1964 American Football League season

1964 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 12 – December 20, 1964
Playoffs
Date December 26, 1964
Eastern Champion Buffalo Bills
Western Champion San Diego Chargers
Site War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York
Champion Buffalo Bills

The 1964 American Football League season was the fifth regular season of the American Football League.

The season ended when the Buffalo Bills defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game. Two years later, the AFL would join the NFL to form the AFL-NFL World Championship game, known today as the Super Bowl.

This was the final season of AFL telecasts on ABC before the games moved to NBC for the following season.

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 Buffalo Bills won their first nine games, before Boston beat them at home on November 15, 36–28. Buffalo came back from a 24–14 deficit at San Diego on Thanksgiving Day to eke out a 27–24 win. On December 6 at Oakland, the Raiders beat the Bills on the final play of the game, 16–13, and did not try for an extra point.[1] Boston won at Kansas City, 31–24, to take Buffalo's lead away. In Week Fourteen, Boston was idle, and Buffalo took a 1/2 game lead with a 30–19 win at Denver. As it turned out, the Eastern Division title would come down to the final game of the season, with Buffalo (11–2–0) traveling to Boston (10–2–1) on December 20, with the winner to take all. Jack Kemp led the Bills to three touchdowns for a 24–14 win to capture the title.

The Western Division race was less dramatic. In Week Six, the Chargers took a lead over the Chiefs during a six-game winning streak, and held that lead for the rest of the season.

Week Eastern Western
1 Tie (Bos, Buf, NYJ) 1–0–0 San Diego 1–0–0
2 Tie (Bos, Buf) 1–1–0 San Diego 1–1–0
3 Tie (Bos, Buf) 3–0–0 Kansas City 1–1–0
4 Tie (Bos, Buf) 4–0–0 Kansas City 2–1–0
5 Buffalo 5–0–0 Kansas City 2–2–0
6 Buffalo 6–0–0 San Diego 3–2–1
7 Buffalo 7–0–0 San Diego 4–2–1
8 Buffalo 8–0–0 San Diego 5–2–1
9 Buffalo 9–0–0 San Diego 6–2–1
10 Buffalo 9–1–0 San Diego 7–2–1
11 Buffalo 9–1–0 San Diego 7–2–1
12 Buffalo 10–1–0 San Diego 7–3–1
13 Boston 10–2–1 San Diego 8–3–1
14 Buffalo 11–2–0 San Diego 8–4–1
15 Buffalo 12–2–0 San Diego 8–5–1

Regular season

Results

Home/Road Eastern Division Western Division
BOS BUF HOU NY DEN KC OAK SD
Eastern Boston Patriots 14–24 25–24 26–10 12–7 24–7 43–43 17–26
Buffalo Bills 28–36 24–10 34–24 30–13 34–17 23–20 30–3
Houston Oilers 17–34 17–48 33–17 34–15 19–28 42–28 17–20
New York Jets 35–14 7–20 24–21 30–6 27–14 35–13 17–17
Western Denver Broncos 10–39 19–30 17–38 20–16 33–27 20–20 20–31
Kansas City Chiefs 24–31 22–35 28–7 24–7 49–39 42–7 14–28
Oakland Raiders 14–17 16–13 20–10 35–26 40–7 9–21 21–20
San Diego Chargers 28–33 24–27 27–21 38–3 42–14 6–49 31–17

Standings

AFL Eastern Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Buffalo Bills 1220.8575–1400242W2
Boston Patriots 1031.7694–2365297L1
New York Jets 581.3852–4278315L3
Houston Oilers 4100.2861–5310355W2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
AFL Western Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
San Diego Chargers 851.6154–2341300L2
Kansas City Chiefs 770.5004–2366306W2
Oakland Raiders 572.4172–3–1303350W2
Denver Broncos 2111.1541–4–1240438L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

AFL Championship Game
   
December 26, 1964 – War Memorial Stadium
 San Diego Chargers  7
 Buffalo Bills  20

References

  1. ↑ "Flores Flips Winner With 4 Seconds Left," The Fresno Bee, Dec 7, 1964, p8-B
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