Stranded in Boston

For me, Jerry Butler. He was so explosive his first few years opposite Frank Lewis, then blew out his knee in 1983. He clawed his way back to the league in 1985, then became a key veteran component of Jim Kelly's first Bills' receiving squad in 1986. But it all ended too quickly: he shattered his ankle on a spectacular touchdown catch against Miami, and never played another down. Talk about a shooting star ...

I'll also chime in with you, Frankish. Shaw looked promising in 1970, and he was banged up throughout the 1971 season. Plus that '71 offensive line was likely the worst in Bills history, a total sieve. Neither Shaw nor James Harris had a chance back there; I recall the Vikings sacked Shaw 10 times in one game. Plus the Bills were always playing from behind and forced to throw, because their defense was horrible (with the exception of the great Robert James, of course!).

Shaw, all good points. Elam had ups and downs last night, but it seems that a lot of (younger?) fans expect too much from young players. I recall plenty of Bills' first-rounders taking a year or two to develop -- Eric Moulds, John Fina and Henry Jones spring to mind. Also, I sure agree with you on that play where Elam got run over. Come on -- Freiermuth is an absolute beast of a TE , outweighing Elam by almost seventy lbs, and running with a full head of steam. No way Elam stops him straight-on short of the first-down marker on that play; it was obvious in real time. At least the kid stuck his nose in there and slowed him up a bit for the safeties to make the tackle.

I was living in Houston at the time and watched the game by myself in my crappy apartment near the old Astrodome (I hadn't yet learned about the Bills Backer bar owned by Niagara Falls native Sam Samsone). When the Bills won, I went out on my "balcony" in my Bills sweatshirt and screamed every insult I could think of at Houston for about 10 minutes (then thought better of it, LOL). So I tried to call home to gloat with my brothers -- and I got a recording saying that all the lines to Buffalo were JAMMED. What a day ... 😃

I remember that well, Rubes. The Bills also used him as a wedgebreaker on kickoffs, back when wedges were still legal. That was something to see; he was like a bowling ball, absolutely devastating. What an athlete …

This cracks me up. They got flagged for one of the very few calls that is non-subjective (also too many men on on the field). If you line up offside, well, you're offside. All the other calls we hate -- holding, PI, most personal fouls -- are subjective. So if I were the Chiefs, I would just shut up about this ...

Holy cow, I watched the whole thing. Maybe the Bills should sign Buster Keaton (or his stunt double).

This old guy had to look up "copium" I thought it was some exotic Latin term ... 🙄

LMAO Pete, I understand completely (but don't forget "FU Jimmy Cefalo!"). But I kind of didn't mind Paul Warfield too much ...

LOL!! I wonder if the younger folks on this board, who didn't suffer through the 70s, truly appreciate your statement.

LOL, I was trying to think, "Who was that chubby wide receiver who retired in preseason?"

I believe it was "late chahges", not late fees. (... but if you got a problem with that, we could step outside and figure it out ... 😀 )

Me and my brothers too, Simon. We had built a little Heathkit "transistor" radio around 1971. We kept that thing really low, under a pillow, because our by-the-book German mom had ears like a fox downstairs. But Rick was one of a kind. RIP.

Henry Jones was a terrific safety and mainstay of the 90s Bills defenses, and Cribbs was awesome — maybe THE original dual-threat RB — but I gotta go with (my man) Robert James at #20. 2X all-pro and absolute sticky shutdown corner, James was at his peak (maybe on way to HOF) when he wrecked his knee in ‘74.

Don Beebe was a great deep threat, but he was the third go-to option on the field for the early 90s Bills’ offense (maybe fourth, after Pete Metzelaars). For my money, the best Bill to wear #82 was Frank Lewis, part of a brilliant receiving tandem with Jerry Butler in the early 80s. With the Bills offensive success in the 90s and recently, we tend to forget how potent that ‘80-‘82 offense was; Lewis was a major cog. Also, as much as I liked Chris Spielman, he only played one complete season for the Bills before his neck injury. At #54, I think I’d go with the late Eugene Marve. Poor guy played on some terrible Bills teams in mid-80s, but he was an absolute tackling machine.

Fantastic player: big (especially for mid-60s NFL), strong, and super fast. Remarkably, Jones had *38* touchdowns in only 224 career receptions, before knee injuries caught up with him. RIP ...

Hey Chan, that one burns still me up too -- but I remember that play differently. I recall that Bruce was falling and reached up and grabbed the front of Boomer's jersey (right on the numbers) and pulled him to the ground with one arm; incredible strength. Of course Boomer's head bent down following this chest, so from behind it looked like Bruce was pulling the facemask, and out came the false flag ("bastards" indeed!). Umm, wait a sec ... is it possible I am thinking of Ben Williams on Ken Anderson in the '82 playoffs? LOL ... I'm old.

Chuck Hughes 1971. hang in there, Damar!!

Grazie di cuore, ragazzi!! Sono di Buffalo ma ho sposato un’italiana. Abbiamo vissuto 5 anni in Italia , un anno a Parma e 4 anni a Rovereto, in Trentino. Siamo tornati a Boston … ma mi manca l’italia ogni giorno! Buon Natale … e FORZA BILLS! 😆

Love to talk old-time Bills stuff, thanks! I remember Jerry Butler's 4-TD explosion like yesterday ... But if I recall correctly, Bills traded for Rashad (previously known as Bobby Moore) from the St. Louis Cardinals. Seattle grabbed him from the Bills in the expansion draft -- and then he went on to a bunch of Pro Bowl seasons with the Vikes. (And poor Bobby Chandler was pretty much the whole Bills receiving game in the mid-70s after Rashad left!)

Heck yes, Ex, #20 was special ... Several other really promising Bills players had their careers truncated by knee injuries before arthroscopic surgical techniques came to the fore -- Jerry Butler and Jeff Nixon spring to mind. And the Bills gave up on Ahmad Rashad after his knee injury -- prematurely, as it turned out!

Thanks for another great write-up, Virgil; I look forward to them every week. And I know what you mean about the power of low expectations: I'll never forget the 1971 Bills team that went 1-13 (I believe their worst record ever). The Bills lone win was against the Pats 27-20 (after starting that year 0-10), sealed by 2 picks by my man Robert James -- and still one of my favorite all-time games, LOL!

I remember after the game, Jay Cutler said that "some fat guy" had picked him off, LOL. ... And how I wish #22 could have been around the last couple years! When Fred saw end zone, it was like a bull seeing red ...

Gotta love Motor; the kid just goes hard every play. Also, I know Motor grew up in Florida, but his people must have come down from the Delta. I lived four years in Houston and met tons of folks from Louisiana/Mississippi who moved to Houston for work. Motor's accent is straight-up, old-time Delta.

Take it easy, everybody! We "senior" fans will recall the 70s Dolphins openly mocking the Bills for continuing to run OJ even when down multiple scores. It's nice to be on the other side for a change ... Green Bay has impressive run-blocking offensive line/schemes, two huge tight ends and a pair of terrific running backs. The Bills played only six in the box all night. The Packers were thus destined to rack up decent rushing numbers -- and also destined to lose. The only chance for GB to come back was if the Bills risked depleting the defensive backfield to load the box; Frazier and McD wisely did not take the bait. (I'll also note that on the two long completions to R. Doubs, Taron Johnson had superb coverage -- but Rogers can still drop 'em in there.) And to those grousing about that OPI call, don't forget that the Packers first scoring drive was salvaged by a shaky hands-to-the-face call against Dane Jackson, negating an otherwise drive-ending third-down sack by Ed Oliver. Penalties giveth and taketh away ...