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1989 Buffalo Bills season
Head Coach Marv Levy
Home Field Rich Stadium
Results
Record 9–7
Place 1st AFC East
Playoff Finish L AFC Divisional
Timeline
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1988 1990

The 1989 Buffalo Bills season was the 30th season for the team and the 20th season in the National Football League. The Bills finished in first place in the AFC East and finished the National Football League's 1989 season with a record of 9 wins and 7 losses.

Offseason[]

NFL Draft[]

Pick # Player Position College
82 Don Beebe Wide Receiver Chadron State
109 John Kolesar Wide Receiver Michigan
137 Michael Andrews Defensive Back Alcorn State
164 Sean Doctor Tight End Marshall
173 Brian Jordan Defensive Back Richmond
193 Chris Hale Defensive Back USC
Supp Brett Young Defensive Back Oregon
249 Pat Rabold Defensive Tackle Wyoming
276 Carlo Cheattom Defensive Back Auburn
305 Richard Harvey Linebacker Tulane
332 Derrell Marshall Tackle USC

Personnel[]

Staff[]

1989 Buffalo Bills staff

Front Office

  • President – Ralph Wilson
  • Vice President of Administration/General Manager – Bill Polian
  • Assistant General Manager/Director of Pro Personnel – Bob Ferguson
  • Director of Player Personnel – John Butler
  • Assistant Director/Collegiate Scouting – A. J. Smith
  • National Scout – Norm Pollom

Head Coaches

  • Vice President for Football Operations/Head Coach – Marv Levy
  • Administrative Assistant to the Head Coach – Chuck Dickerson

Offensive Coaches

  • Offensive Coordinator – Ted Marchibroda
  • Running Backs – Elijah Pitts
  • Receivers – Nick Nicolau
  • Tight Ends – Chuck Dickerson
  • Offensive Line – Tom Bresnahan
 

Defensive Coaches

  • Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers – Walt Corey
  • Defensive Line – Ted Cottrell
  • Defensive Backs – Dick Roach
  • Defensive Assistant/Linebackers – Chuck Lester

Special Teams Coaches

  • Special Teams – Bruce DeHaven

Strength and Conditioning

[1]

Roster[]

1989 Buffalo Bills roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

Reserve Lists

Developmental Squad

  • 81 Deval Glover WR
  • 92 Matt Jaworski LB
  • 68 Derrell Marshall OL
  • 52 Wes Pritchett LB
  • 25 Tim Smiley S


Rookies in italics

Regular season[]

In 1989, Bruce Smith became the Bills' all-time sack leader when he reached his 52nd sack.

Schedule[]

Week Date Opponent Result Record Game Site Attendance
1 September 10, 1989 at Miami Dolphins W 27–24 1–0 Joe Robbie Stadium
54,541
2 September 18, 1989 Denver Broncos L 14–28 1–1 Rich Stadium
78,176
3 September 24, 1989 at Houston Oilers W 47–41 2–1 Houston Astrodome
57,278
4 October 1, 1989 New England Patriots W 31–10 3–1 Rich Stadium
78,921
5 October 8, 1989 at Indianapolis Colts L 14–37 3–2 Hoosier Dome
58,890
6 October 16, 1989 Los Angeles Rams W 23–20 4–2 Rich Stadium
76,231
7 October 22, 1989 New York Jets W 34–3 5–2 Rich Stadium
76,811
8 October 29, 1989 Miami Dolphins W 31–17 6–2 Rich Stadium
80,208
9 November 5, 1989 at Atlanta Falcons L 28–30 6–3 Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium
45,267
10 November 12, 1989 Indianapolis Colts W 30–7 7–3 Rich Stadium
79,256
11 November 19, 1989 at New England Patriots L 24–33 7–4 Sullivan Stadium
49,663
12 November 26, 1989 Cincinnati Bengals W 24–7 8–4 Rich Stadium
80,074
13 December 4, 1989 at Seattle Seahawks L 16–17 8–5 Kingdome
57,682
14 December 10, 1989 New Orleans Saints L 19–22 8–6 Rich Stadium
70,037
15 December 17, 1989 at San Francisco 49ers L 10–21 8–7 Candlestick Park
60,927
16 December 23, 1989 at New York Jets W 37–0 9–7 The Meadowlands
21,148

Standings[]

AFC East
view · talk · edit W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Buffalo Bills 9 7 0 .563 6–2 8–4 409 317 W1
Indianapolis Colts 8 8 0 .500 4–4 7–5 298 301 L1
Miami Dolphins 8 8 0 .500 4–4 6–8 331 379 L2
New England Patriots 5 11 0 .313 4–4 5–7 297 391 L3
New York Jets 4 12 0 .250 2–6 3–9 253 411 L3

[2]

Playoffs[]

AFC Divisional Playoff[]

Cleveland Browns 34, Buffalo Bills 30
1 2 3 4 Total
Bills 7 7 7 9

30

Browns 3 14 14 3

34

at Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

In a shootout, Browns linebacker Clay Matthews intercepted Bills quarterback Jim Kelly at the Cleveland 1-yard line with 3 seconds remaining to preserve a 34–30 victory. Kelly threw for 405 yards and 4 touchdowns while Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar threw for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. Browns receiver Webster Slaughter had the best postseason performance of his career with 3 receptions for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Buffalo scored first with wide receiver Andre Reed's 72-yard touchdown reception. But Cleveland struck back with a 45-yard field goal by Matt Bahr and a 52-yard touchdown pass from Kosar to Slaughter. Kelly's 33-yard touchdown pass to James Lofton put the Bills back in the lead, 14–10, but Browns retook the lead with Ron Middleton's 3-yard catch shortly before the end of the first half.

On the opening drive of the second half, Kosar hooked up with Slaughter for another touchdown pass, this one 44-yards, to increase their lead to 24–14. Buffalo responded with a 6 yard touchdown catch by running back Thurman Thomas, who tied an NFL playoff record with 13 receptions for 150 yards. But Browns running back Eric Metcalf returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to give his team a 31–21 lead by the end of the third quarter. After an exchange of field goals, Thomas caught a three yard touchdown pass. But the extra point failed, forcing the Bills to attempt to score a touchdown instead of a field goal on their final drive. With time running out, Kelly led the Bills to Cleveland's 11-yard line. But fullback Ronnie Harmon dropped a potential game winning catch in the end zone and Kelly was intercepted by Matthews on the next play.

Awards and records[]

References[]

  1. 1989 Buffalo Bills Media Guide. pp. 2–23. http://www.buffalobills.com/team/history/mediaguidearchive.html. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  2. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 292

External links[]

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NY Jets Seattle Washington Tampa Bay
1989 NFL DraftNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl XXIV
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