1976 Buffalo Bills season

1976 Buffalo Bills season
1976 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	Ralph Wilson
Head coach	Lou Saban (resigned) ; Jim Ringo (interim)
Home field	Rich Stadium
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	5th AFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	G Joe DeLamielleure; RB O. J. Simpson
AP All-Pros	G Joe DeLamielleure (1st team); RB O. J. Simpson (1st team)
	← 1975; Bills seasons; 1977 →;

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

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

Buffalo Bills selected during the Expansion Draft
Name	Position	Expansion Team
Gary Hayman	Running back	Seattle Seahawks
Frank Oliver	Defensive back	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Pat Toomay	Defensive end	Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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]

1976 Buffalo Bills Draft
Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
1	18	Mario Clark	DB	Oregon
2	45	Ken Jones	OG	Arkansas State
2	52	Joe Devlin	T	Iowa
3	78	Ben Williams^[6]	DE	Mississippi
4	109	Dan Jilek	LB	Michigan
5	142	Fred Coleman	TE	Northeast Louisiana
6	164	Leslie Benson	DE	Baylor
	171	Scott Piper	WR	Arizona
	175	Darnell Powell	RB	Tennessee-Chattanooga
7	195	Jackie Williams	DB	Texas A & M
8	215	Scott Gardner	QB	Virginia
	226	Bobby Joe Easter	RB	Middle Tennessee State
	227	Art Meadowcroft	G	Minnesota
9	241	Jeff Turner	LB	Kansas
9	255	Bob Kotzur	DT	Southwest Texas State
10	280	Keith Moody	DB	Syracuse
11	309	Forry Smith	WR	Iowa State
12	336	Joe Lowery	RB	Jackson State
13	365	Will Wilcox	G	Texas
14	392	Tony Williams	WR	Middle Tennessee State
15	421	Arnold Robinson	LB	Bethune-Cookman
16	448	Gary Gorrell	LB	Boise State
17	477	Bob Berg	K	New Mexico

Personnel

Staff/coaches

1976 Buffalo Bills staff

Front office

Majority owner/team president – Ralph Wilson
Vice President & General Manager – Bob Lustig
Vice president/minority owner – Pat McGroder

Coaching staff

Head coach – Lou Saban
Interim Head/Assistant Coach - Jim Ringo

Offensive coaches

Running backs coach – Jim LaRue
Offensive line coaches – Jim Ringo & Marvin Bass

Defensive/Special teams coaches

Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Backs Coach - Richie McCabe
Defensive line – Jerry Wampfler
Linebackers – John Ray
Defensive backfield – Billy Atkins
Special teams – Ed Cavanaugh

Scouting

Director of Scouting - Marvin Bass

Roster

**1976 Buffalo Bills roster**

	Quarterbacks 17 Gary Marangi 12 Joe Ferguson Running backs 25 Roland Hooks 36 Jeff Kinney FB 35 Darnell Powell 38 Eddie Ray 32 O. J. Simpson Wide receivers 81 Bob Chandler 86 Emmett Edwards 89 Bob Gaddis 88 Reuben Gant WR/TE 80 John Holland Tight ends 85 Fred Coleman 87 Paul Seymour		Offensive linemen 60 Bill Adams G 68 Joe DeLamielleure G 70 Dave Foley T 74 Donnie Green T 76 Joe Devlin T 67 Reggie McKenzie G 53 Mike Montler C 61 Willie Parker G/C 65 Bob Patton C Defensive linemen 71 Mike Kadish DT 50 Mark Johnson DE 69 Ken Jones DE 75 Jeff Lloyd DT 79 Marty Smith DT 83 Sherman White DE 77 Ben Williams DE		Linebackers 30 Bo Cornell 52 Merv Krakau 51 Dan Jilek 56 Bob Nelson 54 Tom Ruud 55 John Skorupan Defensive backs 29 Mario Clark CB 22 Steve Freeman FS 43 Tony Greene FS 28 Dwight Harrison CB 24 Doug Jones SS 46 Keith Moody CB Special teams 7 Marv Bateman P 5 George Jakowenko K		Reserve lists 34 Jim Braxton FB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 13	Miami Dolphins	L 21–30	0—1	Rich Stadium	77,683
2	September 19	Houston Oilers	L 3–13	0—2	Rich Stadium	61,384
3	September 26	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 14–9	1—2	Tampa Stadium	44,505
4	October 3	Kansas City Chiefs	W 50–17	2—2	Rich Stadium	51,909
5	October 10	at New York Jets	L 14–17	2—3	Shea Stadium	59,110
6	October 17	Baltimore Colts	L 13–31	2—4	Rich Stadium	71,009
7	October 24	New England Patriots	L 22–26	2—5	Rich Stadium	45,144
8	October 31	New York Jets	L 14–19	2—6	Rich Stadium	41,285
9	November 7	at New England Patriots	L 10–20	2—7	Schaefer Stadium	61,157
10	November 15	at Dallas Cowboys	L 10–17	2—8	Cotton Bowl	51,799
11	November 21	San Diego Chargers	L 13–34	2—9 Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=1976_Buffalo_Bills_season Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. Navigácia: Veda > Analytika Antropológia Aplikované vedy Bibliometria Dejiny vedy Encyklopédie Filozofia vedy Forenzné vedy Humanitné vedy Knižničná veda Kryogenika Kryptológia Kulturológia Literárna veda Medzidisciplinárne oblasti Metódy kvantitatívnej analýzy Metavedy Metodika Metodológia vedy Náboženstvo a veda Náučná literatúra Podvody vo vede Popularizácia vedy Potravinárstvo Prírodné vedy Pseudoveda Scientometria Spoločenské vedy Teórie Teatrológia Technické vedy Technika Terminológia Umenie Výskum Veda Veda a technika podľa štátu Veda a technika podľa kontinentu Veda a technika podľa roka Veda v kozme Vedci Vedecká literatúra Vedecké databázy Vedecké experimenty Vedecké konferencie Vedecké metódy Vedecké ocenenia Vedecké organizácie Vedecké parky Vedeckí spisovatelia Vzdelávanie Záhady Príbuzné výrazy: Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. www.astronomia.sk \| www.biologia.sk \| www.botanika.sk \| www.dejiny.sk \| www.economy.sk \| www.elektrotechnika.sk \| www.estetika.sk \| www.farmakologia.sk \| www.filozofia.sk \| Fyzika \| www.futurologia.sk \| www.genetika.sk \| www.chemia.sk \| www.lingvistika.sk \| www.politologia.sk \| www.psychologia.sk \| www.sexuologia.sk \| www.sociologia.sk \| www.veda.sk I www.zoologia.sk

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