Which Players Were The Weak Links During The Bills Super Bowl Era?

[SouthNYfan]

5 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

From what I can recall the weakest part of each super bowl loss was all the injuries except perhaps against the NY Giants in that first SB. Against Denver, in that AFC Championship game, the O line was so decimated that the TE Pete Metzalaars needed to play tackle.

 

What a lot of fans forget is that Thurman Thomas was about 70% of the offense in those years in running and catching the ball out of the backfield. Sure they had the highest scoring offense in 1990 but look at the numbers 425 passing attempts vs 479 rushing attempts. The point here is that QB Jim Kelly called his own plays and they came out throwing against the Giants in that first SB. 

 

 OC Ted Marchibroda set up the old Redskins "counter trey" run scheme and Thomas made his cutbacks brilliantly. Ole Ted used to be the Colts head coach and taught Bert Jones to call his own plays like he did with Kelly. Later on, with the Colts, it was Ted Marchibroda who used Marshall Faulk like he did with Thurman Thomas and the result was another HoF RB. 

 

The thing is, that just before the Redskins super bowl the Colts made it known that they were interested in hiring Ted back as head coach and he did indeed depart for Indy right after the game. Looking back, I asked myself if he put 100% in that offensive game plan considering he was going to be a division rival head coach. Yes, back then the Colts, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, Bills were all in the same division. 

 

Back then the Bills had that juggernaut offense that ran the no-huddle/ run and shoot and not many teams could contend with how fast the offense got to the line and ran a play. This limited defensive substitutions and had the opposing defense gassed very quickly. The Bills had an elite S&C coach in Rusty Jones and when they would travel to Miami in 90-degree weather it was the Dolphins who were all gasping for air vs Bills who were superbly conditioned. (I disliked Mularkey for getting rid of Jones)

 

As for the two Cowboy loses 52-17, 13-30 The Boys just had a younger, stronger better team. The Bills defense was 27th in yards given up in 1993 that year and the Bills no longer had OC Ted Marchibroda. Lets also not forget that Bill Owner fired Bills GM Bill Polian after that 1992 season. 

 

 

In 1990 the Giants had just shut down Joe Montana at Candlestick in the NFC championship game and held that HoF QB to 18 of 26 for 190 yards. The Niners also only ran the ball 11 rushes for 39 yards. The Giants had the best defense in the league that year. 

 

In 1991 the Redskins finished the year 14-2 and they had the highest scoring offense in the league that year, #1 in PF, #4 in yards and their defense was almost just as good #2 in points allowed, #3 in yards allowed. 

 

1992-1993 the Bills faced a 13-3, 12-4 Cowboy team that was the best of the NFC with several HoF players. On a side note, In 1993 the Bills beat the Cowboys in Texas stadium week two, 10-13.

 

In my view, there were a lot of reasons the Bills failed to win a super bowl. Coaching, injuries, lack of quality depth at certain positions and they faced some really strong NFC teams those years. It seemed to me that after that first SB those Buffalo Bills teams were all beat up just winning the AFC the next three years.  

 

They were the #1 defense in the NFL that year.

They were the previous year's SB champ also, people seem to forget this, along with your post points, which were great.

 

BBs defensive playbook from that game is actually in Canton @ the HoF.

 

He developed a gameplan special to counter the no huddle offense.

 

It's literally all time great stuff.

 

Looking back, after his cheating, and spying, I wonder if he actually did that back then too??

 

[Xwnyer]

9 minutes ago, SouthNYfan said:

 

They were the #1 defense in the NFL that year.

They were the previous year's SB champ also, people seem to forget this, along with your post points, which were great.

 

BBs defensive playbook from that game is actually in Canton @ the HoF.

 

He developed a gameplan special to counter the no huddle offense.

 

It's literally all time great stuff.

 

Looking back, after his cheating, and spying, I wonder if he actually did that back then too??

 

Did his playbook mention faking injuries.  Go watch the tape second half more than first half the guys going out limping etc back on field a play or two later.  Best way to slow down no huddle is force a time delay

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

I saw every game during the period, as many others have, and we need to make it clear this was a team winning 12-13 games a year. The current Bills should have such weaknesses!

 

Having said that:

1.Not physical enough in the front seven. NT needed to be bigger and more difficult to move.

2.Safety, not athletic enough and could be exploited due to lack of speed, especially before they got Henry Jones.

3. Kicker- before they got Christie.

[SouthNYfan]

5 minutes ago, Xwnyer said:

Did his playbook mention faking injuries.  Go watch the tape second half more than first half the guys going out limping etc back on field a play or two later.  Best way to slow down no huddle is force a time delay

 

It might have?

 

I stated a fact.

 

His defensive playbook for that game was put into Canton.

That's a fact.

[Chuck Wagon]

46 yard FGs in 1990 are not what they are now, especially ones to win the SB.

[row_33]

7 hours ago, Success said:

I wholeheartedly disagree with putting Norwood on this list.  He was a great kicker for that team - accurate and clutch.  They could have gotten a longer kicker, but sacrificed accuracy.

 

Never should have come to that.  Bills were the much better team in that game and should have won going away.  But they were a little overconfident and partied too much.

 

Norwood was a good kicker, Steve Christie would have made that kick blindfolded.

 

 

[SouthNYfan]

3 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

Norwood was a good kicker, Steve Christie would have made that kick blindfolded.

 

 

 

Right, I agree.

I think his argument wasn't that Norwood was the best kicker ever, but that he was very very good, and not a "weak link" 

[Matt_In_NH]

I hate seeing Norwood up there.  Scott Norwood was a good kicker but had a short range which was nkown, so short we would never make it in the NFL today.  However, he was not the reason the Bills lost, he did not choke, the team choked and he is the scape goat.  That 47 yard kick was out of his range on grass, the offense did not get in range and mismanaged the clock.   Pretty sure the rumors of the partying all week are true.

[Guest K-GunJimKelly12]

Leonard Smith was our #1 corner the first Super Bowl season and the best player in our secondary.  He was injured prior to the Super Bowl, I believe a broken leg in the Raiders Championship game.  Hard to remember, I was 9 years old.  He was really good and may have made the difference in Super Bowl 25.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

5 minutes ago, K-GunJimKelly12 said:

Leonard Smith was our #1 corner the first Super Bowl season and the best player in our secondary.  He was injured prior to the Super Bowl, I believe a broken leg in the Raiders Championship game.  Hard to remember, I was 9 years old.  He was really good and may have made the difference in Super Bowl 25.

No he was the Strong Safety and played in the Super Bowl.

[Guest K-GunJimKelly12]

18 minutes ago, horned dogs said:

No he was the Strong Safety and played in the Super Bowl.

I thought he was a safety and googled it and it said he was a corner, so you may be right there.  Looks like he did play in two Super Bowls.  Not sure why I thought he didn't.

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by K-GunJimKelly12

[BADOLBILZ]

3 hours ago, Nervous Guy said:

no players...100% Marv and his staff.

 

 

This #1.

 

Bill Polian being stubborn and refusing to get a NT and replace Kelso #2.

 

I really don't blame the Jeff Wright and Kelso they were just doing their job but people forget that back in those days it was common for teams to have two safeties the size of the OLB's in today's game.   Wright was giving up 50-70 pounds against big NFC OL in the SB and Kelso was useless in run support......and that was the biggest weakness in the SB era.......an inability to stop the other team from imposing their will on our defense when our offense was stalemated by a good D.

[Success]

3 hours ago, Xwnyer said:

He missed because of the damn helicopters and We lost Momentum every time one of Billy Boys defensive players went down with injuries that stopped play only to be back a play or two later.   Cheating started early for him but lack of a decent NT and LBs and Kelly’s ego is what cost us SB25.

I read that B.B. would also have his defenders “accidentally” kick the ball at the LOS to slow us down.

[row_33]

2 hours ago, Chuck Wagon said:

46 yard FGs in 1990 are not what they are now, especially ones to win the SB.

 

hoping to squeak to the outer range of your kicker's comfort level with the game on the line is a bad strategy,

 

The Big Clapper in Dallas has done this many times in his current gig as well...

 

My best computer sports sim anecdote is Roy Gerela in 1975 was listed at 33% on a 35 yard FG....  a few times opponents using the Steelers thought they were on easy street getting to a gimme 35 yarder to win...

 

 

 

[corta765]

So I was alive but between the ages of 2-6 so I have no memory so I won't comment too much on players.

 

But I have watched SB 25 and the biggest thing was the defenses inability to tackle. They missed god knows how many tackles or went for a big hit instead of just doing a basic tackle. That and the time mgmt at the end stuck out more to me then any player or kick for that matter.

 

The only other SB I have watched and would comment on is SB28. The Bills seemed to play not to lose and more or less just lost it mentally the moment Thurman fumbled. For that I do blame Marv, Kelly, & Talley on defense. The game was tied 13-13 at that point, it wasn't like they were down yet they played and acted like it. Your head coach and two big team leaders need to step up and get the boys up regardless of previous history. You knew Dallas was going to run Emmitt in the second half hard so then run the ball and clock yourself to slow things down to regain some composure. It was like quicksand and once things started hitting the skids they couldn't get out of their own way and to Dallas credit they overpowered Buffalo once that happened.

[Jay_Fixit]

It was Marv Levy in the first Super Bowl, yes. 

[RochesterRob]

1 hour ago, mattynh said:

I hate seeing Norwood up there.  Scott Norwood was a good kicker but had a short range which was nkown, so short we would never make it in the NFL today.  However, he was not the reason the Bills lost, he did not choke, the team choked and he is the scape goat.  That 47 yard kick was out of his range on grass, the offense did not get in range and mismanaged the clock.   Pretty sure the rumors of the partying all week are true.

  It was a team loss for sure and the one thing that stood out was the poor tackling.  There were at least two dozen instances when a Bills player was in a perfect position to make a tackle but the Giants pushed them aside.  

[row_33]

11 minutes ago, Jay_Fixit said:

It was Marv Levy in the first Super Bowl, yes. 

 

there was no reason on earth the Bills didn't have that game sewn up by halftime with Hofstedddllerrrrrr at the helm.

 

except totally outcoached

 

the next 3 were a sacrificial rhythmic pummeling into the mud

 

 

[RochesterRob]

5 minutes ago, Jay_Fixit said:

It was Marv Levy in the first Super Bowl, yes. 

  Marv needed an enforcer type assistant coach in those years for team curfew during SB week.  

[row_33]

if forced to pick, the weakness was the secondary, which wasn't great against the cupcake AFC those years

 

the O-line got exposed heavily by the NFC in those 3 SBs, but the Bills didn't stand a chance anyway