2004 Bills still the best team of the 2000 era?

[Doc]

1 hour ago, NoSaint said:

and to answer the question, what about as a whole?

 

That would be the "no" part.

[Beast]

The 2004 team beat up on junior high teams. 

[mushypeaches]

Just now, Beast said:

The 2004 team beat up on junior high teams. 

 

Almost like we did this year too, huh?  Except for the beating up part

[Don Otreply]

Imo Bledsoe was on the verge of collapse when we signed him, he was motivated for what, eight games? The team was a bandaid job, much like all the teams during the drought. Very little competent thought went into the make up of those teams, and we saw the results of that. There was some good talent, but nowhere near enough. 
 

Go Bills!!!

[Doc]

32 minutes ago, Beast said:

The 2004 team beat up on junior high teams. 

 

Except for the last game of the season...

[KD in CA]

5 hours ago, Foxx said:

huh.. my memory was that we lost to a bunch of mostly third stringers.

 

That's been the narrative lo these many years, but these were the starting lineups + Willie Parker for Pittsburgh.   Hardly a mis-match in Buffalo's favor.

 

[Foxx]

10 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

 

That's been the narrative lo these many years, but these were the starting lineups + Willie Parker for Pittsburgh.   Hardly a mis-match in Buffalo's favor.

 

yes, i understood that mostly second stringers started but they were replaced at various stages throughout the game to the point where it was the third team against our first by the start of the second half. of course, as i get older my memory is not what it used to be so i may be conflating this with another game.

[Doc]

Tommy Maddox was a schlub.  They never should have lost to a team with him starting.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, mushypeaches said:

 

Shaw - didn't Mularkey take the Titans to the playoffs at 9-7 and then get fired?

 

Also, I would not have said Spikes was over the hill in 2004.  He was a beast that year

 

 

Took then there, beat Andy Reid, and got fired. 

[Shaw66]

20 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Took then there, beat Andy Reid, and got fired. 

You're right.  I didn't read the stats carefully enough.  As Gunner said, he made the playoffs once, in his last season as head coach, went 1-1 in the

playoffs and got fired. 

[Seasons1992]

4 hours ago, JetsFan20 said:

Im not a Bills fan

 

FINALLY.

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

I was going to let it go as I like Shaw, but Pikes was in his prime.  He played from 98-12 so in 04, he was peaking as a 6 year veteran.  He had a lot of good years after Buffalo, and thought it was stupid to move on from Takeo and London, both of which played for very long careers.  Think about it, Takeo played through 2012, 15 years, and Fletcher for 16 years, both jettisoned after the 06 season.  One more example of the constant mismanagement of this team forever.

 

Thank god this is the best I’ve seen the Bills run and coached since the Polian/Levy years, and before my time the mid 60’s Bills winning championships.

That's not my recollection of Spikes at all.  He rarely was the super-stud in Buffalo that he had been in his first five seasons in Cincinnati.  After five straight 100-tackle seasons in Cincy, he had one in Buffalo, got close his second season, then start having injuries. My recollection is that even his best years he wasn't the standout guy he had been - looking back at the stats, I gotta say that that recollection is a little clouded - he was All-Pro in 2004, with five INTs.   Eventually he was just ordinary, but clearly the decline started after 2004.  Did he tear his achilles in 2005?   I had no trouble when management let him go.  I see looking back at the stats that he had a couple 100 tackle seasons late in his career.  

 

Fletcher, on the other hand, was a big mistake, and I thought so at the time. 

 

Thanks for the comment and correction. 

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

You're right.  I didn't read the stats carefully enough.  As Gunner said, he made the playoffs once, in his last season as head coach, went 1-1 in the

playoffs and got fired. 

This coaching comparison shines an interesting light on McDermott.  He gets credit for figuring out how to get his team to the playoffs twice in three years, while Mularkey failed in his first season as HC and didn't make it until his fifth season.  On the other hand, Mularkey has a playoff win and McDermott is 0-2.  Puts in pretty clear perspective what McDermott's next hurdle is. 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Shaw66

[Hampton Josh fan]

The 1999 team with Flutie and Johnson should have been an AFC finalist.  The Dehaven led ST gave up that miracle finish.  Flutie should have played the game from the beginning and Wade was a great defensive coach but not ready to win as a HC. The most frustrating loss as a fan in history.  The team was great. 

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

You're right.  I didn't read the stats carefully enough.  As Gunner said, he made the playoffs once, in his last season as head coach, went 1-1 in the

playoffs and got fired. 

 

And just for clarity I was only making it as an accuracy point. I don't have Mularkey close to McDermott as a coach. How he got not one but two more cracks as a Head Coach after Buffalo is an absolute mystery to me. 

[C.Biscuit97]

2014 team would murder all the garbage Bills offenses of the last century.  If they kept EJ, they probably win the SB. ?

[Mango]

That defense in that era had a couple of absolutely great years. I actually can’t recall in recent memory a top 3 defense as good as they were not making the playoff. 
 

One of those years they held the Bengals to something like 25 yards. It was insane. 

[Sherlock Holmes]

16 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

Allen is already better than Bledsoe. Bledsoe sucked here. 

Are you back on your meds Scotty?

[eball]

I never thought the 2004 team was “good” — in fact they were pretty brutal through the first nine games of the season.  Bledsoe was essentially done, even though they had Moulds/Evans/McGahee.  The defense was opportunistic but not a “shut ‘em down” unit.  The six-game streak was dominant but they beat the Rams (8-8), Seahawks (9-7), Fish (4-12), Browns (4-12), Bengals (8-8), and 49ers (2-14) — not exactly Murderers’ Row.  I’ll always give Mularkey credit for holding the team together when they were 3-6 (remember the cheeseburgers?) but I think last year’s squad beats that team 8 out of 10 times.

[Big Turk]

On 6/28/2020 at 8:49 AM, Doc said:

Maybe for that 6-game stretch they were the best team, but outside of that, no.

 

But did they not also play pretty much bottom feeders for that 6 game stretch too?

3 hours ago, eball said:

I never thought the 2004 team was “good” — in fact they were pretty brutal through the first nine games of the season.  Bledsoe was essentially done, even though they had Moulds/Evans/McGahee.  The defense was opportunistic but not a “shut ‘em down” unit.  The six-game streak was dominant but they beat the Rams (8-8), Seahawks (9-7), Fish (4-12), Browns (4-12), Bengals (8-8), and 49ers (2-14) — not exactly Murderers’ Row.  I’ll always give Mularkey credit for holding the team together when they were 3-6 (remember the cheeseburgers?) but I think last year’s squad beats that team 8 out of 10 times.

 

Our D last year would have shut Bledsoe down hard...

[Jerry Jabber]

Since we’re going back in time, my favorite offense of the decade was the 2002 Bills. Bledsoe threw for 4,359 yards and 24TDs, Travis Henry rushed for 1,438 yards and 13TDs, Eric Moulds had 1,292 receiving yards and 10TDs and Peerless Price had 1,252 receiving yards and 9TDs. It’s too bad the Bills defense was terrible that year, but it was a good rebound year from going 3-13 in the previous year. Looks like Bledsoe gave us only one good year. 
 

2003 had my favorite game of the decade when the Bills demolished the Patriots 31-0 in the season opener. Seeing Sam Adams get the pick six on Brady was priceless...one of my favorite plays of all time. Losing Price was a huge blow as once Moulds was lost for a while due to an injury, Bledsoe had only Josh Reed to throw to.
 

2004, same story, great defense but couldn’t do enough on offense. 

Edited June 30, 2020 by Jerry Jabber