, I never heard that before.  Art Powell and Tom Flores were < chicken feed!

Actually there are three prevailing theories, 1) it was Kemps wife, 2) it was ralph's wife but 3) the most logical reason was the AFL was fail;ng badly, ralph secretly and against league rules loaned the Raiders $250k to keep them alive (a loft of $ back then) and he had two dynamic QBs, shipping the Mad Bomber to Oakland took a franchise with weak attendance and made them the iconic image/team they are today.  The first year with the Raiders Lamonica  was the MVP took them to the AFL championship where they blew out of Oilers but they did lose 

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1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

That was the nature of the game back then.  Look at HOF Joe Namath, his completion and his TD/int ratios were terrible by today's standards.  QBs got hit hard and on almost very other pass play back then, defenders were basically given two steps before they hit the QB. Those guys took more serious hits in one game than Brady has takenn his entire carerr. And look at what the defernders could do to the WRs back then.  Cant compare te game, nt even close.

 

Lamonica was one of the most dynamic and best QBs of his time.

Actually there are three prevailing theories, 1) it was Kemps wife, 2) it was ralph's wife but 3) the most logical reason was the AFL was fail;ng badly, ralph secretly and against league rules loaned the Raiders $250k to keep them alive (a loft of $ back then) and he had two dynamic QBs, shipping the Mad Bomber to Oakland took a franchise with weak attendance and made them the iconic image/team they are today.  The first year with the Raiders Lamonica  was the MVP took them to the AFL championship where they blew out of Oilers but they did lose 

I believe Kemp never completed 50% of his passes in a season. 

 

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6 hours ago, Mickey said:

Lamonica? Don't you know how bad his completion percentage was? He had to have been terrible, he just had to be.  Numbers don't lie, do they?

 

2 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

That was the nature of the game back then.  Look at HOF Joe Namath, his completion and his TD/int ratios were terrible by today's standards.  QBs got hit hard and on almost very other pass play back then, defenders were basically given two steps before they hit the QB. Those guys took more serious hits in one game than Brady has takenn his entire carerr. And look at what the defernders could do to the WRs back then.  Cant compare te game, nt even close.

 

Mickey,  RoyBatty perfectly described how different the game was back then.  To give you an idea how the 1964 season was here are the stats.

Look at the Bill's leading the league in yards per catch at almost 20!

Numbers don't lie?  A current NFL team with 20 yards per catch would be crazy.

 

Back then a QB standing in the pocket to throw the ball had to have a lot of b@lls.

 

Rk Tm G Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD TD% Int Int% Lng Y/A AY/A Y/C Y/G 4QC GWD
1
Buffalo Bills 14 174 397 43.8 3166 19 4.8 34 8.6 94 8.6 5.7 19.7 226.1 3 3
2 Oakland Raiders 14 253 521 48.6 3422 28 5.4 33 6.3 77 7.5 5.7 15.4 244.4 4 2
3 Boston Patriots 14 229 476 48.1 3166 31 6.5 27 5.7 80 7.3 6 15.1 226.1 3 3
4 San Diego Chargers 14 224 445 50.3 3142 28 6.3 30 6.7 82 7.6 5.8 15 224.4 1 1
5 Kansas City Chiefs 14 228 412 55.3 2875 32 7.8 21 5.1 72 8.1 7.3 14.6 205.4 1 1
6 New York Jets 14 201 451 44.6 2432 19 4.2 33 7.3 71 6 3.5 13.4 173.7 1 0
7 Houston Oilers 14 299 592 50.5 3527 19 3.2 29 4.9 80 6.3 4.7 12.5 251.9 0 0
8 Denver Broncos 14 230 456 50.4 2021 14 3.1 32 7 82 5.6 3 11 144.4 0 0
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On 5/26/2018 at 7:07 AM, HOF4LOU said:

Lou Saban, who only recently was inducted on the WOF, should be considered for the HOF.   1 win away from the 1st superbowl - and who knows what may have happened.

 

I take Lou Saban over any Buffalo coach of the past. JMO

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