1974 Denver Broncos season

The 1974 Denver Broncos season was the team's 15th year in professional football and its fifth with the National Football League (NFL). Led by third-year head coach and general manager John Ralston, the Broncos had a winning record for the second straight season with seven wins, six losses, and one tie, which was fifth-best in the conference.

1974 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Gerald Phipps
General manager	John Ralston
Head coach	John Ralston
Home stadium	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	7–6–1
Division place	2nd AFC West
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1973 Broncos seasons 1975 →

Denver finished second in the AFC West, but 4½ games behind the Oakland Raiders, who clinched in mid-November,^[1] and 1½ games behind the wild card Buffalo Bills. In their fifteen years of existence, the Broncos had yet to reach the postseason.

The team played at Detroit on Thanksgiving and won in the final NFL game at Tiger Stadium;^[2] the Lions moved north to the Pontiac Silverdome in 1975.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1974 NFL draft

1974 Denver Broncos draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	14	Randy Gradishar * †	LB	Ohio State
2	42	Carl Wafer	DT	Tennessee State
3	68	Claudie Minor	T	San Diego State
4	92	Ozell Collie	DB	Colorado
6	145	John Winesberry	WR	Stanford
10	248	Charlie Johnson	DB	Southern
11	276	Steve Buchanan	RB	Holy Cross
12	301	Larry Cameron	LB	Alcorn A&M
13	326	John Clerkley	DT	Fort Valley State
14	354	Rich Marks	DB	Northern Illinois
15	379	Peil Pennington	QB	Massachusetts
16	404	Darrell Austin	T	South Carolina
17	432	Boyd Brown	TE	Alcorn A&M
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

1974 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/Offensive Backfield – Max Coley Wide Receivers – Kay Dalton Offensive Line – Jerry Frei

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

Source:^[3]

Roster

1974 Denver Broncos roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 John Hufnagel 12 Charley Johnson 10 Steve Ramsey Running backs (RB) 24 Otis Armstrong 44 Floyd Little 22 Fran Lynch 30 Oliver Ross Wide receivers (WR) 25 Haven Moses 80 Jerry Simmons 82 Otto Stowe 42 Billy Van Heusen P Tight ends (TE) 87 Boyd Brown 81 Billy Masters 88 Riley Odoms

Offensive linemen (OL) 65 LeFrancis Arnold G/C 74 Mike Current T 60 Paul Howard G 68 Larron Jackson G 61 Tommy Lyons G 50 Bobby Maples C 71 Claudie Minor T 64 Mike Schnitker G Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Lyle Alzado DE 79 Barney Chavous DE 76 Steve Coleman DE 55 Pete Duranko DT 63 John Grant DT 72 Bob Kampa DT 75 Ed Smith DE/DT 70 Paul Smith DT

Linebackers (LB) 54 Ralph Cindrich OLB 53 Ken Criter MLB 52 Randy Gradishar MLB 57 Tom Jackson OLB 45 Bill Laskey OLB 56 Ray May OLB 66 Jim O'Malley OLB 59 Joe Rizzo OLB 51 Mike Simone OLB Defensive backs (DB) 20 Charlie Greer FS 43 Lonnie Hepburn CB 26 Calvin Jones CB 48 John Pitts FS 46 John Rowser CB 36 Bill Thompson SS 23 Maurice Tyler SS Special teams (ST) 15 Jim Turner K

Reserve 11 Bobby Anderson RB (IR) 86 Marv Frazier WR (IR) 78 Marv Montgomery T (IR) Rookies in italics

Source:

Regular season

Main article: 1974 NFL season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 15	Los Angeles Rams	L 10–17	0–1	Mile High Stadium	51,121	Recap
2	September 22	Pittsburgh Steelers	T 35–35 (OT)	0–1–1	Mile High Stadium	51,068	Recap
3	September 30	at Washington Redskins	L 3–30	0–2–1	RFK Stadium	54,395	Recap
4	October 6	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 17–14	1–2–1	Arrowhead Stadium	67,298	Recap
5	October 13	New Orleans Saints	W 33–17	2–2–1	Mile High Stadium	50,881	Recap
6	October 20	San Diego Chargers	W 27–7	3–2–1	Mile High Stadium	50,928	Recap
7	October 27	at Cleveland Browns	L 21–23	3–3–1	Cleveland Stadium	60,478	Recap
8	November 3	Oakland Raiders	L 17–28	3–4–1	Mile High Stadium	45,946	Recap
9	November 10	at Baltimore Colts	W 17–6	4–4–1	Memorial Stadium	33,244	Recap
10	November 18	Kansas City Chiefs	L 34–42	4–5–1	Mile High Stadium	50,236	Recap
11	November 24	at Oakland Raiders	W 20–17	5–5–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	51,224	Recap
12	November 28	at Detroit Lions	W 31–27	6–5–1	Tiger Stadium	51,157	Recap
13	December 8	Houston Oilers	W 37–14	7–5–1	Mile High Stadium	46,942	Recap
14	December 15	at San Diego Chargers	L 0–17	7–6–1	San Diego Stadium	36,571	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

^[1][4] Thursday (November 28: Thanksgiving)^[2]

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	12	2	0	.857	5–1	9–2	355	228	W3
Denver Broncos	7	6	1	.536	3–3	5–4–1	302	294	L1
Kansas City Chiefs	5	9	0	.357	2–4	4–7	233	293	L2
San Diego Chargers	5	9	0	.357	2–4	4–7	212	285	W2