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Stranded in Boston

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Posts posted by Stranded in Boston

  1. 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 ... 

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  2. 23 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

    My first childhood football hero. Really.

    In his defense, he messed up his shoulder pretty bad that year. In 1970, he was a slightly more acceptable 3-8-1.

    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!).  

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  3. 3 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

     

    As someone pointed out, the play he got run over on was an obvious mismatch as it was happening.  I didn't know who was out there, but I knew he was about to get blasted.  It was ugly, but it wasn't surprising.   A tackle there would have been a great, great play, and a missed tackle was the likely outcome for most corners.  

     

    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. 

  4. 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 ... 😃

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  5. On 12/20/2023 at 11:36 AM, Rubes said:

     

    Still remember him making one of the best plays I've ever seen in a game by a big guy. Blocked a punt against Cincinnati, ran after it and recovered it in the end zone for a TD. Couldn't believe a guy that large could move fast enough to do all of that.

     

    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 …

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  6. 15 hours ago, Since1981 said:

    All the national media is about offensive offside call. 
     

    no place is it about the other 20 pts scored 

    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 ... 

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  7. 15 hours ago, Simon said:

    I remember being a kid who was supposed to be asleep in bed and instead hiding under the covers with a little handheld AM radio listening to him call games. :worthy:

    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.

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  8. 4 hours ago, Billznut said:

    I believe Joe Cribbs at #20 achieved far more than Henry Jones. 

    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. 

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    • Agree 6
  9. 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.

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  10. 3 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

    That AFC Championship loss to Cincy still burns m’azz! Biggest play of the game was a botched face mask  call on Bruce Smith! 3rd Down play, Bruce makes an inside move and smashes Eisiason in the chest so hard it convolts his body! Bruce is very dark complexioned and Cincy’s jerseys and face masks were black. Bruce never touched his face mask! They get an automatic 1st down and score a TD to win 21-10. BASTARDS!😡

    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. 

  11. 1 hour ago, ExWNYer said:

    I was a huge fan of all of the guys you mentioned. Jerry Butler's career day against the Jest was a thing of beauty and, when the Bills acquired Diggs, it immediately brought me back to the day when they got Ahmad Rashad from the Vikings.

    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!)

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  12. 6 minutes ago, ExWNYer said:

     

    I wish some of the younger posters here could have seen good old #20 play. He was phenomenal. It's a shame that today's medical technology was not around for surgically repairing knees back in his day or he may have had a HoF...or at least a much longer...career. He was a special CB and is still one of my all-time favorite Bills.

    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!

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  13. 3 hours ago, Virgil said:

    I've argued for years that one of my most enjoyable seasons was when the Bills went 3-13.   ... You relish in those wins longer than you do when you are expected to win ...

    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!

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  14. 5 hours ago, Dan Darragh said:

     

    Kyle Williams gets a pick!

     

    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 ... 

  15. 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 ...  

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