Colonel William A. Phillips

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The 1979 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 10th season in the National Football League, and 20th overall.

Head coach Chuck Knox spent his second season with the Bills in 1979, improving on 1978's record by two games. The Bills were 7–6 with three games left to play, but they lost their final three games to finish with a losing record. (Even if Buffalo had won their final three games, they still would have lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Miami Dolphins (who finished 10–6) for the division title.)

Buffalo's loss to Miami in Week Seven was their 20th straight loss to the Dolphins, an NFL record.

The 1979 Bills were dead-last in rushing yards in the NFL, with only total 1,621 yards on the ground.[1] Buffalo's 268 points scored was 23rd of the league's 28 teams.[2]

Offseason

NFL draft

Three of Buffalo's first four picks made at least one Pro Bowl: wide receiver Jerry Butler, nose tackle Fred Smerlas, and linebacker Jim Haslett. Haslett was named 1979 AP Rookie of the Year. Smerlas made five Pro Bowls in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1988.

Defensive end Ken Johnson, center Jon Borchardt, and defensive backs Jeff Nixon and Rod Kush all played for the Bills for six years from 1979 to 1984.

= Pro Bowler[note 1]
1979 Buffalo Bills Draft
Round Selection Player Position College Notes
1 1 Tom Cousineau LB Ohio State
5 Jerry Butler WR Clemson
2 32 Fred Smerlas DT Boston College
51 Jim Haslett LB Indiana (PA)
3 62 Jon Borchardt OG Montana State
4 83 Ken E. Johnson DE Knoxville
87 Jeff Nixon DB Richmond
5 114 Rod Kush DB Nebraska-Omaha
116 Dan Manucci QB Kansas State
6 141 Mike Burrow OG Auburn
7 170 Tom Mullady TE Rhodes
9 226 Kevin Baker DE William Penn
10 253 Dave Marler QB Mississippi State
11 279 Paul Lawler DB Colgate
12 308 Mike Harris RB Arizona State

Tom Cousineau

Ohio State linebacker Cousineau was drafted first overall in the 1979 NFL Draft by the Bills, who acquired the pick from San Francisco in a trade for O. J. Simpson. Cousineau never played a game with the Bills. He instead signed with the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes where they offered double the money that the Bills originally offered. Cousineau became a star there, becoming the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player in the 1979 season. Cousineau wanted to return to the NFL, and in 1982 the Houston Oilers attempted to sign him, but the Bills (who still held Cousineau's NFL rights) matched the offer. He was then traded from the Bills to the Cleveland Browns for a first-round draft choice (14th overall) in the 1983 NFL Draft,[3] which would be used on future Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. Cousineau signed a five-year contract for 2.5 million dollars, the most ever for a Cleveland Brown player at the time.[5]

Undrafted free agents

1979 Undrafted Free Agents of note
Player Position College
Orlando Alvarez Wide receiver Montclair State
Rod Broadway Defensive Tackle North Carolina
Derrick Burnett Running back Indiana
Robert Cameron Punter Acadia
Jerome Carter Cornerback Delaware State
Donald Clayton Punter Wyoming
Bill Crowley Linebacker Yale
Leroy McGee Running back Michigan State
Russell Pope Cornerback Purdue
Ronald Ricks Cornerback Kansas

Personnel

Staff/coaches

1979 Buffalo Bills staff
Front office

Coaching staff

Offensive coaches

Defensive/special teams coaches

Roster

1979 Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 2 Miami Dolphins L 7–9 0–1 Rich Stadium 69,441
2 September 9 Cincinnati Bengals W 51–24 1–1 Rich Stadium 43,504
3 September 16 at San Diego Chargers L 19–27 1–2 San Diego Stadium 50,709
4 September 23 New York Jets W 46–31 2–2 Rich Stadium 68,731
5 September 30 at Baltimore Colts W 31–13 3–2 Memorial Stadium 31,904
6 October 7 Chicago Bears L 0–7 3–3 Rich Stadium 73,383
7 October 14 at Miami Dolphins L 7–17 3–4 Miami Orange Bowl 45,597
8 October 21 Baltimore Colts L 13–14 3–5 Rich Stadium 50,581
9 October 28 at Detroit Lions W 20–17 4–5 Pontiac Silverdome 61,911
10 November 4 New England Patriots L 6–26 4–6 Rich Stadium 67,935
11 November 11 at New York Jets W 14–12 5–6 Shea Stadium 50,647
12 November 18 Green Bay Packers W 19–12 6–6 Rich Stadium 39,679
13 November 25 at New England Patriots W 16–13 (OT) 7–6 Schaefer Stadium 60,991
14 December 2 Denver Broncos L 16–19 7—7 Rich Stadium 37,886
15 December 9 at Minnesota Vikings L 3–10 7–8 Metropolitan Stadium 42,239
16 December 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 0–28 7–9 Three Rivers Stadium 48,002
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Miami Dolphins(3) 10 6 0 .625 5–3 6–6 341 257 L1
New England Patriots 9 7 0 .563 4–4 6–6 411 326 W1
New York Jets 8 8 0 .500 4–4 5–7 337 383 W3
Buffalo Bills 7 9 0 .438 4–4 5–7 268 279 L3
Baltimore Colts 5 11 0 .313 3–5 4–10 271 351 W1

Season summary

Week 11

1 234Total
• Bills 0 707 14
Jets 0 606 12
  • Date: November 11
  • Location: Shea Stadium New York
  • Game start: 1:00 PM EST
  • Game attendance: 50,647
  • Game weather: 52 degrees, relative humidity 78%, wind 10 mph
  • Referee: Pat Haggerty
  • TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert and Mike Haffner

Week 13 at Patriots

Week Thirteen: Buffalo Bills (6–6) at New England Patriots (8–4)
Period 1 2 34OTTotal
Bills 0 3 37316
Patriots 0 3 010013

at Schaefer Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts

  • Date: November 25
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: 63 °F or 17.2 °C
  • Game attendance: 60,991
  • Box Score
Game information

Notes

  1. ^ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.

References

  1. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1979 NFL Standings, Team & Offensive Statistics The Bills rushed for 101.3 yards per game; the league average for rushing yards was 135.6 yards per game.
  2. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1979 Buffalo Bills
  3. ^ Sports People; Browns Get Cousineau from the New York Times archives, retrieved March 8, 2006