Dec. 7, 1964 - The first-half passing of John Hadl (pictured) and a defense that did not yield a touchdown enabled the Chargers to drink championship champagne in San Diego last night. Their 38-3 drubbing of the New York Jets sewed up their fourth AFL western division title.
The Buffalo Bills, however, were thrown into a tie in the eastern division with the Boston Patriots as they lost to the Oakland Raiders, 16-13, in the final seconds of the game.
“The Bills were coming off a big victory [the 27-24 Thanksgiving game over San Diego] and obviously were pretty flat,” said Oakland coach Al Davis. “They’ll win it [the eastern division] if they don’t panic. Buffalo has a better football team than Boston.”
The Chargers could have won the division title even if they had lost to the Jets since Kansas City’s 31-24 loss to Boston eliminated the Chiefs from contention.
Hadl (pictured right with Lance Alworth) hit on scoring passes to Don Nelson and Keith Lincoln and set up a touchdown with a 34-yard toss to Jacques MacKinnon.
In the second half, Earl Faison returned an interception 42 yards to score, and Tobin Rote connected with Alworth for an 82-yard TD to complete the Chargers’ scoring.
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