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Greg Bell


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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

 

I give Greg Bell all the credit in the world for being instrumental in helping us land Cornelius Bennett.

 

GO BILLS!!!

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quote name='K-9' timestamp='1315618849' post='2241417']

I give Greg Bell all the credit in the world for being instrumental in helping us land Cornelius Bennett.

 

GO BILLS!!!

Biscuit was great, but no way in heck would a trade ever happen like that again. Nowadays you can get Pro Bowl players for a 3rd or 4th round pick and back in 1987 the Bills gave up 2 first round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl running back for Bennett-then had to pay half of Bell's salary the first year in order for the Rams to accept Bell (they wanted Ronnie Harmon). Bell was a malcontent and hardly no team in the league wanted anything to do with him, despite him making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. The Rams got 3 first round picks, 3 second round picks and some scrub for a running back who already had half a dozen seasons in the league. Check out the link for the below Los Angeles newspaper article where Bell has some not so kind words for our owner.

 

Halloween Trade

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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

 

Bell on the wall? Come on man! I would put Flutie there before Bell.

Edited by Azucho98
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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

 

I think Bell gets overlooked because the Bills have been blessed with good running backs over the years. Bell is just one of a distinguished group that has included Gilchrist, OJ, Cribbs, Thomas... Terry Miller was very good for a year. McGahee, Lynch and Henry weren't bad at all. Even some of our back up Running Backs (e.g. Roland Hooks) and Fullbacks (e.g. Jim Braxton) were pretty good.

 

Our list of distinguished QBs would be much shorter.

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quote name='K-9' timestamp='1315618849' post='2241417']

I give Greg Bell all the credit in the world for being instrumental in helping us land Cornelius Bennett.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Biscuit was great, but no way in heck would a trade ever happen like that again. Nowadays you can get Pro Bowl players for a 3rd or 4th round pick and back in 1987 the Bills gave up 2 first round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl running back for Bennett-then had to pay half of Bell's salary the first year in order for the Rams to accept Bell (they wanted Ronnie Harmon). Bell was a malcontent and hardly no team in the league wanted anything to do with him, despite him making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. The Rams got 3 first round picks, 3 second round picks and some scrub for a running back who already had half a dozen seasons in the league. Check out the link for the below Los Angeles newspaper article where Bell has some not so kind words for our owner.

 

Halloween Trade

 

I remember him calling Smerlas a racist too. Young man had an axe to grind.

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GO BILLS!!!

Biscuit was great, but no way in heck would a trade ever happen like that again. Nowadays you can get Pro Bowl players for a 3rd or 4th round pick and back in 1987 the Bills gave up 2 first round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl running back for Bennett-then had to pay half of Bell's salary the first year in order for the Rams to accept Bell (they wanted Ronnie Harmon). Bell was a malcontent and hardly no team in the league wanted anything to do with him, despite him making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. The Rams got 3 first round picks, 3 second round picks and some scrub for a running back who already had half a dozen seasons in the league. Check out the link for the below Los Angeles newspaper article where Bell has some not so kind words for our owner.

 

Halloween Trade

We should have given them Harmon ... Maybe then we would have been in 5 straight Super Bowls ...

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Biscuit was great, but no way in heck would a trade ever happen like that again. Nowadays you can get Pro Bowl players for a 3rd or 4th round pick and back in 1987 the Bills gave up 2 first round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl running back for Bennett-then had to pay half of Bell's salary the first year in order for the Rams to accept Bell (they wanted Ronnie Harmon). Bell was a malcontent and hardly no team in the league wanted anything to do with him, despite him making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. The Rams got 3 first round picks, 3 second round picks and some scrub for a running back who already had half a dozen seasons in the league. Check out the link for the below Los Angeles newspaper article where Bell has some not so kind words for our owner.

 

Halloween Trade

Well, the Bills drafted Thurman Thomas that year so the solved the running back problem fairly quickly and easily.

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Biscuit was great, but no way in heck would a trade ever happen like that again. Nowadays you can get Pro Bowl players for a 3rd or 4th round pick and back in 1987 the Bills gave up 2 first round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl running back for Bennett-then had to pay half of Bell's salary the first year in order for the Rams to accept Bell (they wanted Ronnie Harmon). Bell was a malcontent and hardly no team in the league wanted anything to do with him, despite him making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. The Rams got 3 first round picks, 3 second round picks and some scrub for a running back who already had half a dozen seasons in the league. Check out the link for the below Los Angeles newspaper article where Bell has some not so kind words for our owner.

 

 

I agree that there aren't many blockbuster player trades, but not sure which player you're talking about (Bennett or Dickerson). Bennett had not played a down in the NFL. He was the second overall pick in the draft but wouldn't sign with the Dolts. What would have happened with Eli Manning if the Chargers didn't trade him immediately but kept trying to sign him into October and then gave up and then wanted to trade him? Of course a LB isn't a QB, but basically the Dolts were trading the 2nd overall pick in the draft. Dickerson was 3 seasons removed from the all time single season yardage record (yes, in 16 games, not 14) and led the league in rushing 3 of his first 4 seasons ('87 was his fifth season). The Dolts were desperate to get rid of the second overall pick and get the value they would have gotten on draft day for him. They got the best running back in the league when top running backs had much more value than they do today. The Lambs got a decent running back and a ton of draft picks that they wasted away.

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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

 

 

I would give Terry Miller consideration long before Bell, Bell was an !@#$. The only thing Bell was good for was that he was a throw in(get rid of) player in the Bennett deal. Bell should never be considered for anything, period.

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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

 

 

Not even close. Greg Bell was an average RB for a team with a history of great RBs ( such as: Gilcrest, Simpson, Cribbs, and Thurman).

 

No one should go on the Wall until Lou Saban and Cookie Gilcrest get their due.

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Bell is currently 13th all time for the Bills in rushing. That's really not exceptional - he trails Marshawn Lynch, Kenneth Davis, and Willis McGahee. I don't think he really deserves wall enshrinement over any of them, and they don't belong on the wall.

 

Cribbs, trailing only Thurman and OJ, at least merits consideration.

 

On the other hand, if you want to play the Ralph is cheap game, Greg Bell does use very few letters, just like Marv Levy, Kent Hull, and Jack Kemp.

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I think Bell gets overlooked because the Bills have been blessed with good running backs over the years. Bell is just one of a distinguished group that has included Gilchrist, OJ, Cribbs, Thomas... Terry Miller was very good for a year. McGahee, Lynch and Henry weren't bad at all. Even some of our back up Running Backs (e.g. Roland Hooks) and Fullbacks (e.g. Jim Braxton) were pretty good.

 

Our list of distinguished QBs would be much shorter.

 

 

Stop it ... Bell, Lynch, McGahee, Henry. No way. They are all several rungs below our top four of Gilcrest, Simpson, Thurman and Cribbs.

 

Gilcrest was the best Football Player in the CFL ever, he should have been in the NFL in his prime. He was the best football player in the AFL from 1962 to 1965, making the All Star team every year. He was the best runner, blocker, tackler, kicker, hitter, talker, fighter, mauler, and complainer of all time.

 

Simpson was a Heisman winner who almost won it twice!. He was voted the best football player of the 70's decade. Period.

 

Thurman was the best all around running back to play in the modern era.

 

Cribbs has the least stats of this group, and is a rung or two below the other three. He still is far better than the rest.

 

Bell, Lynch, McGahee, Henry, Miller, ... they do not get honorable mention. Wayne Carlton, Jim Braxton, Roland Hooks, Kenny Davis, and Freddy Jackson have all contributed more to the Buffalo Bills than the group you are naming, even if they had less talent.

Edited by Bob in STL
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WOW! A lot of talk about guys who should NOT come close to the wall. Cribbs was a good player but once you start putting "good" players on the wall, it diminishes the significance. If there is a debate over whether a player belongs on the wall, they probably don't belong there. JMHO

Edited by blogic2
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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

Only FICO knows for sure.

 

Just when you think things couldn't get any dumber, there's always someone to prove you wrong.

Edited by Albany,n.y.
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Biscuit was great, but no way in heck would a trade ever happen like that again. Nowadays you can get Pro Bowl players for a 3rd or 4th round pick and back in 1987 the Bills gave up 2 first round picks, a 2nd round pick and a Pro Bowl running back for Bennett-then had to pay half of Bell's salary the first year in order for the Rams to accept Bell (they wanted Ronnie Harmon). Bell was a malcontent and hardly no team in the league wanted anything to do with him, despite him making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. The Rams got 3 first round picks, 3 second round picks and some scrub for a running back who already had half a dozen seasons in the league. Check out the link for the below Los Angeles newspaper article where Bell has some not so kind words for our owner.

 

Halloween Trade

 

 

Best part of that link is looking at the league leaders and seeing Kelly, Reed, Thurman, and Wide Right all at or near the top.

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If you read the quote in the article vince linked to, you'll see why Greg Bell will not go up on the wall while Wilson owns the team (he basically said that he hopes Wilson owns the team for 100 years and never wins a SB).

 

Not that he belongs up there anyway. He doesn't. Above-average players who were with the team for three and a half years don't go up on the wall.

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I was trying to remember the circumstances of Bell's departure and kept making a connection to the strike; I retrieved my copy of "Relentless" and discovered there really wasn't one. Bell had been injured before the strike. The team stayed mostly unified; Riddick, Seals, McKeller, and a couple nobodies crossed the line, but the rest of the team stuck together. Early on, Smerlas, Joe Devlin, Bell, and others tried to intimidate the scabs at a hotel the team put them up in. Devlin had a big dog with him, and Bell pointed to a replacement player and said, "Sic 'em". The hotel kicked them out.

 

Shortly after the strike, Bell said he was ready to play. They told him to stay home. The big trade happened a couple days after that. Bell had two excellent years with the Rams...both over a thousand yards, and 33 TDs combined. For some reason he went to the Raiders the following year, didn't accomplish anything, and that was that.

 

On results, Bell ranks WAY down on the list of best Bills RBs; he had the talent to rank much higher. I think he was one of those superficial nitwits who wanted to play under the bright lights, and turned off his teammates. If he had been patient, he could have had Thurman's career.

Edited by Red Squirrel
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I remember him calling Smerlas a racist too. Young man had an axe to grind.

 

 

Who, Smerlas? He was (and still is) a huge axe grinder...good player, but not a good guy, in my book.

 

Smerlas was/is a racist...but that doesn't mean Bell belongs on the Bills wall...Cribbs is the best running back (besides Cookie) not on the wall already. I would put Antowain Smith up there, before Bell.

 

As for that Cowboys game, that was two really bad football teams going at it...it seemed like a bigger deal at the time, because nobody realized, yet, how bad the Cowboys would be that year, or the next. Bell had one huge run...that doesn't put him on the wall...this is just funny...****, Robb Riddick was a better running back than Bell.

Edited by Buftex
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  • 1 month later...

Who, Smerlas? He was (and still is) a huge axe grinder...good player, but not a good guy, in my book.

 

Smerlas was/is a racist...but that doesn't mean Bell belongs on the Bills wall...Cribbs is the best running back (besides Cookie) not on the wall already.

 

proof?

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I remember him calling Smerlas a racist too. Young man had an axe to grind.

I remember hearing a story back in the day that part of why Bell was traded is because many on the team disliked him. Apparently he used to drive around in a red Ferrari and one of the linemen or linebackers intentionally drove his pickup into it one night just to make a point. Just a rumor but I always thought it seemed plausible.

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I'm just a year or so age-wise from being able to remember Greg Bell play.

BUT...every youtube Bills video I watch (BillCody1960 = GOD!!!) from the Bell's time has him looking like a hall-of-famer.

 

Today I was watching the Bill-Cowboys 1984 game and Greg Bell dominated leading us to a huge upset of the shi*-boys.

 

 

 

Simple Question: Does Greg Bell get due credit?

 

 

There are so many things wrong with the post, I will only mention one:

 

The 1984 Cowboys game is the ONLY Youtube video of the Bills with Bell. Or, rather, it was, before all of BillCody1960s videos were taken down. So, if you think that "every" video shows him being great, you have watched one.

 

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

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What about Lou Saban? He was the only coach to win a championship. Cribs was good too, but come on, Lou has been waiting 40+ years! :wallbash:

 

I think RW has personal issues with Saban. Never happen. But he should be on there

 

Greg Bell = Bills Wall of Mediocrity

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aside from the fact that Bell was mediocre and could not hold Joe Cribbs jockstrap, I believe Bell begged to get the hell out of Buffalo and had no love for the city. Is this trolling just like you misspelled grammar?

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I'm sure I'm missing something basic (like my last post in which I put Jairus Byrd in the First Round category - apologies). But I just searched a few minutes for Top Bills Running Backs.

 

We're all hot-and-bothered about Cribbs. I think we're dining on memories. He had 4,445 yards according to Yahoo Sports.

 

Fred Jackson has 3,461 yards according to Yahoo Sports.

 

So in less than a season, Freddo is going to be the 4th-ranked Buffalo Bill in franchise history. As such, for all of you barking about Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs, I have to take my hat off to Bills Management as it relates to waiting until the final tally is in. Can you imagine putting Cribbs up there and watching Freddo blow him away by 2,000 - 3,000 yards? I'm guessing the front office will wait awhile on that decision.

 

It might be Fred!

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I'm sure I'm missing something basic (like my last post in which I put Jairus Byrd in the First Round category - apologies). But I just searched a few minutes for Top Bills Running Backs.

 

We're all hot-and-bothered about Cribbs. I think we're dining on memories. He had 4,445 yards according to Yahoo Sports.

 

Fred Jackson has 3,461 yards according to Yahoo Sports.

 

So in less than a season, Freddo is going to be the 4th-ranked Buffalo Bill in franchise history. As such, for all of you barking about Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs, I have to take my hat off to Bills Management as it relates to waiting until the final tally is in. Can you imagine putting Cribbs up there and watching Freddo blow him away by 2,000 - 3,000 yards? I'm guessing the front office will wait awhile on that decision.

 

It might be Fred!

 

Interesting little debate here. I think I agree with you. I think Jackson will eventually go down as the 4th best RB in Buffalo Bills history, right in front of Cribbs and just behind Cookie, Thurman, and OJ.

 

Speaking of Bills RB rankings and also going back to the original topic, I can already come up with 10 Bills RB's better than Greg Bell:

 

1. OJ Simpson

2. Thurman Thomas

3. Cookie Gilchrist

4. FRED JACKSON (my prediction when his Buffalo career is over)

5. Joe Cribbs

6. Travis Henry

7. Willis McGahee

8. Marshawn Lynch

9. Terry Miller

10. Antowain Smith

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I'm sure I'm missing something basic (like my last post in which I put Jairus Byrd in the First Round category - apologies). But I just searched a few minutes for Top Bills Running Backs.

 

We're all hot-and-bothered about Cribbs. I think we're dining on memories. He had 4,445 yards according to Yahoo Sports.

 

Fred Jackson has 3,461 yards according to Yahoo Sports.

 

So in less than a season, Freddo is going to be the 4th-ranked Buffalo Bill in franchise history. As such, for all of you barking about Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs, I have to take my hat off to Bills Management as it relates to waiting until the final tally is in. Can you imagine putting Cribbs up there and watching Freddo blow him away by 2,000 - 3,000 yards? I'm guessing the front office will wait awhile on that decision.

 

It might be Fred!

Indeed you are missing something basic!

 

While no one's barking about Bell (aside from the near-unanimity that he's not deserving of any honor the Bills might bequeath a player), there has been a bit of an outpouring for Cribbs.

What you missed and may have forgotten is that he spent two years of his prime playing for the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL.

 

In those two years "Super Joe" had two 1000-yard rushing seasons and accumulated nearly 600 carries. As many fans remember, Cribbs was also an excellent pass receiver as well as returning kickoffs and punts… so he was very heavily used.

 

Besides his heavy use and small size, the other factor which conspired to shorten Cribbs' career was the fact that the USFL played a spring/summer schedule. In 1983 he played for the Bills. He played for Birmingham in '84 and '85 and returned to the Bills for the '85 NFL season. As a result, he played in the equivalent of 4 full seasons (64 games) over a period in which an NFL player would have played in only 3 seasons.

 

Bottom line, the diminutive Cribbs was an excellent and underrated player who played two years of his prime in another league… This hurt his NFL statistics as well as shortened his football career. He will go down in history as a player who was not properly appreciated.

 

Speaking of appreciation, don't expect Cribbs to get any from the Buffalo Bills. He sued the Bills and won the lawsuit to get his release from them in order to jump to the USFL.

 

We all know how Ralph holds grudges… Cribbs will never get anywhere near the Wall of Fame, deserving or not.

Edited by San Jose Bills Fan
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