# 1970 Buffalo Bills season

The 1970 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's first season in the National Football League, and eleventh overall. The team looked to improve on its 4–10 record from 1969 and make the playoffs for the first time since 1966. However, the Bills started out on the wrong foot, losing four of their first five games. After winning two consecutive road games against the Patriots and Jets and suffering a blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bills and Colts played to a 17–17 draw in week 9, Buffalo's first tie since 1968. The Bills would then lose five straight to end the season and finished 3–10–1, for fourth place in the AFC East. Their Week 5 game against the Miami Dolphins would start an era of futility during which the Bills would lose twenty consecutive games against the Dolphins. The Bills would not defeat the Dolphins at any point during the 1970s and next beat Miami in 1980. This would become known as "The Streak".
This would also mark the final season for Bills punter and linebacker Paul Maguire, as he retired after the season to go into broadcasting.

## Offseason
### NFL Draft

1970 Buffalo Bills draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 5 | Al Cowlings | Defensive tackle | USC |
| 2 | 30 | Dennis Shaw | Quarterback | San Diego State |
| 3 | 57 | Jim Reilly | Guard | Notre Dame |
| 3 | 67 | Glenn Alexander | Cornerback | Grambling |
| 4 | 82 | Jerome Gantt | Defensive end | North Carolina Central |
| 5 | 109 | Steve Starnes | Linebacker | Tampa |
| 6 | 134 | Ken Edwards | Running back | Virginia Tech |
| 6 | 135 | Grant Guthrie | Kicker | Florida State |
| 7 | 161 | Wayne Fowler | Offensive tackle | Richmond |
| 8 | 186 | Richard Cheek | Offensive tackle | Auburn |
| 9 | 213 | Bill Bridges | Guard | Houston |
| 10 | 238 | Willie Dixon | Defensive back | Albany State |
| 11 | 265 | Terry Williams | Running back | Grambling |
| 12 | 290 | Dave Simpson | Offensive tackle | Drake |
| 13 | 317 | Steve Schroeder | Kicker | Pacific |
| 14 | 342 | William Costen | Offensive tackle | Morris Brown |
| 15 | 369 | Dave Farris | Tight end | Central Michigan |
| 16 | 394 | Larry Davis | Wide receiver | Rice |
| 17 | 421 | George Bevan | Defensive back | LSU |
| Made roster ||||||

## Personnel
### Coaches/Staff

* Source: https://pro-football-history.com/franchise/7/buffalo-bills-coaches

### Final roster
## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 20 | Denver Broncos | L 10–25 | 0–1 | War Memorial Stadium | 34,882 |
| 2 | September 27 | Los Angeles Rams | L 0–19 | 0–2 | War Memorial Stadium | 46,206 |
| 3 | October 4 | New York Jets | W 34–31 | 1–2 | War Memorial Stadium | 46,206 |
| 4 | October 11 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 10–23 | 1–3 | Three Rivers Stadium | 42,140 |
| 5 | October 18 | Miami Dolphins | L 14–33 | 1–4 | War Memorial Stadium | 41,312 |
| 6 | October 25 | at New York Jets | W 10–6 | 2–4 | Shea Stadium | 62,712 |
| 7 | November 1 | at Boston Patriots | W 45–10 | 3–4 | Harvard Stadium | 31,148 |
| 8 | November 8 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 14–43 | 3–5 | War Memorial Stadium | 43,587 |
| 9 | November 15 | at Baltimore Colts | T 17–17 | 3–5–1 | Memorial Stadium | 60,240 |
| 10 | November 22 | at Chicago Bears | L 13–31 | 3–6–1 | Wrigley Field | 41,015 |
| 11 | November 29 | Boston Patriots | L 10–14 | 3–7–1 | War Memorial Stadium | 31,427 |
| 12 | December 6 | at New York Giants | L 6–20 | 3–8–1 | Yankee Stadium | 62,870 |
| 13 | December 13 | Baltimore Colts | L 14–20 | 3–9–1 | War Memorial Stadium | 34,346 |
| 14 | December 20 | at Miami Dolphins | L 7–45 | 3–10–1 | Miami Orange Bowl | 70,990 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Season summary
#### Week 1

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Broncos | 0 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 25 |
| Bills | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 |

#### Week 2

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Rams | 3 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 19 |
| Bills | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Week 3

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Jets | 17 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 31 |
| • Bills | 7 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 34 |

#### Week 4

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bills | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| • Steelers | 3 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 23 |

#### Week 5

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Dolphins | 10 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 33 |
| Bills | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |

#### Week 6

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bills | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| Jets | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |

#### Week 7

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bills | 10 | 21 | 0 | 14 | 45 |
| Patriots | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 |

#### Week 8

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Bengals | 3 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 43 |
| Bills | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |

#### Week 9

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bills | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| Colts | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 |

#### Week 10

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bills | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| • Bears | 0 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 31 |

#### Week 11

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Patriots | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Bills | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 |

#### Week 12

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bills | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| • Giants | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 20 |

#### Week 13

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Colts | 10 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
| Bills | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |

#### Week 14

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bills | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| • Dolphins | 21 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 45 |

### Standings

AFC East :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Baltimore Colts | 11 | 2 | 1 | .846 | 6–1–1 | 8–2–1 | 321 | 234 | W4 |
| Miami Dolphins | 10 | 4 | 0 | .714 | 6–2 | 8–3 | 297 | 228 | W6 |
| New York Jets | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 2–6 | 2–9 | 255 | 286 | L3 |
| Buffalo Bills | 3 | 10 | 1 | .231 | 3–4–1 | 3–7–1 | 204 | 337 | L5 |
| Boston Patriots | 2 | 12 | 0 | .143 | 2–6 | 2–9 | 149 | 361 | L3 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.