1966 Buffalo Bills season

The 1966 Buffalo Bills season was the team’s seventh season in the American Football League. It was the first season for head coach Joe Collier, who had been the Bills' defensive coordinator for the previous four seasons.^[1]It ended with a 31–7 loss in the AFL Championship Game to the Kansas City Chiefs, ending the team's two-year reign as league champions.

1966 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	Ralph Wilson
Head coach	Joe Collier
Home stadium	War Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	9–4–1
Division place	1st AFL Eastern
Playoffs	Lost AFL Championship (vs. Chiefs) 7–31
← 1965 Bills seasons 1967 →

The Bills allowed the fewest points in the AFL for the third consecutive year.^[2] Although defensive tackle Tom Sestak hampered by a bad knee, defensive linemen Jim Dunaway and Ron McDole took a leadership position. Linebackers Mike Stratton, Harry Jacobs and John Tracey, and defensive backs George Saimes, Butch Byrd, Hagood Clarke and Tom Janik provided a strong defensive foundation.^[3]

Halfback Bobby Burnett and split end Bobby Crockett joined long-time Bills running back Wray Carlton and quarterback Jack Kemp, leading Buffalo's offense to scoring 358 points,^[4] second-most in the AFL in 1966. Burnett's 1,185 total yards from scrimmage were 5th in the AFL, and garnered AFL Rookie of the Year honors for Burnett.

Personnel

Staff

1966 Buffalo Bills staff
Front office President/owner – Ralph Wilson Vice-president/minority owner – Pat McGroder Head coaches Head coach – Joe Collier Offensive coaches Running backs/wide receivers – John Mazur Offensive line – Jerry Smith			Defensive coaches Linebackers/Defensive Backs – Richie McCabe

Final roster

1966 Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks 15 Jack Kemp 12 Daryle Lamonica Running backs 21 Bobby Burnett 30 Wray Carlton 34 Allen Smith 23 Jack Spikes Wide receivers 85 Glenn Bass 83 Bobby Crockett 44 Elbert Dubenion 40 Ed Rutkowski Tight ends 82 Paul Costa 80 Charley Ferguson		Offensive linemen 77 Stew Barber T 50 Al Bemiller C 71 Wayne DeSutter T 79 Dick Hudson T 67 Joe O'Donnell G 65 Remi Prudhomme G 57 Bob Schmidt C 66 Billy Shaw G Defensive linemen 73 Dave Costa DT 88 Tom Day DE 78 Jim Dunaway DT 72 Ron McDole DE 75 Dudley Meredith DT/DE 70 Tom Sestak DT		Linebackers 59 Paul Guidry OLB 64 Harry Jacobs MLB 56 Marty Schottenheimer MLB 58 Mike Stratton OLB 51 John Tracey OLB Defensive backs 42 Butch Byrd CB 45 Hagood Clarke SS 24 Booker Edgerson CB 27 Tom Janik CB 47 Charlie King CB/S 26 George Saimes FS 22 Charley Warner CB/S Special teams 49 Booth Lusteg K 55 Paul Maguire P		Taxi squad 35 Doug Goodwin RB -- Mailon Kent QB 46 Tony King S 48 Greg Lashutka TE 48 Pete Mills WR Reserve List 33 Teddy Bailey RB (IR)
Note: rookies in italics

Offseason

Lou Saban, who had coached the Bills to consecutive AFL Championships, left the team after the 1965 season to coach at the University of Maryland.

AFL draft

Main article: 1966 American Football League draft

Regular season

Season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 4	at San Diego Chargers	L 7–27	0–1	Balboa Stadium	27,572	Recap
2	September 11	Kansas City Chiefs	L 20–42	0–2	War Memorial Stadium	42,023	Recap
3	September 18	Miami Dolphins	W 58–24	1–2	War Memorial Stadium	37,546	Recap
4	September 25	Houston Oilers	W 27–20	2–2	War Memorial Stadium	42,256	Recap
5	October 2	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 29–14	3–2	Municipal Stadium	43,885	Recap
6	October 8	Boston Patriots	L 10–20	3–3	War Memorial Stadium	45,542	Recap
7	October 16	San Diego Chargers	T 17–17	3–3–1	War Memorial Stadium	45,169	Recap
8	Bye
9	October 30	at New York Jets	W 33–23	4–3–1	Shea Stadium	61,552	Recap
10	November 6	at Miami Dolphins	W 29–0	5–3–1	Miami Orange Bowl	37,177	Recap
11	November 13	New York Jets	W 14–3	6–3–1	War Memorial Stadium	45,738	Recap
12	November 20	at Houston Oilers	W 42–20	7–3–1	Rice Stadium	27,312	Recap
13	November 24	at Oakland Raiders	W 31–10	8–3–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	36,781	Recap
14	December 4	at Boston Patriots	L 3–14	8–4–1	Fenway Park	39,350	Recap
15	Bye
16	December 18	Denver Broncos	W 38–21	9–4–1	War Memorial Stadium	40,583	Recap

Note:

• Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFL Eastern Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Buffalo Bills	9	4	1	.692	6–2	358	255	W1
Boston Patriots	8	4	2	.667	5–1–1	315	283	L1
New York Jets	6	6	2	.500	4–3–1	322	312	W1
Houston Oilers	3	11	0	.214	1–7	335	396	L8
Miami Dolphins	3	11	0	.214	2–5	213	362	W1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings in the AFL.^[5][6]

Game summaries

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Dolphins	3	7	0	14	24
• Bills	21	27	3	7	58

• Date: September 18
• Location: War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, NY
• Game weather: 61 °F (16 °C); wind 3 mph

Scoring summary

Q1		BUF	Kemp 1 yard run (Lusteg kick)	BUF 7–0
Q1		BUF	Byrd 60 yard interception return (Lusteg kick)	BUF 14–0
Q1		BUF	Byrd 72 yard punt return (Lusteg kick)	BUF 21–0
Q1		MIA	Mingo 24 yard field goal	BUF 21–3
Q2		BUF	Crockett 26 yard pass from Kemp (Lusteg kick)	BUF 28–3
Q2		BUF	Burnett 1 yard run (Lusteg kick)	BUF 35–3
Q2		BUF	Burnett 3 yard run (kick failed)	BUF 41–3
Q2		MIA	Roderick 4 yard pass from Wilson (Mingo kick)	BUF 41–10
Q2		BUF	Spikes 11 yard run (Lusteg kick)	BUF 48–10
Q3		BUF	Lusteg 13 yard field goal	BUF 51–10
Q4		MIA	Roberson 66 yard pass from Wilson (Mingo kick)	BUF 51–17
Q4		BUF	Spikes 18 yard pass from Lamonica (Lusteg kick)	BUF 58–17
Q4		MIA	Kocourek 13 yard pass from Wilson (Mingo kick)	BUF 58–24

^[7]

Week 10

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Jets	0	0	3	0	3
• Bills	0	0	0	14	14

• Date: November 13
• Location: War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York
• Game attendance: 45,738
• Game weather: 33 °F (1 °C); wind 10 mph

Scoring summary

Q3		NYJ	Jim Turner 43 yard field goal	NYJ 3–0
Q4		BUF	Elbert Dubenion 14 yard pass from Jack Kemp (Booth Lusteg kick)	BUF 7–3
Q4		BUF	Jim Dunaway 72 yard blocked field goal return (Booth Lusteg kick)	BUF 14–3

^[8]

Roster

Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks  - Daryle Lamonica  15 Jack Kemp Running backs Wide receivers Tight ends		Offensive linemen Defensive linemen Defensive backs Special teams K-Booth Lusteg

Postseason

AFL Championship Game

Main article: 1966 AFL Championship Game

	1	2	3	4	Total
Chiefs	7	10	0	14	31
Bills	7	0	0	0	7

Kansas City Chiefs 31, Buffalo Bills 7

January 1, 1967, at War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 42,080

The Bills entered the AFL championship game seeking their third consecutive title. Though the game was played in Buffalo, the visiting Kansas City Chiefs were three-point favorites, mainly because of their explosive and innovative offense led by head coach Hank Stram. The Bills were a more conventional team with a solid defensive line and a running mindset on offense.

Buffalo found no offensive rhythm in the second half, and the Chiefs closed the game out in the fourth quarter with Dawson found Chris Burford for a 45-yard gain, setting up a one-foot touchdown run by rookie Mike Garrett. Less than two minutes later, Garrett scored a second touchdown following another Bills fumble.

Scoring

• KC – Arbanas 29 pass from Dawson (Mercer kick) 7-0
• BUF – Dubenion 69 pass from Kemp (Lusteg kick) 7-7
• KC – Taylor 29 pass from Dawson (Mercer kick) 14-7
• KC – Field goal Mercer 32 17-7
• KC – Garrett 1 run (Mercer kick) 24-7
• KC – Garrett 18 run (Mercer kick) 31-7

Bills lost and missed the playoffs in 1967

Awards and records

• Bobby Burnett, Rookie of the Year