1964 American Football League season
| 1964 AFL 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 AFL 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.
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 a tie in the standings at the top of either division, a one-game 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
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Playoffs
| AFL Championship Game | ||
| December 26, 1964 – War Memorial Stadium | ||
| San Diego Chargers | 7 | |
| Buffalo Bills | 20 | |
Stadium changes
- The New York Jets moved from the Polo Grounds to Shea Stadium
Coaching changes
Offseason
- Houston Oilers: Pop Ivy was fired and replaced by Sammy Baugh.
In-season
- Denver Broncos: Jack Faulkner was fired after four games. Mac Speedie was named as replacement.
References
- ^ "Flores Flips Winner With 4 Seconds Left," The Fresno Bee, Dec 7, 1964, p8-B