Our thoughts on Jim Kelly when he fled for the USFL

[cwater10]

2 hours ago, Albany,n.y. said:

From that last Courier Express.  Three months later I left Buffalo and never lived there again, although I have gone back a lot of times over the years. 

 

 

Great memories... That was my senior year at Bonaventure, then I was on the road as well.  I get back at least once a year.  I now live in Southwest Florida, but Buffalo will always be home.  I think that is the spirit that caught Kelly by surprise once he spent some time here.  Houston could never offer that!  Glad he came around and happy that he stayed.  Following The Bills has been a journey.  My family had season tickets from the OJ years and I finally let them go in... 1989.  That worked out well.  My first four seasons as a non season ticket holder were all Super Bowl years.  I figured it was a sign to say away    But following from afar has been great, especially since the internet arrived.  It always amazes me how many "Bills Mafia!" yells I get wherever I wear my Bills gear around here and out west too!  Great fans from all generations...  Can't touch 'em...  I still remember the "Go Sabres, and Take The Bills With You!" bumper stickers from the 70's.  We would see them and laugh.  We would have been heartbroken if they ever did go.  Thank you Terry and Kim.  Everyone is right where they belong.  Except for that guy who sat in front of me in section C from 1981 - 1987.  That guy belongs in custody!  Maybe he is...  Good thread.  Good night!

Edited March 6, 2019 by cwater10

[iinii]

19 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

We took Tony Hunter (TE from Notre Dame) with our 1st, 1sr rounder. Taking Kelly at 14 filled a need, but when he jumped most anger was aimed at the FO for not gittin’erdone! He was OK @ the U, but he set the football world on fire with the Gamblers. Once Trumps lawsuit killed the League, Ralph sprang for the $8M and GOD showed up Opening Day ‘86.

 

The rest, as they say, is history.

Too bad GOD can’t win Super Bowls...

[Chandler#81]

1 hour ago, iinii said:

Too bad GOD can’t win Super Bowls...

He works in mysterious ways??‍♂️

[Success]

On 3/5/2019 at 5:58 AM, oldmanfan said:

We thought he was a jerk to put it mildly

Exactly this.

 

But he won us back over.

[Bing Bong]

19 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

You do.  Especially the younger half of the millenial generation who have no recollection of the SB's and barely remember th Flutie/Johnson era.

MCM was the beginning of my fandom lol. Love started right away in an absolute heart break.

10 hours ago, iinii said:

Too bad GOD can’t win Super Bowls...

He wins games for Russell Wilson. Russell says so in his PCs. The messiah quarterback..

[vorpma]

20 hours ago, cwater10 said:

Oh man...  Like it was yesterday.  Thanks for the memory, Albany.  My inner Phil Ranalo just smoked a cigar.  What's new Harry?

Honest Harry and Ruby!

[row_33]

I don't remember it being that big a deal, lots of players were doing it, the Bills were horrible.

 

Revisionist history has tried to cram Kelly's years into the big national history of The U, but I don't remember much at all about Miami until Kosar beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for its first huge win.

 

Miami was never on TV or in major sports reporting, it was a lot sparser back then...

 

 

 

 

 

[KD in CA]

I dunno, but that's a TSW thread I'd have liked to have seen!

[KD in CA]

6 hours ago, row_33 said:

I don't remember it being that big a deal, lots of players were doing it, the Bills were horrible.

 

Revisionist history has tried to cram Kelly's years into the big national history of The U, but I don't remember much at all about Miami until Kosar beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for its first huge win.

 

Miami was never on TV or in major sports reporting, it was a lot sparser back then...

 

 

Miami was a doormat for years until Schnellenberger got there and started turning things around.  They improved significantly during Kelly's tenure but weren't really a national championship contender until after he left and that '83 team made it to that Orange Bowl.

 

btw....Kelly was recruited to the U by ....... Lou Saban!

[iinii]

21 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

He works in mysterious ways??‍♂️

Like Keyser Soze?

13 hours ago, BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P said:

MCM was the beginning of my fandom lol. Love started right away in an absolute heart break.

He wins games for Russell Wilson. Russell says so in his PCs. The messiah quarterback..

What about the games he loses? Is it like snake handlers? Russell must be backsliding 

[Nihilarian]

On 3/5/2019 at 10:20 AM, vorpma said:

During this time period the Bills Front Office had a horrible reputation dealing with players and negotiating contracts. Stew Barber, an All Pro Tackle from the AFL days handled all negotiations and totally dropped the ball losing many - Cousineau, Cribbs, Kelly, and we almost lost Haslett (remember the bumper sticker "Pay Haslett and cut Barber).  Fred Smerlas wrote that Barber resented the raising salaries and the players receiving what be assessed as unreasonable and inflated paychecks for playing football and actually openly displayed his hostility. Not sure if Barber was still in place for the Kelly debacle for Bill Polian slowly turned it around. 

Buffalo Bills GM Stew Barber was a complete moron on so many levels.

 

What pissed off Tom Cousineau was that he was invited by the then-Bills GM Stew Barber to dinner in Buffalo...then never showed up, never called...nothing! Then, the initial offering by the Bills vs the Montreal Alouettes was less than half of what MA was offering. Of course, Ole Tom would head up north.  This upset the new Bills HC Chuck Knox who managed to build a solid team despite the GM being a moron. 

 

Knox had brought his scouting director (Norm Pollom) with him from the LA Rams and those two were given carte blanch to do whatever they needed by the owner. Still, Barber was involved in negotiations and managed to upset many Bills players by lowballing them.  I have to say this was partly on the owner's philosophy because, in the end, Wilson didn't want to pay Chuck Knox either, even after Knox rejuvenated the city of Buffalo by making the Buffalo Bills relevant again. The Bills hadn't beaten the Miami Dolphins over the entire decade of the 1970s and in that 1980 season opener in which the Bills beat Miami 17-7, Bills fans tore down the goal posts!

 

Yes, Ralph Wilson gave Chuck Knox a top ten NFL salary when he hired him, (being desperate as he was at the time ) but this was five years later. In truth, my take is Knox grew tired of Wilson and his overly frugal ways and wanted a way out. 

 

Wilson being Wilson, hires Kay Stephenson, Hank Bullough as his next two head coaches. Meanwhile, that ex-Rams scouting director (Pollom)wanted to hire a young scout named Bill Polian.

 

Now that the Bills had lost Knox to Seattle and the Bills were losing big time again with back to back 2-14 seasons Bills fans decided they had better things to do on Sunday so the stadium was more than half empty game after game. Wilson was getting desperate again because if things didn't change he knew he would be forced to sell all or part of his beloved team, or move it. Luckily, his GM/VP at that time suffered a serious injury (Terry Bledsoe), so Wilson fired him and promoted Polian to GM. 

 

Y'all can thank Bill Polian for talking owner Ralph Wilson into making Jim Kelly the highest paid QB in the league. Jim wanted to be a Raider as Al Davis had sent him on a vacation trip to London with two Raiderettes. Money talks, so Jim signed with Buffalo!  Yes, Kelly didn't want to play for the Buffalo Bills when he was drafted by Buffalo and the weather was only one factor as Kelly noticed that the Bills lost Cousineau to Canada over money. I think Bills owner Ralph Wilson was the bigger reason and Polian not only talked Wilson into paying Kelly, but he also talked him into upgrading the stadium, paying top free agents. Let's not forget the 87 trade for Cornelius Bennett on Halloween that helped turn that defense around. 

 

Four straight super bowls! I think you can give a lot of credit to Bill Polian for those runs. Now, let's hope Beane/McD does as well.

 

 

[vorpma]

4 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

Buffalo Bills GM Stew Barber was a complete moron on so many levels.

 

What pissed off Tom Cousineau was that he was invited by the then-Bills GM Stew Barber to dinner in Buffalo...then never showed up, never called...nothing! Then, the initial offering by the Bills vs the Montreal Alouettes was less than half of what MA was offering. Of course, Ole Tom would head up north.  This upset the new Bills HC Chuck Knox who managed to build a solid team despite the GM being a moron. 

 

Knox had brought his scouting director (Norm Pollom) with him from the LA Rams and those two were given carte blanch to do whatever they needed by the owner. Still, Barber was involved in negotiations and managed to upset many Bills players by lowballing them.  I have to say this was partly on the owner's philosophy because, in the end, Wilson didn't want to pay Chuck Knox either, even after Knox rejuvenated the city of Buffalo by making the Buffalo Bills relevant again. The Bills hadn't beaten the Miami Dolphins over the entire decade of the 1970s and in that 1980 season opener in which the Bills beat Miami 17-7, Bills fans tore down the goal posts!

 

Yes, Ralph Wilson gave Chuck Knox a top ten NFL salary when he hired him, (being desperate as he was at the time ) but this was five years later. In truth, my take is Knox grew tired of Wilson and his overly frugal ways and wanted a way out. 

 

Wilson being Wilson, hires Kay Stephenson, Hank Bullough as his next two head coaches. Meanwhile, that ex-Rams scouting director (Pollom)wanted to hire a young scout named Bill Polian.

 

Now that the Bills had lost Knox to Seattle and the Bills were losing big time again with back to back 2-14 seasons Bills fans decided they had better things to do on Sunday so the stadium was more than half empty game after game. Wilson was getting desperate again because if things didn't change he knew he would be forced to sell all or part of his beloved team, or move it. Luckily, his GM/VP at that time suffered a serious injury (Terry Bledsoe), so Wilson fired him and promoted Polian to GM. 

 

Y'all can thank Bill Polian for talking owner Ralph Wilson into making Jim Kelly the highest paid QB in the league. Jim wanted to be a Raider as Al Davis had sent him on a vacation trip to London with two Raiderettes. Money talks, so Jim signed with Buffalo!  Yes, Kelly didn't want to play for the Buffalo Bills when he was drafted by Buffalo and the weather was only one factor as Kelly noticed that the Bills lost Cousineau to Canada over money. I think Bills owner Ralph Wilson was the bigger reason and Polian not only talked Wilson into paying Kelly, but he also talked him into upgrading the stadium, paying top free agents. Let's not forget the 87 trade for Cornelius Bennett on Halloween that helped turn that defense around. 

 

Four straight super bowls! I think you can give a lot of credit to Bill Polian for those runs. Now, let's hope Beane/McD does as well.

 

 

Many who post on TBD have no idea what bad times really are!

[K-9]

8 hours ago, KD in CA said:

 

Miami was a doormat for years until Schnellenberger got there and started turning things around.  They improved significantly during Kelly's tenure but weren't really a national championship contender until after he left and that '83 team made it to that Orange Bowl.

 

btw....Kelly was recruited to the U by ....... Lou Saban!

Kelly should have gone to Penn State. He would have been a helluva linebacker! ?

[Bing Bong]

8 hours ago, iinii said:

What about the games he loses? Is it like snake handlers? Russell must be backsliding

God had other athletes to help. Huge sports fan that guy.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

2 hours ago, K-9 said:

Kelly should have gone to Penn State. He would have been a helluva linebacker! ?

 

Anthony Phillips agrees with you.

 

 

[bbb]

1 hour ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

 

Anthony Phillips agrees with you.

 

 

 

Thanks.  I never saw this on TV.  Just from the other side of the stadium.  I knew he broke his leg, but I also knew it saved the touchdown, the game, and probably the season.

[row_33]

11 hours ago, KD in CA said:

 

Miami was a doormat for years until Schnellenberger got there and started turning things around.  They improved significantly during Kelly's tenure but weren't really a national championship contender until after he left and that '83 team made it to that Orange Bowl.

 

btw....Kelly was recruited to the U by ....... Lou Saban!

 

yup, and they have now revised the history to include the Kelly years as part of The U's domination.

 

I remember Miami as having an occasional ranking in Sports Illustrated, the South or Southeast region (??) but they never played anybody.  Kind of like Florida International these days.

 

 

[iinii]

15 hours ago, BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P said:

God had other athletes to help. Huge sports fan that guy.

God plays favorites? Or just the money line?

[row_33]

4 hours ago, iinii said:

God plays favorites? Or just the money line?

 

Both concepts are very mysterious things, not comprehensible to mortal man.

 

 

[Another Fan]

He didn’t sound like the best character guy as well his first couple years.  As alluded it was a different world then before the internet