| Team: | Buffalo Bills |
| Year: | 1979 |
| Record: | 7–9 |
| Division Place: | 4th AFC East |
| Coach: | Chuck Knox |
| Owner: | Ralph Wilson |
| Stadium: | Rich Stadium |
| Playoffs: | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers: | G Joe DeLamielleure |
| Ap All-Pros: | G Joe DeLamielleure (1st team) |
| Shortnavlink: | Bills seasons |
The 1979 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 10th season in the National Football League, and 20th overall.
Head coach Chuck Knox spent his second season with the Bills in 1979, improving on 1978's record by two games. The Bills were 7–6 with three games left to play, but they lost their final three games to finish with a losing record. (Even if Buffalo had won their final three games, they still would have lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Miami Dolphins (who finished 10–6) for the division title.)
Buffalo's loss to Miami in Week Seven was their 20th straight loss to the Dolphins, an NFL record.
The 1979 Bills were dead-last in rushing yards in the NFL, with only total 1,621 yards on the ground.[1] Buffalo's 268 points scored was 23rd of the league's 28 teams.[2]
See main article: 1979 NFL draft.
Three of Buffalo's first four picks made at least one Pro Bowl: wide receiver Jerry Butler, nose tackle Fred Smerlas, and linebacker Jim Haslett. Haslett was named 1979 AP Rookie of the Year. Smerlas made five Pro Bowls in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1988.
Defensive end Ken Johnson, center Jon Borchardt, and defensive backs Jeff Nixon and Rod Kush all played for the Bills for six years from 1979 to 1984.
See main article: Tom Cousineau. Ohio State linebacker Cousineau was drafted first overall in the 1979 NFL Draft by the Bills, who acquired the pick from San Francisco in a trade for O. J. Simpson. Cousineau never played a game with the Bills. He instead signed with the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes where they offered double the money that the Bills originally offered. Cousineau became a star there, becoming the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player in the 1979 season. Cousineau wanted to return to the NFL, and in 1982 the Houston Oilers attempted to sign him, but the Bills (who still held Cousineau's NFL rights) matched the offer. He was then traded from the Bills to the Cleveland Browns for a first-round draft choice (14th overall) in the 1983 NFL draft,[3] which would be used on future Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. Cousineau signed a five-year contract for 2.5 million dollars, the most ever for a Cleveland Brown player at the time.[5]
| Orlando Alvarez | Wide receiver | Montclair State | |
| Rod Broadway | Defensive Tackle | North Carolina | |
| Derrick Burnett | Running back | Indiana | |
| Robert Cameron | Punter | Acadia | |
| Jerome Carter | Cornerback | Delaware State | |
| Donald Clayton | Punter | Wyoming | |
| Bill Crowley | Linebacker | Yale | |
| Leroy McGee | Running back | Michigan State | |
| Russell Pope | Cornerback | Purdue | |
| Ronald Ricks | Cornerback | Kansas |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 2 | Miami Dolphins | L 7–9 | 0–1 | Rich Stadium | 69,441 | ||
| 2 | September 9 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 51–24 | 1–1 | Rich Stadium | 43,504 | ||
| 3 | September 16 | at San Diego Chargers | L 19–27 | 1–2 | San Diego Stadium | 50,709 | ||
| 4 | September 23 | New York Jets | W 46–31 | 2–2 | Rich Stadium | 68,731 | ||
| 5 | September 30 | at Baltimore Colts | W 31–13 | 3–2 | Memorial Stadium | 31,904 | ||
| 6 | October 7 | Chicago Bears | L 0–7 | 3–3 | Rich Stadium | 73,383 | ||
| 7 | October 14 | at Miami Dolphins | L 7–17 | 3–4 | Miami Orange Bowl | 45,597 | ||
| 8 | October 21 | Baltimore Colts | L 13–14 | 3–5 | Rich Stadium | 50,581 | ||
| 9 | October 28 | at Detroit Lions | W 20–17 | 4–5 | Pontiac Silverdome | 61,911 | ||
| 10 | November 4 | New England Patriots | L 6–26 | 4–6 | Rich Stadium | 67,935 | ||
| 11 | November 11 | at New York Jets | W 14–12 | 5–6 | Shea Stadium | 50,647 | ||
| 12 | November 18 | Green Bay Packers | W 19–12 | 6–6 | Rich Stadium | 39,679 | ||
| 13 | November 25 | at New England Patriots | W 16–13 | 7–6 | Schaefer Stadium | 60,991 | ||
| 14 | December 2 | L 16–19 | 7—7 | Rich Stadium | 37,886 | |||
| 15 | December 9 | at Minnesota Vikings | L 3–10 | 7–8 | Metropolitan Stadium | 42,239 | ||
| 16 | December 16 | L 0–28 | 7–9 | Three Rivers Stadium | 48,002 | |||
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. | ||||||||