ektin Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Fergy was a above average QB with a rocket arm who had the same problems today's Bills QB have. Bad personnel decisions and constant coaching turnovers. His rookie year was nothing more than handoffs to OJ. I think he only threw 150 passes his rookie year. He had JD Hill and Bobby Chandler in Saban's and Ringo's run offense. He threw more with Knox as they drafted Jerry Butler and got Frank Lewis for Paul Seymour. But top draft choices like Tom Ruud and Bob Nelson, Booker Moore, Perry Tuttle, Phil "Okie" Dokes didn't help much. He had Ahmad Rashad for one year but he wanted $100k a year and Ralph only would offer $95k so he went to Seattle. Knox left and they hired Kay Stephenson who put the Bills in a downward spiral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Better than average QB for sure. Just below Pro Bowl level IMO. His strengths and weaknesses have been hashed out pretty well here. I would add that Fergy and James Harris probably threw with the highest velocity of any Bills QBs. Some might argue that JP Losman is in that group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Romes Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Always blamed broken plays on teammates. Really let receivers have it when they dropped passes. Often started games really hot throwing darts all over the field but with a little adversity momentum was not sustained. I do remember many great fergy passes being dropped possibly because the receiver was afraid of getting yelled at or possibly because fast spirals can be tough to handle sometimes - did not throw a Brady "easy to catch" ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macaroni Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 And if you are under age...lets say 46..you really didnt see his career.He was as good as a guy like Flacco is today. He did NOT just hand to OJ left and right like some said on here--he threw great passes to ahmad rashad,Wallace francis,Bobby Chandler,Jerry Butler,JD Hill. He never had a championship caliber team to QB...altho Chuck Knox had them fairly close until Stew Barber and Ralph F'ed that up. You may be misreading my post .... I didn't say all he did was hand off to O.J., I said that was his reputation around the league. O.J. was the "star power" at that time and he was the guy that got ALL the hype when we did well, Fergy was the QB and wrongly got ALL the blame when we did poorly ... Fergy was probably the most under rated QB in my memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobChalmers Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 (edited) Above average QB - he was my hero growing up - but how can you guys all forget his real reputation on the field?? He was a an interception machine. HE IS WHY THEY WENT TO THOSE GAWD-AWFUL RED HELMETS!!!! Remember? They were hoping his INTproblems would improve if the Bills had different colored helmets than the other 4 AFC East teams - Colts were in the East then, and Pats and Jets helmets were also white at the time. Those ridiculous (literally) red domes were the Fergie helmets. It didn't work. All time archetypal Fergie play: In Dallas for MNF. He falls down in the pocket after his shoe comes off. His sock is trailing a cartoonish 4 feet stretched out from his foot on the ground. He's on his knees, can't see a damned thing from down there - so what to do? Heave it up blindly, obviously! It was picked, of course. Edited April 9, 2013 by BobChalmers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first_and_ten Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 A whole bunch of everything that most of the guys have said above. However, fate robbed him of a little bit of his glory because I honestly believe that if he didn't break his ankle against the Pats in 1980 that we beat the Charges and beat the Raiders (in Buffalo) in the AFC Championship game. ...I mean we lost in the last 2 minutes against the Charges by 6 points with him playing on one freaking leg! I remember Charles Romes dropped an interception shorly before Fouts threw the winning touchdown pass. I agree, they go to the superbowl that year if Fergy was healthy or Romes catches that interception Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Always blamed broken plays on teammates. Really let receivers have it when they dropped passes. Absolutely wrong. If anything, Fergy shouldered the blame for the failures of his teammates too much, rather than holding them accountable like Kelly did. If Joe had a failing, he was too humble to be an NFL QB and internalized the poor results the mediocre coaching/personnel decisions saddled him with. Probably had something to do with the fact he was thrust into the starting role as a rookie and had to take command of the ship too early... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 I agree with Lurker. I don't remember Fergy pointing the finger of blame at anyone but himself. I could be wrong but that is my memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSJayDee Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 He was a an interception machine. No he wasn't. As I said b4, it was a different era of passing. You didn't go thru a season w/ only a handful of INTs, and your "possession" WRs would avg like 15 YPC. His INT %age was typical for QBs at that time. In fact, for the longest time (IDK if it's still the case) Fergy held the record for LEAST INTs in a season! In '76 when he only played like 7 games due to back injury, he only had 1 INT in ~160 attempts, which for at least 25+ yrs was the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 I remember Charles Romes dropped an interception shorly before Fouts threw the winning touchdown pass. I agree, they go to the superbowl that year if Fergy was healthy or Romes catches that interception I think that was Bill Simpson. A couple years ago, I watched a tape of the Bills-Jets playoff game from the week before. Bills jumped out to a big lead, then held on for dear life thanks to many Fergy bungles. Like I said above, he wasn't clutch at all. Frank Lewis though, was amazing that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Romes Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 I think that was Bill Simpson. A couple years ago, I watched a tape of the Bills-Jets playoff game from the week before. Bills jumped out to a big lead, then held on for dear life thanks to many Fergy bungles. Like I said above, he wasn't clutch at all. Frank Lewis though, was amazing that day. Mixing years. The SD game in 80 they won the division and did not play the wild card game. In 81 they beat the jets but lost on the road to bengals - they were about to tie it up at the end but a piccone 4th down pickup was nullified by a bogus call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Hansen Forever Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 He wasn't clutch at all, always folding at the worst possible times. Also had zero pocket presence and would consistently turn a 5-yard sack into a 10+ yard sack by running backwards from the pressure. His leadership skills were extremely weak, always hanging his head down after a mistake (sad sack). To his credit, he did have a strong arm and was pretty tough. All-in-all though, I would have to rate him mediocre at best. I remember the sacks and the strong arm. I remember a nice guy who always took time out to meet the fans and never had a bad word about anyone. He was a leader on and off the field. He was never great in the minds of the sportscasters, but he was better than some and certainly not as good as Staubach and Bradshaw. Compared the latest Bills QB's, he was the equivalent to Fitz, but had an arm like porcelain Rob. He couldn't stand in the pocket long, but could take a hit and sure did, and often. He didn't have the flair of Flutie, but was smarter than J.P. Losman. I suppose he was a lot like Bledsoe in his early years. I liked the man and still do. He took the blame when things went poorly, and never took the acclaim when it went well. A real gentleman throughout his life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haven Moses Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 nobody wants to see their QB hang his head like a mope. I will say that at the end of his career he did seem like more of a leader, but for the first half of his career you just knew that he couldnt win the big game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondo in seattle Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 That offense was just stacked in 1974. My favorite game growing up was the season opener that year on MNF against Madden's Raiders who had yet to lose on MNF........OJ gets hurt. Bills score late - Fergy to Rashad, making it 14-13. Somehow the Bills get the ball back (forget how) and Braxton fumbles and Tom Keating (I think) runs it in for a touchdown. Now it's 20-14 really late, and tons of people leave the stadium. But, not my father and us kids............Fergy leads them down the field again, and I can still see Ahmad Rashad's move on Willie Brown to win the game 21-20. What a game, and what a great offense that was! I think it was '75 when the Fergy/OJ offense was really rolling. Averaged 30 points per game that season. Compares well with the Super Bowl Bills offenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firemedic Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Sorry, but with the team Kelly had, Fergy in prime would have done serious damage, not taking anything from Kelly, he is a HOFer. Kelly was the better QB prolly was '75, my bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 (edited) He wasn't clutch at all, always folding at the worst possible times. Also had zero pocket presence and would consistently turn a 5-yard sack into a 10+ yard sack by running backwards from the pressure. His leadership skills were extremely weak, always hanging his head down after a mistake (sad sack). To his credit, he did have a strong arm and was pretty tough. All-in-all though, I would have to rate him mediocre at best. Or a bad pass. It was tough to watch him play pre Chuck Knox as he seemed so discouraged all the time in the late 70's when I watched him. But then I suppose when you never beat your biggest rivals in the Miami Dolphins the entire decade of the 70's you have a big reason to hang your head. Once ole Chucky got there in 78 it was a 180 degree change for Fergy. Loved him after Knox changed up the offense back to Fergy handing off as winning every game was no longer on his shoulders. 388 passing attempts to 588 rushing attempts in 1978 Chuck Knox changed the entire Buffalo Bills scouting dept with Norm Pollom, built up the O line again, fixed the defense and got all those young players to believe they could win. Fergy had been with the bills since 73 and had OJ to hand off to along with the electric co the first few years, Joe never passed for more then 3000 yards at Buffalo before Knox. That happened only 2x in his career. He was basically a 50% completion QB. Edited April 9, 2013 by FeartheLosing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Sorry, but with the team Kelly had, Fergy in prime would have done serious damage, not taking anything from Kelly, he is a HOFer. Kelly was the better QB prolly was '75, my bad Not sure what you are talking about... Joe Ferguson had the electric co O line, OJ to hand off to. Jim Braxton at FB. WR's Bobby Chandler & JD Hill. Paul Seymour at TE. Pretty freaking good team if you asked me. That offense was ranked #1 in the NFL in points AND yards in 1975. The problem was the defense was horrible 21st in points allowed, 24 in yards allowed. It wasn't until 77 that the Bills drafted CB's Mario Clark and Charles Romes that the passing defense got a whole lot better, but then teams just ran on them. Knox changed that with Smerlas, Haslett, and Shane Nelson AKA the Bermuda triangle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Always blamed broken plays on teammates. Really let receivers have it when they dropped passes. Often started games really hot throwing darts all over the field but with a little adversity momentum was not sustained. I do remember many great fergy passes being dropped possibly because the receiver was afraid of getting yelled at or possibly because fast spirals can be tough to handle sometimes - did not throw a Brady "easy to catch" ball. I don't remember this at all...at all. You sure you got the right Joe Ferguson? Not sure what you are talking about... Joe Ferguson had the electric co O line, OJ to hand off to. Jim Braxton at FB. WR's Bobby Chandler & JD Hill. Paul Seymour at TE. Pretty freaking good team if you asked me. That offense was ranked #1 in the NFL in points AND yards in 1975. The problem was the defense was horrible 21st in points allowed, 24 in yards allowed. It wasn't until 77 that the Bills drafted CB's Mario Clark and Charles Romes that the passing defense got a whole lot better, but then teams just ran on them. Knox changed that with Smerlas, Haslett, and Shane Nelson AKA the Bermuda triangle True, he had Bobby Chandler and JD Hill at various times, Ahmad Rashad too...but it was a different era in the 70's, and those offenses all revolved around OJ Simpson. His rookie year, Ferguson had only 114 pass attempts, starting 14 games. Only had one int as well! Very true that Knox built his teams around the defense (god they were good), but for all the "ground Chuck" legend, the offense in those years was much more open than what they had. Of course, some of that had to do with Joe Cribbs, one of the early "new breed" running backs who could catch anything thrown his way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Fontes Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Ferguson had a better arm than Kelly - he'd throw deep them on a rope. Loved watching Ferguson and Lewis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 (edited) Fergy had been with the bills since 73 and had OJ to hand off to along with the electric co the first few years, Joe never passed for more then 3000 yards at Buffalo before Knox. That happened only 2x in his career. He was basically a 50% completion QB. A 3,000 yard passing season was exceptional back then...it means different things at different times...teams, in general, really didn't start airing it out until the 80's. Edited April 9, 2013 by Buftex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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