1982 Buffalo Bills season

The 1982 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 13th season in the National Football League, and the 23rd overall. Due to the 1982 NFL strike, the season was shortened to only nine games; the Bills' 4–5 record left them in the 9th spot in the AFC (one spot away from the last playoff seed), therefore eliminating the Bills from the playoffs in the 16-team tournament format.

1982 Buffalo Bills season
OwnerRalph Wilson
Head coachChuck Knox
Home fieldRich Stadium
Results
Record4–5
Division place4th AFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersDT Fred Smerlas
DE Ben Williams

The Bills led the league in rushing in 1982, with 1,371 yards (152.3 per game) on the ground.[1][2] This was the last season with Chuck Knox as head coach, as negotiations for a new contract with ownership failed, which led him to leave Buffalo for the Seattle Seahawks in January 1983.

Offseason edit

NFL draft edit

Linebacker Eugene Marve played linebacker for Buffalo for six seasons. Placekicker Gary Anderson went on to become the second-leading scorer in NFL history, although he did so with five other NFL teams,[3] as he never played a regular-season game for Buffalo.

1982 Buffalo Bills Draft
Round Selection Player Position College Notes
1 19 Perry Tuttle WR Clemson
2 48 Matt Kofler QB San Diego State
3 59 Eugene Marve LB Saginaw Valley State
4 93 Van Williams RB Carson-Newman
6 160 DeWayne Chivers TE South Carolina
7 171 Gary Anderson K Syracuse
8 218 Luc Tousignant QB Fairmont State
9 245 Dennis Edwards DE USC
10 272 Vic James DB Colorado
11 298 Frank Kalil G Arizona
12 329 Tony Suber DT Gardner–Webb

Personnel edit

Staff/coaches edit

1982 Buffalo Bills staff
Front office

Coaching staff

Offensive coaches

Defensive/special teams coaches

Special assignments

Roster edit

1982 Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season edit

Schedule edit

Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL.com
recap
1 September 12 Kansas City Chiefs W 14–9 1–0 Rich Stadium Recap
2 September 16 Minnesota Vikings W 23–22 2–0 Rich Stadium Recap
Players' strike
3 November 21 Miami Dolphins L 7–9 2–1 Rich Stadium Recap
4 November 28 Baltimore Colts W 20–0 3–1 Rich Stadium Recap
5 December 5 at Green Bay Packers L 21–33 3–2 Milwaukee County Stadium Recap
6 December 12 Pittsburgh Steelers W 13–0 4–2 Rich Stadium Recap
7 December 19 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 23–24 4–3 Tampa Stadium Recap
8 December 27 at Miami Dolphins L 10–27 4–4 Miami Orange Bowl Recap
9 January 2 at New England Patriots L 19–30 4–5 Schaefer Stadium Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries edit

Week 1 edit

1 234Total
Chiefs 3 303 9
Bills 7 700 14

[4]

Week 2 edit

1 234Total
Vikings 2 1730 22
• Bills 0 7610 23

[5]

Week 5 edit

1 234Total
Bills 0 7014 21
• Packers 6 7713 33


[6]

Week 6 edit

Terry Bradshaws worst game in NFL

Pittsburgh Steelers (4-1) at Buffalo Bills (3-2)
1 234Total
Steelers 0 000 0
• Bills 0 1030 13

[7]

Standings edit

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Miami Dolphins(2) 7 2 0 .778 6–1 6–1 198 131 W3
New York Jets(6) 6 3 0 .667 2–2 2–3 245 166 L1
New England Patriots(7) 5 4 0 .556 3–1 5–3 143 157 W1
Buffalo Bills 4 5 0 .444 1–3 3–3 150 154 L3
Baltimore Colts 0 8 1 .056 0–5–0 0–7–0 113 236 L2
American Football Conference
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Los Angeles Raiders(1) 8 1 0 .889 260 200 W5
Miami Dolphins(2) 7 2 0 .778 198 131 W3
Cincinnati Bengals(3) 7 2 0 .778 232 177 W2
Pittsburgh Steelers(4) 6 3 0 .667 204 146 W2
San Diego Chargers(5) 6 3 0 .667 288 221 L1
New York Jets(6) 6 3 0 .667 245 166 L1
New England Patriots(7) 5 4 0 .556 143 157 W1
Cleveland Browns(8) 4 5 0 .444 140 182 L1
Buffalo Bills 4 5 0 .444 150 154 L3
Seattle Seahawks 4 5 0 .444 127 147 W1
Kansas City Chiefs 3 6 0 .333 176 184 W1
Denver Broncos 2 7 0 .222 148 226 L3
Houston Oilers 1 8 0 .111 136 245 L7
Baltimore Colts 0 8 1 .056 113 236 L2

Awards and honors edit

All-Pros edit

First Team

Second Team

References edit

  1. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1982 NFL Standings, Team & Offensive Statistics
  2. ^ "1982 Buffalo Bills".
  3. ^ Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Minnesota, Tennessee
  4. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  5. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  6. ^ "Buffalo Bills at Green Bay Packers - December 5th, 1982". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  7. ^ "Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills - December 12th, 1982". Pro-Football-Reference.com.