1976 San Diego Chargers: 6-8-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 3-4-0 (144 points scored, 162 allowed) Road record: 3-4-0 (104 points scored, 123 allowed) Head Coach: Tommy Prothro 248 points scored (19th of 28 teams), 285 points allowed (18th) NFL Averages: 19.2 points/game (268.1 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: 223 388 2,416 ( 8) 5.57 17 18 473 2,040 (17) 4.3 13 4,456 (11) 31 Defense: 219 386 2,628 (27) 6.43 21 20 516 2,048 (14) 4.0 10 4,676 (22) 31
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 6 Ray Wersching K 9 5'11 222 26 4 California 7 Eddie Bell WR 5 5'10 160 30 7 Idaho State 10 Mitch Hoopes P 9 6'1 210 23 2 Arizona 14 Dan Fouts QB 14 6'3 204 25 4 Oregon 15 Toni Fritsch K 5 5'7 195 31 5 None 16 Clint Longley QB 3 6'1 195 24 3 Abilene Christian 18 Charlie Joiner WR 14 5'11 180 29 8 Grambling 19 Neal Jeffrey QB 5 6'1 180 23 1 Baylor 22 Tom Hayes DB 9 6'1 198 30 6 San Diego State 23 Mercury Morris RB 13 5'10 192 29 8 West Texas State 27 Gary Garrison WR 2 6'1 190 32 11 San Diego State 29 Mike Williams DB 14 5'10 181 22 2 Louisiana State 30 Sam Scarber RB 14 6'2 232 27 2 New Mexico 33 Don Woods RB 11 6'1 210 25 3 New Mexico 34 Rickey Young RB 14 6'2 193 22 2 Jackson State 41 Bo Matthews RB 12 6'4 230 24 3 Colorado 42 Mike Fuller DB 14 5'9 195 23 2 Auburn 43 Jim Tolbert DB 4 6'3 210 32 11 Lincoln (Mo.) 44 Chris Fletcher DB 13 5'11 189 27 7 Temple 45 Hal Stringert DB 11 5'11 185 24 2 Willamette 46 Danny Colbert DB 13 5'11 182 25 3 Tulsa 50 Don Goode LB 14 6'2 230 25 3 Kansas 51 Woodrow Lowe LB 14 6'0 227 22 R Alabama 52 Ray Preston LB 14 6'0 223 22 R Syracuse 53 Ralph Perretta C 13 6'2 252 23 2 Purdue 54 Ed Flanagan C 12 6'3 245 32 12 Purdue 55 Bob Horn LB 14 6'3 235 22 R Oregon State 57 Rick Middleton LB 10 6'2 234 24 3 Ohio State 58 Tom Graham LB 10 6'2 235 26 5 Oregon 62 Don Macek OG 14 6'3 253 22 R Boston College 63 Doug Wilkerson OG 14 6'2 262 29 7 North Carolina Central 64 Charles Aiu OG 14 6'2 248 22 R Hawaii 66 Billy Shields OT 14 6'7 272 23 2 Georgia Tech 68 Leroy Jones DE 14 6'8 245 26 1 Norfolk State 69 John Lee DE 14 6'2 247 23 R Nebraska 70 Russ Washington OT 14 6'6 290 29 9 Missouri 71 Fred Dean DE 14 6'3 226 24 2 Louisiana Tech 72 Ron Singleton OT 13 6'7 245 24 R Grambling 73 Charles DeJurnett DT 13 6'4 270 24 1 San Jose State 74 Louie Kelcher DT 14 6'5 282 23 2 Southern Methodist 79 Gary Johnson DT 14 6'2 262 24 2 Grambling 80 Jeff West P 6 6'3 220 23 2 Cincinnati 82 Pat Curran TE 14 6'3 238 31 8 Lakeland 83 Larry Mialik TE 7 6'2 226 26 4 Wisconsin 85 Artie Owens WR 14 5'10 170 23 R West Virginia 87 Larry Dorsey WR 13 6'1 195 23 R Tennessee State 88 Chuck Bradley TE 7 6'6 255 26 2 Oregon 89 Dwight McDonald WR 12 6'2 187 25 2 San Diego State
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Dan Fouts 359 208 57.9 2,535 7.06 12.2 14 3.9 15 4.2 39 220 75.4 Clint Longley 24 12 50.0 130 5.42 10.8 2 8.3 3 12.5 7 51 54.5 Neal Jeffrey 2 2 100.0 11 5.50 5.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 89.6 Don Woods 2 1 50.0 11 5.50 11.0 1 50.0 0 0.0 0 0 106.3 Charlie Joiner 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Charlie Joiner 50 1,056 21.1 7 Rickey Young 47 441 9.4 1 Don Woods 34 224 6.6 1 Pat Curran 33 349 10.6 1 Sam Scarber 14 96 6.9 1 Bo Matthews 12 81 6.8 0 Dwight McDonald 11 161 14.6 4 Larry Dorsey 8 108 13.5 0 Mercury Morris 8 52 6.5 0 Artie Owens 3 54 18.0 1 Gary Garrison 2 58 29.0 1 Chuck Bradley 1 7 7.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Rickey Young 162 802 5.0 4 Don Woods 126 450 3.6 3 Mercury Morris 50 256 5.1 2 Sam Scarber 61 236 3.9 1 Bo Matthews 46 199 4.3 3 Dan Fouts 18 65 3.6 0 Clint Longley 4 22 5.5 0 Pat Curran 1 12 12.0 0 Mitch Hoopes 2 10 5.0 0 Neal Jeffrey 1 0 0.0 0 Jeff West 1 0 0.0 0 Larry Dorsey 1 -12 -12.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Artie Owens 25 551 22.0 0 Mike Fuller 20 420 21.0 0 Ralph Perretta 2 24 12.0 0 Rick Middleton 1 21 21.0 0 Bo Matthews 1 19 19.0 0 Eddie Bell 1 18 18.0 0 Ray Preston 1 16 16.0 0 Bob Horn 1 7 7.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Mike Fuller 33 436 13.2 0 0 Eddie Bell 7 31 4.4 0 0 Mike Williams 5 23 4.6 1 0 |
1976 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 4 RB Joe Washington 119 Oklahoma 2 31 OG Don Macek 162 Boston College 3 64 WR Larry Dorsey 42 Tennessee State 4 95 LB Bob Horn 109 Oregon State 4 113 TE Ron Singleton 59 Grambling [pick acquired from HOU via OAK] 4 115 WR Artie Owens 64 West Virginia [pick acquired from OAK] 5 131 LB Woodrow Lowe 164 Alabama [pick acquired from NE] 6 178 DB Calvin Lane Fresno State [pick acquired from OAK] 8 212 K Tony DiRienzo Oklahoma 9 251 RB Glynn Harrison 8 Georgia [pick acquired from NYG] 10 268 DE Jeff Perlinger Michigan 11 295 LB Ray Preston 122 Syracuse 12 322 DB Ron Lee Oregon 12 338 DB Herman Harris Mississippi Valley State [pick acquired from HOU] 13 351 DT John Lee 52 Nebraska 14 378 OG Ed Jones Cincinnati 15 407 DT Jack Hoffman Indiana 16 434 OG Jack Harrison California 17 463 LB Clarence Sanders 17 Cincinnati
Traded draft picks: #5 to LA (Carl Ekern), #6 to PIT via STL (Gary Dunn), #7 to DAL (Greg Schaum), #9 to BUF (Jeff Turner)
Transactions:
| 03-30-1976 | Buccaneers selected Ira Gordon in expansion draft |
| 03-30-1976 | Seahawks selected Charles Waddell in expansion draft |
| 03-30-1976 | Seahawks selected Dave Tipton in expansion draft |
| 04-02-1976 | traded Coy Bacon to Bengals for Charlie Joiner |
| 04-02-1976 | traded Franklin Tate to Raiders for Mike Dennery |
| 04-02-1976 | traded Bobby Douglass and Washington's #3 pick in the 1976 draft to Saints for Rick Middleton |
| 04-08-1976 | traded Sam Williams to Falcons for Tom Hayes and Atlanta's #6 pick in the 1977 draft |
| 04-08-1976 | traded Washington's #4 pick and Chicago's #8 pick in the 1976 draft to Raiders for Oakland's #4 and #6 picks in the 1976 draft |
| 04-09-1976 | traded San Diego's #9 pick in the 1976 draft to Bills for Halvor Hagen |
| 07-09-1976 | Jets claimed Clarence Sanders on waivers |
| 07-17-1976 | traded Floyd Rice to Raiders for cash |
| 07-20-1976 | traded Kevin Nosbusch to 49ers for a #8 pick in the 1977 draft |
| 07-20-1976 | traded Drew Mahalic to Eagles for $100 cash |
| 07-22-1976 | traded Mark Markovich to Lions for Guy Dennis and Detroit's #6 pick in the 1977 draft |
| 08-03-1976 | traded San Diego's #10 pick in the 1977 draft to Cowboys for Mitch Hoopes |
| 08-10-1976 | traded Halvor Hagen to Saints for a #9 pick in the 1977 draft |
| 08-24-1976 | traded San Diego's #4 pick in the 1977 draft to Dolphins for Mercury Morris |
| 08-25-1976 | traded $200 cash to Lions for Leanell Jones |
| 08-30-1976 | traded San Diego's #1 and #2 picks in the 1977 draft to Cowboys for Clint Longley and Dallas' #1 pick in the 1977 draft |
| 09-06-1976 | traded a #2 pick in the 1977 draft and $12,500 cash to Redskins for Leroy Jones |
| 09-06-1976 | traded San Diego's #8 pick in the 1977 draft to Cowboys for Toni Fritsch and San Diego's #10 pick in the 1977 draft |
1976 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/12/76 at Kansas City Chiefs W 30-16 1-0-0 09/19/76 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 23-0 2-0-0 09/26/76 vs St. Louis Cardinals W 43-24 3-0-0 10/03/76 at Denver Broncos L 0-26 3-1-0 10/10/76 vs Oakland Raiders L 17-27 3-2-0 10/17/76 vs Houston Oilers W 30-27 4-2-0 10/24/76 at Cleveland Browns L 17-21 4-3-0 10/31/76 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 0-23 4-4-0 11/07/76 vs Baltimore Colts L 21-37 4-5-0 11/14/76 vs Denver Broncos L 0-17 4-6-0 11/21/76 at Buffalo Bills W 34-13 5-6-0 11/28/76 vs Kansas City Chiefs L 20-23 5-7-0 12/05/76 vs San Francisco 49ers W 13-7 (OT) 6-7-0 12/12/76 at Oakland Raiders L 0-24 6-8-0