1976_Buffalo_Bills_season

1976 Buffalo Bills season

1976 Buffalo Bills season

17th season in franchise history

The 1976 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 7th season in the National Football League, and the 17th overall.

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Buffalo's season was troubled from the start, as the team was in a contract dispute with star running back O. J. Simpson. Simpson had been demanding a trade, before finally agreeing to a three-year, $2.5 million contract.[1]

The Bills started the season 2–2, before losing their final ten games of the season. Quarterback Joe Ferguson only started the first seven games before being sidelined for the season with a back injury. Backup quarterback Gary Marangi started Buffalo's final seven games, all losses.

Fullback Jim Braxton injured his knee in the Bills' season opener and was lost for the season. Simpson still led the NFL in rushing in 1976, even without Braxton's blocking.[1]

Bills head coach Lou Saban resigned after the fifth game of the season, with the Bills struggling at 2–3. Offensive line coach Jim Ringo took over, but would not win a game for the rest of the year.

The lowest point of the season was when O. J. Simpson was ejected from a game for getting into a fight with New England Patriots defensive end Mel Lunsford.[2][3] Lunsford was also ejected from the game as well. Neither player was fined or suspended by the league.

Offseason

Before the 1976 season, Buffalo lost some key players, notably wide receivers Ahmad Rashad and J. D. Hill, and defensive linemen Earl Edwards, Walt Patulski and Pat Toomay.[1]

1976 Expansion Draft

Main article: 1976 NFL expansion draft
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NFL draft

Main article: 1976 NFL Draft

Note: 1976 was the final year in which the NFL draft was seventeen rounds; it would be reduced to twelve rounds in 1977.

The Bills' 1976 draft produced four long-time starters with their first four picks. First round pick Mario Clark played for seven seasons with the Bills. Offensive guard Ken Jones played for the Bills for eleven years. Offensive tackle Joe Devlin played every game of his 14-year career with the Bills, playing in all 191 regular-season games until his retirement after the 1989 season.[4] Defensive end Ben Williams played for the Bills for 10 years; he was a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro for the 1982 season.

= Pro Bowler [5]
More information Round, Selection ...

Personnel

Staff/coaches

1976 Buffalo Bills staff
Front office

Coaching staff

Offensive coaches

Defensive/Special teams coaches

Scouting

  • Director of Scouting - Marvin Bass

Roster

1976 Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

More information Week, Date ...

Season summary

Week 3

More information Total, Scoring summary ...

[7]

Week 4

More information Total, Scoring summary ...

[8]

Week 12

O. J. Simpson rushed for 273 yards, setting a Thanksgiving Day record that still holds as of the end of the 2016 season.

Standings

More information AFC East, W ...

Awards and honors

  • O. J. Simpson, Thanksgiving Day Record, Most Rushing Yards in One Game, 273 yards vs. Detroit Lions, November 25 [9]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Neft, David S.; Cohen, Richard M.; and Korch, Rich The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Football, 12th Edition, p. 306, Martin's Press, August 1994, ISBN 0-312-11073-1
  2. [2]
    "Buffalo Bills' O.J. Simpson walks along sidelines after being ejected".
  3. [3]
    "Simpson Ejected for Fighting" (PDF).
  4. [4]
    Databasefootball.com: Joe Devlin Archived November 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. [5]
    Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  6. [6]
    1982 Pro Bowler
  7. [7]
    Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Nov-06.
  8. [8]
    Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  9. [9]
    NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 377
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