• After winning six in a row to run their record to 7-2-1, they lost three of their last four to limp home 8-5-1. That was still good enough to top the Kansas City Chiefs by 1.5 games.
• San Diego's roughly 2-to-1 passing-to-rushing ratio reflected the league's over­all imbalance.
• The key to the offense was WR Lance Alworth, who led the league with 13 touchdown receptions and ranked near the top with 20.2y per catch.
• Throwing to Alworth were two quarterbacks, John Hadl, who started eight games, and Tobin Rote, who started the other six. Hadl's completion % of 53.6 was second highest in the AFL.
• FB Keith Lincoln and HB Paul Lowe combined for 1128y on the ground.
• Three Chargers made the AFL All-Star team: T Ron Mix, DE Earl Faison, and DT Ernie Ladd.

The East produced the five-year-old league's two best teams, record-wise.

• The 12-2 Buffalo Bills and 10-3-1 Boston Patriots were the only two double-di­git winners in the eight-team circuit.
• Lou Saban's Bills didn't clinch the spot in the AFL Championship Game until the last day of the regular season when they defeated the defending East champion Patriots 24-14 at Fenway Park. The victory avenged a home loss November 15, 36-28, as well as the defeat in the East Division playoff game in 1963.
  A linebacker and captain on Paul Brown's Cleveland team of the AAFC, Saban had been head coach of the Boston Patriots when the AFL started in 1960. He joined the Bills two years later. Jack Kemp recalled, He was one of the great coaches from the early days of the American Football League, along with Sid Gill­man, Al Davis, and Hank Stram. Bills receiver Ed Rutkowski: Saban knew how to press that button in all of us and how to get the best out of us. I remember when we had our first two wide receivers go down ... I had to go in with Glenn Bass. I think the first game I was going to start ... was against the Jets. So I stayed after practice to work on my pass routes and everything else. The Thursday before the game, ... I'm walking off the field after practice, and coach comes over to me and says, "You know, Ed, whether we win or not depends on your perform­ance." I said, "What do you mean?" "Well, this game rests on you. You better have a hell of a game, otherwise we're going to lose." Well, I was all fired up. I had one of the best games of my life. And I found out years later at one of our reunions that he said the exact same thing to Glenn Bass. Booker Edgerson on Saban: He was a good man. You could believe him. ... he treated everybody the same. He was a great motivator. He could give you a pep talk. He used to tell me, "If you don't catch the ball, I'm going to cut you." That was motivation enough for me.
• Buffalo featured the only defense in the league to yield less than 1,000y for the season. On the other side of the ball, 250-lb FB Cookie Gilchrist accounted for 981y on the ground, more than the 913y total the Bills gave up on 300 carries - an AFL record. Needless to say, Buffalo led the league in rushing yards (2,040).
  Gilchrist had been placed on waivers in early November after clashing with head coach Saban. The Bills had reeled off nine victories without a defeat with Cookie in the lineup, but, with owner Ralph Wilson's consent, it was agreed that Gilchrist be placed on waivers. The big fullback, however, contacted QB Jack Kemp and pleaded for another chance. Kemp heard Cookie out and believed he was really sorry. Jack in turn contracted key leaders on the team, who agreed that Gilchrist could return if he would apologize to the team for the in­cident and guarantee that he would play his heart out. After a two-hour meet­ing, Saban relented.
• Quarterback play was not the Bills' strong suit. Jack Kemp completed only 44.2% of his passes with 13 touchdowns and twice that many interceptions. No one receiver stood out with WR Glenn Bass leading the club with 43 receptions but Elbert Dubenion gaining the most yards, 1139, on 42 catches. Gilchrist was third, adding 345 to his rush­ing yardage on 30 passes.
  After being Buffalo's Offensive Most Valuable Player in 1961, Bass was re­leased by Saban after the Bills opened the 1963 campaign with back-to-back losses. Glenn drove 16 hours to his home in Wilson NC only to return to Buffa­lo the next day. I just disagreed with his assessment. I drove back and went to his home and told him that I didn't feel like I'd been treated fairly and didn't agree with his decision and that I would be on the taxi squad and prove my worth. So I was a halfback on the taxi squad for a couple weeks, and then I was placed back on the roster.
• The Bills employed rookie Pete Gogolak, who booted 19 of 28 field goals, including one that beat the Chargers 27-24 in San Diego Thanksgiving Day to complete the home-and-home sweep. By contrast, San Diego K George Blair had been hurt most of the season. Lincoln, a fine fullback, took over the chore but made only five of 12 field goal attempts.
  Born in Hungary, Pete Gogolak came to the U.S. when his family escaped the Communist regime there. He brought with him his love of soccer. The football coach at his high school in upstate New York recruited him to kick for him and didn't insist that he change his "sidewinder" soccer approach, booting the ball with his instep instead of his toe. He set records at Cornell University before signing with the Bills. He thus brought another innovation to the AFL that eventually spread throughout all levels of football.
  Gogolak: They took a chance on me, in the 12th round. Back then there were no specialists at all. Nobody from the NFL touched me. So I went up to Buffalo ... Jack Kemp was the quarterback. Jack never wanted to hold for me because he said somebody once kicked his finger. I basically made the team because I kicked a 57-yard field goal in the first exhibition game ... I think (owner) Ralph Wilson said, "We're going to keep this guy. He might bring some people to the stadium."
• The All-Star team included six Bills: Gilchrist, G Billy Shaw, T Stew Barber, DT Tom Sestak, LB Mike Stratton, and S George Saimes.
  A second round pick from Georgia Tech in 1961, Shaw moved directly into the starting lineup at left guard and became the anchor of an outstanding line. He is the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who played his entire career in the AFL. Shaw on Coach Saban: Lou was always looking for perfection, and he just had a vision from his viewpoint on the sidelines. And Lou was a very, very intelligent person, and he could see things on the field.

The Chargers received a piece of coal in their Christmas stockings.

• Gillman announced that leading receiver Alworth was "definitely out" of the championship game "unless there's a magic whirlpool. I haven't been able to find one yet." Lance had been hurt in the first quarter of the previous week's game when he was blocked by Oakland LB Archie Mattos. Alworth suffered a hyper-extension of the left knee, which means it was bent in the direction in which knees aren't supposed to bend. How tough a blow is it? Sid asked rhetorically. You tell me. It's obvious. But we have some things left. Alworth added, I can hardly walk. I can only bend the knee half way.
• He said that Jerry Robinson would take over at flanker for Alworth. The former Grambling star had seen limited action during the season, catching 10 passes for 93y and no touchdowns. He was also used on the punt return and kickoff teams.
• The Chargers coach also named Tobin Rote as his quarterback in what would be the 36-year-old's final game before retirement. John Hadl had started eight of the 14 games under center but had thrown two interceptions in the 21-20 loss to the Raiders.
  Hadl: The day before the championship game in Buffalo, Sid told me he was going to start because of his experience in championship games. I went haywire. We had a big fight about it.
• Saban had also created a quarterback controversy by starting second-year pro Daryle Lamonica in the all-important final game against Boston. However, with the chips on the line against San Diego, he would go with eight-year veteran Jack Kemp, who had started the first 13 games.
  A subplot of the big game was that Buffalo had claimed Kemp from San Diego in 1962 for the $100 waiver price. Jack still made his home in San Diego.

Alworth's injury, coupled with a threat of snow, established the weather-hardened Bills as strong favorites to bring their football-crazy city its first pro football champion­ship going back to the All-American Football Conference.

• Standing room tickets were grabbed up and War Memorial Stadium was expect­ed to be bulging with 5,000 people above the normal capacity of 37,500.
• Kickoff was set for 2 PM EST, with ABC televising nationally. Curt Gowdy would supply the play-by-play while Paul Christman would serve as color analyst.
• It would be ABC's last telecast of an AFL game.

• The thermometer reached an unseasonable 47°.
• However, the morning rain left the field damp and slippery in spots, especi­ally along the edges and in the end zones. Sand was spread on the worst spots.
  Buffalo's defensive coordinator Joe Collier recalled: Sid Gillman was fit to be tied because our field was in terrible shape. That was the only practice field we had. We just wore it out. ... So the field was not very conducive to the Chargers, who were based on speed. Gillman threatened to call the game off. He called the commissioner. We had bigger guys on the defensive line in those days than most teams. ... And our linebackers were big. We played in the mud and the snow a lot, and big guys have a little bit of an advantage.
  Billy Shaw: Ernie [Ladd] and Kansas City's Buch Buchanan were the largest in the league at that time. Ernie was a mammoth presence. He was so big and strong, he didn't have to be mean. ... When the lineups were introduced before the championship game, ... I was on the sidelines. He came to the middle of the field and pointed at me. People said it set me on fire. I just know I was scared.

• Quarter 1
  The Chargers started like a house afire. Starting from the 20, FB Keith Lincoln burst up the middle 38y on a draw play as G Walt Sweeney and T Ernie Wright moved out DT Jim Dunaway to open a gaping hole. Then Lincoln got five at the middle. From the spread formation Gillman put in for the game, QB Tobin Rote tossed to Lincoln on a button hook for 11 and on the next play pitched to TE Dave Kocourek, who had maneuvered in behind DB Charlie Warner. Then came a 26y pass from Rote to Kocourek, who grabbed the ball running down the right side of the end zone to climax the drive that took only 2:11. Chargers 7 Bills 0 (12:49)
  After a good kickoff return, Buffalo moved from its 40 to its 49 on runs by Wray Carlton and Cookie Gilchrist. But an incompletion brought in Paul Maguire, who punted to the seven.
  
  Jack Kemp sets up to pass.
  San Diego again started strong, striking quickly to their 34. Then came the play that would forever be known as the "hit heard round the world." On a 2nd-and-10 situation with DT Tom Sestak in his face, Rote threw a swing pass in the left flat to Lincoln. The ball and All-Star LB Mike Stratton arrived simultaneously, the tackler smashing his shoulder into Keith's midsection. The fullback who had averaged 13y per rush to that point, left the game with the help of three Chargers. He would not return. Video of the hit ...
  Stratton in the locker room: I thought Lincoln had nothing more than the breath knocked out of him. I never realized I had broken a rib.
  Years later, Mike recounted the play. They always ran kind of a curl pattern to the wide receiver and would run a flare with the back. It seemed as if the quarterback would take his cue from the linebacker. If the linebacker was in the line of fire and far enough back, they would dump it off to the running back. They'd already run that once or twice, so I decided, "I'll try something new." When I saw the pattern develop, I just turned my back to the quarterback and took several steps to the wide receiver, then stopped and turned back and went back toward the quarterback. If they caught me, the most they could do was throw to the wide receiver. I started back for Lincoln, and I saw they were throwing to him. It was just, put your head down and try to dig the dirt because, golly, if Lincoln caught the ball in time to give me a juke, hell, he could have been gone.
  Lincoln recalled: We were pretty confident about how we had just scored. But we decided we were going to show Buffalo a new look on offense. We called it a delayed double-flare action to the left side. I went out of the backfield for a flare pass. ... The first time Tobin looked at me, Stratton was about 20 yards downfield. He saw me out there, knew I was his man. So he started coming. In the meantime, Rote decided he was coming to me; the rush was in on him; he threw the Goddamn ball to me like you'd throw a snowball down a chimney. It seemed as though it would never get to me. And just as the ball got to me, Stratton hit me. It was a solid hit, a clean one, nothing dirty about it. When I went up for the ball, I exposed the sides of my chest and stomach area. That's where Stratton hit me. He separated my sternum, rib case.
  Stratton: You just kind of get up and go back to the huddle. I didn't have any idea what was happening. When we got back to the huddle, all of us looked over there. I think Harry Jacobs, the middle linebacker, went ahead and called the defense that we were going to run for the next play. We were getting ready to break the huddle, and Lincoln was still down.
  Joe Collier: I later told a writer from Sports Illustrated that a thrill went up and down the bench. When that was in the magazine, I got 10 or 15 letters from people saying I was a sadist: "How could you say that after he got hurt?"

Starting from their 36, the Bills moved into scoring position. Jack Kemp found Glenn Bass for 19y, then Ernie Warlick for 15 to put Buffalo in busi­ness with 1st-and-Goal from the 10. Wray Carlton carried twice to the five before a pass to Elbert Dubenion failed. So Pete Gogolak, "the side-saddle kicker," rammed through a 12 yarder. Chargers 7 Bills 3
In a twinkling, the Chargers almost made it 14-3. Leslie "Speedy" Duncan took the kickoff 6y deep in the end zone and raced upfield. Behind expert blocking, he rambled 71y to the Buffalo 35. The last men standing were Gogalak, who didn't even wear shoulder pads, and former Charger Paul Maguire, who just managed to pull him down. The run set a record for a kickoff return in an AFL championship game. However, the effort was wasted when, two plays later, Rote went against conventional football wisdom that says never throw crossfield when you're rushed. Warner picked off the pass and returned to the Bills 28.
Gilchrist rolled down the sideline for 31y. Then Kemp located Warlick for 27. The period ended with the Bills facing 4th down at the eight.
End of Q1: Chargers 7 Bills 3

The Bills continued to stifle the San Diego offense.