The 1966 Buffalo Bills

There's a very recent NFL Films where Steve Sabol and Bob Ryan (the NFL Films editor, not the Boston Globe columnist) joke about how the early films always had to have a plug for United Airlines. In this one, about the 1966 Buffalo Bills, there's footage of all the guys, in suits, boarding a plane from the tarmac.

"The road will be hard, but Bills like offensive lineman Joe O'Donnell and defensive lineman Tom Sestak relax, enjoy a good meal and try not to worry about the upcoming schedule."

This is said over footage of a tight-skirted flight attendant pouring coffee for the two players. Then they cut to Sestak dawdling over some type of salisbury-steak dinner with a pumpkin tart.

From 1964 through '66, no professional team won as many games as the Buffalo Bills. The first two of those seasons, Lou Saban had led the Bills to AFL championship. In '66, Saban had left to become head coach at the University of Maryland, and the Bills fell to Saban's former assistant, Joe Collier. The Bills open with losses to the Chargers and Chiefs but kick off a three-game win streak with a 58-24 thrashing of the Dolphins. After a 20-10 loss to the Patriots and 17-17 tie with the Chargers, Buffalo win five straight. A second loss to Boston leaves the Bills a half game behind the Patriots for the Eastern Division title going into the season's last weekend, but the Jets upset the Patriots. Before a visit from the 4-9 Broncos, two Bills fans hoist a banner in War Memorial Stadium that reads, "Thank You Joe Namath Bring On Dallas" (the Cowboys are leading the NFL's Eastern Division, and the season will end with the first AFL-NFL championship), and Buffalo socks Denver, 38-21, to return to the AFL title game.

The Bills and Chiefs had split their regular-season series. It's 14-7, Kansas City, late in the first half, and Buffalo is driving. Jack Kemp throws for a score, but Johnny Robinson intercepts in the end zone and returns 72 yards to set up a field goal. The Chiefs win, 31-7, to advance to the Super Bowl.

Some interesting things from this film:

-- The Bills have a barrel-chested defensive lineman, Jim Dunaway, who blocks a field goal in one game and returns it for a touchdown. This play earns him the great nickname, "Runaway" Dunaway.

-- Buffalo's backup quarterback, behind Kemp, is Daryle Lamonica.

-- Buffalo's first-string linebackers (Harry Jacobs, Mike Stratton and John Tracey) made a record 57th consecutive start together during the 1966 season. Their backups include Paul Maguire and Marty Schottenheimer.

-- The AFL officials wore red stripes, not black.

Jacobs was one of several integral Bills injured during the 1967 season, and Buffalo slumps to 4-10. In 1968, the Bills' veteran quarterbacks, Kemp and Tom Flores, are both injured before the regular season, leaving the job to untested Dan Darragh and Kay Stephenson. When both of those quarterbacks are injured, the job goes to Ed Rutkowski, a veteran wide receiver who had played quarterback six years before at Notre Dame. (Teammates ultimately voted Rutkowski the Bills’ 1968 offensive MVP.) Buffalo goes 1-12-1, and Collier is replaced in 1969 by Johnny Rauch, 25-3 in his last two head seasons as head coach of the Raiders (who will now be taken over by John Madden). With the first choice in the 1969 draft, Buffalo selects O.J. Simpson.