1964 American Football League season

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

* <- 1963
* AFL seasons
* 1965 ->

Oilers

Jets

Bills

Patriots

Chargers

Chiefs

Raiders

Broncos

class=notpageimage|

AFL teams:  West,  East

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

[edit]

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  |

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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

[edit]

### Results

[edit]

Home/Road  | Eastern Division  | Western Division

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|

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

[edit]

| AFL Eastern Division

* view
* talk
* edit

| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK
Buffalo Bills | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 5–1 | 400 | 242 | W2
Boston Patriots | 10 | 3 | 1 | .769 | 4–2 | 365 | 297 | L1
New York Jets | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 2–4 | 278 | 315 | L3
Houston Oilers | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 1–5 | 310 | 355 | W2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings in the AFL.

| AFL Western Division

* view
* talk
* edit

| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK
San Diego Chargers | 8 | 5 | 1 | .615 | 4–2 | 341 | 300 | L2
Kansas City Chiefs | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 4–2 | 366 | 306 | W2
Oakland Raiders | 5 | 7 | 2 | .417 | 2–3–1 | 303 | 350 | W2
Denver Broncos | 2 | 11 | 1 | .154 | 1–4–1 | 240 | 438 | L2

## Playoffs

[edit]

Main article: 1964 American Football League Championship Game

| AFL Championship Game

|

|  |

| December 26, 1964 – War Memorial Stadium

| San Diego Chargers| 7

| Buffalo Bills| 20

## Stadium changes

[edit]

* The New York Jets moved from the Polo Grounds to Shea Stadium

## Coaching changes

[edit]

### Offseason

[edit]

* Houston Oilers: Pop Ivy was fired and replaced by Sammy Baugh.

### In-season

[edit]

* Denver Broncos: Jack Faulkner was fired after four games. Mac Speedie was named as replacement.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Flores Flips Winner With 4 Seconds Left," The Fresno Bee, Dec 7, 1964, p8-B

## External links

[edit]

* Football Database

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1964 AFL season

| Eastern Division| Boston | Houston| Denver| Oakland | Western Division

|
|
|
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Buffalo | New York| Kansas City| San Diego

* 1964 AFL Draft
* AFL Championship
* All-Star Game

* Related: 1964 NFL season

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Commentators|

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Lore televised by ABC|

* "Body Bag Game"
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| Postseason lore|

* "Music City Miracle"
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|

Music|

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| Songs|

* "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night"
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|

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Website: ABC News - NFL News
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[T]: Ties
*[PCT]: Winning percentage
*[DIV]: Win–Loss record within their division
*[PF]: Points For (Total points scored)
*[PA]: Points Against (Total points allowed)
*[STK]: Current Winning or Losing Streak
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template