1973 Buffalo Bills season

1973 Buffalo Bills season
OwnerRalph Wilson
Head coachLou Saban
Home fieldRich Stadium
Results
Record9–5
Division place2nd AFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1973 Buffalo Bills season was the 14th season for the team and their 4th season in the National Football League (NFL). The Bills finished in 2nd place in the AFC East division and finished the 1973 NFL season with a record of 9 wins and 5 losses, the team's first winning record since 1966.[1]

Head coach Lou Saban began the second season of his second tenure with the Bills.[1] Saban had previously led the team to the 1964 and 1965 AFL championships.[2] It was the first season that the team played in Rich Stadium (now "Highmark Stadium") after thirteen years playing at War Memorial Stadium ("The Rockpile").

The Bills were returning from 1–13 and 4–9–1 records in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Incumbent starting quarterback Dennis Shaw found himself in a battle with rookie Joe Ferguson for the starting job.

The season was defined by O. J. Simpson. The fifth-year running back became the first player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Behind Simpson's record-setting season, the Bills set an NFL record for most team rushing yards in a 14-game season, with 3,088[3] and averaged 5.1 yards per carry, higher than every Super Bowl championship team in all of league history. Simpson was returning from his best professional season, in which he earned his first All-Pro recognition and first rushing title.[4] In addition to establishing a then-record for single-season rushing yardage, with 2,003,[5] Simpson established the single-season record for rushing yards gained per game (143.1 yards per game on 23.7 rushes per game, an average of six yards per carry),[6] which still stands.[7] The explosive offense centered on O. J. Simpson was nicknamed the "Electric Company" for its ability to turn on "The Juice" (i.e. "O. J." Simpson)

  1. ^ a b "Buffalo Bills Franchise Encyclopedia". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  2. ^ "Lou Saban". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  3. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1940 to 2011, in the regular season, sorted by descending Rushing Yds
  4. ^ "Buffalo Is Still Rebuilding". The Dispatch. August 17, 1973. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  5. ^ The record was later broken by Eric Dickerson in 1984)
  6. ^ 1973 Buffalo Bills Statistics And Players from Pro Football Reference
  7. ^ as of 2011