The 1972 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 3rd season in the

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, and the 13th overall. It was also their last season at War Memorial Stadium which had been their home field since the franchise started in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

Season summary

The 1972 season also marked the return of former Bills coach

Lou Saban Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 a ...

, who had previously led the team to two

AFL Championship For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...

s. Saban had a new offensive philosophy for Buffalo in 1972: in his first three seasons, former number one overall pick O. J. Simpson had only carried the ball an average of 161 times per season. Saban rushed Simpson 292 times in 1972, the second-most in the league. Despite losing two starting offensive lineman –

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Bruce Jarvis and

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Jim Reilly—in the season opener, O. J. Simpson still led the league in rushing with 1,251 yards. Although the Bills had a potent, yard-gaining rushing attack, they could not put enough points on the scoreboard, scoring only 257 points (18.3 per game) all season, 19th in the league. Furthermore, Buffalo's defense gave up 377 points (23.5 per game), the third-most in the NFL in 1972. As of

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, this season was the most recent in which the Bills recorded a tie game.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Buffalo Bills 1972 NFL Draft
/ref>

Personnel

Staff/Coaches

Roster

* October 16 –

Haven Moses Haven Christopher Moses (born July 27, 1946) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 14 seasons in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). Moses initially played college fo ...

(WR) was traded to

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for

Regular season

In his fourth NFL season, running back O. J. Simpson gained over 1,000 yards rushing for the first time. The 24-23 loss on October 22 to the Miami Dolphins, who would finish with a

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

, was the closest margin of victory for the Dolphins.

Schedule

1972 Buffalo Bills Schedule
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Season summary

Week 1

Week 2

* O. J. Simpson 29 Rush, 138 Yds Pro-Football-Reference.com
Retrieved 2014-Nov-27.

Week 13 vs Lions

Standings

Awards and honors

References

Bills on jt-sw.com

Bills Stats on jt-sw.com
Buffalo Bills seasons

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

Buffalo {{Americanfootball-season-stub