NoHuddleKelly12

We have plumbed the depths many a day of who deserves to be on the list of all-time/best ever Bills, who of course would almost always have been starters after at least their rookie years, but how about showing some of our more memorable backups some love? Choose from any era since our beloved team was founded in 1960. Any position, career journeymen or one-hit wonders—the criteria would be a memorable contribution towards a win, playoff run, etc., while they were NOT penciled in as #1 at their respective position groups. I realize it may get a bit muddled when considering individual cases where someone may have been a starter, was demoted, then had a resurgence, or that person who parlayed a starring backup turn into a starting gig—we’ll just have to debate your picks as they’re posted. But I think making the test simply be a player who was not a starter when they impacted a game or team fortunes in a memorable way, will get us to a good group for discussion. Make it serious or tongue in cheek, funny or analytical, the floor is yours. Feel free to compile a complete roster’s worth of backups for your post, or just reference a few. Either way, am looking forward to who ya got TBD! My deep in the JV bench weeds nomination is season 1992’s Gale Gilbert, an unsung hero who never even saw the field in the greatest comeback game of all time (imho)…yet per Frank Reich (himself a backup deserving of QB 1 for this thread), it was none other than our normally 3rd string QB who energized Frank at halftime with just the right Oscar-worthy words, sparking our most improbable playoff win of all time! https://www.profootballhof.com/news/2005/01/news-bills-greatest-comeback/ [Side Note Edit] Here is the recap of Letterman’s Top 10 List after that game: “January 5, 1993 Top 10 Houston Oiler Excuses 10. Shouldn't have skipped breakfast - it's the most important meal of the day! 9. Started giving 109% instead of 110%. 8. Even though fans loved it, shouldn't have replaced Warren Moon with folk singer Suzanne Vega. 7. Busy making mental tally of football players with girls names: Fran Tarkenton... Rosey Grier.... 6. YOU try tackling those guys - some of them are huge! 5. Bills quarterback kept looking one way, then throwing the other. 4. Wanted to honor another Houstonian who let a big lead in the polls slip away. 3. "I'm telling you - maybe YOU didn't see Dobermans on the field, but there WERE Dobermans on the field!" 2. Preoccupied about getting home in time to see all the Amy Fisher movies. 1. Didn't want to go to Disney World.” http://www.mudslide.net/TopTen/lnwd1993.html#January 5, 1993

This was one of the key off-season coaching moves that may make all the difference when the chips are down—here’s hoping anyway!

1994 called, and said ‘you just got served.’ However shall we recover? 😵

Have been to several Bills away games but never a home game, like the OP. So that’s #1 on the list, but to attend it with my son, whose first game was against KC last year in KC. Second would be the Super Bowl parade in Buffalo—that would be a non-negotiable. Third would be to join a local flag football rec league for middle-aged farts and see if I’ve still got it 🤔. Not sure what “it” is, but will find out. (Note to self—know where the closest urgent care facility is located to the field).

I really think Cook is going to be something special when he puts it all together—Georgia is for RBs what Penn State used to be for linebackers—they churn out quality backs and his pedigree is there. I think this will be a big year for him, and see Beane hanging on to him with our better cap situation incoming, imho. I get all the arguments about RB being devalued, but last I checked you still need to be able to effectively run the ball, and if you can get great protection from the position, not just good enough, I’d pay something for that.

I’m beginning to think Beane knows a bit more than we think he does. 🤔

Immensely enjoyed spending a few days in London for a Summer holiday in my university years (late 90's early 00's) and would love to come back--one of the best memories was literally stumbling onto the "Trooping the Colours" parade as unbeknownst to me it was happening the same day I'd planned to visit the Buckingham Palace area (pre-smartphone instant info days), and I got a great spot along the route to be able to snap some photos of the then elder Queen Mum and cohorts passing by in their open carriages, good times. Is Strongbow cider still available on tap in the pubs over there?

Right next to an Iowan corn silo, methinks!

Just out of curiosity, was your dad cool with you becoming a fan of a hated divisional rival? Luckily I guess for me, no one in my immediate family was a football fan, so I didn't step on any close family member's toes by turning my back on the hometown Steelers.

👋 I can blame my overly enthusiastic/optimistic years of youth for choosing the Bills despite growing up in Western Pa Steeler country--specifically as a kid our town was right next door to East Brady, and upon entering this sleepy hollow type vale, you would drive right past this larger than life sign: 👇 That sparked my curiosity about Jim Kelly right around the same time that I was starting to get interested in football in general, so it was literally as inexplicably simple as that to become a rabid fan! Following Kelly's career morphed into a die-hard love of everything Bills/Buffalo, and made me shunned on the school bus. Best day ever was the Monday morning ride following the Bills' thrashing of the Steelers 52-34 in September 1991 (Kelly threw 6 TDS, 4 to Beebe "Steeler Killer" alone, with the Steelers radio guys exclaiming Kelly was just out there playing catch against his grandmother at DB), and you could've heard a pin drop amongst my normally chatty friends--I wish I could say I took the high road and didn't rub it in, but of course you know that wouldn't be accurate. Is it sad that all it took was seeing a billboard all those years ago, to become a fan of a team that inflicts so much pain on its fans with still no Super Bowls? I say no it's not--I've gotten to meet some great people over the years over our shared fandom, be on this cool message board with all of yinz guys and gals, and know that once we do land the big one, it will mean all that much more than for some chump flavor of the month bandwagon franchise, imho.

A lot of great thoughts/replies in this thread so far. I’m with you on the tobacco angle—have it be legal but restrict advertising/direct promotion of the product by the league itself. I think that could help sort much of the perception issue as well as not make the NFL beholden to such financial leverage plays (no pun intended).

If it would provide some actual palpable pressure against Mahomes on the last couple drives of the 4th quarter or OT, then I’m all for whatever that takes—it’s soul-crushing to see the Chiefs in particular be able to take all day on a critical down and leisurely toss it to whoever is open (usually Kelce of course) against us with nary a whisper of a rush to worry about when it counts. That’s dogged this team for many years running imho.

“According to a 2023 Washington Post report, the NFL currently takes in $132 million in gambling-related sponsorships. Those sponsors include the sports betting providers Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, and FanDuel. That could just be the beginning. The American Gaming Association predicted in 2018 that legalized betting could be worth over $2.3 billion a year to the NFL—due in large part to increased TV viewership (and resulting advertising revenues) driven by fans with a financial stake in the games' outcomes.“ https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/062515/how-nfl-makes-money.asp So I get it, a lot of fans bet on the games, and the notion that the legalized gambling genie could ever be put back into a pre-2018 straight jacket is naive at best. However, that doesn’t mean it’s all gone swimmingly—as easy as it is to bet from a smartphone, every season it seems that a baker’s dozen or so of players are smacked with punitive sanctions for being caught betting while on the league’s time and dime (in one case even involving that player’s own team on a parley). That’s both an educational issue as well as reflecting the league’s slightly hypocritical pushing of sponsorship dollars from the same industry it spent decades warning against. “Goodell and others in the NFL universe will tell you they are ‘concerned’ about the real or potential fallout linked to gambling, but not enough to refuse the hundreds of millions of dollars that flow from gambling entities into the pockets of NFL owners. So, the NFL is effectively enabling the very behavior that has led to discipline for violations. No, players can’t place bets at team headquarters, but they can play in stadiums where a team’s sponsorship from a casino or sportsbook is on full display. What a mixed message.” https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/bell/2023/06/08/nfls-gambling-problem-is-a-mess-of-leagues-own-making/70299691007/ What say you? Is the league’s embrace of corporate gambling dollars a net positive or would you like to see some changes in its approach—and what if any should those be?

He really reminds me of a shorter version of Andre Reed out there in terms of his overall route versatility—take a look at his highlights tape from last year and you’ll see what I mean—Allen finds him in a variety of different ways, and then often there is good YAC shown. So I expect more of the same, just higher output with Diggs gone. https://youtu.be/mPcLM0Zz1zQ?feature=shared

Great topic @Alphadawg7!! Player: FA acquisition Shawn Merriman (constantly injured/breaking down after he couldn’t freebase his ‘roids anymore—thanks for nothing Buddy Nix); Coach: Dick Jauron. Unimaginative, uninspiring, unmotivated and unforgettable in his hopelessly weak sauce tenure. At least Wrecks tried to be entertaining in his futility? 🤷‍♂️

Jmo of course, but if you’re trying to gel a real brotherhood together (that’s willing to go to the ends of the earth for one another) for the new season, you do what it takes and that includes all of the extra stuff like OTA’s where groundwork/expectations and overall camaraderie starts. Given the roster churn every year, it’s just one of those things you gotta do! Otherwise aren’t you telegraphing a vibe of I’m better than everyone else who shows up? Again, jmo.

As OP already touched on, getting a random “Go Bills” shoutout anywhere in the country, and realizing the depth of the camaraderie amongst the Bills brethren is truly remarkable…Taking my then 8yr old son to his first ever Bills game in KC last year was the absolute best, and getting a last minute win was just the icing on top. That said, one of my favorite memories was when our very own @Einstein took matters into his own hands and helped out a fellow board member who needed it during a winter storm last January—simply a chicken soup for the soul type moment! https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/252612-seeking-snow-removal-help/?do=findComment&comment=

Too much risk of injury, but as pointed out upthread it made the career of Deacon Jones: https://clutchpoints.com/why-was-the-deacon-jones-head-slap-banned-from-the-nfl

Agreed; especially don’t like that the OT rules currently change between the regular season and playoffs—if the current structure is not good enough for the playoffs, then why should it be good enough for the regular season?

I think not for nothing the wave of injuries we’ve seen the last few years is also relatable in part to lack of sufficient recovery time for the players.

Bringing back the helmet earhole slap or removing the QB pass rush rules they’ve added since the 90’s would be more immediate boons for legit old school D imho 😁

I like the independent monitoring idea similar to the neuro who’s supposed to yank players exhibiting signs of concussion from the field of play—but who would be qualified (besides TBD members 😎) to do this? Former officials paid by whom?

💯 agree that DPI has morphed into a frankensteinian bloated mess where the QB seems to be rewarded a 50/50 shot at a free flag just for chucking it long—an immediate bandaid fix would seem to be limiting the penalty to 10-15 yards instead of a spot foul?