freddyjj Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 (edited) As a lifelong Bills fan, I can remember the tail end of the 60's playoff run and was in HS or College for the 1974 and 1980, 1981 playoffs. Thought some background might be helpful for younger fans. Enjoy! The 1963 Bills lost a Win and In game playoff due to being tied in regular season to Patriots at the Rockpile, 1964 won in WMS vs AS and 1965 Won in SD for AFL Championship. In 1966 Bills lost to KC in Rockpile with chance to go to the first Superbowl. It was called the World Championship Game initially. The 63-65 teams were coached by Lou Saban who went to the playoffs in 3 of his 4 years four years during his first tenure (1962-1965, 2-1 in playoffs with 2 championships and 2 COTY)) as Bills head Coach. Joe Collier was coach of the 1966 Bills. Some interesting notes from Wikipedia about this era and the first Super Bowl: The AFL–NFL merger agreement of June 1966 called for a "world championship game" between the league champions. When a date of January 15, 1967, was established, the AFL title game was moved to January 1, same as the NFL championship game in Dallas. The AFL game was at 1 p.m. EST, televised by NBC, and the NFL game followed at 4 p.m. on CBS.[4] Like the NFL, the host team for the title game was alternated between the divisions, with the Eastern hosting in even-numbered years and the Western in odd. Home-field advantage was not adopted until 1975. In 1974 the OJ Simpson era Bills led again by Saban in his 2nd tenure (1972-1976) lost in the divisional Round to the eventual SB Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in 3 Rivers Stadium. The Bills led briefly 7-3 before surrendering 26 unanswered points in Q2 to trail 29-7 at the half. They eventually lost 32-14 with OJ Simpson rushing for only 49 yds. This was the only playoff appearance for OJ and the last one for Saban who coached into the 1976 season. The Chuck Knox era began in 1978 and took off in a magical 1980 season specifically. On opening day 1980 at Rich Stadium in OP, the Bills won breaking the Dolphins 20 game winning streak over the Bills - and down came the goalposts! It was a very energized fan base like this year as the Bills O, featuring a veteran QB in Joe Ferguson, a great rookie RB in Joe Cribbs, a clutch WR duo in Jerry Butler and Frank Lewis, started off 5-0 eventually finishing at 11-5, taking the AFC East Title. The Bills D was known as the Bermuda Triangle with NT Fred Smerlas, ILB Shane Nelson and ILB Jim Haslett) forming the tough interior of that Defense. Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman wrote about the Bills' 1980 season, "It was a euphoric kind of year for Buffalo. Chuck Knox and his defensive coordinator, Tom Catlin, built the defense into No. 1 in the NFL with virtually the same people who had been lousy in '79 (#3 in pts against, #1 in Yds against). The Bills even beat Miami for the first time in a generation. And then Quarterback Joe Ferguson picked exactly the wrong time of year to sprain his ankle -- the playoffs. And San Diego ended the dream." The 1980 Bills lost to SD 20-14 in Jack Murphy Stadium in the divisional round. The following synopsis sums it up best: Wrote Paul Zimmerman in Sports Illustrated's 1981 NFL preview, "If Charley Romes intercepts the pass that bounces off his chest in the last few minutes of the playoff game against San Diego, then the Chargers don't score on the next play, and the Bills win the game. And Buffalo then gets to play Oakland at home -- where the Bills crushed the Raiders earlier in the season. And Buffalo's in the Super Bowl." The following year the 1981 Bills, starting to show signs of age, went 10-6 to finish first in the AFC East earning them a wildcard. The highlight of the regular season was a week 12 Hail Mary toss from Fergy to Roland Hooks at Rich Stadium that beat the Patriots. In the playoffs, the Bills were consigned to the road. In the Wildcard Game at Shea Stadium, the Jets fumbled the opening kickoff and Charles Romes, CB picked it up and ran it in for a 7-0 lead. The Bills went out to a Q2 24-0 lead before the Jets got 10 points by the end of the first half. The Jets stormed back in the 3rd quarter scoring 17 points but the Bills countered with a Q4 TD by Cribbs on a 45 yd swing pass. The gamewas sealed by a Bill Simpson INT of a Richard todd 11 yd pass into the Bills end zone as time expired. This was the Bills first playoff win since their 1965 Season Championship game! The following week saw the 1981 Bills going to Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati to face the Ken Anderson led #1 seed Bengals. The Bills fell behind 14-0 before 2 Joe Cribbs rushing TDs tied the game up in the 3rd quarter. The teams traded TDs again with a Jerry Butler TD reception from Fergy knotting the game at 21. The Bengals got a late 16 YD Anderson to Chris Collingsworth (yes that one) to take a 28-21 lead. The Bills dreams ended with a 4th down incompletion. The Bengals went on and eventually advanced to the SB where they lost to the 49ers, the first of their SB victories. So I hope this helps all the under 50 year old fans know what happened in the Bills playoff history before the Marv Levy SB era Bills and afterward. The vibe around WNY now really mirrors the Chuck Knox era as those teams had a mix of vets and youth, played tough D and had a ball control offense with some gifted pass catchers. They were the first team I really identified with. Edited December 21, 2019 by freddyjj 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg S Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 I was a kid at the time but I was at the 81 WC vs the Jets at Shea. Talk about a nervous ending to a playoff game. I remember both Ferguson and Todd were throwing INT's all over the place. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 35 minutes ago, freddyjj said: The 1980 Bills lost to SD 20-14 in Jack Murphy Stadium in the divisional round. The following synopsis sums it up best: Wrote Paul Zimmerman in Sports Illustrated's 1981 NFL preview, "If Charley Romes intercepts the pass that bounces off his chest in the last few minutes of the playoff game against San Diego, then the Chargers don't score on the next play, and the Bills win the game. And Buffalo then gets to play Oakland at home -- where the Bills crushed the Raiders earlier in the season. And Buffalo's in the Super Bowl." I remember that article well. Pretty sure that was Dr Z's justification for picking the Bills to win it all in '81 (over Atlanta IIRC). That San Diego game still hurts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler#81 Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 “The 1963 Bills lost a Win and In game to Patriots,at Rockpile, 1964 won in SD and 1965 Won in BUF vs SD for AFL Championship. In 1966 Bills lost to SD in Rockpile with chance to go to the first Superbowl.“ Amazing! Almost everything here is wrong and it’s all incorrect. ’63 was the 1st Ever AFL Playoff Game, necessitated by Buffalo winning the last regular season game and Boston losing. Took place in WMS. We got stomped. Otherwise, the only AFL Playoff game was the Championship. We beat San Diego in WMS 20-7 in ‘64 and went to their place, Balboa Field, in ‘65, rolling them 23-0. We lost to Kansas City at home in the ‘66 Title game. Wherever you're getting your information from, just stop. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfanmiami(oh) Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 As someone who was born in 84, thank you for this. I knew the “basics” of the earlier stuff but really cool to get a cliff notes version of how the games actually played out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machine gun kelly Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 I love the history. Probably half of this board is before their time, and that’s ok. The 60’s were before me, and my first memory at 3 was was OJ’s 2013 yards in 14 games in the 70’s. He’s a rotten person, but did what no other person has ever done. 2000+ yards in 14 games. Not AP, Dickerson, or anyone else. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 “In 1966 Bills lost to SD in Rockpile with chance to go to the first Superbowl.“ In 1966 the Bills lost to KC in the Rockpile. I was at the game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 23 minutes ago, chris heff said: “In 1966 Bills lost to SD in Rockpile with chance to go to the first Superbowl.“ In 1966 the Bills lost to KC in the Rockpile. I was at the game. Sad to say but us fans who were there actually thought every season would be like those. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB48 Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 I was also at the loss to KC in '66. The Bills were in decline and the game wasn't really very close. My 1st game at WMS was in October 1960 going with my DAD. I was hooked on the team ever after. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SF Bills Fan Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 The '80 Bills would and should have won the whole thing. I remember in the my elementary school in Orchard Park we made up and sang a tribute song to the Bills during the playoff run that was to the tune of the twelves days of Christmas. Somehow, it made it on to Buffalo radio. Totally corny, but at the time it was awesome to a small fan like me. I remember being at the Hooks hail mary game. It was a cold and windy day with maybe 35 thousand fans there and this was back when the stadium was over 80k. If I'm not mistaken, that incompletion in the Cinci game actually was a completion, but was thrown after the play clock expired. There was controversy too, as Knox had called timeout that was ignored.The drive would have gone on. Those Knox teams were great- he lived around the corner from where I grew up in OP. He had a reputation for being a tough SOB, but, if you met him- nicest guy ever. Everyone focuses on the 90's glory days, but the Bills won championships in the 60's, should have won in the 80's. Could have won had they beat Tennessee in 2000. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helpmenow Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 (edited) I used to drive past the former location of the balboa stadium in San Diego where the bills whitewashed them chargers. Always thought wow this is where the bills played Edited December 21, 2019 by Helpmenow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyjj Posted December 21, 2019 Author Share Posted December 21, 2019 4 hours ago, Chandler#81 said: “The 1963 Bills lost a Win and In game to Patriots,at Rockpile, 1964 won in SD and 1965 Won in BUF vs SD for AFL Championship. In 1966 Bills lost to SD in Rockpile with chance to go to the first Superbowl.“ Amazing! Almost everything here is wrong and it’s all incorrect. ’63 was the 1st Ever AFL Playoff Game, necessitated by Buffalo winning the last regular season game and Boston losing. Took place in WMS. We got stomped. Otherwise, the only AFL Playoff game was the Championship. We beat San Diego in WMS 20-7 in ‘64 and went to their place, Balboa Field, in ‘65, rolling them 23-0. We lost to Kansas City at home in the ‘66 Title game. Wherever you're getting your information from, just stop. Corrected as had the venues confused. KC vs SD in 66 was just a typo. Sorry for confusion 3 hours ago, chris heff said: “In 1966 Bills lost to SD in Rockpile with chance to go to the first Superbowl.“ In 1966 the Bills lost to KC in the Rockpile. I was at the game. Sorry just a typo in my part. Knew it was KC too 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyjj Posted December 22, 2019 Author Share Posted December 22, 2019 On 12/20/2019 at 7:36 PM, SF Bills Fan said: f I'm not mistaken, that incompletion in the Cinci game actually was a completion, but was thrown after the play clock expired. There was controversy too, as Knox had called timeout that was ignored.The drive would have gone on. Pretty sure that was the case too. Isiah Robertson, Lucious Sanford were fun too watch too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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