Juror#8 Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) Recently, I was talking to a friend who is a similarly long suffering LA Clippers fan. We were discussing 'at what point the fortunes turned for our [respective] franchises.' The rationale being if you know where things went wrong, it's easier to take affirmative steps to fix it. As much as I thought about it, I couldn't pin-point an exact instance, or even an instance that set into motion a set of more significant instances, which caused a slippery slope downward. 11 years of mediocrity is actually difficult to do in the NFL with free agency, drafts, and the salary cap. A feat that anomalous suggests an institutionalized problem that was never corrected. But what was it? I wondered if it was the firing of Polian (but we made another Superbowl appearance and a handful of playoff appearances after 93). It would be easy to say "Ralph," but he was there in 1990-1993 as well as the double-digit win years and playoff appearances through the mid 90s and up until 1999. So there has to be something more. There has to be a single and defined point that, had it happened differently, would have resulted in some parallel reality where we enjoyed continued success and the Patriots/Steelers/Jets/Cowboys would have endured a decade plus of mediocrity. Maybe the mortgaging of draft picks for Bledsoe began the slippery slope. I don't know. Opinions? What happened that began the downward slide? Who was traded/retained? Who should have been drafted that wasn't, or wasn't drafted who should have been? Who was fired? Patriots ascendency? Bledsoe? Flutie/Johnson? Wade Phillips? John Butler? Price to Atlanta? McGahee? Henry? Edited December 12, 2011 by Juror#8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOBILLS78 Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 The fact that only four of 36 players drafted between 2003 and 2007 are still on the team speaks volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 A Bills fan asking a Clippers fan where & when it went wrong? How old are you? 20? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juror#8 Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 The fact that only four of 36 players drafted between 2003 and 2007 are still on the team speaks volumes. But that comprises two GM tenures. And weren't things going downhill for 4 years before that. Trying to find out the genesis of this whole debacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I was in the delivery room wondering who turned on the lights and who are all these strange people. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFanM.D. Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) Music City Miracle and the subsequent release of Reed, Smith and Thomas. Not saying the moves were unreasonable given the mileage the players had...... but their collective release (considering their historical status as Bills), in the shadow of a devastating loss, began this epic fail. I was on call during my residency when the forward pass occurred. That also contributes to my own personal suffering. Edited December 12, 2011 by BillsFanM.D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juror#8 Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 A Bills fan asking a Clippers fan where & when it went wrong? How old are you? 20? Not quite. Just trying to determine the genesis of the Bills' misfortunes. We talk about the current problems, and how long the franchise has been suffering. But little discussion is paid to the actual beginning instance - the "inciting incident" if you will. Outside of calling me sophomoric, do you have any thoughts on the question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 A Bills fan asking a Clippers fan where & when it went wrong? How old are you? 20? Near as I can figure, I was in the womb the last time they won a championship so I guess it all went wrong when I was born. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Not quite. Just trying to determine the genesis of the Bills' misfortunes. We talk about the current problems, and how long the franchise has been suffering. But little discussion is paid to the actual beginning instance - the "inciting incident" if you will. Outside of calling me sophomoric, do you have any thoughts on the question? Yes, look at the combination of the ownership and geography of the east end of Lake Erie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan in n.h Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 how about the hiring of barely average coaches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heitz Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I go back to '96 - that home playoff loss to the Jags, which led to Kelly retiring and the Bills 75 year search to replace him. I had great seats for that game and the weather was nice too, who knew how far down we would spiral... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloWest Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 It was the beginning of the end when The Bills lost to Jacksonville in first round of playoffs-1996 I believe. Kelly got killed all day that day as our O-Line was horrible and had not been given the attention it needed for several years. John Fina picked at #1 was the first step in the demise of our o line-he was horrible, and Kelly retired after that day marking a 15 year search for a QB-which we still have not found. The O Line was never fixed since that day and Todd Collins began the long line of losers we stuck in at QB for the next 15 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st. pete gogolak Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I was in my condo in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Times reported that the Bills had parted ways with Bill Polian after Super Bowl XXVII (the incredibly embarrassing blow-out loss to the Cowboys). Yeah, John Butler kept the thing going after that for a few more years but if you are looking for a single defining moment in Bills history that explains the present 12 playoff drought and the last 12 years of total misery, that was it. It was the bean counters v. the guy who wanted to bring a Super Bowl trophy to Buffalo. The bean counters won. End of story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juror#8 Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 Music City Miracle and the subsequent release of Reed, Smith and Thomas. Not saying the moves were unreasonable given the mileage the players had...... but their collective release (considering their historical status as Bills), in the shadow of a devastating loss, began this epic fail. I was on call during my residency when the forward pass occurred. That also contributes to my own personal suffering. Good point....the confluence of two very significant Bills moments. And things have been downhill since. Didn't even think about the departure of Smith, Thomas and Reed. Depressing, even now, to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I go back to '96 - that home playoff loss to the Jags, which led to Kelly retiring and the Bills 75 year search to replace him. I had great seats for that game and the weather was nice too, who knew how far down we would spiral... That was the problem. 20 degrees colder and snow and they might win that one. The fumble call on Kelly's last play didn't help either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Two comes to mind: 1. The day Phillips was fired for not firing his buddy as the ST coach. Ever since Wade left the building, we have had a string of horrible defense except for that one year when we beat the Pats 31-0 in the season opener. 2. The day Marv Levy became the GM of this franchise. Ever since that season, it has been a downward spiral. Even in the years of Williams and Mularkey there was always hope. Not with Jauron and now with Gailey. Levy came and did a damage that we have not recovered from, starting with the drafting of Donte Whitner when you had Ngata on your face. This franchise has not been the same since then...We are truly the laughing stock of the NFL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noe Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 When wade Phillips benches doug flutie for the playoff game vs the titans because rob had a decent game vs the colts the last game of the year in which the colts played their backups cuz they had the conference locked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-8 Forever? Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I was in my condo in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Times reported that the Bills had parted ways with Bill Polian after Super Bowl XXVII (the incredibly embarrassing blow-out loss to the Cowboys). Yeah, John Butler kept the thing going after that for a few more years but if you are looking for a single defining moment in Bills history that explains the present 12 playoff drought and the last 12 years of total misery, that was it. It was the bean counters v. the guy who wanted to bring a Super Bowl trophy to Buffalo. The bean counters won. End of story. The Polian firing was probably it, as Polian probably could have rebuilt the team after the Kelly era ended. The transition would have been made via the draft. Gimmick signings of guys like rob johnson and flutie would have been replaced by good drafting and less flashing FA signings. Polian's firing was the beginning of the franchise's "death period", and the JAX playoff loss was the end of that beginning. From '96 on, Bills have been essentially headless at QB and relatively ineffective in the front office. The WNY area being unattractive as a place to live added to it, and 15 years of bad drafting and no free agents have brought us to where we are today... absolutely nowhere and completely out of the NFL conversation. Sad but true. Need to lose out and draft a QB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 When the NFL started rigging games about 20 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Miner Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Recently, I was talking to a friend who is a similarly long suffering LA Clippers fan. We were discussing 'at what point the fortunes turned for our [respective] franchises.' The rationale being if you know where things went wrong, it's easier to take affirmative steps to fix it. As much as I thought about it, I couldn't pin-point an exact instance, or even an instance that set into motion a set of more significant instances, which caused a slippery slope downward. 11 years of mediocrity is actually difficult to do in the NFL with free agency, drafts, and the salary cap. A feat that anomalous suggests an institutionalized problem that was never corrected. But what was it? I wondered if it was the firing of Polian (but we made another Superbowl appearance and a handful of playoff appearances after 93). It would be easy to say "Ralph," but he was there in 1990-1993 as well as the double-digit win years and playoff appearances through the mid 90s and up until 1999. So there has to be something more. There has to be a single and defined point that, had it happened differently, would have resulted in some parallel reality where we enjoyed continued success and the Patriots/Steelers/Jets/Cowboys would have endured a decade plus of mediocrity. Maybe the mortgaging of draft picks for Bledsoe began the slippery slope. I don't know. Opinions? What happened that began the downward slide? Who was traded/retained? Who should have been drafted that wasn't, or wasn't drafted who should have been? Who was fired? Patriots ascendency? Bledsoe? Flutie/Johnson? Wade Phillips? John Butler? Price to Atlanta? McGahee? Henry? Mediocrity would be a step in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts