Random Bills’ Games Stuck in the Memory Bank

[RobbRiddick]

Bills Jags week 2 the season we opened by beating up on Brady and the Pats. 

 

I remember it because they followed up the massacre of NE by beating up on Jax with ease to go 2-0. I had visions of breaking the playoff drought fairly early on in its life. Things went downhill soon after

[BADOLBILZ]

32 minutes ago, Logic said:

One of the rare things I’m sure we can agree on: the Levy GM stint was an unmitigated disaster, during which a downright astonishing amount of horrific personnel moves were made. Embarrassingly bad.

 

 

Yeah Royal was the gem of a very large free agent class of total scrubs.   When asked to explain why they signed all these nobodies Levy noted that they were trying to model themselves after the Patriots.   Cluelessly following a blueprint of a plan that was actually built heavily upon knowing what plays the opposition was running courtesy of sign stealing.    When you know the offensive play call.........yeah.......you can put any CB in........even a receiver like Troy Brown........and he can make plays.   Each successive Levy/Brandon GM'd team got less talented until they totally bottomed out in year 1 of Chan Gailey.

 

Where we will disagree most likely is that the 2018 Beane class was was just as bad as that first Levy group.   Murphy and Lotulelei gave them a few better snaps than the likes of Royal and Peerless Price but the spending in 2018 dwarfed the pittance that Levy spent on his scrubs.    Even relative to the salary cap of both era's.  Two truly terrible, organizationally harmful free agent classes.    The two worst groups of Bills signings since the inception of UFA.

[Logic]

17 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Where we will disagree most likely is that the 2018 Beane class was was just as bad as that first Levy group.   Murphy and Lotulelei gave them a few better snaps than the likes of Royal and Peerless Price but the spending in 2018 dwarfed the pittance that Levy spent on his scrubs.    Even relative to the salary cap of both era's.  Two truly terrible, organizationally harmful free agent classes.    The two worst groups of Bills signings since the inception of UFA.

Maybe it's due to a weird planetary alignment or something, but I agree with you on this point as well.

I understand Beane's thought process behind signing both Lotulelei and Murphy. Unfortunately, neither player wound up being worth the money. I don't think Lotulelei -- when he was healthy -- was as bad as his worst detractors claim (though I really don't want to spend my Sunday re-litigating this thoroughly worn out topic). I do think he played a useful role on the Bills defense. I also cannot say with a straight face that he was worth the contract that was paid to him. He wasn't.

Just so that there's balance in the world, let me see if I can find a point on which we'll disagree: Beane has done more good in free agency than bad in his tenure as GM.
 
 

[BADOLBILZ]

18 minutes ago, Logic said:

Maybe it's due to a weird planetary alignment or something, but I agree with you on this point as well.

I understand Beane's thought process behind signing both Lotulelei and Murphy. Unfortunately, neither player wound up being worth the money. I don't think Lotulelei -- when he was healthy -- was as bad as his worst detractors claim (though I really don't want to spend my Sunday re-litigating this thoroughly worn out topic). I do think he played a useful role on the Bills defense. I also cannot say with a straight face that he was worth the contract that was paid to him. He wasn't.

Just so that there's balance in the world, let me see if I can find a point on which we'll disagree: Beane has done more good in free agency than bad in his tenure as GM.
 
 

 

 

Yeah we'll have to disagree that he's done more good than bad in free agency.

 

Somehow he had just one good "value" free agent in his first 4 offseasons..... Daryl Williams.........which he totally negated by extending him and then eating a pile of dead money just 12 months later.    

 

By contrast Whaley had gems like Lorax, Tyrod, Zach Brown, Incognito, Gillislee in 2015 and 2016 alone.   A couple pro Bowlers,  a DPOY candidate, the NFL's leading tackler and a guy who lead the league in rushing average and 3rd down conversions.

 

Beasley and John Brown were very good signings.   Not AS GOOD of value.......but the closest thing under Beane........to the values that they got in Poyer and Hyde a few months prior to Beane taking over.

 

Morse has been good but they paid very top dollar for good.   Addison.......he had some production but at a high cost.

 

After that it's been all busts and some significant overpays for reserves.   That list is long,  most fans just choose to forget them......and it's easy to do so because Josh Allen covers up a lot of warts.  

 

The subsequent re-structures of bad deals like Lotulelei and Butler have also been costly.    Pay cuts are hopefully something he matures out of doing.    Those don't work.

 

Beane has significantly underachieved in UFA so far.

 

Hopefully the 2022 class changes the ledger. 

 

 

[BillsPride12]

6 hours ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

Looking back, it's crazy how many big games Reich played in. Dint see the backup qb that involved generally.

Reich might be the GOAT Backup QB 

6 hours ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

I was there! People were hitting the Lions with snowballs 

 

Mine would be Chiefs 38-5 over the Bills in 03.

I was on my honeymoon and begged my brother to vhs tape the game for me so I could watch it when we got back. 

He left the vhs in my mailbox with a label that read "Bills-Chiefs DO NOT WATCH". I still watched but dear God what a beating. 

 

Sadly I remember that beatdown we got.  That was the game going into it Pat Williams said Priest Holmes wouldn't rush for more than 50 yards 

But what really caught my attention in this post was what a time capsule that is.  2003 doesn't feel THAT long ago, at least to me, yet we are still talking VCR's and a time before everybody had the internet and streaming capabilities on their cell phones to catch games/highlights/tweets when out of town. 

[Nextmanup]

4 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

Reich might be the GOAT Backup QB 

I'd rather have Steve Young, to name 1 backup QB off the top of my head.

 

He was the backup for a while before he got his shot in SF (4 seasons?)

 

It's weird, but I tend to forget about his Tampa career, and think of him as the back up in San Fran, who then became the starter...more than one of the greatest starters of all time--which he is also!

 

 

 

 

[WotAGuy]

Another random game memory:

Washington at Buffalo 1969 preseason. Playing an NFL team was still a big deal, and Vince Lombardi coming to Buffalo added to the excitement.  I remember being at the Erie County Fair with my parents and raising a fit because I wanted to get back home to watch the replay of the game from the night before. I think Channel 7 used to broadcast the home preseason games the next day. Bills won 21-17. Every win was amazing back then, even preseason. 
 

OJ played his first game the next week against the Lions. 

[BillsPride12]

3 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

I'd rather have Steve Young, to name 1 backup QB off the top of my head.

 

He was the backup for a while before he got his shot in SF (4 seasons?)

 

It's weird, but I tend to forget about his Tampa career, and think of him as the back up in San Fran, who then became the starter...more than one of the greatest starters of all time--which he is also!

 

 

 

 

That's fair, I mean there's no denying Steve Young was a better QB than Reich but I guess I wasn't really considered backup QB's who went on to have very successful career's as a Starter.

[Nextmanup]

8 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

That's fair, I mean there's no denying Steve Young was a better QB than Reich but I guess I wasn't really considered backup QB's who went on to have very successful career's as a Starter.

I get it.  You're talking guys who were never more than backups.  Frank would have to rank highly on that list!

 

 

On 6/25/2022 at 2:22 PM, WotAGuy said:

Off-season postings of old Bills’ games got me thinking about some wins that stick in my memory; many are from more than 50 years ago when I was a kid obsessed with the Bills. 
 

1970 - Bills crushed the Patriots 45-10.  I had never seen the Bills dominate like that; I had been following them since 1968, so there you go. I still remember watching the game in shock as they piled up TDs (in black and white of course). That game just sticks in my brain. 
 

Share your memories - the more obscure the game, the better!

I don't know how "random" this game would be considered, but, the game I often think about is:

 

January 3, 1981:  Buffalo at San Diego Chargers, divisional playoff game.

We lose 20-14.  

 

It was the first truly disappointing Bills loss I remember, and it sort of set me up for the rest of my life in terms of Buffalo sports disappointment!  I think that's why I remember it so well!

 

 

[WotAGuy]

30 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

I get it.  You're talking guys who were never more than backups.  Frank would have to rank highly on that list!

 

 

I don't know how "random" this game would be considered, but, the game I often think about is:

 

January 3, 1981:  Buffalo at San Diego Chargers, divisional playoff game.

We lose 20-14.  

 

It was the first truly disappointing Bills loss I remember, and it sort of set me up for the rest of my life in terms of Buffalo sports disappointment!  I think that's why I remember it so well!

 

 

That was a brutal loss, especially given how Ferguson played on a bad ankle, and after that amazing win in San Fran a couple weeks before. 1980 seemed like a magical season and when it ended the way it ended, Ron Smith running free, it left a mark. 🤣

[boater]

A 1990s Miami game at the Ralph in a driving snow storm with a young daughter. Buffalo was killing them. It was a great game.

 

My daughter starts crying. I realize she's not dressed for the conditions (Bad Dad, guilt meter 9.0 to this day) and could be getting frostbite. It wasn't a hard decision.. her health and comfort was more important than the game.

 

So I ended up carrying her on my back fire-fighter style out of the stadium. Because of the snow fall the parking lot lost all identifying features, it all looked the same. By the the Grace of God, I had the wherewithal to memorize the light post arrangements and ECC where we parked the car. We found the car and quickly got it started and heated up.

 

We ended up at a Dickies Donuts somewhere in OP or Hamburg. I got a coffee, she got a hot chocolate. The Dickies workers were very understanding and helpful. They had a TV on the Bills game and we watched the fourth quarter in comfort there.

 

The Dolphins were spanked on the day I carried my daughter on my back through a blizzard. It will never be forgotten.

 

 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

9 hours ago, Milano said:

At NE 1998. Bills 7-4 NE 6-5. The "just give it to them" game. PI in end zone last play of the game.

Still p*ssed.

 

That game had serious consequences. Jet were the Division winners, Bills, Dolphins, Pats were the wild cards in the conf.

(I know, 4 teams from one division, crazy right?)

 

But for that BS officiating in Foxboro, Dolphins would have played Bills in Buffalo in January, not South Florida.

Bills lost in Miami 24-17 with a sh*t-ton of help from the officials again. 

 

s

Do you have a link to the “just give it to them” game? I’ve always heard about this, but never actually seen the footage of the refs doing that. 

[Saxum]

1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said:

That's fair, I mean there's no denying Steve Young was a better QB than Reich but I guess I wasn't really considered backup QB's who went on to have very successful career's as a Starter.

 

Lots of QBs started as backups - Joe Ferguson Jr., Patrick Mahomes, Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers, Teflon "GOAT (in cheating)" QB, etc.

Some needed to move to new teams; some needed time to mature or for QB ahead on depth chart to retire, leave or be traded.

 

IMO a backup QB is a QB who played as backup in majority of career.

23 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Do you have a link to the “just give it to them” game? I’ve always heard about this, but never actually seen the footage of the refs doing that. 

 

 

 

At 2:59 there is "Just give it to them".  At time there was clips on sports show with Zebras speaking it and future clips from NFL did not.

 

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Limeaid

[BADOLBILZ]

10 hours ago, RobbRiddick said:

Bills Jags week 2 the season we opened by beating up on Brady and the Pats. 

 

I remember it because they followed up the massacre of NE by beating up on Jax with ease to go 2-0. I had visions of breaking the playoff drought fairly early on in its life. Things went downhill soon after

 

 

The ominous happening in that game was Josh Reed running wide open and dropping a bomb that would have been like one of those Gabe Davis 2020 blown coverage TD's.    

 

His hands had been unbelievably good at LSU(where he won the Biletnikoff award) and with Buffalo as a rookie.........that drop against the Jags sent him into a tailspin of yips.......dropping easy passes.   Making Reed the #2 receiver seemed to totally ruin a guy who was dynamic in the slot as a rookie and seemed like a perennial pro bowler in development.

 

I remember people thinking the combo of Reed getting more snaps and the acquisition of 500 yard receiver Bobby Shaw was going to be able to replace the 1250 yard production of the traded Peerless Price.   Then Moulds got hurt and that receiving corps went from great in 2002 to simply horrible in 2003 as Reed and Shaw weren't up to the task.

 

 Kinda' reminds me of some of the thinking around here in 2022 that more Gabe + Kumerow will equal or surpass Gabe + Sanders 2021 production.

[Coach Tuesday]

6 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

The ominous happening in that game was Josh Reed running wide open and dropping a bomb that would have been like one of those Gabe Davis 2020 blown coverage TD's.    

 

His hands had been unbelievably good at LSU(where he won the Biletnikoff award) and with Buffalo as a rookie.........that drop against the Jags sent him into a tailspin of yips.......dropping easy passes.   Making Reed the #2 receiver seemed to totally ruin a guy who was dynamic in the slot as a rookie and seemed like a perennial pro bowler in development.

 

I remember people thinking the combo of Reed getting more snaps and the acquisition of 500 yard receiver Bobby Shaw was going to be able to replace the 1250 yard production of the traded Peerless Price.   Then Moulds got hurt and that receiving corps went from great in 2002 to simply horrible in 2003 as Reed and Shaw weren't up to the task.

 

 Kinda' reminds me of some of the thinking around here in 2022 that more Gabe + Kumerow will equal or surpass Gabe + Sanders 2021 production.

Remember when Mularkey cut Bobby Shaw mid-week to prove a point?

[Greg S]

1980 Bills and Jets at Shea. Jets rally back from a 24-10 deficit in the 4th quarter to tie the game. But Ferguson throws a 30 yard TD pass to Frank Lewis with just 6 seconds left in the game. Bills win 31-24.

[Food_Pyramid_Wrong]

I remember a game against the Jets, where we won like 28-13. The weather was gray, a bit windy and chilly, and the game was called by CBS' lowest paid announcing duo.

 

Never mind, that's every Bills-Jets game for the last 22 years.

 

Go Bills.

[Greg S]

35 minutes ago, SaratogaMike said:

I remember a game against the Jets, where we won like 28-13. The weather was gray, a bit windy and chilly, and the game was called by CBS' lowest paid announcing duo.

 

Never mind, that's every Bills-Jets game for the last 22 years.

 

Go Bills.

 

For two teams who have been playing each other twice a year ( minus strikes or lockouts) since 1960 its amazing that their have been so few big games between them. Only met once in the playoffs (1981 WC game) and very few times they have played for the division against one another. Maybe that changes if the Jets become a good team and the Bills remain good.

[Kwai San]

On 6/25/2022 at 8:51 PM, Pete said:

It’s why we are Bills Mafia.  We’ve collectively suffered as Bills fans the last 50 years.  But we always loved and supported our Bills no matter our 4-12 seasons, wide right, 044, etc 

my girlfriend says when I run across a Bills fan, we are like dogs running to greet each other lol

 

That there is sum pretty funee sheet!!!  Altho I do say my wife would say the same of me......always shout out at ANY Bills fan we see, no matter where or what.

 

GO BILLS!!

 

PS.  Comeback Game is 1A and the AFC championship game vs the Raiders in the negative 90 degree temps is 1B.....not obscure but standout games.

[Kwai San]

On 6/26/2022 at 12:57 PM, I'm Spartacus said:

Monday night game, Bills vs. Giants (pretty sure).

Some tool climbed out on the guide wire for the field goal netting.

Was on TV - not a good look for Buffalo fans! But hey, that's who we are...

 

Totally remember that game.....a huge section of people chanted Fall...Fall.....Fall.....FALL!

 

When he ended back over the stands the security guys beat the ever living crap outa him too!!!  Good times!!!  Literally my first Bills game, I was attending RIT at the time and a bud had an extra ticket....we sat one section over from that hot mess......wild!!!!