# 1970 Denver Broncos season

The 1970 Denver Broncos season was the team's 11th season in professional football and first in the National Football League (NFL) after the merger. Led by fourth-year head coach and general manager Lou Saban, the Broncos posted a record of five wins, eight losses, and one tie, the same as the previous season, and were last in the new four-team AFC West division.
Denver won four of its first five games, but then had only one win and one tie in the final nine games. Running back Floyd Little became the first player to lead his conference in rushing for a last place team.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

1970 Denver Broncos draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 11 | Bobby Anderson | RB | Colorado |
| 2 | 37 | Alden Roche | DE | Southern |
| 3 | 63 | John Kohler | OT | South Dakota |
| 4 | 89 | Jerry Hendren | WR | Idaho |
| 5 | 115 | Bill McKoy | LB | Purdue |
| 6 | 141 | John Mosier | TE | Kansas |
| 7 | 167 | Randy Montgomery | CB | Weber State |
| 8 | 208 | Louis Porter | RB | Southern |
| 9 | 219 | Dave Washington * | LB | Alcorn State |
| 10 | 245 | Maurice Fullerton | DT | Tuskegee |
| 11 | 271 | Cleve Bryant | QB | Ohio |
| 12 | 297 | Greg Jones | RB | Wisconsin-Whitewater |
| 13 | 323 | Jim McKoy | DB | Parsons |
| 14 | 349 | Jeff Slipp | LB | BYU |
| 15 | 375 | Maher Barakat | K | South Dakota Tech |
| 16 | 401 | Bob Stewart | QB | Northern Arizona |
| 17 | 427 | Frank Kalfoss | K | Montana State |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Personnel
### Roster

    Source:

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
| 1 | September 20 | at Buffalo Bills | W 25–10 | 1–0 | War Memorial Stadium | 34,882 | Recap |
| 2 | September 27 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 16–13 | 2–0 | Mile High Stadium | 50,705 | Recap |
| 3 | October 4 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 26–13 | 3–0 | Mile High Stadium | 50,705 | Recap |
| 4 | October 11 | at Oakland Raiders | L 23–35 | 3–1 | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 54,436 | Recap |
| 5 | October 18 | Atlanta Falcons | W 24–10 | 4–1 | Mile High Stadium | 50,705 | Recap |
| 6 | October 25 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 14–19 | 4–2 | Kezar Stadium | 39,515 | Recap |
| 7 | November 1 | Washington Redskins | L 3–19 | 4–3 | Mile High Stadium | 50,705 | Recap |
| 8 | November 8 | at San Diego Chargers | L 21–24 | 4–4 | San Diego Stadium | 48,327 | Recap |
| 9 | November 15 | Oakland Raiders | L 19–24 | 4–5 | Mile High Stadium | 50,959 | Recap |
| 10 | November 22 | at New Orleans Saints | W 31–6 | 5–5 | Tulane Stadium | 66,837 | Recap |
| 11 | November 29 | at Houston Oilers | L 21–31 | 5–6 | Astrodome | 35,733 | Recap |
| 12 | December 6 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 0–16 | 5–7 | Municipal Stadium | 50,454 | Recap |
| 13 | December 13 | San Diego Chargers | T 17–17 | 5–7–1 | Mile High Stadium | 50,959 | Recap |
| 14 | December 20 | Cleveland Browns | L 13–27 | 5–8–1 | Mile High Stadium | 51,001 | Recap |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. ||||||||

### Game summaries
#### Week 6 (Sunday, October 25, 1970): at San Francisco 49ers

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Broncos (4–2) | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 49ers (4–1–1) | 3 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 19 |
at Kezar Stadium • San Francisco, California
* Date: October 25
* Game time: 2:00 p.m. MST
* Game attendance: 39,515
* Referee: Jack Reader
* TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph (play–by–play) and Gordie Soltau (color commentator)
| Team | Category |
| DEN | Passing |
| DEN | Rushing |
| DEN | Receiving |
| SF | Passing |
| SF | Rushing |
| SF | Receiving |
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | DEN | SF |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 14 | 19 |
* Point spread: Broncos +6½
* Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes
| Broncos | Game Statistics | 49ers |
| 15 | First downs | 16 |
| 33–162 | Rushes–yards | 34–128 |
| 134 | Passing yards | 234 |
| 12–27–3 | Passes | 16–35–0 |
| 2–13 | Sacked–yards | 0–0 |
| 121 | Net passing yards | 234 |
| 283 | Total yards | 362 |
| 88 | Return yards | 71 |
| 8–40.6 | Punts | 7–39.3 |
| 0–0 | Fumbles–lost | 1–0 |
| 5–50 | Penalties–yards | 9–87 |
| | Time of possession | |
Individual stats

### Standings

AFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Oakland Raiders | 8 | 4 | 2 | .667 | 4–0–2 | 7–2–2 | 300 | 293 | L1 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 7 | 5 | 2 | .583 | 2–3–1 | 7–3–1 | 272 | 244 | L2 |
| San Diego Chargers | 5 | 6 | 3 | .455 | 2–2–2 | 4–4–3 | 282 | 278 | W1 |
| Denver Broncos | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 1–4–1 | 3–6–1 | 253 | 264 | L1 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## Awards and honors

* Floyd Little, AFC Rushing champion