RevWarRifleman

To all the people so far that have responded to my post, thank you for sharing your knowledge of the era & your stories of your experiences at the Rock Pile. The stadium stories I never get tired of. Thanks, I now have a better feel for how it must have been during those years watching "our Bills." FWIW, a few comments: Buffalophil1948: Yes, I'am old. I was born in, believe it or not, 1948! Oldmanfan, I glad you mentioned about OJ being used as a decoy. What in ___ ___ __ __ _was the coach THINKING OF using our #1 draft choice as a _ _ _ DECOY?? Chaccof, I agree with you about the 0 for the century years. There is a comparison. More on that later. Also, Chaccof, I live in Chesterfield county. tip of the hat to you. Now for all the losing seasons. I love Ralph & what he did for WNY & bringing a pro football team to Buffalo. But he was not skilled at getting people in to make the Bills a consistent competitive team. No fans should have to wait 8, 10, 12 years and more for a team to be a winner! This was not my intent in making this post. But reading your posts describing what the Bills were like from 68 - 77, and years beyond helped be to reflect a bit. Just sayin. I leave the best for last: I wasn't expecting this when I made this post, but for those that thanked me for serving our country, you're welcome. It was one of the smartest decisions I made in my life. And as one of you noted "Crap, you're old." Yup, I'am old. But when I sit down to watch OUR Bills, I turn into that enthusiastic kid again. Thanks again.

I would like to get input on this era of the Bills. For me, this was a period in my life where I took somewhat of a sabaticle from the Bills. I was in the military & then college and my attention was focused elsewhere. My knowledge of the Bills during this time is rather sketchy and, I didn't want to get my info from wikipedia. I would rather get it from my fellow Bills fans, the people who lived through it, went to the games, saw it first hand, listened to the radio programs, you know, fans who lived it. Basically what i Know is fairly hit and miss: This is basically what I know about that era: In 68 they were pretty bad, Harvey Johnson I guess was their head coach? Or was it Collier still. They drafted Dennis Shaw for their qb? How long did he last? How good was he? When did Lou return to coach the Bills. (Yes, I know about OJ's 2000 yds) How good were the Bills after OJ's 2000? Did we ever make a playoff appearance? How good of a team were we during Lou Part II? When did we draft Cousineau? After Lou II who was the coach? How long did he last & what record overall did the Bills have? Was it about 1978 that Knox came in & started rebuilding the team? Any in put will be welcome, especially personal stories/observations you had at Bills games during this era. I know there were some lean years in there. Thanks everyone.

Sure thing, Smitty. It's been my pleasure. Looking forward to seeing you on the message board this fall when the 2020 season starts. It should be pretty exiting. How cool is this? I'm communicating with a French Bills fan! Awesome!!

Thanks Smitty. Yes, been to Strasbourg twice. Once in 1998 by myself. Then in 2010 with my Alsacian family. In the floor of the Cathedral there, is a stone block that comemorates the soldiers from the US that come over in 1916, before the US formally got in the war (WWI) to help with the allied effort. I didn't know about it. My French cousin, Valentin pointed it out to me when we were there. He already knew about that stone. Brought tears to my eyes! Also while over there in 2010, some more of my French cousins took my wife (who did all the geneology work in finding my French cousins) and I out to a real nice restaurant several miles outside of Bernwiller, where they are from. We passed through a village that had a large mural painted on the side of a building showing the American troops during WWII being transported in trucks with the US flag flying on the truck going through that town! All of this I videoed on my camcorder. Couldn't believe it, that after all of these years, they had that mural up, expressing their gratitude for our effort over there. What a great statement about the French people! Hope I didn't bore you with all this history. Just trying to say how awesome the French people are. Concerning the Bills, I've been a fan for a very long time.

Smitty, I have family in Alsace. Their daughter lives/works in Paris. Good people, my wife & I have visited them a couple of times. Ever go to that wine festival they have in August in Chateau neauf du Pape? It's really a party! Welcome to the Bills! Greatest fans in the NFL.

Off the top of my head, for me it was that first down on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas where Josh picked up a fumble & fought like a warrior to get the first down. Changed the whole complexion of the game, & showed Dallas and the whole nation that this is not the "same old Bills."

SoTier, I remember that near mutiny. It was in '86, about 3/4 into the season. The Bills were playing Tampa and before the game rumors started flying around about Bullugh's removal. Towards the end of the game, the Bills were deep in Tampa's territory, if we scored a TD we would win. Kelly threw a pass to a Bill open in the end zone & he missed the throw. Bills loose, the next day Bullough is fired & the era of Marv began. The Bills nightmare was over!

Thanks for the history, rockpile. I didn't that about Booth.

I'm going with Hank Bullough. (sorry for the spelling, Hank) The players hated him. Plus, that was the time when the Bills started assembling guys from the Super Bowl years, Bruce, Kelly, Reed,Tasker, and several more, and we were still loosing games. He sucked so bad the players didn't want to play for him. The worst, the absolute worst.

Virgil, I've enjoyed every one of your posts this season. Thanks, man. However, I know it hurts, a lot. But Virgil, don't let this game get to you. We're all (that includes the Bills) are human. Things happen and please keep this in mind, the Bills are a young team and their rise has only begun. Same with McD. They have a lot of potential going forward and the players, McD (who is still has a lot of upside going forward) will be improving next year. As they all gain more experience, they will be better at putting teams away when they have the lead. Actually, they did pretty good for an offense that had difficulty scoring more that 20 points. There's more I could put in, but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Take care, Virgil.

Well done CEN CAL!

BuffaloBoy, a very good post. This is why I get on the message board at times like this, for good, objective & rational posts like yours. Its easy to post a "fire this guy, cut that guy, we suck" and on and on. Your post offered an unbiased, rational, and very "good things to come" in the future. Thanks, man. Enjoy your off season.

Thanks Lorax for everything. You were a real baller. I wish you good luck from here on.

FWIW I'll go with Ravens v Saints, with the Saints winning it. Next year, it'll be the Bills turn.

Dear Bills; Just go down there and do your thing fellas. You'll be all right. Go Bills!

My wife & I, plus a buddy from church who throws hatchet with me. He's a Dallas fan, so that should be interesting. Go Bills!

RIP "Duby."

Well said,Marv's. Hope you had a great Christmas down there in Chester. Go Bills this Sunday.

On my couch with my date.

Marv, with Ralph as owner? God bless Ralph, but he didn't really know how to keep the franchise competitive on a consistent basis. Just my opinion.

cDAVIS, it does feel great. Reminds me of the 90's again. There's a little more spring in my step. The holiday season feels a little better as now the Bills are playoff bound and are "relevant". For the first time in a few decades I feel better about the ownership, front office & coaching. Merry Christmas everybody. And Go Bills.

FWIW, I know our D is pretty good, but I think scoring at least 23 points is going to be a must for a Bills W. I think BB will be dialing up some special plays that might catch our D off guard. Go Bills.

I'm particularly with you on #3, Virgil. Run the hurry up from time to time. Especially get up to the line & snap the ball quickly after a big play. It catches their D off balance at the time.

Virgil, good to have you back. Glad you & your daughter got out of that jungle all right. Good post, man. I enjoy them each week.