Buftex Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 So, I am in my offseason mode of transferring old Bills VHS tapes on to DVD. This off-season, the 2002 Bills season is my project. I have seen most of the the first six games over the last two weeks. One thing that comes to mind, besides how friggin' great the offense looked during that stretch (Gilbride working with Bledsoe, Tarvis Henry, Larry Centers, Moulds, Peerless, Riemersma), was just how great of a rookie season Josh Reed had. With some of you with shorter memories, only recently has Reed been starting to feel some appreciation from fans in Buffalo, in general. He had a tremendous rookie season, and then was just sort of up and down, along with whatever head coach, and OC was in charge that year. Also, Peerless Price, part 1 in Buffalo, was a pretty damn fantastic receiver. He never amounted to much after leaving, but that 2002 season, he was an absolute playmaker. He had some of the best moves, after the catch, that we have seen in Buffalo, since Andre Reed was in his prime. The guy was a flat out stud. You have to wonder, how much did him going to Atlanta ruin his career, along with what had the potential to be a pretty great offensive team. I know, Bledsoe started showing his age pretty quickly, but I really think those opening 8-10 games of the 2002 season was some of the best offensive football we have ever seen in Buffalo, outside the K-Gun glory years. Too bad the defense wasn't up to the task that year. Imagine that offense, with the 2004 defense! I was never a fan of Gregg Williams, but I will give him credit for one thing. His team played with fire in their belly. I don't mean to disparig the current guys, but Williams 2002 squad was a nice mix of younger and older guys. I am talking particularly on defesne. Practically every week was an offensive shootout, but the defense, overmatched as they usually were, hustled. I had almost forgot why the Bills became so enamored with Aaron Schobel. The current Bills really seem to miss having a guys like London Fletcher... Oh well... upon further review, was letting Peerless Price, and banking too much on Josh Reed, Tom Donhoes' biggest blunder? What did it get us? Willis McGahee? Tranvis Henry was a better running back. I would have been just as happy to bemoaning the stupid end to his career, as I was to feel the disappointment that McGahee became. Henry was a great player, at one time. If he hadn't been overshadowed by Bledsoe that year, there was talk during some of the games that one could have almost made an "MVP case for him"... of course, the wheels came off.... we all know the rest of the story... Somehow, I don't think I will be sitting here in 2015, reliving the 2008 Bills with so much new found appreciation.... happy 50th Bills... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvermike Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I really hate to say this, but Donahoe at least made some compelling choices when he was GM. He took too many risks for sure, and his constant meddling with the coaching staff made it hard to build continuity. But I don't think he was too far away from being a very good GM: if Gregg Williams managed to show up in Buffalo with the skills he was showing in Tennessee and Mike Williams worked out to be a franchise LT, that crew may still be together. But for every whiff: Kelsay, McGahee, Mike Williams, Mularkey, Losman, Greggo...there was at least some real reason to think it was brilliant. And for the most part, our top players come from that era: Schobel, Evans, Peters, Moorman. The new regime just keeps bringing in averagenauts. I at least have some hope for Brandon over Levy - Stroud was encouraging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKOOBY Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I really hate to say this, but Donahoe at least made some compelling choices when he was GM. He took too many risks for sure, and his constant meddling with the coaching staff made it hard to build continuity. But I don't think he was too far away from being a very good GM How's your ESPN gig going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I really hate to say this, but Donahoe at least made some compelling choices when he was GM. He took too many risks for sure, and his constant meddling with the coaching staff made it hard to build continuity. He created a mess in Buffalo ... 2002 had a great 8 game run ... after that they sucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvermike Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 He created a mess in Buffalo ... 2002 had a great 8 game run ... after that they sucked. They went 9-7 in 2004, and were a choke by Reed and Lindell away from going 10-6 and making the playoffs. I'm not saying Donahoe was a good and effective GM; he deserved to be fired. But he was close - he did a lot of the things that good GMs do, he just made too many mistakes in doing it. But unlike the current staff, he has some really solid hits, and was one or two moves away from bringing it together. Seriously, if we could have retained Dick LeBeau and drafted McKinnie instead of Mike Williams, there would have been a playoff team in there somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 They went 9-7 in 2004, and were a choke by Reed and Lindell away from going 10-6 and making the playoffs. I'm not saying Donahoe was a good and effective GM; he deserved to be fired. But he was close - he did a lot of the things that good GMs do, he just made too many mistakes in doing it. But unlike the current staff, he has some really solid hits, and was one or two moves away from bringing it together. Seriously, if we could have retained Dick LeBeau and drafted McKinnie instead of Mike Williams, there would have been a playoff team in there somewhere. I agree with you. I think, ultimately, TD was fired more for his relationships with the Bills front office, than he was for the product on the field. Not to get on a whole anti-Ralph Wilson rant, but I think hiring Donohoe is about the only sound football decision Wilson has made in in the last decade. Not saying he didn't deserve to be fired, but the notion of having a legit GM shouldn't have died with TD. It didn't work out, but I am kind of more in the camp (an admittedly small camp) that thinks that the Bills would have been better served to let TD have another season to correct what was wrong, than to do what they did. I think TD worked well, given the self imposed restrictions that the franchise (owner?) seem to put on themselves. TD was great at addressing needs. They didn't always pan out, but he wasn't one to sit around and let something that wasn't going to work, go on for too long. He also handled the cap very well. During those years, the Bills signed lots of FA's, some higher profile than others, but never overpaid for any of them. I wish to god Ralph would give the idea of hiring another GM with football and league knowledge, not unlike TD, to right this ship. Ralph had the right idea, it is too bad that he is letting it sour him on the idea, because he, seemingly, had the right idea, but the wrong guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 He created a mess in Buffalo ... 2002 had a great 8 game run ... after that they sucked. Do you think the mess is smaller now, three years later? I am not feeling that way. At least TD sold us some hope... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lets_go_bills Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 2002 was sort of like catching lightning in a bottle. It was great to see that offense put up those numbers, but they were a one hit wonder that year. It's funny, because we go out and get Spikes, Milloy and Adams and then our D is number two overall, but the O is now nowhere to be found. If only the '02 offense and the '03 defense could have overlapped in the same year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfanmiami(oh) Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I agree with you. I think, ultimately, TD was fired more for his relationships with the Bills front office, than he was for the product on the field. Not to get on a whole anti-Ralph Wilson rant, but I think hiring Donohoe is about the only sound football decision Wilson has made in in the last decade. Not saying he didn't deserve to be fired, but the notion of having a legit GM shouldn't have died with TD. It didn't work out, but I am kind of more in the camp (an admittedly small camp) that thinks that the Bills would have been better served to let TD have another season to correct what was wrong, than to do what they did. I think TD worked well, given the self imposed restrictions that the franchise (owner?) seem to put on themselves. TD was great at addressing needs. They didn't always pan out, but he wasn't one to sit around and let something that wasn't going to work, go on for too long. He also handled the cap very well. During those years, the Bills signed lots of FA's, some higher profile than others, but never overpaid for any of them. I wish to god Ralph would give the idea of hiring another GM with football and league knowledge, not unlike TD, to right this ship. Ralph had the right idea, it is too bad that he is letting it sour him on the idea, because he, seemingly, had the right idea, but the wrong guy. I agree that TD did plenty of good things and that it was a big mistake getting rid of a "true" GM. However I have to disagree with that bolded statement (or at least modify it). Next to coach selections, maybe the biggest reason TD's teams failied was his refusal to address the offensive line. We had playmakers on those teams and a qb with a big arm but aside from Williams it seemed like they never wanted to devote any real resources to the o line. TD's ultimate failure (relating to player personnel) was focusing too much on "flashy" skill position players and not on the lines where games are won and lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003Contenders Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I remember that season so well. At the halfway point Bledsoe was in serious contention for NFL MVP. He wound up being the only Buffalo QB to EVER pass for over 4000 yards that season. Then he ran into a buzz saw in the first New England game -- and NEVER really recovered. Was it a case of his literally getting old overnight? Did defenses do a better job game planning for him? Or was his hot start to the season an aberration, fueled by his desire to show that he was still a viable NFL QB less than a year after literally almost dying on the football field? Given that he laso had a pretty hot start in his first season in Dallas after the Bills released him, I lean toward the latter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 I agree that TD did plenty of good things and that it was a big mistake getting rid of a "true" GM. However I have to disagree with that bolded statement (or at least modify it). Next to coach selections, maybe the biggest reason TD's teams failied was his refusal to address the offensive line. We had playmakers on those teams and a qb with a big arm but aside from Williams it seemed like they never wanted to devote any real resources to the o line. TD's ultimate failure (relating to player personnel) was focusing too much on "flashy" skill position players and not on the lines where games are won and lost. I believe he would have addressed the O-line, given another season. You can't deny that devoting a first round pick in Williams wasn't a pretty big step. He was constantly bringing in FA's to bolster the depth. I think, like Ralph, at this particualar position, he was hoping to get lucky, but instead kept striking out. He also braught in perhaps the most highly regarded O-line coach in the business over the last 25 years. I think he thought (and he was wrong) that if he braught in enough vetran journeymen, and diamonds in the rough, Mouse could "coach them up" into a cohesive unit, like he did in his many other stops, including the NY Giants. It just never panned out. For all the gambles he took with thos O-line men, he never overpaid any of them, or had the franchise hamstrung by huge salaries for unproven guys (is anyone at 1 Bills listening now?). Lets not forget too, the Bills running game was pretty damn good with Travis, but Bledsoe, never a real mobile QB even in his prime, required stellar protection to perform at his best. He never got it, got slammed around too much, and started to look like a broken down bus after a while. As for not wanting to "devote the resources" I hate to say it, but I think Ralph deserves some of the blame for that. There were numerous positions to fill, as well as a big stadium in a poor town. Bringing in guys like Bledsoe and Spikes would sell more tickets than bringing in 7 million dollar O-line men. Sometimes, you get what you pay for. Another, younger, more mobil QB might have been able to work with the line we had then, but Bledsoe needed something better, particularly the second and third year. I remember the Cowboys game in 2003 (I was there) which is the game where I think Bledsoe had his pilot light knocked out for good... he looked defeated, got horrendous protection, and looked like he lost his will to play the rest of that season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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