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Marv may not even have three years of breath let alone being GM of the Bills.

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Are you kidding? He will probably out live you, the guy is in amazing shape for someone his age, Now if you had said Ralph, I may be more likely to let it go because he does seem to be letting his age catch up to him, but he still is in pretty good shape for his age.

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In '86, we were coming off of 2-14, 2-14, 4-12 seasons. Not many cared about the Bills. Kelly came into camp after two years in the minors (USFL) where he honed his ability to run an offense. His first two years in the NFL, his passer rating (though not the perfect measure of QBing, it is the best we have) was 83-84 both years. Nothing great. In '88, his first year with Thermal (which should have helped) his rating dropped to 78.2. '89 his rating increased to 86.2 -- a level that we would now be more or less satisfied with. His fifth NFL season the rating jumped to 101+. That was his 7th season of starting in a professional setting. It takes time to develop team identity, team play. Even extremely talented players take years to jell (gel?) as a team. Give Marv a chance to develop that team.

 

I don't remember anyone who cared about the Bills calling for Marv's head early on in his career. The only head we called for was Kelly's. Course that was only after those games where it looked like he was playing drunk ...

 

Great points. Noone was impatient, it was more of a Bills suck vein. When they showed definaite signs of progress in 87, then everyone thought they may be good.

 

The 88 team (12-4) was putrid offensively. The D was fantastic. The team was built on defense, special teams and the running game. Kelly was more of a "manager" than the throw it around Kelly of the SB years. Only at the end of 89, after a very rough year (Bickering Bills) did we begin to open up the offense.

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In '86, we were coming off of 2-14, 2-14, 4-12 seasons. Not many cared about the Bills. Kelly came into camp after two years in the minors (USFL) where he honed his ability to run an offense. His first two years in the NFL, his passer rating (though not the perfect measure of QBing, it is the best we have) was 83-84 both years. Nothing great. In '88, his first year with Thermal (which should have helped) his rating dropped to 78.2. '89 his rating increased to 86.2 -- a level that we would now be more or less satisfied with. His fifth NFL season the rating jumped to 101+. That was his 7th season of starting in a professional setting. It takes time to develop team identity, team play. Even extremely talented players take years to jell (gel?) as a team. Give Marv a chance to develop that team.

 

I don't remember anyone who cared about the Bills calling for Marv's head early on in his career. The only head we called for was Kelly's. Course that was only after those games where it looked like he was playing drunk ...

 

Great points.  Noone was impatient, it was more of a Bills suck vein.  When they showed definaite signs of progress in 87, then everyone thought they may be good.

 

The 88 team (12-4) was putrid offensively.  The D was fantastic.  The team was built on defense, special teams and the running game.  Kelly was more of a "manager" than the throw it around Kelly of the SB years.  Only at the end of  89, after a very rough year (Bickering Bills) did we begin to open up the offense.

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Excellent perspective!

 

My early memories of Kelly (understand I have a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast yesterday) were cursing him relentlessly for all the ill-timed interceptions. It was years before my Mom liked him. I don't think my Grandmother ever did. I also very much remember almost every time he threw the ball, even during the Superbowl years, holding my breath thinking it would be intercepted.

 

And we all know how Kelly's career turned out. So, what am I trying to say? Just that first impressions aren't always the best impressions. Sometimes you just have to give people (and in this case teams) a little time. The real question is how much time do you give? I'd suggest the "standard" for assessing a GM is roughly 3 years. So, Levy gets about 3yrs in my book before I start wanting change. JP and many of the other players get about the same amount of time - unless they show absolutely nothing. But, keep in mind regarding players, much of what they show, we as fans cannot see. Their leadership, their team chemistry, their desire are just a few. So, we really have ot rely on the coaches more for player assesments.

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Looked like??????

 

Its possible he could have been playing drunk

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I was trying to put the best possible spin on those days ... One of my good friends played football with Jim in high school (my friend was a freshman when Jim was a senior, my friend's claim to fame is that Jim peed on him in the shower) -- when I've mentioned that Jim looked drunk during a few of those games early in his career, my friend said it wouldn't surprise him at all.

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