1960 American Football League season

1960 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration	September 9, 1960 – December 18, 1960
Playoffs
Date	January 1, 1961
Eastern Champion	Houston Oilers
Western Champion	Los Angeles Chargers
Site	Jeppesen Stadium, Houston, Texas
Champion	Houston Oilers
American Football League seasons   1961 >

The 1960 American Football League season was the inaugural regular season of the American Football League. It consisted of 8 franchises split into two divisions: the East Division (Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, New York Titans, Boston Patriots) and the West Division (Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders).

The season ended when the Houston Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 24–16 in the inaugural AFL Championship game.

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 a tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.

The Denver Broncos, who would not have a winning season until they went 7–5–2 in 1973, were the Western Division leaders halfway through 1960. They won the AFL's first game, played on Friday night, September 9, 1960, beating the Boston Patriots 13–10. The Patriots' Gino Cappelletti scored the AFL's first points with a 35-yard field goal. Other results in Week One were the Los Angeles Chargers 21–20 win over the Dallas Texans, the Houston Oilers 37–22 win over the Oakland Raiders, and the New York Titans' 27–3 win over the Buffalo Bills. In the Raiders game, J.D. Smith caught a pass from Tom Flores to score the first two-point conversion in pro football history.

In Week Eight (October 30), Denver lost to the visiting Texans, 17–14, and did not win any of their last eight games, finishing with the AFL's worst record at 4–9–1. The Chargers, still in Los Angeles, pulled ahead the next week with a Friday night win over the New York Titans, 21–7, and finished at 10–4–0. The Eastern Division lead was held by Houston, except for a setback from a 14–13 loss to Oakland on September 25. In Week Five, the Oilers beat the visiting Titans, 27–21 and led the rest of the way.

Week	Eastern		Western
1	Tie (Hou, NYT)	1–0–0	Tie (Den, LAC)	1–0–0
2	Houston Oilers	2–0–0	Denver Broncos	2–0–0
3	Tie (Hou, NYT)	2–0–0	Tie (DalT, Den)	2–1–0
4	New York Titans	3–1–0	Denver Broncos	3–1–0
5	Houston Oilers	3–1–0	Denver Broncos	3–1–0
6	Houston Oilers	4–1–0	Denver Broncos	3–2–0
7	Houston Oilers	5–1–0	Denver Broncos	4–2–0
8	Houston Oilers	5–2–0	Tie (Den, LAC)	4–3–0
9	Houston Oilers	6–2–0	L.A. Chargers	5–3–0
10	Houston Oilers	6–3–0	L.A. Chargers	6–3–0
11	Houston Oilers	7–3–0	L.A. Chargers	6–4–0
12	Houston Oilers	6–3–0	L.A. Chargers	7–4–0
13	Houston Oilers	8–4–0	L.A. Chargers	8–4–0
14	Houston Oilers	9–4–0	L.A. Chargers	9–4–0
15	Houston Oilers	10–4–0	L.A. Chargers	10–4–0

Regular season

Results

Home/Road		Eastern Division				Western Division
		BOS	BUF	HOU	NY	DAL	DEN	LA	OAK
Eastern	Boston Patriots		0–13	10–24	38–21	42–14	10–13	16–45	34–28
	Buffalo Bills	38–14		25–24	13–17	28–45	21–27	10–24	38–9
	Houston Oilers	37–21	31–23		27–21	20–10	20–10	38–28	13–14
	New York Titans	24–28	27–3	28–42		41–35	28–24	7–21	27–28
Western	Dallas Texans	34–0	24–7	24–0	35–37		34–7	17–0	19–20
	Denver Broncos	31–24	38–38	25–45	27–30	14–17		19–23	31–14
	Los Angeles Chargers	0–35	3–32	24–21	50–43	21–20	41–33		52–28
	Oakland Raiders	27–14	20–7	22–37	28–31	16–34	48–10	17–41

Standings

AFL Eastern Division W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK Houston Oilers 10 4 0 .714 5–1 379 285 W2 New York Titans 7 7 0 .500 2–4 382 399 L1 Buffalo Bills 5 8 1 .385 3–3 296 303 L2 Boston Patriots 5 9 0 .357 2–4 286 349 L4 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

AFL Western Division W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK Los Angeles Chargers 10 4 0 .714 5–1 373 336 W4 Dallas Texans 8 6 0 .571 4–2 362 253 W3 Oakland Raiders 6 8 0 .429 2–4 319 388 W1 Denver Broncos 4 9 1 .308 1–5 309 393 L3 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

• AFL Championship Game
  • Houston Oilers 24, Los Angeles Chargers 16, January 1, 1961, Jeppesen Stadium, Houston, Texas

Statistics

Quarterback

Player	Comp.	Att.	Comp%	Yards	TD's	INT's
Frank Tripucka (DEN)	248	478	51.8	3038	24	34
Jack Kemp (LA)	211	406	52	3018	20	25
Al Dorow (NYT)	201	396	50.8	2748	26	26
Butch Songin (BOS)	187	392	47.7	2476	22	15
Cotton Davidson (DAL)	179	379	47.2	2474	15	16
George Blanda (HOU)	169	363	46.6	2413	24	22
Tom Flores (OAK)	136	252	54	1738	12	12
Johnny Green (BUF)	89	228	39	1267	10	10
Babe Parilli (OAK)	87	187	46.5	1003	5	11
Tommy O'Connell (BUF)	65	145	44.8	1033	7	13
Dick Jamieson (NYT)	35	70	50	586	6	2

Awards

• AP AFL Player of The Year: Abner Haynes, Dallas Texans
• UPI AFL Player of The Year: Abner Haynes, Dallas Texans

External links

• Football Database