1980 Buffalo Bills season
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The 1980 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 11th season in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
, and the 21st overall. Their 11–5 record was tied for best in the AFC. The Bills' defense allowed only 260 points in 1980, third-best in the league, whilst their 4,101 total yards surrendered was best in the NFL in 1980. Buffalo's defense was well represented on the
UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
All-AFC team:
nose tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...
Fred Smerlas and
linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...
Jim Haslett James Donald Haslett (born December 9, 1955) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the head coach of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He played college football for the IUP Crimson Hawks before being drafted by the Bu ...
– two-thirds of Buffalo's "Bermuda Triangle" with linebacker Shane Nelson – were named to the 1st team All-AFC.
Defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...
Ben Williams was named to the second team. Although Buffalo's offensive statistics were not as impressive as its defense, four offensive players were named All-AFC: left guard Reggie McKenzie,
left tackle Tackle is a playing position in gridiron football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, o ...
Ken Jones, wide receiver
Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame i ...
and rookie running back
Joe Cribbs Joe Stanier Cribbs (born January 5, 1958) is a retired National Football League and United States Football League football running back. He played collegiately at Auburn University along with future NFL backs William Andrews and James Brook ...
. Cribbs rushed for 1,185 yards and made his first
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...
. Jerry Butler and Fred Smerlas also were selected to play in the annual all-star game.


Breaking "The Streak"

The Bills had not beaten the Miami Dolphins in the entire decade of the 1970s, a streak of twenty straight losses, the longest in NFL history. The last time the Bills had defeated Miami was
1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
. The Bills had been outscored 565 (28.5 points per games) to 299 (14.5) during the 1970s by the Dolphins, failing to score more than ten points in over a third of the contests (7). They were shut out three times. Conversely, the Dolphins were held under twenty points just four times, and scored 45 points on the Bills twice. The domination was so thorough that the Bills only lost by one score or less five times, and Don Shula had never lost to Buffalo since taking over as Dolphins coach in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...
. The Bills only held a lead at any point in eight of the games, and only twice in the fourth quarter. Joe Ferguson had lost to the Dolphins 14 straight times. On opening day of the 1980 season, Miami visited
Rich Stadium Highmark Stadium is a stadium in Orchard Park, New York, in the Southtowns of the Buffalo metropolitan area. The stadium opened in 1973 as Rich Stadium and is the home venue of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). It was ...
, attempting to extend the streak to 21 games. At the end of three quarters, Miami led 7–3. In the fourth quarter, running back Roosevelt Leaks scored the go-ahead touchdown to make the score 10–7. Joe Cribbs added a second touchdown to extend the lead to 17–7, and Jeff Nixon intercepted his third pass of the game with only 36 seconds left, breaking the streak at 20 games. A rowdy crowd of 79,000 fans celebrated, and many stormed the field to tear down the goal posts, carrying them around the field.
Joe Cribbs Joe Stanier Cribbs (born January 5, 1958) is a retired National Football League and United States Football League football running back. He played collegiately at Auburn University along with future NFL backs William Andrews and James Brook ...
contributed 131 combined yards of offense for the triumphant Bills. The rivalry continued well into the 1990s, but with different results: from 1986 to 1996—the years in which Bills quarterback
Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United Stat ...
and Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino played at the same time—the Bills won 14 of 22 match-ups between the teams.


Offseason


NFL draft

North Carolina State's
Jim Ritcher James Alexander Ritcher (born May 21, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Ritcher played college football for North ...
became an anchor of the Buffalo offensive line for the next 14 years; he was the starter for all four Buffalo Super Bowl teams, and was second-team
All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...
in
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
. Running back Joe Cribbs was Buffalo's starting running back from 1980–1983, and again in 1985 (after returning from one year in the USFL). Tight end Mark Brammer played for the Bills for five seasons. Greg Cater was Buffalo's starting punter from 1980 until 1983.


Personnel


Staff/Coaches


Roster


Regular season

''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
s Paul Zimmerman wrote about the Bills' 1980 season, "It was a euphoric kind of year for Buffalo. Chuck Knox and his defensive coordinator,
Tom Catlin Thomas Allen Catlin (September 8, 1931 – June 7, 2008) was an American football player and coach. He spent a total of 37 years in the National Football League, including stints as defensive coordinator with the Buffalo Bills (1978–1982) and ...
, built the defense into No. 1 in the NFL with virtually the same people who had been lousy in '79. The Bills even beat
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
for the first time in a generation. And then Quarterback
Joe Ferguson Joseph Carlton Ferguson Jr. (born April 23, 1950) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Arkansas. Early year ...
picked exactly the wrong time of year to sprain his ankle – the playoffs. And
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
ended the dream."


Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.


Standings


Game summaries


Week 1 vs Dolphins


Week 2 vs Jets


Week 3 at Saints


Week 4 vs Raiders


Week 5 at Chargers


Week 6 vs Colts


Week 7 at Dolphins


Week 8 vs Patriots


Week 9


Week 10


Week 11


Week 12


Week 13


Week 14

First ever win for Buffalo vs Rams


Week 15


Week 16


Postseason


Divisional

With 2:08 left in the game, Chargers quarterback
Dan Fouts Daniel Francis Fouts (born June 10, 1951) is an American former football quarterback who played for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) throughout his 15-season career (1973-87). After a relatively undistinguished fi ...
threw the 50-yard winning touchdown pass to receiver Ron Smith to defeat the Bills, 20–14. Wrote Paul Zimmerman in
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
's 1981 NFL preview, "If Charley Romes intercepts the pass that bounces off his chest in the last few minutes of the playoff game against San Diego, then the Chargers don't score on the next play, and win the game. And Buffalo gets to play Oakland at home – where the Bills crushed the Raiders earlier in the season. And Buffalo's in the Super Bowl."''Sports Illustrated'', September 7, 1981: PRO FOOTBALL '81, by Paul Zimmerman, page 48


Notable events

In Week 15, the Bills became the thirty-fourth team to score only a
safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...
in a full game. It was the first occurrence of this since the San Diego Chargers against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the last game of the 1972 season, and there have been only three since, by the 1983 Minnesota Vikings, the 1993 Cincinnati Bengals, and the 2011 Atlanta Falcons in a playoff game.


References


Bills on Pro Football Reference

Bills on jt-sw.com

Bills Stats on jt-sw.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1980 Buffalo Bills Season Buffalo Bills seasons AFC East championship seasons Buffalo Bills Buffalo