1981 Buffalo Bills season

1981 Buffalo Bills season
Head coach	Chuck Knox
Owner	Ralph Wilson
Home field	Rich Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	3rd AFC East
Playoff finish	Lost Division Round

The 1981 Buffalo Bills season was the 22nd season for the club and its 12th in the National Football League.

The season's most memorable moment might have been a Hail Mary catch against the New England Patriots in Week Twelve. The 36-yard touchdown pass from Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson to running back Roland Hooks as time expired won the game for Buffalo, 20–17. The win proved to be crucial in giving Buffalo the final playoff spot in the AFC in 1981.

Offseason

The Bills were coming off of their first division title since 1966, and their first since the merger. Coach Chuck Knox's Bills, in his fourth season with the team, were considered a contender in the AFC.

In their 1981 NFL preview, Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman wrote, "A word of advice: Go to Vegas and take the price on Buffalo to go all the way. The odds are right. Just look at how close the Bills came last year. ... The Bills are a hungry team, on the rise. They'll have to stay almost injury-free, though, because they're in big trouble if one of the big boys goes down, i.e., [Joe] Ferguson, Nose Guard Freddy Smerlas, Wide Receiver Jerry Butler or Halfback Joe Cribbs, who handled the ball more times (389) than any back in the NFL, counting passes caught and punt and kick returns as well as his rushes."

NFL Draft

Main article: 1981 NFL Draft

Running back Robb Riddick played eight seasons for the Bills; he started eight games and ran for 632 total yards in 1986, and he became a short-yardage specialist in 1988

Said Zimmerman about the team's first pick, "[Coach Chuck] Knox is a ball control coach, and he's been desperately trying to juice up the fullback position, to take some heat off the 190-pound Cribbs. But No. 1 draft choice Booker Moore from Penn State came down with a nerve disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome."

Round	Pick #	Player	Position	College
1	28	Booker Moore	Running back	Penn State
2	49	Chris Williams	Defensive back	LSU
2	49	Byron Franklin	Wide receiver	Auburn
3	76	Mike Mosley	Wide receiver	Texas A&M
3	84	Robert Geathers	Defensive tackle	South Carolina State
5	135	Calvin Clark	Defensive end	Purdue
6	161	Robert Holt	Wide receiver	Baylor
7	188	Steve Doolittle	Linebacker	Colorado
9	241	Robb Riddick	Running back	Millersville (PA)
10	272	Justin Cross	Offensive tackle	Western Colorado
11	299	Buster Barnett	Tight end	Jackson State
12	326	Keith Clark	Linebacker	Memphis State

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 6, 1981	New York Jets	W 31–0	79,754
2	September 13, 1981	at Baltimore Colts	W 35–3	44,950
3	September 17, 1981	Philadelphia Eagles	L 20–14	78,331
4	September 27, 1981	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 27–24	46,418
5	October 4, 1981	Baltimore Colts	W 23–17	77,811
6	October 12, 1981	Miami Dolphins	W 31–21	78,576
7	October 18, 1981	at New York Jets	L 33–14	54,607
8	October 25, 1981	Denver Broncos	W 9–7	77,757
9	November 1, 1981	Cleveland Browns	W 22–13	78,266
10	November 9, 1981	at Dallas Cowboys	L 27–14	62,583
11	November 15, 1981	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 24–0	46,214
12	November 22, 1981	New England Patriots	W 20–17	71,593
13	November 29, 1981	Washington Redskins	W 21–14	59,624
14	December 6, 1981	San Diego Chargers	W 28–27	51,488
15	December 13, 1981	at New England Patriots	W 19–10	42,549
16	December 19, 1981	at Miami Dolphins	L 16–6	72,596

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Miami Dolphins(2)	11	4	1	.719	5–2–1	8–3–1	345	275	W4
New York Jets(4)	10	5	1	.656	6–1–1	8–5–1	355	287	W2
Buffalo Bills(5)	10	6	0	.625	6–2	9–3	311	276	L1
Baltimore Colts	2	14	0	.125	2–6	2–10	259	533	W1
New England Patriots	2	14	0	.125	0–8	2–10	322	370	L9

Playoffs

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
Wildcard	December 27, 1981	at New York Jets	W 31–27	57,050
Divisional	January 3, 1982	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 28–21	55,420

Wild Card

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 17 7 0 7 31 Jets 0 10 3 14 27 Date: December 27 Location: Flushing, NY Game start: 12:00 p.m. EST Game attendance: 57,050 Game weather: Light rain; 37°F; wind 17 Referee: Bob McElwee TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Len Dawson

Scoring summary Q1 BUF Romes 26 yard fumble return (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 7–0 Q1 BUF Lewis 50 yard pass from Ferguson (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 14–0 Q1 BUF Mike-Mayer 29 yard field goal BUF 17–0 Q2 BUF Lewis 26 yard pass from Ferguson (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 24–0 Q2 NYJ Shuler 30 yard pass from Todd (Leahy kick) BUF 24–7 Q2 NYJ Leahy 26 yard field goal BUF 24–10 Q3 NYJ Leahy 19 yard field goal BUF 24–13 Q4 BUF Cribbs 45 yard run (Mike-Mayer kick) BUF 31–13 Q4 NYJ Jones 30 yard pass from Todd (Leahy kick) BUF 31–20 Q4 NYJ Long 1 yard run (Leahy kick) BUF 31–27

The Bills traveled to Shea Stadium, where the Jets were playing in their first playoff game since the 1970 merger. In a cold rain the Jets got off to a poor start as Bruce Harper fumbled the opening kickoff at his 25 and Charles Romes ran back the fumble for a touchdown. The Bills raced to a 24–0 lead in the second quarter as Frank Lewis caught two Joe Ferguson passes for touchdowns; the first was a pass from the Bills 40 yard line caught by Lewis at the Jets 32 and run in, then Joe Cribbs caught a 50-yarder, setting up Lewis' second catch; later Rufus Bess picked off Richard Todd and ran back 49 yards, setting up a field goal. But in the second the Jets began clawing back as Mickey Shuler caught a 30-yard touchdown in traffic (it was Shuler's first catch of the entire 1981 season) from Todd and following a Greg Buttle interception of Ferguson Pat Leahy booted a 26-yard field goal. A 19-yarder from Leahy was the only score in the third, then early in the fourth Ferguson was picked off by Donald Dykes, but Todd was intercepted by Bill Simpson. Following the Simpson pick Ferguson was intercepted again, by Jerry Holmes, but the Bills defense forced a mediocre punt by Chuck Ramsey caught at the 50. Three plays later Joe Cribbs caught a toss-sweep and ran in a 45-yard touchdown for Buffalo. But the Jets refused to give in; Todd tossed a 30-yard score to Bobby Jones and later Kevin Long ran in a 1-yard score. The Jets got the ball back in the final minutes, but a sack by Fred Smerlas led to a last-ditch Todd drive to the endzone; after completions to Gaffney and Scott Dierking Todd fired from the Bills 11 for the endzone but was picked off by Bill Simpson, ending a 31–27 Bills playoff win, only the third in the team's history and first since winning back-to-back AFL titles in the 1964 and '65 seasons.

Awards and honors

All-Pros

First Team

• Fred Smerlas, Nose tackle

Second Team

• Joe Cribbs, Running back
• Frank Lewis, Wide receiver

References

• Bills on Pro Football Reference
• Bills on jt-sw.com
• Bills Stats on jt-sw.com