1960 American Football League season

1960 American Football League season
Regular season September 9, 1960 - December 18, 1960
Champions
All-Star game

The 1960 American Football League season was the inaugural regular season of the American Football League.

The season ended when the Houston Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Chargers in the inaugural AFL Championship game.

Contents

Division races

The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.

The Denver Broncos, who wouldn't have a winning season until they went 7-5-2 in 1973, were the Western Division leaders halfway through 1960. They won the AFL's very first game, played on September 9, 1960, beating the Boston Patriots 13-10. The Patriots' Gino Cappelletti scored the AFL's first points with a 35 yard field goal. Other results in Week One were the Los Angeles Chargers 21-20 win over the Dallas Texans, the Houston Oilers 37-22 win over the Oakland Raiders, and the New York Titans' 27-3 win over the Buffalo Bills. In the Raiders game, J.D. Smith caught a pass from Tom Flores to score the first two-point conversion in pro football history.

In Week Eight (October 30), Denver lost to the visiting Texans, 17-14, and didn't win any of their last eight games, finishing with the AFL's worst record at 4-9-1. The Chargers, still in Los Angeles, pulled ahead the next week with a Friday night win over the New York Titans, 21-7, and finished at 10-4-0. The Eastern Division lead was held by Houston, except for a setback from a 14-13 loss to Oakland on September 25. In Week Five, the Oilers beat the visiting Titans, 27-21 and led the rest of the way.

Week EASTERN WESTERN
1 Tie (Hou, NYT) 1-0-0 Tie (Den, LAC) 1-0-0
2 HOUSTON OILERS 2-0-0 DENVER BRONCOS 2-0-0
3 Tie (Hou, NYT) 2-0-0 Tie (DalT, Den) 2-1-0
4 NEW YORK TITANS 3-1-0 DENVER BRONCOS 3-1-0
5 HOUSTON OILERS 3-1-0 DENVER BRONCOS 3-1-0
6 HOUSTON OILERS 4-1-0 DENVER BRONCOS 3-2-0
7 HOUSTON OILERS 5-1-0 DENVER BRONCOS 4-2-0
8 HOUSTON OILERS 5-2-0 Tie (Den, LAC) 4-3-0
9 HOUSTON OILERS 6-2-0 L.A. CHARGERS 5-3-0
10 HOUSTON OILERS 6-3-0 L.A. CHARGERS 6-3-0
11 HOUSTON OILERS 7-3-0 L.A. CHARGERS 6-4-0
12 HOUSTON OILERS 6-3-0 L.A. CHARGERS 7-4-0
13 HOUSTON OILERS 8-4-0 L.A. CHARGERS 8-4-0
14 HOUSTON OILERS 9-4-0 L.A. CHARGERS 9-4-0
15 HOUSTON OILERS 10-4-0 L.A. CHARGERS 10-4-0

Standings [1]

Eastern Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
*Houston Oilers 10 4 0 .714 379 285
New York Titans 7 7 0 .500 382 399
Buffalo Bills 5 8 1 .385 296 303
Boston Patriots 5 9 0 .357 286 349
Western Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
*Los Angeles Chargers 10 4 0 .714 373 336
Dallas Texans 8 6 0 .571 362 253
Oakland Raiders 6 8 0 .429 319 388
Denver Broncos 4 9 1 .308 309 393


* — Qualified for Championship Game.

Playoffs

Statistics

Quarterback

Player Comp. Att. Comp% Yards TD's INT's
Frank Tripucka (DEN) 248 478 51.8 3038 24 34
Jack Kemp (LA) 211 406 52 3018 20 25
Al Dorow (NYT) 201 396 50.8 2748 26 26
Butch Songin (BOS) 187 392 47.7 2476 22 15
Cotton Davidson (DAL) 179 379 47.2 2474 15 16
George Blanda (HOU) 169 363 46.6 2413 24 22
Tom Flores (OAK) 136 252 54 1738 12 12
Johnny Green (BUF) 89 228 39 1267 10 10
Babe Parilli (OAK) 87 187 46.5 1003 5 11
Tommy O'Connell (BUF) 65 145 44.8 1033 7 13
Dick Jamieson (NYT) 35 70 50 586 6 2

External links

Eastern Division Western Division
Boston Dallas Texans
Buffalo Denver
Houston Los Angeles Chargers
New York Titans Oakland
1960 AFL Draft1960 AFL Championship Game1960 AFL All-Star game
Related: 1960 NFL Season