1973 Buffalo Bills: 9-5-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-2-0 (140 points scored, 106 allowed) Road record: 4-3-0 (119 points scored, 124 allowed) Head Coach: Lou Saban 259 points scored (15th of 26 teams), 230 points allowed (10th) NFL Averages: 19.5 points/game (272.3 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: 96 213 997 (26) 4.09 4 14 605 3,088 ( 1) 5.1 20 4,085 (10) 27 Defense: 166 368 2,118 (17) 5.29 12 14 455 1,797 ( 7) 3.9 11 3,915 (14) 33
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 3 John Leypoldt K 14 6'2 230 27 3 Northern Virginia C.C. 10 Spike Jones P 14 6'2 190 26 4 Georgia 12 Joe Ferguson QB 14 6'1 190 23 R Arkansas 16 Dennis Shaw QB 4 6'2 215 26 4 San Diego State 20 Robert James DB 13 6'1 185 26 5 Fisk 22 Bill Cahill DB 5 5'11 180 22 R Washington 23 Ken Stone DB 6 6'1 180 23 R Vanderbilt 24 Ernie Kellermann DB 10 6'0 183 29 8 Miami (Ohio) 26 Donnie Walker DB 11 6'1 185 22 R Central State 28 Dwight Harrison DB 14 6'1 178 25 3 Texas A&I 30 Bo Cornell RB 14 6'1 215 24 3 Washington 32 O.J. Simpson RB 14 6'2 214 26 5 Southern California 34 Jim Braxton RB 6 6'2 243 24 3 West Virginia 36 Pete Van Valkenberg RB 13 6'2 192 23 R Brigham Young 37 Ted Koy TE 13 6'1 212 26 4 Texas 38 Larry Watkins RB 14 6'2 230 27 5 Alcorn State 40 J.D. Hill WR 14 6'1 202 25 3 Arizona State 43 Tony Greene DB 14 5'10 170 24 3 Maryland 46 Steve Jones RB 11 6'0 200 22 R Duke 47 Leon Garror DB 4 6'0 180 25 2 Alcorn State 48 John Pitts DB 3 6'4 218 28 7 Arizona State 50 Jim Cheyunski LB 13 6'2 225 27 6 Syracuse 51 Bruce Jarvis C 8 6'7 250 24 3 Washington 52 Merv Krakau LB 14 6'2 242 22 R Iowa State 53 Mike Montler C 10 6'4 255 29 5 Colorado 54 Phil Croyle LB 5 6'3 220 26 3 California 54 Rick Kingrea LB 4 6'1 233 24 3 Tulane 55 John Skorupan LB 14 6'2 214 22 R Penn State 56 Rich Lewis LB 10 6'3 220 23 2 Portland State 57 Fred Forsberg LB 10 6'1 235 29 5 Washington 57 Dale Farley LB 2 6'3 235 24 3 West Virginia 61 Willie Parker C 14 6'3 240 24 1 North Texas State 67 Reggie McKenzie OG 14 6'4 235 23 2 Michigan 68 Joe DeLamielleure OG 14 6'3 254 22 R Michigan State 69 Bobby Penchion OG 5 6'5 265 24 2 Alcorn State 70 Bob Kampa DT 7 6'4 252 22 R California 71 Mike Kadish DT 12 6'5 265 23 1 Notre Dame 73 Earl Edwards DE 14 6'5 262 27 5 Wichita State 74 Donnie Green OT 14 6'7 272 25 3 Purdue 75 Jeff Winans DE 9 6'5 265 22 R Southern California 77 Jerry Patton DT 14 6'3 265 27 3 Nebraska 78 Dave Foley OT 14 6'5 255 26 5 Ohio State 79 Steve Okoniewski DT 5 6'3 247 24 2 Montana 80 Ray Jarvis WR 12 5'11 193 24 3 Norfolk State 81 Bob Chandler WR 14 6'0 180 24 3 Southern California 82 Brian McConnell LB 1 6'4 207 23 R Michigan State 85 Walt Patulski DE 14 6'6 260 23 2 Notre Dame 86 Dave Washington TE 7 6'5 220 25 4 Alcorn State 87 Paul Seymour TE 14 6'5 260 23 R Michigan 88 Halvor Hagen OG 5 6'5 245 26 5 Weber State 89 Wallace Francis WR 12 5'11 188 21 R Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Joe Ferguson 164 73 44.5 939 5.73 12.9 4 2.4 10 6.1 20 164 45.8 Dennis Shaw 46 22 47.8 300 6.52 13.6 0 0.0 4 8.7 11 75 32.9 O.J. Simpson 2 1 50.0 -3 -1.50 -3.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 56.3 Bob Chandler 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Bob Chandler 30 427 14.2 3 J.D. Hill 29 422 14.6 0 Larry Watkins 12 86 7.2 1 Paul Seymour 10 114 11.4 0 Jim Braxton 6 101 16.8 0 O.J. Simpson 6 70 11.7 0 Ray Jarvis 1 12 12.0 0 Pete Van Valkenberg 1 7 7.0 0 Joe Ferguson 1 -3 -3.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD O.J. Simpson 332 2,003 6.0 12 Jim Braxton 108 494 4.6 4 Larry Watkins 98 414 4.2 2 Joe Ferguson 48 147 3.1 2 Pete Van Valkenberg 2 20 10.0 0 Bo Cornell 4 13 3.2 0 Steve Jones 3 9 3.0 0 Dennis Shaw 4 2 0.5 0 Spike Jones 1 0 0.0 0 Bob Chandler 5 -14 -2.8 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Wallace Francis 23 687 29.9 2 Steve Jones 6 116 19.3 0 Ray Jarvis 5 84 16.8 0 Bill Cahill 2 42 21.0 0 Larry Watkins 1 18 18.0 0 Willie Parker 1 16 16.0 0 Tony Greene 1 7 7.0 0 Bo Cornell 1 2 2.0 0 Pete Van Valkenberg 1 0 0.0 0 Jim Braxton 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Donnie Walker 25 210 8.4 4 0 Bill Cahill 4 73 18.2 1 1 Bob Chandler 2 5 2.5 5 0 J.D. Hill 1 -9 -9.0 0 0 |
1973 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 7 TE Paul Seymour 69 Michigan 1 26 OG Joe Delamielleure 185 Michigan State [pick acquired from MIA] 2 32 DT Jeff Winans 35 USC 3 57 QB Joe Ferguson 186 Arkansas 3 77 DT Bob Kampa 14 California [pick acquired from WAS] 4 87 DB Donnie Walker 27 Central State (Oh.) 4 103 DT Jeff Yeates 138 Boston College [pick acquired from WAS] 5 110 WR Wallace Francis 132 Arkansas State [pick acquired from SD] 6 136 LB John Skorupan 92 Penn State 7 162 LB Brian McConnell 8 Michigan State 7 181 TE John Ford Henderson State [pick acquired from WAS] 8 190 RB Lee Fobbs Grambling 9 215 WR Mike Reppond 2 Arkansas 10 240 QB Matthew Reed Grambling 10 259 LB John LeHeup South Carolina [pick acquired from WAS] 11 265 OT Richard Earl Tennessee 12 294 DT Ron Carroll 14 Sam Houston State 14 344 LB Merv Krakau 72 Iowa State 15 369 LB Joe Rizzo 81 Kings Point 15 379 RB Vince O'Neil Kansas [pick acquired from KC] 17 423 DB John Stearns Colorado
Traded draft picks: #5 to MIA (Don Strock), #13 to DEN (Ed Smith), #16 to DEN (Oliver Ross)
Transactions:
| 01-23-1973 | traded a 1973 draft pick to Broncos for Tom Bougas |
| 02-14-1973 | traded Paul Guidry to Oilers for Allen Aldridge |
| 02-15-1973 | Giants claimed Linzy Cole on waivers |
| 03-07-1973 | Bears claimed John Matlock on waivers |
| 03-07-1973 | Bears claimed Tom Beard on waivers |
| 03-28-1973 | Jim Reilly retired |
| 04-10-1973 | traded Buffalo's #2 pick in the 1974 draft to Chargers for Chuck Detwiler, Lee Thomas and a player to be named |
| 04-19-1973 | traded Edgar Chandler, Jeff Lyman and Wayne Patrick to Patriots for Jim Cheyunski, Halvor Hagen and Mike Montler |
| 04-30-1973 | traded Al Cowlings to Oilers for Houston's #2 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 05-02-1973 | traded a draft pick to Broncos for Clem Turner and Jack Gehrke |
| 05-30-1973 | traded Buffalo's #6 pick in the 1974 draft to Browns for Bo Cornell |
| 07-06-1973 | traded Ken Lee to Patriots for Ron Berger |
| 07-12-1973 | Broncos claimed Matthew Reed on waivers |
| 07-13-1973 | traded an undisclosed draft pick to Falcons for Ray Jarvis |
| 07-19-1973 | traded Buffalo's #7 pick in the 1974 draft to Colts for John Mosier |
| 07-26-1973 | traded an undisclosed draft pick to Eagles for Al Davis |
| 07-26-1973 | traded an undisclosed draft pick to Steelers for Ralph Davis |
| 08-14-1973 | traded the rights to Jan White to Browns for Cleveland's #10 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 08-16-1973 | traded Dick Cunningham to Eagles for Larry Watkins |
| 08-23-1973 | traded Lou Ross to Falcons for Willie Belton |
| 08-27-1973 | traded Irv Goode to Dolphins for Mike Kadish |
| 08-29-1973 | traded Buffalo's #6 pick in the 1975 draft to Saints for Dave Long |
| 08-30-1973 | traded Willie Belton to Cardinals for St. Louis' #10 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 09-03-1973 | traded Mike Stratton to Chargers for San Diego's #5 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 09-03-1973 | claimed Randy Mattingly on waivers from Bears |
| 09-07-1973 | Bengals claimed Randy Mattingly on waivers |
| 09-10-1973 | traded Randy Jackson and Buffalo's #3 pick in the 1975 draft to 49ers for Earl Edwards |
| 09-10-1973 | traded Buffalo's #8 pick in the 1974 draft to Browns for Rich Kingrea |
| 09-10-1973 | traded an undisclosed draft pick to Rams for Willie Parker |
| 09-14-1973 | claimed Pete Van Valkenburg on waivers from Saints |
| 10-03-1973 | traded John Pitts to Broncos for Fred Forsberg |
| 10-19-1973 | Rams claimed Leon Garror on waivers |
1973 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/16/73 at New England Patriots W 31-13 1-0-0 09/23/73 at San Diego Chargers L 7-34 1-1-0 09/30/73 vs New York Jets W 9-7 2-1-0 10/07/73 vs Philadelphia Eagles W 27-26 3-1-0 10/14/73 vs Baltimore Colts W 31-13 4-1-0 10/21/73 at Miami Dolphins L 6-27 4-2-0 10/29/73 vs Kansas City Chiefs W 23-14 5-2-0 11/04/73 at New Orleans Saints L 0-13 5-3-0 11/11/73 vs Cincinnati Bengals L 13-16 5-4-0 11/18/73 vs Miami Dolphins L 0-17 5-5-0 11/25/73 at Baltimore Colts W 24-17 6-5-0 12/02/73 at Atlanta Falcons W 17-6 7-5-0 12/09/73 vs New England Patriots W 37-13 8-5-0 12/16/73 at New York Jets W 34-14 9-5-0