By Jeffrey J. Miller
Week 1 – September 13, 1964
The Buffalo Bills were a team on the rise, a point which was established
the previous year when they made the postseason for the first time in their
four-year existence. If the Bills’
performance on opening day 1964 was a declaration that this was a team of
destiny, it was about as loud of a declaration as one could make. The Bills bludgeoned the hapless Chiefs into
submission before the first quarter had ended, staking a 31-0 lead, including
21 points resulting directly from turnovers. Buffalo’s All AFL defensive tackle Tom Sestak staked his claim as the
greatest interior defensive lineman in the league by recording three
quarterback sacks and a fumble recovery to go along with an interception of Len
Dawson, which he returned 15 yards for the touchdown that gave the Bills their
31-point bulge. By the time it was over,
the Bills had posted a 34-17 victory in front of 30,157 delirious fans at
Buffalo’s old War Memorial Stadium.
Week 2 – September 20, 1964
Boston’s Ron Hall is this week’s top defensive player for his role in
helping the Patriots in defeating the powerful Chargers at San Diego’s Balboa
Stadium. Hall had been moved from his
familiar cornerback position to right safety this season, and the shift was
paying immediate dividends. In just his
second game at his new post, the Missouri Valley grad swiped three Tobin Rote
passes, which he returned for a total of 47 yards. The third, coming with the Chargers driving toward
the go ahead score in the game’s dying moments, allowed the Pats to run out the
clock and claim a narrow 33-28 victory.
Week 3 – September 26, 1964
Buffalo’s Tom Sestak earned his second DPW laurel in the first three
weeks of 1964 with another stellar outing, this time against the high-powered
San Diego Chargers. With 40,167 frenzied
witnesses on hand on a balmy Saturday night in Buffalo, the Bills demolished
the boys in powder blue 30-3. Sestak
posted two-and-a-half sacks, accounting for losses totaling 47 yards, as the
defense held San Diego to just 118 net passing yards.
Week 4 – October 4, 1964
Bobby Hunt, Kansas City’s All League strong safety, picked off George
Blanda four times in leading the Chiefs to a 28-7 triumph over the Oilers in
front of an appreciative crowd at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The Auburn grad returned those interceptions
for a total of 108 yards, including one in the third quarter that he brought
back 29 yards for a touchdown.
Week 5 – October 11, 1964
The Denver Broncos were seeing yet another season slipping away, entering
Week 5 at 0-4. In their previous four
seasons, the Sad Sack franchise had never posted a winning record. With the 2-1 Chiefs coming to town, it did
not appear they would be getting off the schneid anytime soon. But Denver’s All AFL safety man Austin Gonsoulin
was having none it. The man better known
to teammates and fans as “Goose” nabbed three interceptions to lead the Broncos
to a 33-27 upset win at Bears Stadium.
Gonsoulin also had a hand in seven tackles, six of which were
unassisted.
Week 6 – October 18, 1964
Tom Day, Buffalo’s new right defensive end, recorded three QB sacks in
Buffalo’s 35-22 win over the Chiefs at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium. Day was playing his first campaign on the
Bills’ defensive line after spending his first four pro seasons on offense (one
year with St. Louis in the NFL and three in Buffalo). The six-foot, two-inch, 252-pounder out of North
Carolina A&T demonstrated his mobility by being credited with four
unassisted tackles while assisting on another four. A savvy move by the Bills’ brain trust of
head coach Lou Saban and defensive coordinator Joe Collier.
The undefeated Bills (5-0) dropped the Chiefs to 2-3 and extended their lead
in the East over the Boston Patriots, who fell to 4-1-1 after managing only a
tie with Oakland on Friday night.
Week 7 – October 23, 1964
After falling a game and half behind in the race for the Eastern Division
crown following last week’s tie with Oakland, the Patriots were ready to turn things
around against the 2-3 Chiefs at Fenway Park. Led by defensive end “Wildman” Larry Eisenhauer, the Pats’ swarming
defense held Hank Stram’s charges to just 52 yards on the ground and 137
through the air (118 net!). Eisenhauer,
a huge presence at six-feet, five inches and 250 pounds, recovered two fumbles
and registered eight tackles (four unassisted) as the Patriots improved to
5-1-1 with a 24-7 victory.
Week 8 – October 31, 1964
New York’s Bill Baird was this week’s top defender, swiping three Babe
Parilli aerials in leading the Jets to a 35-14 upset win over Boston at Shea
Stadium. Two of Baird’s thefts came on
back-to-back Boston possessions late in the second quarter, allowing the Jets
to retire to the locker room at halftime with a commanding 21-0 lead.
With the win, the Jets improved to 4-2-1 on the season and established
themselves as a presence in the Eastern Division race, just a half-game behind
the second-place Patriots, who fell to 5-2-1.
Week 9 – November 8, 1964
The San Diego Chargers maintained their lead over the Chiefs in the Western
Division with a 30-21 defeat of the Broncos at Denver’s Bears Stadium. With hard-nosed middle linebacker Chuck Allen
leading the way with 10 tackles (including eight unassisted), the Chargers
improved to 5-2-1 on the season. Allen,
who played his collegiate ball at the University of Washington, also notched a
fumble recovery and a pass defensed in support of the cause.
Week 10 – November 15, 1964
Denver’s All League cornerback Willie Brown was nearly unbeatable this
day, snagging four interceptions in leading the Broncos to victory over the
visiting New York Jets before a sparse crowd of 11,309 at Bears Stadium. Brown swiped Jets passes in the first and third
quarters, then two more in the fourth, including one on the Jets’ final drive in
the game’s dying minutes that secured the Broncos' narrow 20-16 triumph. The Grambling State alumnus also recorded two
passes defensed. He had another
interception called back in the third quarter after the Broncos were flagged for
roughing the passer.
Week 11 – November 20, 1964
“Local Boy Makes Good” could very well have been the headline in any New
England newspaper this weekend, as safety Ross O’Hanley played the hero in the Patriots’
12-7 victory over the Denver Broncos at Fenway Park. O’Hanley, who was born in nearby Everett,
Massachusetts, and attended Boston College, picked off two Denver passes,
including one on the final play of the game as the Broncos were driving deep into
Boston territory toward the go-ahead score, securing the win and allowing the
Patriots to improve to 8-2-1, just one game behind Buffalo in the Eastern
Division race.
Week 12 – November 29, 1964
Dainard Paulson, the Jets’ hard-hitting safety, led the charge the
resulted in the Kansas City Chiefs being knocked out of post-season contention. The four-year veteran out of Oregon State
nabbed his league-leading 10th and 11th interceptions off
Chiefs’ signal-caller Len Dawson, including one he returned 32 yards for a score,
giving the Jets a 13-7 lead. Paulson was
credited with five solo tackles along with two passes defensed as the Jets dumped
the Chiefs 27-14 in front of 46,597 frenzied fans at Shea Stadium.
Week 13 – December 6, 1965
Needing a victory to stay alive in the race for the Eastern Division pennant,
the 9-2-1 Patriots traveled to Kansas City to face the struggling Chiefs, who
at 5-6 were already out of the race in the West. The Chiefs put up a fight, but the Patriots,
led by veteran cornerback Don Webb – this week’s DPW – held on for a narrow
31-24 win. Webb made his presence felt
throughout the game, having a hand in seven tackles (three unassisted) and
breaking up two passes. The Iowa State
alum made his greatest contribution as the Chiefs were driving toward the tying
score late in the fourth, intercepting a Len Dawson pass deep in Boston territory
to seal the win.
Week 14 – December 13, 1964
Many pro football historians credit Larry Wilson of the NFL’s St. Louis
Cardinals with popularizing the safety blitz. Sometimes overlooked, though not so much by AFL adherents, was the
expert proficiency with which Buffalo Bills free safety George Saimes executed
the tactic. In the midst of his first All-AFL season, Saimes earned this weekend’s Defensive Player of the Week honors by
sacking Denver quarterbacks no less than three times in Buffalo’s 30-19 victory
over the Broncos at Bears Stadium. The
five-foot, eleven-inch, 186-pounder out of Michigan State capped his brilliant
performance by blocking an extra-point attempt late in the third, allowing the
Bills to maintain a seven-point bulge going into the final frame.
Week 15 - December 20, 1964
For the Oakland Raiders, 1964 had been a very disappointing season. After finishing 1963 at 10-4, expectations
were high that this would be their year. Unfortunately, the boys in Silver and Black were limping toward the
finish line at 4-7-2. The San Diego
Chargers, on the other hand, had already clinched a berth in the AFL Championship
Game, entering the final week of the season at 8-4-1. Neither had much to play for, other than
pride.
Warren Powers, the Raiders’ second-year safetyman, led his team to victory with two
interceptions. His second pick came in
heroic fashion late in the fourth quarter with the Raiders leading 21-20 and the
Chargers driving toward the presumptive go-ahead score. On first down from his own 44, San Diego
quarterback Tobin Rote decided to go for it all, but Powers had Charger flanker
Jerry Robinson covered and pilfered Rote’s heave at the Oakland 25 with 1:47
remaining in the game. All that was left
was for the Raiders to run out the clock and claim a moral victory from the post-season-bound
Chargers.
