1972 Buffalo Bills: 4-9-1
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 2-4-1 (147 points scored, 181 allowed) Road record: 2-5-0 (110 points scored, 196 allowed) Head Coach: Lou Saban 257 points scored (19th of 26 teams), 377 points allowed (24th) NFL Averages: 20.3 points/game (283.5 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 164 316 1,601 (24) 4.39 16 24 512 2,132 ( 6) 4.2 11 3,733 (18) 39 Defense: 131 308 1,951 ( 7) 5.91 19 23 532 2,241 (22) 4.2 26 4,192 (17) 31
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College ? Jeff Lyman LB 1 6'2 230 22 R Brigham Young 3 John Leypoldt K 14 6'2 224 26 2 Northern Virginia C.C. 10 Leo Hart QB 2 6'4 203 23 2 Duke 10 Spike Jones P 14 6'2 190 25 3 Georgia 16 Dennis Shaw QB 14 6'2 215 25 3 San Diego State 17 Mike Taliaferro QB 5 6'2 205 31 8 Illinois 20 Robert James DB 14 6'1 185 25 4 Fisk 21 John Saunders DB 2 6'3 202 22 R Toledo 25 Haven Moses WR 5 6'3 205 26 5 San Diego State 26 Linzy Cole WR 8 5'11 170 24 3 Texas Christian 28 Dwight Harrison WR 7 6'1 178 24 2 Texas A&I 30 Wayne Patrick RB 13 6'2 245 26 5 Louisville 32 O.J. Simpson RB 14 6'2 214 25 4 Southern California 33 Randy Jackson RB 5 6'0 220 23 R Wichita State 34 Jim Braxton RB 14 6'2 226 23 2 West Virginia 37 Ted Koy RB 14 6'1 215 25 3 Texas 40 J.D. Hill WR 14 6'1 193 24 2 Arizona State 41 Alvin Wyatt DB 14 5'10 180 24 3 Bethune-Cookman 42 Maurice Tyler DB 14 6'0 188 22 R Morgan State 43 Tony Greene DB 14 5'10 170 23 2 Maryland 47 Leon Garror DB 12 6'0 180 24 R Alcorn State 48 John Pitts DB 14 6'4 215 27 6 Arizona State 50 Dick Palmer LB 4 6'2 232 25 2 Kentucky 51 Bruce Jarvis C 1 6'7 245 23 2 Washington 52 Edgar Chandler LB 1 6'3 225 26 5 Georgia 53 John Matlock C 11 6'4 250 28 5 Miami 54 Tom Beard C 12 6'6 280 24 1 Michigan State 56 Ken Lee LB 12 6'4 232 24 2 Washington 57 Dale Farley LB 7 6'3 235 23 2 West Virginia 58 Mike Stratton LB 10 6'3 240 31 11 Tennessee 59 Paul Guidry LB 14 6'3 233 28 7 McNeese State 60 Bill Adams OG 6 6'2 250 22 R Holy Cross 62 Dick Hart OG 5 6'2 250 29 5 None 63 Dick Cunningham LB 9 6'2 232 28 5 Arkansas 64 Andy Selfridge LB 13 6'4 218 23 R Virginia 65 Remi Prudhomme C 8 6'4 250 30 6 Louisiana State 67 Reggie McKenzie OG 14 6'4 235 22 R Michigan 68 Willie Young OT 1 6'4 270 24 2 Alcorn State 69 Bobby Penchion OG 12 6'5 255 23 R Alcorn State 71 Bob Tatarek DT 1 6'4 270 26 3 Miami 72 Don Croft DT 14 6'3 252 23 R Texas-El Paso 73 Jeff Curchin OT 1 6'6 255 24 3 Florida State 74 Donnie Green OT 14 6'7 285 24 2 Purdue 75 Frank Cornish DT 6 6'6 285 28 7 Grambling 76 Mike McBath DE 2 6'4 250 26 5 Penn State 77 Jerry Patton DT 14 6'3 250 26 2 Nebraska 78 Dave Foley OT 12 6'5 255 25 4 Ohio State 79 Paul Costa OT 9 6'4 268 30 8 Notre Dame 80 Jan White TE 14 6'2 216 24 2 Ohio State 81 Bob Chandler WR 14 6'0 180 23 2 Southern California 82 Al Cowlings DE 14 6'5 250 25 3 Southern California 83 Bob Christiansen TE 4 6'4 230 23 R UCLA 85 Walt Patulski DE 14 6'6 252 22 R Notre Dame 86 Dave Washington LB 14 6'5 220 24 3 Alcorn State 87 Louis Ross DE 14 6'6 242 25 2 South Carolina State 88 Steve Okoniewski DT 10 6'3 247 23 R Montana
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Dennis Shaw 258 136 52.7 1,666 6.46 12.2 14 5.4 17 6.6 38 320 63.5 Mike Taliaferro 33 16 48.5 176 5.33 11.0 1 3.0 4 12.1 6 48 35.2 Leo Hart 15 6 40.0 53 3.53 8.8 0 0.0 3 20.0 4 32 10.6 O.J. Simpson 8 5 62.5 113 14.12 22.6 1 12.5 0 0.0 1 11 145.8 Spike Jones 2 1 50.0 4 2.00 4.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 56.3
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD J.D. Hill 52 754 14.5 5 Bob Chandler 33 528 16.0 5 O.J. Simpson 27 198 7.3 0 Jim Braxton 24 232 9.7 1 Jan White 12 148 12.3 2 Wayne Patrick 8 42 5.2 1 Haven Moses 3 60 20.0 1 Randy Jackson 2 21 10.5 1 Dwight Harrison 1 16 16.0 0 Ted Koy 1 9 9.0 0 Dave Washington 1 4 4.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD O.J. Simpson 292 1,251 4.3 6 Jim Braxton 116 453 3.9 5 Dennis Shaw 35 138 3.9 0 Wayne Patrick 35 130 3.7 0 Randy Jackson 17 57 3.4 0 Bob Chandler 3 27 9.0 0 Mike Taliaferro 5 19 3.8 0 Leo Hart 5 19 3.8 0 Spike Jones 2 18 9.0 0 J.D. Hill 1 11 11.0 0 Ted Koy 1 9 9.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Alvin Wyatt 17 432 25.4 0 Linzy Cole 16 415 25.9 0 Tony Greene 15 378 25.2 0 Ted Koy 5 63 12.6 0 Andy Selfridge 3 36 12.0 0 J.D. Hill 2 32 16.0 0 O.J. Simpson 1 21 21.0 0 Jim Braxton 1 12 12.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Alvin Wyatt 11 85 7.7 5 0 Linzy Cole 7 35 5.0 6 0 J.D. Hill 4 24 6.0 1 0 Tony Greene 2 18 9.0 4 0 Dwight Harrison 1 2 2.0 2 0 |
1972 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 1 DE Walt Patulski 70 Notre Dame 2 27 OG Reggie McKenzie 171 Michigan 3 53 DE Fred Swendson Notre Dame 4 79 RB Randy Jackson 21 Wichita State 5 105 DB Leon Garror 16 Alcorn A&M 5 108 OG Bob Penchion 48 Alcorn A&M [pick acquired from DEN] 7 157 DB Ralph Stepaniak Notre Dame 8 183 WR Paul Gibson 1 Texas-El Paso 9 209 LB Steve Vogel Boise State 10 235 DB Maurice Tyler 86 Morgan State 11 271 LB Bill Light Minnesota 12 287 WR Jeff Baker U.S. International 13 313 RB Eddie Moss 35 S.E. Missouri State 14 340 DT Karl Salb Kansas 16 391 QB Brian Linstrom Arizona 17 417 DB John Shelley Oklahoma
Traded draft picks: #6 to OAK (Dan Medlin), #15 to OAK (Charles Hester)
Transactions:
| 01-1972 | traded Mike Wilson to Redskins for a conditional draft pick |
| 02-01-1972 | traded Houston's #5 pick in the 1972 draft to Falcons for Greg Lens and Randy Marshall |
| 03-14-1972 | traded Joe O'Donnell to Cardinals for Irv Goode |
| 04-13-1972 | traded Al Andrews to Broncos for Dave Washington |
| 06-07-1972 | traded Jim Dunaway to Dolphins for Dale Farley |
| 06-07-1972 | traded Marlin Briscoe to Dolphins for Miami's #1 pick in the 1973 draft |
| 06-19-1972 | traded Cal Snowden to Chargers for San Diego's #5 pick in the 1973 draft |
| 07-19-1972 | traded an unspecified 1973 draft pick to Oilers for Scott Lewis |
| 07-28-1972 | traded Levert Carr to Oilers for Houston's #14 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 08-11-1972 | claimed Mike Taliaferro on waivers from Patriots |
| 08-17-1972 | Bengals claimed Mike Taliaferro on waivers |
| 08-17-1972 | Dolphins claimed Julian Nunamaker on waivers |
| 08-22-1972 | traded Howard Kindig and Buffalo's #5 pick in the 1973 draft to Dolphins for Frank Cornish |
| 09-06-1972 | placed Irv Goode on injured reserve |
| 09-07-1972 | claimed Dennis Homan on waivers from Chiefs |
| 09-07-1972 | claimed Lorenzo Brinkley on waivers from Steelers |
| 09-07-1972 | claimed Karl Douglas on waivers from Colts |
| 09-07-1972 | claimed Tony Harris on waivers from 49ers |
| 09-08-1972 | Bengals claimed Tim Beamer on waivers |
| 09-12-1972 | claimed Dave Foley on waivers from Jets |
| 09-12-1972 | claimed Don Croft on waivers from Colts |
| 09-13-1972 | claimed Ken Lee on waivers from Lions |
| 09-14-1972 | claimed John Saunders on waivers from Rams |
| 09-14-1972 | claimed Ron Acks on waivers from Rams |
| 09-26-1972 | Lions claimed Bob Tatareck on waivers |
| 10-16-1972 | traded Haven Moses to Broncos for Dwight Harrison |
1972 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/17/72 vs New York Jets L 24-41 0-1-0 09/24/72 vs San Francisco 49ers W 27-20 1-1-0 10/01/72 vs Baltimore Colts L 0-17 1-2-0 10/08/72 vs New England Patriots W 38-14 2-2-0 10/15/72 at Oakland Raiders L 16-28 2-3-0 10/22/72 at Miami Dolphins L 23-24 2-4-0 10/29/72 vs Pittsburgh Steelers L 21-38 2-5-0 11/05/72 vs Miami Dolphins L 16-30 2-6-0 11/12/72 at New York Jets L 3-41 2-7-0 11/19/72 at New England Patriots W 27-24 3-7-0 11/26/72 at Cleveland Browns L 10-27 3-8-0 12/03/72 at Baltimore Colts L 7-35 3-9-0 12/10/72 vs Detroit Lions T 21-21 3-9-1 12/17/72 at Washington Redskins W 24-17 4-9-1