TDO'Kearney

There are a couple of things I have to weigh in on: 1) The JACFL game was a great improvisation, not Flutie self-aggrandizing. Flutie had great football sense, and he demonstrated it on more than one play. I remember reading at the time that when he got to the LOS he realized that the formation was wrong for the run play called. Thurman Thomas even contributed to the play before the snap because he realized he was an eligible receiver covering up the line and had to back up a yard before the snap or there would have been an illegal procedure call. And for you junior attorneys out there, I'm not googling around for 20 min to find the linkage, if the pages even still exist. Believe me or don't. 2) A couple of posters touched on it a little, but I think the negative feelings people remember about his size were based on what Parcells and Belichick for the Jets were always able to do against him. I believe the basic game plan was to play the linebackers outside and the D-Line inside to contain Flutie in the pocket and force him to throw downfield over the line and take away that roll out-jump pass that appears in the ESPN clip about 12 times. I hate Belichick as much as the next Bills fan but if you look at Flutie's stats against the Jets he had some woeful performances. So, we had a very good QB with great football instincts, but the problem we had is the tyranny of hope. With Flutie, we knew exactly what we had, he was what he was. With RJ and Bledsoe, it was always the idea that those guys had all the "measurables" and would be great if they could just "get it" and see the field like Flutie did, so we would keep giving them more and more chances in the hope that they might get the football sense that Flutie had. Flutie, on the other hand, was NEVER going to get any taller. Just my $.02.

8th grade. It was the Thursday night game on Sep 16 1982vs. the Minnesota Vikings. I don't know why this game isn't talked about more, I know the later comebacks by Kelly and co. overshadow this one but this one was a great one and underrated. Before the game, the crowd is already "tuned up" for the late start. Someone sees Ahmad Rashad and yells "Hey Rashad, you're gonna wish you were back in Buffalo!" Bills go down 19-0 in the 2nd qtr to 2-minute Tommy Kramer and the Vikings before Ferguson, Lewis, and Butler go back to work. Bills score the winning touchdown practically in front of me (I'm 9 rows up in the corner of the end zone) on Ferguson's 11 yd pass to a diving Jerry Butler who clutches the ball in his fingertips while his body is horizontal 2 feet off of the ground. The crowd goes wild, except for the completely stoned hot high school chick next to me who continues to sit perfectly still on the aluminum bench as fandemonium erupts around her. One of my older buddies brought her looking to score and all she did was disappear completely from all of us during the second and third quarters and come back completely stoned out of her mind. The last memory of this game was the jubilant walk though the parking lot as people pelted each other with "Green Weenies", a promotion from Bells Supermarkets that was supposed to rival the Terrible Towels in Pittsburgh. Some drunk idiot walked up to us with one sticking out of his pants and said "I'm the green weenie! Touch me!" I got home at 3:30AM and got no reprieve from school on that Friday, which really was as it should be. Any first game experience like that, and outside of the Green Weenie, I was a fan for life.

Tears to my eyes. I was telling my college roommate when it was 35-17 that this game feels funny, he said, "yea right, your seasons over." Ha! We won't mention what happened a few weeks later though.

Ahh, it's fair. It was a historic can of whoopass. I still smile when I think about it, and I wasn't even playing, I was sitting in front of a TV in Lockport NY. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be on the other end of that....

Although his son was born right after the Jacksonville playoff game, I don't think that was really why he retired. I remember him talking in interviews about how he felt differently and after one game, he was saying "Maybe it's time to put Todd in there" referring to Todd Collins. I can't picture him saying something like that in 1990. You can see his numbers declining gradually over the last five years of his career here:: Keep in mind the 1995-96 teams were playoff teams.

If only it would have happened in the middle of the night with no one inside it so I could be truly happy about it. Hopefully the ST coach is ok.

Not only that, but an emerging trend in the NFL is for quite a few successful teams to have a three-headed running back approach instead of just 2, each bringing different skills to the table, for example: #1 offense NO Saints: Reggie Bush / Deuce McAlister / Pierre Thomas '07 Super Bowl Champs: Brandon Jacobs / Ahmad Bradshaw / Derrick Ward Ravens: McClain / Ray Rice and, um, Moron

This is going to be weird, but I didn't mind it so much when it jumped up and down, stretched its neck, and pointed to other imaginary robots across an imaginary line of scrimmage. When it started looking like it was auditioning for the transformers sequel was when it started to annoy me.

Maybe I'm missing something, but who's going to return punts if Parrish is gone and do it well? McKelvin is a good returner but he'll be starting CB now that Greer is gone. The Bills won't risk having Leodis out there for all those plays. I think you keep Parrish as a 5th receiver or even 6th because he makes the punt return so dangerous.

Usually but not always. Peters wasn't even drafted. Who's to say Demetrius Bell won't perform well at RT? Few would have said that they couldn't wait to see Peters in for Mike Williams 3-4 years ago? (well, they might have said they wanted a blocking dummy in for MW, but that 's another story). Walker might then be fine at LT, or at least as good as Jennings was. At this point, all we'd need is another OL at the bottom of the first for quality numbers, a pass rusher at 11, and a decent TE in the second. I know I'm being off-season optimistic, but while Peters was a top 5 LT talent, he doesn't appear to have a top 5 heart, and you can't fix that. Maybe he'll love the cheesesteak diet in Philly and perform for them, but based on last year, I don't think he was ever going to perform well again in Buffalo. Call RW cheap, but the Bills have been taking care of some of the class guys early (Stroud, Evans, Schobel...).

See, that's where I worry it's the organization. Gilbride has a Super Bowl ring for pete's sake, with the best rushing team in the NFL. How many threads are there in the archives of this board about how he sucks, he has to go, he throws on 3rd and 1, etc. There hasn't been an OC we've like since Marchibroda, but gee, those guys sure seem to do pretty well everywhere else..... With our luck 5 years from now Schonert is calling the offense for the upstart Lions in the NFC championship game after we run him out of Buffalo.

This just proves the cliche that there's no more popular player on any losing team than the backup quarterback!

Yea, I don't feel Royal distinguishes himself as a receiver, and I don't hate JP, but what Gannon said made a lot of sense. It comes back to the field presence where Losman didn't control that cannon of an arm he has at the right time. I remember Kelly in an interview once that if a receiver dropped a ball like that he'd call a play to that receiver over the middle and purposely throw it just a little high so he'd get whacked by the safety for it. THAT's field presence.

No, what he did was got into the open field and started looking back at the JumboTron watching himself run. The problem was the JumboTron didn't show Darren Sharper coming at him like a missile. That was funny....

That's true. I got a better feel that the Bills would score when McKelvin takes off with a head of steam than I ever got from the offense. They probably figured a McKelvin return is the only thing that could hurt them.

And is it me or did the announcer just revel in saying "Wide Right" again? I keep waiting for the year when I don't hear that or see a replay of the kick. It never happens. Every SuperBowl, I have to see it again.

What kills me is last week, NE and the Jets lost. This week, the Jets and Cheats are losing and the Bills could be taking advantage of all this by just winning winnable games. I hate all this frustration watching this team.

As bad as we need a TE, I don't think the Bills need one of those "enigmatic thugs" with all this upside and bad character. I do wish Singletary was the coach of the Giants instead of Coughlin when Plax told his coach to shut the f$%^ up. As badly as I'd like to see the Bills win, I don't want to model the '08 Cowboys.

Maybe he couldn't find his helmet.....

I didn't really have a problem with it either. There's a good point to be made on both sides of that argument. My gut said go for it, but with 5 min left in the 1st quarter I gotta believe you take the points too. Plus, probably DJ figured why give the Dolphins and the crowd a reason to get fired up if they don't make it. DJ doesn't have his team go through the emotional highs and lows of going for broke and hitting or missing on their chance, but they DO usually apply a steady forceful pressure all game that keeps them in it and gives them a chance at the end.

This is great. I can read about the Bills AND be smug about how much smarter it's making me.

I'm a transplanted Buffalo fan in NJ. I don't know exactly what kind of festivities you're looking for, but there is a pretty cool one called Jetspack. I forget the exact section of the parking lot, but it's on the SW side of Giants Stadium. As of 2 years ago, you pay 10 bucks and there's food and a keg of beer, they'll even feed a Bills fan although they gripe about it and you don't have to "know" them. Everyweek is a theme (Chinese, Mexican, etc.), and the Thanksgiving day one is as good as eating at Grandma's.