This Week in the AFL 1968 Week 4

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

Only Bills victory that year. 3 interceptions returned for touchdowns!

 

Begins at 16:37:

 

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by \GoBillsInDallas/

[Utah John]

I remember that game.  After the season, after the Jets had won the SB, Namath was on the Tonight Show, and Johnny Carson made Namath sit through a highlight reel of this game.  Poor Joe.

 

The Bills still had some good players left on that team -- Tommy Janik, Butch Byrd, and Paul Maguire were still there on defense, which still let .  I think the offense had gone into the tank, however.  The Bills had lost Billy Joe, the RB whom the Bills received from trading Cookie Gilchrist to the Broncos, to Miami in the expansion draft.  Dan Darraugh was a rookie QB, who was playing because Kemp was hurt.

[I'm Spartacus]

did we still have Marlin Briscoe then?

[WotAGuy]

25 minutes ago, I'm Spartacus said:

did we still have Marlin Briscoe then?

He didn’t show up until the next year. He played QB for the Broncos and beat the Bills on a long bomb to Floyd Little later in the year. 
 

I remember this Jets game well.  For home games, my father would throw us into the car and go for a drive and listen to the game. Maybe stop at a bar for a couple shots and beers while we got orange pop and pretzels. 
 

I can remember all the interceptions and TD returns. 

[John Gianelli]

4 hours ago, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

Only Bills victory that year. 3 interceptions returned for touchdowns!

 

Begins at 16:37:

 

In the first game John Stofa, a UB grad, is quarterbacking Cincinnati.

 

[dlonce]

2 hours ago, WotAGuy said:

He didn’t show up until the next year. He played QB for the Broncos and beat the Bills on a long bomb to Floyd Little later in the year. 
 

I remember this Jets game well.  For home games, my father would throw us into the car and go for a drive and listen to the game. Maybe stop at a bar for a couple shots and beers while we got orange pop and pretzels. 
 

I can remember all the interceptions and TD returns. 

Ahhh yes, Marlin “The Magician” Briscoe. Loved that guy.

That Jet game sticks out. It was tough going from the best to this.
 

[Chandler#81]

12 hours ago, Utah John said:

I remember that game.  After the season, after the Jets had won the SB, Namath was on the Tonight Show, and Johnny Carson made Namath sit through a highlight reel of this game.  Poor Joe.

 

The Bills still had some good players left on that team -- Tommy Janik, Butch Byrd, and Paul Maguire were still there on defense, which still let .  I think the offense had gone into the tank, however.  The Bills had lost Billy Joe, the RB whom the Bills received from trading Cookie Gilchrist to the Broncos, to Miami in the expansion draft.  Dan Darraugh was a rookie QB, who was playing because Kemp was hurt.

A treasure of a game for young Chandler! Became an instant fan of Dan Darragh. My Grandmother made me a Darragh Bills jersey and my cousin a Mini-Max Jersey for Xmas that year (couldn’t buy team apparel back then) We still had MANY great players from that era, including Sestak, Dunaway, McDole, Stratton, Saimes, Butch & Edgerson and HOFer Billy Shaw. Our 1-12-1 record brought us a RB from USC the following Spring with the 1st overall pick. But preseason injuries to Kemp & Flores derailed the year before it began. For as dismal as ‘68 was for Buffalo, ending the season with such memorable games as SBIII, AFL Title Game and the Heidi game stand as one of my favorite years ever. Honestly.

10 hours ago, I'm Spartacus said:

did we still have Marlin Briscoe then?

Earlier in the program, they showed the Broncos hi-lites vs. Boston. “Rookie QB Martin Briscoe came in for Denver and led the team to a touchdown.”

 

Martin??😳 the Mathematician??

Thanks, OP!

[Helpmenow]

Sat in the upper end zone away from the scoreboard. It’s the only game my dad attended.

[chris heff]

I was at that game, my father had season tickets. He’d long given up on that team. Other than that game, that team was awful. Is that the year that Ed Rutkowski ended the season as the QB?

[K-9]

7 minutes ago, chris heff said:

I was at that game, my father had season tickets. He’d long given up on that team. Other than that game, that team was awful. Is that the year that Ed Rutkowski ended the season as the QB?

Yep, the year of the “disaster” QB. We lost four of them over the course of that season. 

[Chandler#81]

17 minutes ago, chris heff said:

I was at that game, my father had season tickets. He’d long given up on that team. Other than that game, that team was awful. Is that the year that Ed Rutkowski ended the season as the QB?

Yep. Trivia question; name the QBs we lost to injury that year.

I’ll start;

Kemp

Flores

Darragh

Stephenson

 

Sam Wyche was signed mid-season, but I don’t think he ever started a game..🤔

 

[Helpmenow]

Ben Russell

Mike Taliferio

The bills had less than two hundred yards offense in that game.

[Helpmenow]

Ben Russell was the guy for the trivia 

[chris heff]

6 minutes ago, Helpmenow said:

Ben Russell

Mike Taliferio

The bills had less than two hundred yards offense in that game.

I recognize every name those lists but Ben Russell.

[Helpmenow]

I go all the way back, I have a weird sports memory from the era.

[chris heff]

10 minutes ago, Helpmenow said:

I go all the way back, I have a weird sports memory from the era.

Benny Russell is as obscure as it gets. If you Google “Ben Russell football” you get links to stories about Benjamin Russel High in Alabama. Named after different Ben Russell.

Edited December 6, 2020 by chris heff

[Helpmenow]

This old AFL stuff is in my wheelhouse