1972 Buffalo Bills

Franchise Index: Previous Season / Next Season

Record: 4-9-1, Finished 4th in AFC East Division
NFL Season Summary

Scored 257 points (18.4/g), 19th of 26 in the NFL.
Allowed 377 points (26.9/g), 24th.
Differential of -120 points (-8.6/g), 22nd.
Expected W-L: 4.0-10.0.

Takeaway/Giveaway Differential -8 (-0.6/g), 19th.

Coached by Lou Saban (4-9-1)

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1972 Statistics / Starters & Roster / Games & Schedule / Team Draftees

Team Games & Schedule

Glossary · ·

								Score		Offense					Defense
Week		Date			Rec		Opp	Tm	Opp	1stD	TotYd	PassY	RushY	TO	1stD	TotYd	PassY	RushY	TO
1	Sun	September 17	box	L	0-1		New York Jets	24	41	16	287	207	80	4	19	293	102	191	1
2	Sun	September 24	box	W	1-1		San Francisco 49ers	27	20	17	233	56	177	1	10	202	169	33	4
3	Sun	October 1	box	L	1-2		Baltimore Colts	0	17	11	229	111	118	5	17	339	180	159	4
4	Sun	October 8	box	W	2-2		New England Patriots	38	14	19	305	160	145	2	23	354	244	110	4
5	Sun	October 15	box	L	2-3	@	Oakland Raiders	16	28	16	295	114	181	1	22	396	181	215	2
6	Sun	October 22	box	L	2-4	@	Miami Dolphins	23	24	11	188	24	164	1	20	310	80	230	4
7	Sun	October 29	box	L	2-5		Pittsburgh Steelers	21	38	24	418	164	254	4	18	309	93	216	1
8	Sun	November 5	box	L	2-6		Miami Dolphins	16	30	12	172	99	73	2	21	327	73	254	1
9	Sun	November 12	box	L	2-7	@	New York Jets	3	41	11	210	67	143	4	17	289	141	148	1
10	Sun	November 19	box	W	3-7	@	New England Patriots	27	24	19	295	116	179	4	15	298	183	115	4
11	Sun	November 26	box	L	3-8	@	Cleveland Browns	10	27	12	175	28	147	2	16	253	121	132	2
12	Sun	December 3	box	L	3-9	@	Baltimore Colts	7	35	13	244	144	100	4	22	391	202	189
13	Sun	December 10	box	T	3-9-1		Detroit Lions	21	21	23	418	231	187	3	14	260	144	116
14	Sun	December 17	box	W	4-9-1	@	Washington Redskins	24	17	17	264	80	184	2	15	171	38	133	3

Team Stats and Rankings

Glossary · ·

						Passing							Rushing
	Pts	Yds	Ply	Y/P	1stD	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	NY/A	1stD	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	1stD	TO	FL	1stPy
Team Offense	257	3733	877	4.3	221	164	316	1601	16	24	4.4	98	512	2132	11	4.2	104	39	15	19
Team Defense	377	4192	862	4.9	373	131	308	1951	19	23	5.9	95	532	2241	26	4.2	249	31	8	29
Lg Rank Offense	19	18			20		20	24	12	23	25		7	6	18	11		24	14
Lg Rank Defense	24	17			18		2	7	20	7	16		22	22	25	17		15	25

Passing

Glossary · ProBowl(*), 1st-team All-Pro(+), · ·

	Age	Pos	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	Sk	Yds	NY/A	ANY/A	Sk%
Dennis Shaw	25	QB	14	13	4-8-1	136	258	52.7	1666	14	5.4	17	6.6	58	6.5	4.0	12.3	119.0	63.5	38	320	4.5	2.4	12.8
Mike Taliaferro	31		5	0		16	33	48.5	176	1	3.0	4	12.1	24	5.3	0.2	11.0	35.2	35.2	6	48	3.3	-1.1	15.4
Leo Hart	23		2	1	0-1-0	6	15	40.0	53	0	0.0	3	20.0	13	3.5	-5.5	8.8	26.5	10.6	4	32	1.1	-6.0	21.1
O.J. Simpson*+	25	RB	14	0		5	8	62.5	113	1	12.5	0	0.0	34	14.1	15.4	22.6	8.1	145.8	1	11	11.3	12.4	11.1
Spike Jones	25	P	14	0		1	2	50.0	4	0	0.0	0	0.0	4	2.0	2.0	4.0	0.3	56.2	0	0	2.0	2.0	0.0
Team Total	25.0		14		4-9-1	164	316	51.9	2012	16	5.1	24	7.6	58	6.4	3.5	12.3	143.7	57.1	49	411	4.4	1.9	13.4
Opp Total			14			131	308	42.5	1951	19	6.2	23	7.5		6.3	3.6	14.9	139.4	53.4	22	197	5.9	2.8

Rushing & Receiving

Glossary · ProBowl(*), 1st-team All-Pro(+), · ·

					Rushing							Receiving
	Age	Pos	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Lng	Y/A	Y/G	A/G	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	R/G	Y/G	YScm	RRTD	Fmb
O.J. Simpson*+	25	RB	14	0	292	1251	6	94	4.3	89.4	20.9	27	198	7.3	0	25	1.9	14.1	1449	6	8
Jim Braxton	23	FB	14	0	116	453	5	21	3.9	32.4	8.3	24	232	9.7	1	25	1.7	16.6	685	6	2
Wayne Patrick	26		13	0	35	130	0	9	3.7	10.0	2.7	8	42	5.3	1	10	0.6	3.2	172	1	3
Dennis Shaw	25	QB	14	13	35	138	0	16	3.9	9.9	2.5								138	0	6
Randy Jackson	24		5	0	17	57	0	15	3.4	11.4	3.4	2	21	10.5	1	13	0.4	4.2	78	1	0
Leo Hart	23		2	1	5	19	0	16	3.8	9.5	2.5								19	0	2
Mike Taliaferro	31		5	0	5	19	0	14	3.8	3.8	1.0								19	0	1
Bob Chandler	23	WR	14	0	3	27	0	16	9.0	1.9	0.2	33	528	16.0	5	43	2.4	37.7	555	5	1
Spike Jones	25	P	14	0	2	18	0	10	9.0	1.3	0.1								18	0	1
J.D. Hill*	24	WR	14	0	1	11	0	11	11.0	0.8	0.1	52	754	14.5	5	58	3.7	53.9	765	5	1
Ted Koy	25		14	0	1	9	0	9	9.0	0.6	0.1	1	9	9.0	0	9	0.1	0.6	18	0	0
Jan White	24	TE	14	0	0	0	0	0		0.0	0.0	12	148	12.3	2	18	0.9	10.6	148	2	0
Haven Moses	26		5	0	0	0	0	0		0.0	0.0	3	60	20.0	1	25	0.6	12.0	60	1	0
Dwight Harrison	24		7	0	0	0	0	0		0.0	0.0	1	16	16.0	0	16	0.1	2.3	16	0	0
Dave Washington	24		14	0	0	0	0	0		0.0	0.0	1	4	4.0	0	4	0.1	0.3	4	0	0
Team Total	25.0		14		512	2132	11	94	4.2	152.3	36.6	164	2012	12.3	16	58	11.7	143.7	4144	27	29
Opp Total			14		532	2241	26		4.2	160.1	38.0	131	1951	14.9	19		9.4	139.4	4192	45	20

Kick & Punt Returns

Glossary · ProBowl(*), 1st-team All-Pro(+), · ·

					Punt Returns					Kick Returns
	Age	Pos	G	GS	Ret	Yds	TD	Lng	Y/R	Rt	Yds	TD	Lng	Y/Rt	APYd
Alvin Wyatt	25	fs	14	0	11	85	0	27	7.7	17	432	0	43	25.4	517
Linzy Cole	24		8	0	7	35	0	13	5.0	16	415	0	51	25.9	450
Tony Greene	23	RCB	14	0	2	18	0	9	9.0	15	378	0	66	25.2	396
J.D. Hill*	24	WR	14	0	4	24	0	12	6.0	2	32	0	26	16.0	821
Ted Koy	25		14	0						5	63	0	25	12.6	81
Andy Selfridge	23		13	0						3	36	0	16	12.0	36
Jim Braxton	23	FB	14	0						1	12	0	12	12.0	697
Dwight Harrison	24		7	0	1	2	0	2	2.0						18
O.J. Simpson*+	25	RB	14	0						1	21	0	21	21.0	1470
Team Total	25.0		14		25	164	0	27	6.6	60	1389	0	66	23.2	5697
Opp Total			14		39		1			29	644	0		22.2

Kicking & Punting

Glossary · ProBowl(*), 1st-team All-Pro(+), · ·

					0--19		20--29		30--39		40--49		50+		Tot			PAT			Punting
	Age	Pos	G	GS	FGA	FGM	FGA	FGM	FGA	FGM	FGA	FGM	FGA	FGM	FGA	FGM	FG%	XPA	XPM	XP%	Pnt	Yds	Lng	Blck	Y/P
Spike Jones	25	P	14	0																	80	3104	67	1	38.8
John Leypoldt	26	K	14	0	2	2	5	4	7	6	9	4	1		24	16	66.7%	30	29	96.7%
Team Total	25.0		14		2	2	5	4	7	6	9	4	1		24	16	66.7%	30	29	96.7%	80	3104	67	1	38.8
Opp Total			14												27	16	59.3%	47	47	100.0%	65	2568			39.5

Defense & Fumbles

Glossary · ProBowl(*), 1st-team All-Pro(+), · ·

						Def Interceptions					Fumbles					Tackles
	Age	Pos	G	GS	Sk	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Tkl	Ast	Sfty
Jim Braxton	23	FB	14	0								2	1	0	0
Bob Chandler	23	WR	14	0								1	1	0	0
Linzy Cole	24		8	0								1	0	0	0
Al Cowlings	25	RDE	14	0								0	1	1	0
Don Croft	23	LDT	14	0								0	1	0	0
Dale Farley	23		7	0		1	42	0	42			0	1	0	0
Dave Foley	25	LT	12	12								0	1	0	0
Tony Greene	23	RCB	14	0		3	45	1	39			2	1	0	0
Paul Guidry	28	LLB	14	0		1	0	0	0
Leo Hart	23		2	1								2	0	0	0
J.D. Hill*	24	WR	14	0								1	0	0	0
Robert James*	25	LCB	14	0		1	0	0	0
Spike Jones	25	P	14	0								1	1	0	0
Ted Koy	25		14	0								0	1	7	0
Ken Lee	24	MLB	12	6		6	155	1	61
Wayne Patrick	26		13	0								3	2	0	0
John Pitts	27	FS	14	0		1	10	0	10
Remi Prudhomme	30	C	8	0								1	1	0	0
Dennis Shaw	25	QB	14	13								6	2	-11	0
O.J. Simpson*+	25	RB	14	0								8	1	0	0
Mike Stratton	31	RLB	10	0		1	0	0	0
Mike Taliaferro	31		5	0								1	0	-5	0
Maurice Tyler	22	SS	14	0		4	61	0	27			0	1	3	0
Dave Washington	24		14	0		1	4	0	4			0	3	0	0
Alvin Wyatt	25	fs	14	0		4	52	1	49			0	1	10	0
Team Total	25.0		14			23	369	3	61			29	20	5	0
Opp Total			14		49							20	12

Scoring Summary

Glossary · ProBowl(*), 1st-team All-Pro(+), · ·

	Age	Pos	G	GS	RshTD	RecTD	PR TD	IntTD	XPM	FGM	Pts
John Leypoldt	26	K	14	0					29	16	77
Jim Braxton	23	FB	14	0	5	1					36
O.J. Simpson*+	25	RB	14	0	6						36
Bob Chandler	23	WR	14	0		5					30
J.D. Hill*	24	WR	14	0		5					30
Jan White	24	TE	14	0		2					12
Tony Greene	23	RCB	14	0				1			6
Randy Jackson	24		5	0		1					6
Ken Lee	24	MLB	12	6				1			6
Haven Moses	26		5	0		1					6
Wayne Patrick	26		13	0		1					6
Alvin Wyatt	25	fs	14	0				1			6
Team Total	25.0		14		11	16		3	29	16	257
Opp Total			14		26	19	1		47	16	377

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