1968 -1977 Bills

[RevWarRifleman]

I would like to get input on this era of the Bills. For me, this was a period in my life where I took somewhat of a sabaticle from the Bills. I was in the military & then

college and my attention was focused elsewhere. My knowledge of the Bills during this time is rather sketchy and, I didn't want to get my info from wikipedia. I would

rather get it from my fellow Bills fans, the people who lived through it, went to the games, saw it first hand, listened to the radio programs, you know, fans who lived it.

Basically what i Know is fairly hit and miss: This is basically what I know about that era: 

 

In 68 they were pretty bad, Harvey Johnson I guess was their head coach? Or was it Collier still.

They drafted Dennis Shaw for their qb? How long did he last? How good was he?

When did Lou return to coach the Bills. (Yes, I know about OJ's 2000 yds)

How good were the Bills after OJ's 2000?

Did we ever make a playoff appearance?

How good of a team were we during Lou Part II?

When did we draft Cousineau?

After Lou II who was the coach? How long did he last & what record overall did the Bills have?

Was it about 1978 that Knox came in & started rebuilding the team?

 

Any in put will be welcome, especially personal stories/observations you had at Bills games during this era. I know there were some lean years in there.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

 

[oldmanfan]

59 minutes ago, RevWarRifleman said:

I would like to get input on this era of the Bills. For me, this was a period in my life where I took somewhat of a sabaticle from the Bills. I was in the military & then

college and my attention was focused elsewhere. My knowledge of the Bills during this time is rather sketchy and, I didn't want to get my info from wikipedia. I would

rather get it from my fellow Bills fans, the people who lived through it, went to the games, saw it first hand, listened to the radio programs, you know, fans who lived it.

Basically what i Know is fairly hit and miss: This is basically what I know about that era: 

 

In 68 they were pretty bad, Harvey Johnson I guess was their head coach? Or was it Collier still.

They drafted Dennis Shaw for their qb? How long did he last? How good was he?

When did Lou return to coach the Bills. (Yes, I know about OJ's 2000 yds)

How good were the Bills after OJ's 2000?

Did we ever make a playoff appearance?

How good of a team were we during Lou Part II?

When did we draft Cousineau?

After Lou II who was the coach? How long did he last & what record overall did the Bills have?

Was it about 1978 that Knox came in & started rebuilding the team?

 

Any in put will be welcome, especially personal stories/observations you had at Bills games during this era. I know there were some lean years in there.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

 

I’ll help some.  Joe Collier got fired in ‘68, and I think Harvey was interim for a bit there.  Then we had the wonderful John Rauch in 69-70 with the brilliant idea of using OJ as a decoy.  Then Harvey went 1-13 in71 and Lou came on in 72-76.  He quit and the wonderful Jim Ringo was awful for a year.

 

Lou did OK in round 2.  He obviously saw OJs value, and got them to the playoffs in 74, where they got killed by the Steelers.

 

I want to say Shaw was drafted in 70, and he was offensive ROY.  I think he would have been great but he got hurt and was never the same afterward.  

 

Cousineau I want to say got drafted in 77.  Might be off a year though.

[chaccof]

That period may have been the worst of the worst of all time.  Even worse, in my mind, than the Oh for the Century years of 2000-2016.   At least during that period they had some times when they looked like a real team.  Not much of that other than '74 during the time you mention.  The only playoff appearance was in 73-74 when they lost to Pittsburgh at Pitt.  The bright spot was of course OJ's 2003 during the 73 season.  Otherwise it was a tough time to be a fan.  But heck, it was literally the only game in town until the Sabre's came, then the Braves.  Cousineau and that other clown were drafted in '78 and one of them went to Canada.  Can't recall what happened to the other one.  The Bills did have several #1 overall picks between 68 and 85, including OJ and Bruce Smith.  That tells you a little about how much they sucked.  

Edited March 14, 2020 by chaccof

[T master]

Man even though those teams didn't do much they had some good players & some great nicks names for the squads !!
 

https://www.bustle.com/articles/165448-the-buffalo-bills-electric-company-got-its-name-from-oj-simpsons-biggest-season

[Buffalophil1948]

3 hours ago, RevWarRifleman said:

I would like to get input on this era of the Bills. For me, this was a period in my life where I took somewhat of a sabaticle from the Bills. I was in the military & then

college and my attention was focused elsewhere. My knowledge of the Bills during this time is rather sketchy and, I didn't want to get my info from wikipedia. I would

rather get it from my fellow Bills fans, the people who lived through it, went to the games, saw it first hand, listened to the radio programs, you know, fans who lived it.

Basically what i Know is fairly hit and miss: This is basically what I know about that era: 

 

In 68 they were pretty bad, Harvey Johnson I guess was their head coach? Or was it Collier still.

They drafted Dennis Shaw for their qb? How long did he last? How good was he?

When did Lou return to coach the Bills. (Yes, I know about OJ's 2000 yds)

How good were the Bills after OJ's 2000?

Did we ever make a playoff appearance?

How good of a team were we during Lou Part II?

When did we draft Cousineau?

After Lou II who was the coach? How long did he last & what record overall did the Bills have?

Was it about 1978 that Knox came in & started rebuilding the team?

 

Any in put will be welcome, especially personal stories/observations you had at Bills games during this era. I know there were some lean years in there.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

 

Would just like to say "Crap your old"

 

And Thank You For Your Service!

[Sherlock Holmes]

4 hours ago, RevWarRifleman said:

I would like to get input on this era of the Bills. For me, this was a period in my life where I took somewhat of a sabaticle from the Bills. I was in the military & then

college and my attention was focused elsewhere. My knowledge of the Bills during this time is rather sketchy and, I didn't want to get my info from wikipedia. I would

rather get it from my fellow Bills fans, the people who lived through it, went to the games, saw it first hand, listened to the radio programs, you know, fans who lived it.

Basically what i Know is fairly hit and miss: This is basically what I know about that era: 

 

In 68 they were pretty bad, Harvey Johnson I guess was their head coach? Or was it Collier still.

They drafted Dennis Shaw for their qb? How long did he last? How good was he?

When did Lou return to coach the Bills. (Yes, I know about OJ's 2000 yds)

How good were the Bills after OJ's 2000?

Did we ever make a playoff appearance?

How good of a team were we during Lou Part II?

When did we draft Cousineau?

After Lou II who was the coach? How long did he last & what record overall did the Bills have?

Was it about 1978 that Knox came in & started rebuilding the team?

 

Any in put will be welcome, especially personal stories/observations you had at Bills games during this era. I know there were some lean years in there.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

 

 Question... did jolly ol' Benjamin Franklin print up fake news in your day? What was the cost of that newspaper? 1/10th of a cent?

 

Thank you for your service!

[US Egg]

Can't elaborate much on the subject, but I went to games as a kid at War Memorial.

 

Still wish my father would have let me go down to try and catch a football after a PAT or FG there.

 

But he did introduce me to hip flask whiskey then. I'm still appreciating that lesson.

Edited March 14, 2020 by I am the egg man

[sherpa]

1 hour ago, I am the egg man said:

Still wish my father would have let me go down to try and catch a football after a PAT or FG there.

 

 

 

I got one on an extra point. Went up and caught it, and when I came down I ended up on the concrete and people were kicking me in the side, but only a few times, then I got up.

A beautiful Wilson J5V.

 

It was during a game that is a bit notable for Bills trivia people.

A Sat night game in Oct, 1969 against the Patriots.

Simpson was out because of an injury the week before. Max Anderson had his face mask knocked off and a few teeth knocked out during the game, so the Bills were playing back up running back H. Preston Ridelhuber.

On a third and short, Rauch called this little option pass that was supposed to be thrown to the tight end for a short gain and first down.

Ridelhuber saw the TE was covered, but he saw Haven Moses wide open, and being an ex high school QB, hit him for a 45 yard touchdown, and a Bills win.

 

What I remember of Dennis Shaw was that he used to throw these ducks and Marlin Briscoe would out jump the DB's and catch them, occasionally. Just as frequently they were picked. Shaw lost his job to Joe Ferguson.

 

[SoCal Deek]

What I remember of Dennis Shaw is that he ended up being a Recreation Leader at a local community center here in Southern California. I ran into him a decade after he left the Bills. He’d fallen quite ways from his rookie of the year days. 

[GRHater69]

Shaw had the makings of a good QB and had a solid rookie season. But the following year Rauch quit before the season and Wilson put Harvey Johnson back in charge. The team fell apart, had a woefully bad offensive line and Shaw got the crap kicked out of him and was never really the same. They played an early season game against the Vikings in '71 and Shaw got sacked 9 times. It was a disaster. 

 

Saban came back in '72, but problems surfaced in the '75 season that lead to him quitting two games into the following season.

 

[Steve O]

 

8 hours ago, sherpa said:

 

 

I got one on an extra point. Went up and caught it, and when I came down I ended up on the concrete and people were kicking me in the side, but only a few times, then I got up.

A beautiful Wilson J5V.

 

It was during a game that is a bit notable for Bills trivia people.

A Sat night game in Oct, 1969 against the Patriots.

Simpson was out because of an injury the week before. Max Anderson had his face mask knocked off and a few teeth knocked out during the game, so the Bills were playing back up running back H. Preston Ridelhuber.

On a third and short, Rauch called this little option pass that was supposed to be thrown to the tight end for a short gain and first down.

Ridelhuber saw the TE was covered, but he saw Haven Moses wide open, and being an ex high school QB, hit him for a 45 yard touchdown, and a Bills win.

 

What I remember of Dennis Shaw was that he used to throw these ducks and Marlin Briscoe would out jump the DB's and catch them, occasionally. Just as frequently they were picked. Shaw lost his job to Joe Ferguson.

 

As long as we're going down memory lane, Ridelhuber had an integral role of another famous game (happened on my 12th birthday fwiw.) In case you missed it (if you lived in the central or eastern time zones in 1968 you did,) he recovered a kickoff for a touchdown in the infamous Heidi game. For the young and middle aged crew, this is the reason networks show NFL games to their conclusion now. Here are the last two touchdowns which most of us missed (either because we lived in the East or because we weren't born yet.) Ridelhuber's touchdown occurs on the kickoff which begins at 1:25.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ASLawGvwY

 

[jkx2]

10 hours ago, sherpa said:

 

 

I got one on an extra point. Went up and caught it, and when I came down I ended up on the concrete and people were kicking me in the side, but only a few times, then I got up.

A beautiful Wilson J5V.

 

It was during a game that is a bit notable for Bills trivia people.

A Sat night game in Oct, 1969 against the Patriots.

Simpson was out because of an injury the week before. Max Anderson had his face mask knocked off and a few teeth knocked out during the game, so the Bills were playing back up running back H. Preston Ridelhuber.

On a third and short, Rauch called this little option pass that was supposed to be thrown to the tight end for a short gain and first down.

Ridelhuber saw the TE was covered, but he saw Haven Moses wide open, and being an ex high school QB, hit him for a 45 yard touchdown, and a Bills win.

 

What I remember of Dennis Shaw was that he used to throw these ducks and Marlin Briscoe would out jump the DB's and catch them, occasionally. Just as frequently they were picked. Shaw lost his job to Joe Ferguson.

 

That would be a Spalding J5-V. Do you still have it?

[Ray Finkel]

15 hours ago, T master said:

Man even though those teams didn't do much they had some good players & some great nicks names for the squads !!
 

https://www.bustle.com/articles/165448-the-buffalo-bills-electric-company-got-its-name-from-oj-simpsons-biggest-season

I loved watching him run.

[WotAGuy]

1968 was the first year I remember following the team closely.  
 

Jack Kemp was injured in preseason after a poor showing resulted in the Bills having a full contact scrimmage.  
 

The Bills went through QB starters Tom Flores, Kay Stephenson and Dan Darragh before WR Ed Rutkowski had to step in and play QB the last three games. Two of them were pretty exciting with the Bills losing in the final minutes against Denver and Oakland. 
 

The highlight of the season was beating the Super Bowl-bound Jets 37-35 fueled by 5 INTs of Joe Willy, 3 of which went for TDs, including a 100-yard return by Tom Janik. 
 

I can remember all kinds of details about the Bills and NFL from 50 years ago but cannot remember where I left my car keys this morning. 

[sherpa]

1 hour ago, jkx2 said:

That would be a Spalding J5-V. Do you still have it?

 

No.

I had it for about three years, and it was our go to ball for games, but I left it overnight at our park after changing from and afternoon of football to basketball, and somebody swiped it.

Great ball. A little fatter than the ones we usually used.

 

Funny thing about that.

I never went down to the end zone for extra points, but that Sat night game, I noticed a much smaller end zone crowd, so I went down and got it after a Pats TD.

On the way out, I was holding it, and a cop told me that I'd never make it to my father's car alive with that thing, so I stuffed it under my shirt and made it.

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, WotAGuy said:I can remember all kinds of details about the Bills and NFL from 50 years ago but cannot remember where I left my car keys this morning. 

I have them....thanks

[RevWarRifleman]

22 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

I’ll help some.  Joe Collier got fired in ‘68, and I think Harvey was interim for a bit there.  Then we had the wonderful John Rauch in 69-70 with the brilliant idea of using OJ as a decoy.  Then Harvey went 1-13 in71 and Lou came on in 72-76.  He quit and the wonderful Jim Ringo was awful for a year.

 

Lou did OK in round 2.  He obviously saw OJs value, and got them to the playoffs in 74, where they got killed by the Steelers.

 

I want to say Shaw was drafted in 70, and he was offensive ROY.  I think he would have been great but he got hurt and was never the same afterward.  

 

Cousineau I want to say got drafted in 77.  Might be off a year though.

 

[Mcdermott]

8 hours ago, GRHater69 said:

Shaw had the makings of a good QB and had a solid rookie season. But the following year Rauch quit before the season and Wilson put Harvey Johnson back in charge. The team fell apart, had a woefully bad offensive line and Shaw got the crap kicked out of him and was never really the same. They played an early season game against the Vikings in '71 and Shaw got sacked 9 times. It was a disaster. 

 

Saban came back in '72, but problems surfaced in the '75 season that lead to him quitting two games into the following season.

 

Shaw wasn’t very good. He had no arm and teams figured that out after a surprisingly good rookie year. Best thing he did for Buffalo was being traded for Bobby Moore a/k/a Ahmad Rashad.

 

Also, someone upbthread said something about other clown drafted with Cousineau but he must have been confused because that draft may have been one of best drafts ever. Butler, Smerlas, Haslett, Baby Johnson, Jeff Nixon. Knox built his team around that draft. Probably would have gone down as one of best drafts ever if they picked Mike Bell or Dan Hampton instead of Cousineau.

[RevWarRifleman]

To all the people so far that have responded to my post, thank you for sharing your knowledge of the era & your stories of your experiences at the Rock Pile.

The stadium stories I never get tired of. Thanks, I now have a better feel for how it must have been during those years watching "our Bills."

FWIW, a few comments:

     Buffalophil1948: Yes, I'am old. I was born in, believe it or not, 1948!  Oldmanfan, I glad you mentioned about OJ being used as a decoy. What in ___  ___  __ __ _was the coach

THINKING OF using our #1 draft choice as a _ _ _ DECOY?? Chaccof, I agree with you about the 0 for the century years. There is a comparison. More on that later. Also,

Chaccof, I live in Chesterfield county. tip of the hat to you.

    Now for all the losing seasons. I love Ralph & what he did for WNY & bringing a pro football team to Buffalo. But he was not skilled at getting people in to make the Bills

a consistent competitive team.  No fans should have to wait 8, 10, 12 years and more for a team to be a winner! This was not my intent in making this post. But reading

your posts describing what the Bills were like from 68 - 77, and years beyond helped be to reflect a bit.  Just sayin.

 

I leave the best for last: I wasn't expecting this when I made this post, but for those that thanked me for serving our country, you're welcome. It was one of the 

smartest decisions I made in my life. And as one of you noted "Crap, you're old."  Yup, I'am old.  But when I sit down to watch OUR Bills, I turn into that 

enthusiastic kid again.     Thanks again.

     

 

 

 

[jkx2]

6 hours ago, sherpa said:

 

No.

I had it for about three years, and it was our go to ball for games, but I left it overnight at our park after changing from and afternoon of football to basketball, and somebody swiped it.

Great ball. A little fatter than the ones we usually used.

 

Funny thing about that.

I never went down to the end zone for extra points, but that Sat night game, I noticed a much smaller end zone crowd, so I went down and got it after a Pats TD.

On the way out, I was holding it, and a cop told me that I'd never make it to my father's car alive with that thing, so I stuffed it under my shirt and made it.

Great story. I always wanted to go down there but my dad wouldn't let me, which made him smart! I wanted an AFL football so bad as a kid but you couldn't buy them. My dad tried but not even the Bill's would sell one. Now with ebay I have four of them, one with every commissioners name. It only took about 40 years