Lou Saban passes away

[jmt57]

Bills dominated the AFL East in the mid-60's before the merger. I don't remember a lot about Saban but I can remember they were very good on both sides of the ball. Mostly it was a dominating, smothering defense, but the guy who got the headlines was a player by the name of Jack Kemp; I may be one of the few that first still thinks of him as a QB whenever I hear his name.

In '64 the Bills were a dominating 9-0 with only one close game, and then the Pats came back from 14 down to win in the 4th quarter by a TD. Babe Parilli threw for five TDs in the win; it was one of my first memories of the Pats as a young kid.

Season finale came down to the last game of the season and while all the parents in my neighborhood were watching the NFL, all the kids on my street were following the Pats. Bills won 24-14 but as I recall it wasn't nearly as close as the final score.

Bills ranked first in points scored, points allowed, yardage and yards allowed that year. In back-to-back years they stifled the Chargers for the AFL championship. Saban ended up jumping to the NFL, and soon after Kemp was done as a QB; not sure if anybody has ever heard from him since. They had about a quarter century of mediocrity after that, though OJ's trampling of the Pats a decade later did lead to a huge NFL record.


Those were very, very good teams in Buffalo at that time. They're somewhat disrespected in NFL history because it was the AFL, prior to the merger. I'm not saying they would have beat the Packers, but they would have held there own against the NFL's best at that time. In fact, had the Bills played the NFL champs in 65, they would have done better than the Chiefs and Raiders did after that - because they had a better defense.

 

[TrueBeliever]

It would be interesting to see how those Bills would have stacked up against Lombardi's squad. In Ed Gruver's book about the AFL he mentions how members of the '63 Chargers were convinced they could have beat the NFL champs that year.

 

[Peekaboo]

Bills dominated the AFL East in the mid-60's before the merger. I don't remember a lot about Saban but I can remember they were very good on both sides of the ball. Mostly it was a dominating, smothering defense, but the guy who got the headlines was a player by the name of Jack Kemp; I may be one of the few that first still thinks of him as a QB whenever I hear his name.

In '64 the Bills were a dominating 9-0 with only one close game, and then the Pats came back from 14 down to win in the 4th quarter by a TD. Babe Parilli threw for five TDs in the win; it was one of my first memories of the Pats as a young kid.

Season finale came down to the last game of the season and while all the parents in my neighborhood were watching the NFL, all the kids on my street were following the Pats. Bills won 24-14 but as I recall it wasn't nearly as close as the final score.

Bills ranked first in points scored, points allowed, yardage and yards allowed that year. In back-to-back years they stifled the Chargers for the AFL championship. Saban ended up jumping to the NFL, and soon after Kemp was done as a QB; not sure if anybody has ever heard from him since. They had about a quarter century of mediocrity after that, though OJ's trampling of the Pats a decade later did lead to a huge NFL record.


Those were very, very good teams in Buffalo at that time. They're somewhat disrespected in NFL history because it was the AFL, prior to the merger. I'm not saying they would have beat the Packers, but they would have held there own against the NFL's best at that time. In fact, had the Bills played the NFL champs in 65, they would have done better than the Chiefs and Raiders did after that - because they had a better defense.

Fantastic post my friend. Kind of makes you wonder how Bills would have done in Super Bowl 1 had they beat the Chiefs in the AFC title game.

 

[fgssand]

Bills dominated the AFL East in the mid-60's before the merger. I don't remember a lot about Saban but I can remember they were very good on both sides of the ball. Mostly it was a dominating, smothering defense, but the guy who got the headlines was a player by the name of Jack Kemp; I may be one of the few that first still thinks of him as a QB whenever I hear his name.

In '64 the Bills were a dominating 9-0 with only one close game, and then the Pats came back from 14 down to win in the 4th quarter by a TD. Babe Parilli threw for five TDs in the win; it was one of my first memories of the Pats as a young kid.

Season finale came down to the last game of the season and while all the parents in my neighborhood were watching the NFL, all the kids on my street were following the Pats. Bills won 24-14 but as I recall it wasn't nearly as close as the final score.

Bills ranked first in points scored, points allowed, yardage and yards allowed that year. In back-to-back years they stifled the Chargers for the AFL championship. Saban ended up jumping to the NFL, and soon after Kemp was done as a QB; not sure if anybody has ever heard from him since. They had about a quarter century of mediocrity after that, though OJ's trampling of the Pats a decade later did lead to a huge NFL record.


Those were very, very good teams in Buffalo at that time. They're somewhat disrespected in NFL history because it was the AFL, prior to the merger. I'm not saying they would have beat the Packers, but they would have held there own against the NFL's best at that time. In fact, had the Bills played the NFL champs in 65, they would have done better than the Chiefs and Raiders did after that - because they had a better defense.

Cookie Gilchrist was an awesome FB for that team. He was powerful force for that team, he was 6-3 and weighed 253 lbs - a monster RB for his day.

By the way, he ended his career in Miami and scored the first ever Miami Dolphin touchdown in 1966, by taking their first ever opening kickoff return to the house.

 

[Peekaboo]

Cookie Gilchrist was an awesome FB for that team. He was powerful force for that team, he was 6-3 and weighed 253 lbs - a monster RB for his day.

By the way, he ended his career in Miami and scored the first ever Miami Dolphin touchdown in 1966, by taking their first ever opening kickoff return to the house.

He was the AFL's first 1,000 yard rusher too I believe.