Not all field goals are born equal.
The Buffalo Bills started life in 1960 in the AFL – 10 years later, the AFL was merging with the NFL and the league was truly starting to take shape.
Though Buffalo had some early success in the AFL, by 1968 they were pretty atrocious.
24th November 1968
The 1-9-1 Buffalo Bills were travelling to Denver to face the Broncos.
Deep into the fourth quarter, Denver kicker Bobby Howfield kicks a go-ahead 12 yard-field goal to put the Broncos up 34-32.
Yes, that is not a typo, a 12 yard field goal!
That was enough for the Broncos to win the game and two games later, the Bills would finish 1-12-1.
Impressively – the Bills one win that year was against eventual Super Bowl winners: Joe Namath’s 11-3 New York Jets!
Who wants some Juice?
With the first overall pick in the 1969 NFL Draft – the Buffalo Bills selected running back O.J. Simpson.
Heard of him before? It is not the first time an article about Simpson and a Bronco has been written.
After two slow seasons to start his Buffalo career, Simpson exploded and dominated the league.
To this day, his 1973 MVP season where he ran for 2,003 rushing yards is the only time 2,000 yards was eclipsed in a 14-game season.
Trade Alert
In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to the San Francisco 49ers for a litany of draft picks.
One of those draft picks was a 1979 first round pick, which ended up as the first overall pick.
Buffalo selected Tom Cousineau, linebacker out of Ohio State.
Everybody remembers the illustrious Buffalo career of Tom Cousineau … right?
Maybe not – because Tom did not want to play for Buffalo. Instead, he signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. And to his credit, he was pretty good for them.
When the Alouettes folded however, Cousineau was in need of a new team.
Buffalo still owned his NFL rights – but Tom would not be pulling a Bills jersey any time soon.
Trade Alert … again
Buffalo traded Tom Cousineau to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for another first round pick. This time, it was the 14th overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft.
With that pick, Buffalo selected Jim Kelly, quarterback out of Miami.
Much like Cousineau, Jim did not want to play for Buffalo either – he was a warm weather guy out of Miami after all.
After a brief stint in the USFL – he eventually signed for Buffalo and began 10 phenomenal years including four Super Bowl appearances.
Spearheading the ‘K-gun’ offense, Kelly was instrumental in speeding up NFL offenses across the league as others followed suit.
Tenuous link? No such thing in this league of drama and storylines.
