Division Races
The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.
The Buffalo Bills won their first nine games, before Boston beat them at home on November 15, 36-28. Buffalo came back from a 24-14 deficit at San Diego on Thanksgiving Day to eke out a 27-24 win. On December 6 at Oakland, the Raiders beat the Bills on the final play of the game, 16-13, and did not try for an extra point. Boston won at Kansas City, 31-24, to take Buffalo's lead away. In Week Fourteen, Boston was idle, and Buffalo took a 1/2 game lead with a 30-19 win at Denver. As it turned out, the Eastern Division title would come down to the final game of the season, with Buffalo (11-2-0) traveling to Boston (10-2-1) on December 20, with the winner to take all. Jack Kemp led the Bills to three touchdowns for a 24-14 win to capture the title.
The Western Division race was less dramatic. In Week Six, the Chargers took a lead over the Chiefs during a six game winning streak, and held that lead for the rest of the season.
| Week | EASTERN | WESTERN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tie (Bos, Buf, NYJ) | 1-0-0 | SAN DIEGO | 1-0-0 |
| 2 | Tie (Bos, Buf) | 1-1-0 | SAN DIEGO | 1-1-0 |
| 3 | Tie (Bos, Buf) | 3-0-0 | KANSAS CITY | 1-1-0 |
| 4 | Tie (Bos, Buf) | 4-0-0 | KANSAS CITY | 2-1-0 |
| 5 | BUFFALO | 5-0-0 | KANSAS CITY | 2-2-0 |
| 6 | BUFFALO | 6-0-0 | SAN DIEGO | 3-2-1 |
| 7 | BUFFALO | 7-0-0 | SAN DIEGO | 4-2-1 |
| 8 | BUFFALO | 8-0-0 | SAN DIEGO | 5-2-1 |
| 9 | BUFFALO | 9-0-0 | SAN DIEGO | 6-2-1 |
| 10 | BUFFALO | 9-1-0 | SAN DIEGO | 7-2-1 |
| 11 | BUFFALO | 9-1-0 | SAN DIEGO | 7-2-1 |
| 12 | BUFFALO | 10-1-0 | SAN DIEGO | 7-3-1 |
| 13 | BOSTON | 10-2-1 | SAN DIEGO | 8-3-1 |
| 14 | BUFFALO | 11-2-0 | SAN DIEGO | 8-4-1 |
| 15 | BUFFALO | 12-2-0 | SAN DIEGO | 8-5-1 |
Read more about this topic: 1964 American Football League Season
Famous quotes containing the words division and/or races:
“For in the division of the nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people; but Israel is the Lord’s portion: whom, being his firstborn, he nourisheth with discipline, and giving him the light of his love doth not forsake him. Therefore all their works are as the sun before him, and his eyes are continually upon their ways.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus 17:17-9.
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—Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)