1973 Denver Broncos season

The 1973 Denver Broncos season was the team's 14th year in professional football and its fourth with the National Football League (NFL). Led by second-year head coach and general manager John Ralston, the Broncos posted a winning record for the first time in franchise history, with seven wins, five losses, and two ties, which tied for sixth-best in the conference. It was the first time in franchise history that they won more than five games. Denver tied for second in the AFC West (third with tiebreaker), 1½ games behind the Oakland Raiders.

1973 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Gerald Phipps
General manager	John Ralston
Head coach	John Ralston
Home stadium	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	7–5–2
Division place	3rd AFC West
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1972 Broncos seasons 1974 →

Uniforms worn by the Denver Broncos during 1973

After a 1-3 start, Denver went unbeaten in seven straight games. The last of these was a 14-10 win over Kansas City, only the third win in 28 games all-time vs. the Chiefs franchise. The win put the Broncos in first place in the division at 6-3-2. After a split of the next two games, the final game of the regular season was a 21-17 loss at Oakland, making the Raiders division champions.

One of the ties, in their first-ever game with the Cardinals,^[1] was the nearest Denver came to losing to that franchise until 2010,^[1] and also their only NFL appearance in St. Louis until 2000 against the relocated Rams at Edward Jones Dome.^[2]

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1973 NFL draft

1973 Denver Broncos draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	9	Otis Armstrong *	Running back	Purdue
2	36	Barney Chavous	DE	South Carolina State
3	54	Paul Howard	G	BYU
3	70	John Wood	DT	LSU
4	88	Tom Jackson *	LB	Louisville
5	113	Charles McTorry	DB	Tennessee State
7	165	Mike Askea	OT	Stanford
7	166	John Grant	DT	USC
9	217	Lyle Blackwood	DB	Texas Christian
10	244	Al Marshall	WR	Boise State
11	269	Elton Brown	DE	Utah State
12	296	Jim O'Malley	LB	Notre Dame
13	319	Ed Smith	DE	Colorado College
13	321	Ed White	RB	Tulsa
14	348	John Hufnagel	QB	Penn State
15	373	Calvin Jones	DB	Washington
16	398	Oliver Ross	RB	Alabama A&M
16	400	Ken Muhlbeier	C	Idaho
17	425	Kenneth Morgan	TE	Elon
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

1973 Denver Broncos staff

Front office Team Owner / Chairman of the Board – Gerald Phipps Team President – Allan Phipps Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel – Fred Gehrke Director of Scouting – Carroll Hardy Head coaches Vice President/General Manager/Head Coach – John Ralston Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator/Backfield – Max Coley Wide Receivers – Dick Coury Offensive Line – Jerry Frei

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs – Joe Collier Defensive Line – Doc Urich Linebackers – Bob Gambold Special teams coaches Special Teams – Myrel Moore

Source:^[3]

Roster

1973 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 14 John Hufnagel 12 Charley Johnson 10 Steve Ramsey Running backs (RB) 11 Bobby Anderson 24 Otis Armstrong 33 Joe Dawkins 44 Floyd Little 30 Oliver Ross Wide receivers (WR) 82 Jeff Baker 25 Haven Moses 80 Jerry Simmons 42 Billy Van Heusen P 84 Gene Washington Tight ends (TE) 81 Billy Masters 88 Riley Odoms

Offensive linemen (OL) 73 Mike Askea T 74 Mike Current T 60 Paul Howard G 68 Larron Jackson G/T 59 Larry Kaminski C 61 Tommy Lyons G 50 Bobby Maples C 64 Mike Schnitker G Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Lyle Alzado DE 79 Barney Chavous DE 55 Pete Duranko DT 63 John Grant DT/DE 62 Jerry Inman DT 75 Ed Smith DE 70 Paul Smith DT

Linebackers (LB) 53 Ken Criter MLB 58 Tom Graham MLB 57 Tom Jackson OLB 45 Bill Laskey OLB 56 Ray May OLB 66 Jim O'Malley OLB 51 Mike Simone OLB Defensive backs (DB) 20 Charlie Greer FS 43 Lonnie Hepburn CB 26 Calvin Jones CB 41 Leroy Mitchell CB 21 Randy Montgomery CB 48 John Pitts SS 36 Bill Thompson SS 23 Maurice Tyler FS Special teams (ST) 15 Jim Turner K

Reserve 76 Tom Domres DT (IR) -- Marv Frazier WR (IR) 67 George Goeddeke C (IR) 22 Fran Lynch RB (IR) 78 Marv Montgomery T (IR) 54 Chip Myrtle LB Rookies in italics

Source:

Regular season

Main article: 1973 NFL season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 16	Cincinnati Bengals	W 28–10	1–0	Mile High Stadium	49,059
2	September 23	San Francisco 49ers	L 34–36	1–1	Mile High Stadium	50,966
3	September 30	Chicago Bears	L 14–33	1–2	Mile High Stadium	51,159
4	October 7	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 14–16	1–3	Arrowhead Stadium	71,414
5	October 14	at Houston Oilers	W 48–20	2–3	Astrodome	32,801
6	October 22	Oakland Raiders	T 23–23	2–3–1	Mile High Stadium	51,270
7	October 28	at New York Jets	W 40–28	3–3–1	Shea Stadium	55,108
8	November 4	at St. Louis Cardinals	T 17–17	3–3–2	Busch Memorial Stadium	46,565
9	November 11	San Diego Chargers	W 30–19	4–3–2	Mile High Stadium	51,034
10	November 18	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 23–13	5–3–2	Three Rivers Stadium	48,580
11	November 25	Kansas City Chiefs	W 14–10	6–3–2	Mile High Stadium	51,331
12	December 2	Dallas Cowboys	L 10–22	6–4–2	Mile High Stadium	51,508
13	December 9	at San Diego Chargers	W 42–28	7–4–2	San Diego Stadium	44,954
14	December 16	at Oakland Raiders	L 17–21	7–5–2	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	51,910
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

^[4]

Game summaries

Week 2 (Sunday, September 23, 1973): vs. San Francisco 49ers

Week 2: San Francisco 49ers at Denver Broncos – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
49ers (1–1)	0	20	10	6	36
Broncos (1–1)	10	3	7	14	34

at Mile High Stadium • Denver, Colorado

• Date: September 23
• Game time: 2:00 p.m. MDT
• Game attendance: 50,966
• Referee: John McDonough
• TV announcers (CBS): Don Criqui (play–by–play), Tommy Mason (color commentator) and Brent Musburger (studio reporter)
• ^[5]

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
SF	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
DEN	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Scoring summary
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP SF DEN "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 36 34

• Point spread: Broncos +4
• Time of Game:

49ers	Game Statistics	Broncos
16	First downs	22
39–135	Rushes–yards	32–115
212	Passing yards	240
14–35–1	Passes	17–36–5
0–0	Sacked–yards	0–0
212	Net passing yards	240
347	Total yards	355
101	Return yards	114
6–46.0	Punts	4–35.8
2–0	Fumbles–lost	3–1
8–73	Penalties–yards	4–32
	Time of possession

Week 10 at Steelers

Week Ten: Denver Broncos (4–3–2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (8–1)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Broncos	3	3	7	10	23
Steelers	3	3	0	7	13

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Date: November 18, 1973
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 35 °F (2 °C)
• Game attendance: 48,580
• Referee: Fred Silva
• Box Score

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Broncos	Passing	Charley Johnson	13/20, 86 Yds, TD
	Rushing	Floyd Little	27 Rush, 88 Yds, TD
	Receiving	Riley Odoms	6 Rec, 47 Yds, TD
Steelers	Passing	Terry Hanratty	10/19, 217 Yds, TD
	Rushing	Franco Harris	11 Rush, 53 Yds
	Receiving	John McMakin	3 Rec, 64 Yds

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP DEN PIT 1 Broncos 32-yard field goal by Jim Turner 3 0 1 Steelers 15-yard field goal by Roy Gerela 3 3 2 Steelers 13-yard field goal by Roy Gerela 3 6 2 Broncos 11-yard field goal by Jim Turner 6 6 3 Broncos Floyd Little 10-yard touchdown run, Jim Turner kick good 13 6 4 Steelers Ron Shanklin 42-yard touchdown reception from Terry Hanratty, Roy Gerela kick good 13 13 4 Broncos 46-yard field goal by Jim Turner 16 13 4 Broncos Riley Odoms 2-yard touchdown reception from Charley Johnson, Jim Turner kick good 23 13 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 23 13

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	9	4	1	.679	4–1–1	7–3–1	292	175	W4
Kansas City Chiefs	7	5	2	.571	4–2	6–4–1	231	192	W1
Denver Broncos	7	5	2	.571	3–2–1	7–2–1	354	296	L1
San Diego Chargers	2	11	1	.179	0–6	1–9–1	188	386	L4

Awards and honors

• UPI AFC Coach of the Year: John Ralston