Stranded in Boston
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Posts posted by Stranded in Boston
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Thanks Chandler#81!! That was awesome. During those grim mid-late 70s Bills teams, it seemed like Bobby was the Bills entire offense sometimes! Besides his incomparable hands, people forget that he was also an amazing athlete, a top high-school decathlete and high jumper. His body control was superb. The only guy in the NFL who could out-highpoint Bobby back then was maybe Harold Carmichael -- but he was also 6'-8" !
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3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:
Judging by your name I hope we'll see you at the Harp a few times this season.
Hell yes, Promo!! With things reopening here, I'll definitely be there this fall with my twin sons, who -- despite being born and raised in Boston -- are now irreversibly Bills fans (= Pats haters), having been successfully propagandized, er, raised by their dad. I kept things real simple: Kid wanna eat? Kid root for Bills. 😎
Let me buy you a beer. You should be easy to spot: rumor has it that you're the biggest guy at the Harp.
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Thanks again, Chandler; you're keeping me sane before training camp!
What a shame Rashad blew out his knee in '75. The Bills gave up on him, only to watch him become a perennial pro-bowler with the Vikings. But surgeons were just not that good at fixing knees back then: think of Jerry Butler and Jeff Nixon -- and (no offense to Tre White and Butch Byrd!) the Bills' greatest cornerback ever, Robert James.
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35 minutes ago, RJ (not THAT RJ) said:
Alas, that 1975 year has to be remembered as one of the greatest missed opportunities in Buffalo sports history. 4-0 start, then up 14-0 early at home on MNF against the Giants, looking like no one could stop them. Then.... pfffffft. They lose focus in that game, miss a chip shot FG then lose at the buzzer, and everything unravels. Defense evaporates (they blow a 28-7 lead at home against the Colts to lose 42-35, they play MNF in Cincy and the Bengals never have to punt), two painful losses to the Dolphins (of course... the first where a Leypoldt XP miss [he had a talent for inopportune shanks] haunts them in a 35-30 loss, the second on the Mercury Morris Fumble). Sigh.
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(Yes, I was 8 then, and yes I have spent way too much time thinking about such things.)
"Thanks" for that, RJ 😑 ... Indeed, it was painful to watch the Bills collapse in '75, despite OJ's brilliance. I'm a little older than you, LOL, but it's amazing how long those disappointments sticks with you from when you're young ... And I'll never forget (or forgive!) that loss to Miami. The Bills were mounting a furious comeback, and the Morris fumble would have given them the ball deep inside Miami territory. Instead, Jerry Frickin' Bergman calls it a non-fumble, and -- to rub salt in the wound -- slaps Pat Toomey with a 15-yard penalty for pushing an official out of the way to get to the loose ball!! My brothers and I almost smashed the TV ... This is probably a false memory, but I could swear that the Buffalo Evening News published Bergman's home address the next day!
4 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:Please post more, “old stuff”! 😉
took me a second ... 😅
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Thanks Chandler! Please keep the "old stuff" coming! 😀
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Thanks for that, Chandler! I remember that game well -- my brothers and I were out raking leaves, listening to Van Miller's call on the radio (or maybe Al "Oh Baby!" Melzer was still doing play-by-play in '78?). Indeed, Miller was an enigma -- a promising rookie year, and then crickets -- but I recall he had an eye injury in '79 that affected his game (not to mention having to compete against the great Joe Cribbs in 1980). It was also fun to watch the Bills' offensive line first starting to gel under Chuck Knox. Joe D and Reggie M were at their peak, and Ken Jones and Joe Devlin were hitting stride at the tackle spots, where they anchored the line for better part of the next decade. Amazing how quick and athletic the OL players were on running plays; of course they probably averaged 260-280 lbs. in those days!
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46 minutes ago, Juice_32 said:
Shady made a handful of plays during his time in Buffalo that were borderline unbelievable. One of the most elusive runners I’ve ever watched.
Yup ... I recall a 3rd and 20-something against SF a few years ago when he zigzagged about 40 yards total to just pick up the first down; an unbelievable scamper. I think they called the run just to surrender and get into better punt position, but Shady was determined to get to the marker. The guy just played hard here. He was also much better at blitz pick-up than people give him credit for.
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It was also fun watching Jeff Nixon; what a terrific, instinctive ballhawk. Pity he blew out his knee ... Same thing for Jerry Butler -- career sadly cut way too short by a knee injury.
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On 6/9/2021 at 2:12 AM, Chandler#81 said:
WHAT?! No video of the goalposts being torn down??😳
LOL, I stayed up waaay too late last night watching that until the end, just waiting for the goalpost "scene" ... That said, it's funny how much that game was NOT as I had remembered (and I am certainly "of age" to have remembered!). I mean -- Fergy was Peterman-esque in the first half!! Also, for 42 years I had carried the thought that Shula had pulled Griese on their penultimate drive just to spite us. After 20 straight losses to those SOBs, I wanted Griese ON the field at the final gun, drinking in the humiliation! But Miami was very much still in the game at the end; I guess Shula was genuinely trying to win after all with Strock in there!
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Marve ("e" at the end, guys) was super solid. It's just a shame his mid-80s teams were so awful. I always felt kind of sorry for Marve: he just missed out on the Bills early 80s run, and then left on the cusp of the Kelly-era SB run. I don't think they were recording tackle stats at that time, but man, Marve was a tackling machine! RIP.
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"Bullet" Bob Hayes ran a 10.06 at the 1964 Olympics, tying the world record at the time. He played football and ran track at Florida A&M, and went on to have a great 10-year NFL career, culminating in election to HOF in 2009. Of course, he was also 45 lbs. lighter than DK!
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Thanks Ethan; that was indeed a great game (even if the '83 season fizzled out). Sometimes I forget how great Joe Cribbs was. He ran with incredible stop-on-a-dime balance, power and vision -- and was damn near unstoppable as a receiver. Teams would occasionally try to cover him with a LB, and Fergy would just light them up ... Cribbs scored *35* TDs over his first four seasons with the Bills (before he jumped to USFL), despite missing more than half of the '82 season. I don't even think OJ had a more productive 4-year run.
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I'm sorry to see Smoke go; he was a big part of Josh's development. He did sometimes seem a bit less-than-crisp in route running, but OTOH, he ran one of my all-time favorite Bills' routes against New England last year, when he absolutely toasted Gilmore on a gorgeous post-corner for TD. Gilmore might STILL be chasing that post feint ... Anyhow, I hope Smoke can turn it around in Vegas -- just not against the Bills.
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I didn't know there was a clip of "Butch" Robertson singing that. But it think it was originally Ken "Baby" Johnson's composition.
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1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:
You wanna talk faking injury? How about Reggie Gilliam on the kickoff after the pick 6? Rolling around in agony after a touchback? That was a Belichick-level Jedi master move! The Bills defense needed time to recover after a tough series when they had to go right back out. Someone told Gilliam to fake it to buy some time. Brilliant!
Hmm. good pick-up, Promo! I missed that. And I pride myself in my old-guy football savvy.
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Lamar Jackson is a terrific player, but he surprisingly gave up chasing Taron at the Bills 30. Sure, maybe he figured Tre was going to screen him off anyhow, or he wanted to save it for the next series -- blah, blah. But everybody here who's watched Josh the last 3 years knows that Josh would have run down Taron -- or died trying. Sometimes it's not so hard to measure heart.
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12 minutes ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:
By the way, Poyer got robbed of a moment here because the entire NFL world should be talking about his 4-D chess play that won the game. Waiting for Pascal's leg to leave the ground...I don't even understand how he thought of that in the heat of the moment.
Right on, Sage. Lost in all the tumult of the blown video review, Poyer was *incredibly* clever on that play. He knew that he had help coming from MIlano to bring Pascal down, so he clearly waited for the dude to get up to strip the ball. And he processed all that in just a few hundred ms. What a player ...
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We beat a really good team today, one that matched up well with us. They have great lines on both sides of the ball, and their defense tackled exceptionally well today. Rivers has always been accurate when he has time to throw, and with that stout OL, he was able to stare down his targets. Frank R was a bit over-aggressive with a few calls, but all-in-all he and his coordinators called a very good game and kept it close. Hats off to Frank ... But all that -- and we still won!
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Apropos Flores' 4th-quarter timeout calls: Back in the 70s, I recall Dick Butkus calling a timeout -- himself! -- with the defense on the field in the dying seconds of a losing game. Turns out Butkus just wanted one last chance to hit somebody. ... I was also surprised that the Bills aired it out so aggressively late in the game, but I guess sometimes you just gotta let 'em play!
And Virgil, (and Shaw) -- thanks a ton for your insightful write-ups. I don't know how you guys find the time, but I look forward to them after every game. 😃
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How on earth is that not holding against Addison?? Hauled down with two hands in clear view of the entire planet ...
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Raised in Town of Tonawanda; moved to Boston after UB >35 years ago. I'm OK with the Red Sox, and I'm finally more-or-less over that BS foul call that allowed the Celtics to beat the Braves in the 1974 NBA playoffs. But I successfully vaccinated my kids against the Cheats. Simple formula: Kid wanna eat? Kid root for Bills. 😎 Actually, a few years back I took my boys to see an AC Milan soccer game at Gillette Stadium. On the way out, the little guys spotted this huge Pats logo painted on the concourse, and started stomping on it, yelling "Pats suck! Brady sucks!", etc. Then we had to beat it the hell out of there!
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I never took Sullivan's football columns too seriously. He was just too predictably negative (perhaps "boring" is a better descriptor) -- and he was pretty quick at forgetting his own over-reaches, like calling the Bills out in 2011 before they (unwisely) signed Ryan Fitzpatrick to that huge contract. However, there is one thing that sticks in my craw about Sullivan. Most of you probably remember Buffalo-born heavyweight boxer "Baby" Joe Mesi. Mesi was a local sensation in the early 90s, bringing thousands of fans to HBSC see his fights; he created a great vibe in town. Mesi was undefeated, and actually a pretty good fighter with sound technique and some serious power. Nonetheless, Sullivan rode Mesi relentlessly in his columns: every opponent was a patsy or tomato can; a bunch of nobodies, blah, blah, blah. Mesi ended up with a couple very tough fights later, against Monte Barrett and Vassilly Jirov. Mesi dominated early in both fights and could have cruised to easy decisions. Yet he oddly pressed on in later rounds, taking unnecessary risks to get a knockout. He ended up getting tagged and almost knocked out (although he won both decisions), and suffered a brain bleed after the Jirov fight, which effectively ended his career. Well, it turned out that Barrett and Jirov were no patsies: both later challenged for titles (Barrett even later beat David Tua, a dominant puncher at the time). It always bugged me that Mesi had pressed so needlessly in those two fights, and I always suspected that he -- as a local guy who surely read Sullivan's columns and felt the sting after every (winning!) fight -- was desperate for knockouts to avoid the usual criticism. Of course, I'm not blaming Sullivan, but it would have been nice if he could have seen the Baby Joe phenomenon for what it was -- a good local kid and skilled fighter bringing the community together -- rather than just another opportunity to spew his sourness.
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The corner-post double move that Diggs ran yesterday was absolutely beautiful. That is just elite direction-change ability, without the slightest "tell". He popped open so quickly that I think Josh misread it a bit, leading to the jump ball.
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Indeed, it's been amazing seeing Josh's touch on long passes and to open receivers. He so clearly has adjusted his mechanics from previous years, opening his hips and not doing that giant javelin-throwing step. The kid clearly worked hard to improve -- hats off. ... Speaking of mechanics (and not to change the subject) -- it's really fun to key on Dion Dawkins in that highlight video. I know the Raiders don't have great pass-rushers, but Dawkins absolutely OWNS his man on every play. Superb combination of light-as-feather feet, brute strength and nasty attitude. Nice for Josh to not worry about his blind side ...
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Buffalo's Four Major Sports - Mount Rushmore
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
I'm with you on Randy Smith, Promo. Big Mac had some unforgettable seasons in Buffalo, but Randy was the heart and soul of that Braves team, one of the greatest all-around athletes in NBA history -- and a Buff State guy to boot. (As for Gronk, he can go ... well, you know!)