1975 Buffalo Bills season

16th season in franchise history November 2013 February 2026 Buffalo Bills 1975 8–6 3rd AFC East Lou Saban Ralph Wilson Rich Stadium Did not qualify RB O.J. SimpsonG Joe DeLamielleure Bills seasons The 1975 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's sixth season in the NFL, and its 16th overall. The Bills earned their third consecutive winning season, but failed to improve on their 9–5 record and playoff appearance from last year and finished 8–6 and out of the playoffs. Season summary The Bills led the league in points scored, with 420 (30.0 per game). This amount is the most points scored by any team in a 14-game season after the merger,Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1970 to 1977, in the regular season, sorted by descending Points For. and the most points scored by any team in the 1970s.Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1970 to 1979, in the regular season, sorted by descending Points For. The Bills were the only team in NFL history to average at least 30 points per game and miss the playoffs, until being joined by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2004. Buffalo won their first four games by an average of 17 points. They were 5–2 at the halfway point of the season, and one game behind the 6–1 Miami Dolphins in the AFC East. Buffalo then lost four of their final seven games, ultimately falling two games short of the division title. Bills' running back O. J. Simpson rushed for 1817 yards on the season, and set a then-record with 23 touchdowns scored for the season. Fullback Jim Braxton had 823 yards rushing. Buffalo's ground game dominated the league, with a total of 2974 rushing yards, over 300 yards more than the second best rushing total.Pittsburgh, 2633 The 1975 Bills have the distinction of giving up the most total passing yards (3,080) in a 14-game schedule during the merger era.Post-Merger 14-game schedule era: 1970–1977Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1970 to 1977, in the regular season, sorted by descending opp Passing YdsPro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, in 1975, in the regular season, sorted by descending opp Passing Yds However, the Bills' 45 takeaways on defense led the league in 1975. Defensive back Robert James and safety Doug Jones were lost to the season with knee injuries. Offseason NFL draft 1975 NFL draft Buffalo's defense gave up the fourth-most yards in the NFL in 1974, and so the Bills' first two picks in the 1975 draft were a pair of Nebraska linebackers – Tom Ruud and Bob Nelson—both of whom played for Buffalo for three seasons. N.C. State running back Roland Hooks played in every Bills game from 1976–1981. He is best known for his "Hail Mary" reception against New England in Week Twelve of the 1981 season, a catch which was instrumental in putting Buffalo into the postseason that year. 1975 Buffalo Bills 1 19 Tom Ruud Linebacker Nebraska yes 2 42 Bob Nelson Linebacker Nebraska yes 2 50 Glenn Loft Defensive back Drake no 4 102 Tom Donchez Running back Penn State no 5 115 John McCrumbly Linebacker Texas A&M yes 7 166 Gil Chapman Running back Michigan no 7 174 Reggie Cherry Running back Houston no 7 175 Harry Banks Defensive back Michigan no 8 201 John Hill Defensive tackle Duke no 10 253 Roland Hooks Running back NC State yes 11 279 Tom Drake Defensive back Michigan no 12 305 Mark Johnson Defensive end Missouri yes 13 331 Mark Dienhart Offensive tackle St. Thomas (MN) no 14 357 Robert Evans Wide receiver Morris Brown no 15 383 Chris Kupec Quarterback North Carolina no 16 408 Tom Fine Tight end Notre Dame no 17 435 Jeff Turcotte Defensive end Colorado no no no Personnel Staff/coaches 1975 Buffalo Bills staff Front office Majority owner/team president – Ralph Wilson Vice President & General Manager – Bob Lustig Vice president/minority owner – Pat McGroder Coaching staff Head coach – Lou Saban Offensive coaches Receivers – Bob Shaw Offensive line – Jim Ringo Defensive/Special teams coaches Defensive line – Stan Jones Linebackers – John Ray Defensive backfield – Bill Atkins Special teams – Ed Cavanaugh Final roster 1975 Buffalo Bills 12 Joe Ferguson 17 Gary Marangi 34 Jim Braxton 21 Gary Hayman 23 Steven Schnarr y 32 O. J. Simpson 81 Bob Chandler 40 J. D. Hill 80 John Holland American football 88 Reuben Gant 87 Paul Seymour American football 60 Bill Adams offensive lineman G 68 Joe DeLamielleure G 70 Dave Foley American football T 74 Donnie Green T 76 Halvor Hagen T 67 Reggie McKenzie guard G 53 Mike Montler C 61 Willie Parker offensive lineman C 72 Don Croft DT 74 Earl Edwards American football DT 71 Mike Kadish DT 85 Walt Patulski DE 65 Pat Toomay DE 75 Jeff Winans DE 62 Jeff Yeates DT 59 Doug Allen American football OLB 30 Bo Cornell OLB 50 Mark Johnson American football y OLB 52 Merv Krakau MLB 57 John McCrumbly y MLB 54 Tom Ruud y MLB 55 John Skorupan OLB 22 Steve Freeman American football y FS 43 Tony Greene CB 28 Dwight Harrison CB 26 Ed Jones Ed Jones defensive back y SS 41 Royce McKinney y SS 42 Frank Oliver American football y CB 37 Ike Thomas FS 33 Vic Washington FS  7 Marv Bateman P  3 John Leypoldt K -- Harry Banks American football y CB IR 25 Roland Hooks y RB IR 20 Robert James defensive back CB IR 24 Doug Jones American football S IR 56 Bob Nelson linebacker y LB IR 27 Ahmad Rashad WR IR Regular season Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 21 New York Jets W 42–14 1–0 Rich Stadium 77,837 2 September 28 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 30–21 2–0 Three Rivers Stadium 49,348 3 October 5 Denver Broncos W 38–14 3–0 Rich Stadium 79,864 4 October 12 at Baltimore Colts W 38–31 4–0 Memorial Stadium 43,907 5 October 20, 1975 New York Giants L 14–17 4–1 Rich Stadium 79,428 6 October 26 Miami Dolphins L 30–35 4–2 Rich Stadium 79,141 7 November 2 at New York Jets W 24–23 5–2 Shea Stadium 58,343 8 November 9 Baltimore Colts L 35–42 5–3 Rich Stadium 77,320 9 November 17, 1975 at Cincinnati Bengals L 24–33 5–4 Riverfront Stadium 56,666 10 November 23 New England Patriots W 45–31 6–4 Rich Stadium 65,655 11 November 27 at St. Louis Cardinals W 32–14 7–4 Busch Memorial Stadium 41,899 12 December 7 at Miami Dolphins L 21–31 7–5 Miami Orange Bowl 78,701 13 December 14 at New England Patriots W 34–14 8–5 Schaefer Stadium 58,393 14 December 20, 1975 Minnesota Vikings L 13–35 8–6 Rich Stadium 54,993 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. Season summary Week 1 vs Jets collapsed September 21 1:00 p.m. Jets 7 7 0 0 Bills 14 7 14 7 Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York 56 F, wind 13 mph on Pro-Football-Reference.com First quarter Bills – O. J. Simpson 2 yard run (John Leypoldt kick) – Bills 7–0 Bills – Jim Braxton 3 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (John Leypoldt kick) – Bills 14–0 Jets – Rich Caster 28 yard pass from Joe Namath (Pat Leahy kick) – Bills 14–7 Second quarter Bills – O. J. Simpson 5 yard run (John Leypoldt kick) – Bills 21–7 Jets – Eddie Bell 12 yard pass from Joe Namath (Pat Leahy kick) – Bills 21–14 Third quarter Bills – Paul Seymour 2 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (John Leypoldt kick) – Bills 28–14 Bills – Joe Ferguson 1 yard run (John Leypoldt kick) – Bills 35–14 Fourth quarter Bills – Pat Toomay 44 yard interception return (John Leypoldt kick) – Bills 42–14 Jets Joe Namath 14/36, 173 Yds, 2 TD, 4 INT John Riggins 10 Rush, 61 Yds Rich Caster 6 Rec, 103 Yds, TD Bills Joe Ferguson 7/13, 67 Yds, 2 TD O. J. Simpson 32 Rush, 173 Yds, 3 TD Bob Chandler 3 Rec, 34 Yds Week 2 at Steelers Bills (1-0) 0 10 13 7 Steelers (1-0) 0 0 7 14 Week 3 vs Broncos Broncos 0 7 7 0 Bills 10 14 14 0 October 5 Rich Stadium 1:00 p.m. EST 58 F, wind 11 mph on yes 1 BUF John Leypoldt 39 yard field goal Bills 3–0 1 BUF Jim Braxton 3 yard run (John Leypoldt kick) Bills 10–0 2 BUF Jim Braxton 19 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (John Leypoldt kick) Bills 17–0 2 DEN Floyd Little 35 yard pass from Charley Johnson (Jim Turner kick) Bills 17–7 2 BUF J. D. Hill 16 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (John Leypoldt kick) Bills 24–7 3 BUF O. J. Simpson 16 yard run (John Leypoldt kick) Bills 31–7 3 BUF Jim Braxton 4 yard run (John Leypoldt kick) Bills 38–7 3 DEN Rick Upchurch 80 yard pass from John Hufnagel (Jim Turner kick) Bills 38–14 yes Pro-Football-Reference.com Week 4 at Colts Bills (3-0) 10 14 7 7 Colts (1-2) 14 7 7 3 Week 5 vs Giants Giants 0 7 0 10 Bills 7 7 0 0 October 20 Monday Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York 9:00 p.m. EST 50 F C • 13 mph km/h knot Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and Alex Karras ABC Monday Night Football Week 6 vs Dolphins Dolphins (4-1) 0 14 7 14 Bills (4-1) 13 10 0 7 Week 7 at Jets Bills (4-2) 7 0 10 7 Jets (2-4) 3 13 7 0 Week 8 vs Colts Colts (3-4) 0 21 0 21 Bills (5–2) 7 21 0 7 Week 9 at Bengals Bills (5-3) 3 7 7 7 Bengals (7-1) 6 14 3 10 MNF Week 10 vs Patriots Patriots (3-6) 7 14 7 3 Bills (5-4) 14 10 7 14 Week 11 at Cardinals Bills (6-4) 6 7 6 13 Cardinals (8-2) 7 0 0 7 Thursday game Week 12 at Dolphins Bills (7-4) 0 0 14 7 Dolphins (8-3) 7 14 3 7 Week 13 at Patriots Bills (7-5) 6 7 14 7 Patriots (3-9) 0 7 0 7 Week 14 vs Vikings Vikings (11-2) 14 7 14 0 Bills (8-5) 0 7 6 0 Saturday game Snow Standings Awards and honors All-Pros 1975 All-Pro Team First Team Joe DeLamielleure, Guard O. J. Simpson, Running back Second Team Reggie McKenzie, Guard See also Electric Company References Bills on Pro Football Reference Bills on jt-sw.com Bills Stats on jt-sw.com Category:Buffalo Bills seasons Buffalo Bills Buffalo