By Anthony Holden
CBS SportsLine Historian

In its third year of existence, the AFL continued to battle the same old problems as play remained a notch below the established NFL, a fact that discerning football fans began to recognize.

Although the Texans were the class of the AFL in '62, that did impress fans in Dallas. (AP)

In New York, the Titans' franchise reached the brink of extinction as owner Harry Wismer went broke and players' paychecks began bouncing in November. The league had to step in and use an emergency fund to operate the team, which was poor once again with a 5-9 record.

It was determined that unless new ownership could be found, the AFL was in danger of losing a major market, perhaps the most crucial market of all.

In Dallas, owner Lamar Hunt had no financial problems, but his team had a major identity crisis. Even though the Texans were clearly the best team in the league, as evidenced by their 11-3 record and championship game victory over Houston, Hunt couldn't draw flies to the Cotton Bowl as the Texans averaged just 22,000 fans per game.

The presence of the NFL's Cowboys was clearly infringing on the Texans' fan base, so Hunt decided after the title game to leave his hometown and bring his team to Kansas City, renaming them the Chiefs.

On the field, the Texans were superb as Len Dawson, after spending six years on the bench in Cleveland, was released by the Browns and signed by the Texans. He promptly set a league record for passing completion percentage at 60.9, threw for a league-best 29 touchdowns, and was named the MVP.

Dawson's precise passing gave Dallas excellent offensive depth and Abner Haynes -- the 1960 league MVP -- rolled up 1,049 rushing yards (just 57 yards shy of league-leader Cookie Gilchrist of Buffalo) and caught 39 passes for 573 yards. He totaled a professional record of 19 touchdowns.

Dawson and Haynes led a contingent of eight Texans on the Western Division all-star team.

San Diego, two-time division winners, began the year 3-2 including a victory over Dallas, but a devastating spate of injuries cost the Chargers the services of Earl Faison, Lance Alworth, Charlie McNeil, Bert Coan, Chuck Allen and Wayne Frazier and San Diego went on to lose eight of its final nine games.

Denver made a run at the Texans as the Broncos raced out to a 6-1 start, but they reversed course and finished 7-7 as the defense allowed at least 30 points in four games.

Oakland lost its first 13 games and Red Conkright replaced Marty Feldman as coach early in the season. The Raiders avoided the worst record in pro football history by defeating Boston 20-0 in the season finale.

In the East, it was business as usual for Houston as the Oilers won the division crown for the third year in a row with an 11-3 record. Boston kept pace for most of the season, but on the final weekend, they lost that shocker to the Raiders and Houston smoked New York, 44-10, to wrap it up.

Wally Lemm, who had guided the Oilers to the 1961 championship, took the head coaching job of the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, so owner Bud Adams hired Pop Ivy. Ivy was known as an offensive mastermind, but the Oilers' attack was not nearly as potent as it was in 1961.

George Blanda threw an incredible 42 interceptions, running back Billy Cannon was slowed by a back injury, and wide receivers Bill Groman and Charley Hennigan slumped badly as they caught a combined 57 fewer passes than in 1961.

Charley Tolar rushed for 1,012 yards, though, and the offensive line allowed a league-low 11 sacks. On defense, Houston permitted just 10 rushing touchdowns and allowed a completion percentage of just 43.8 percent, both league bests.

Boston's Babe Parilli turned in a stellar season as he threw a league record-low eight interceptions in 253 attempts, before getting knocked out for the season due to a broken collarbone during a pivotal loss to Houston in Week 11.

Buffalo enjoyed its first winning season as former Patriots coach Lou Saban took over and installed an offense that continually fed the ball to Gilchrist. A few weeks into the season, the Chargers fouled up the paperwork on a waiver transaction involving quarterback Jack Kemp, and when Kemp's name appeared on the waiver wire, Saban grabbed him for the price of $100.

Chargers coach Sid Gillman never had any intention of losing Kemp, but the mistake proved to be a turning point in the Bills history as Kemp quarterbacked them through the end of the decade.