Quarterback, Buffalo
Bills
Age: 23
College: San
Diego State
Height: 6’2” Weight: 210
Prelude:
A product of
Head Coach Don Coryell’s program at San Diego State, Shaw threw 39 TD passes in
1969, including 9 in a single game, and the team was undefeated during his
starts. He was chosen by the Bills in the second round of the 1970 NFL draft
and took over the starting job from Dan Darragh three weeks into the season.
1970 Season Summary
Appeared in all
14 games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 321
[10, tied with Johnny Unitas]
Most
attempts, game – 43 vs. Baltimore 12/13
Completions –
178 [8]
Most
completions, game – 24 vs. Miami 10/18
Yards – 2507 [6]
Most yards,
game – 348 vs. Miami 10/18
Completion
percentage – 55.5 [7]
Yards per
attempt – 7.8 [3]
TD passes – 10
[16, tied with Bill Munson]
Most TD
passes, game – 2 vs. NY Jets 10/4, vs. Miami 10/18, at Baltimore 11/15
Interceptions
– 20 [2, tied with Norm Snead]
Most
interceptions, game – 2 on eight occasions
Passer rating
– 65.3 [16]
300-yard
passing games – 2
200-yard
passing games – 5
Rushing
Attempts – 39
Most
attempts, game - 6 (for 23 yds.) vs. NY Jets 10/4
Yards – 210
Most yards,
game – 48 yards (on 5 carries) at Chicago 11/22
Yards per attempt
– 5.4
TDs – 0
Awards & Honors:
NFL Offensive
Rookie of the Year: AP, PFWA
AFC Rookie of
the Year: UPI, Sporting News
Bills went 3-10-1
to finish fourth in the AFC East.
Aftermath:
While
possessing a strong arm, toughness, and plenty of confidence, Shaw also had
difficulty reading defenses, lacked consistency, and failed to build upon his
promising rookie season. He led the NFL in interceptions (26) in 1971 while his
overall production dropped, and after a slightly better year in ’72, a knee
injury caused him to lose the starting job to rookie Joe Ferguson in 1973. Shaw
was traded to the Cardinals for 1974, reuniting him with Coach Coryell, but he
saw little action as a backup over two seasons and was waived. It was the end
of his regular season NFL career, although he did have tryouts with other
teams. He was a player/coach with the Chicago Blitz of the USFL in 1984 but saw
no regular season action. Overall, in six NFL seasons Shaw completed 52.9
percent of his passes for 6347 yards and 35 touchdowns while tossing 68
interceptions, with all but 61 passing yards and one interception occurring as
a member of the Bills.
--
Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were named Rookie
of the Year in the NFL (including NFC/AFC), AFL (1960-69), or USFL (1983-85) by
a recognized organization (Associated Press – Offense or Defense, Newspaper
Enterprise Association, United Press International, The Sporting News, or the
league itself – Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year).
