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Revisiting the Daryle Lamonica trade

PromoTheRobot

By PromoTheRobot
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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rcatty Practice Squad

rcatty

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One of my first memories of the Bills was hearing the "We want Lamonica!" chant whenever Jack Kemp would falter.

 

If I had to pick a favorite year in my life, it would be 1964. It was my first full year of rooting for the Bills, and they win a championship. The Beatles arrive in the U.S. And being Catholic, Vatican II was in full swing.

 

That's right....Kemp had many an off day, and the fans wanted Lamonica. Saban, many a time, would pull Kemp for Lamonica, and he, Lamonica, would pull the game out! Lamonica could never beat Kemp out for the starting job but was a heck of a "relief pitcher" !

 

If you look at his stats in 14 games in his last season in Buffalo he threw for 549 yards and the next season in Oakland he threw for 3,228 yards in 14 games. Clearly he could not throw in the Buffalo wind.

 

 

I don't know if you are joking or not, but there was nothing wrong with Lamonica's arm. He did have a slow release but was fairly accurate with the ball. He seemed to have good command and leadership qualities, and never had much of a problem moving the team. Jack Kemp was a born leader and way ahead of his time with respect to race relations. Everybody loved Jack. His personality carried him very far, and likely exceeded his arm strength. He was perfect for our power running team, leading us to two AFL championships. But Lamonica saved many games !

 

Lamonica had slow eyes - at least in WNY.

 

There was nothing wrong with Lamonica's eyes or arm. He did the job here. He was stuck behind Jack Kemp, and the budding geniuses in the front office thought they were smarter than everyone else, and made one of the worse trades in football history. Just look at our record after the trade, and then look at what Oakland did.

 

Great idea. Make a trade with two of the smartest minds in football, Al Davis and Bill Belichek.You have to be sharp enough to know that Davis and Belichek are light years ahead of you., and would never give you a QB if he was worth anything. Hence, Flores was ok, sort of like faded vanilla pudding, but Bledsoe was exhausted when he got here and had hardly anything left in the tank.

 

Davis and Bellichek can smell talent a mile away. Joel Collier and the Bills crew of the late 60's would not know it if it hit them in the face. Here's a great example. Remember Johhny Rauch, the "great" coach of the Oakland Raiders that Davis let slip away to the Bills in the late 60's? His great idea was to use OJ as a decoy.....need I say more !!!!

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vorpma Veteran

vorpma

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He was involved with "someone's" wife, and they used to meet in Dunkirk at the Holiday Inn, according to a bartender working there at the time.

Worst "trade" ever. Got Art Powell (later traded to Miami) and Tom Flores. Nothing.

Also "heard" from an inside source that Lamonica was known to be a "bit to friendly" with wives of executive leadership...

My father was close friends with an Assistant Coach at the time and verified Lamonica's extracurricular activities. However, Flores was coming off a solid year and Art Powell was a great WR at the time, Bills felt they needed offense.
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Utah John Veteran

Utah John

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The trade never made sense from a football perspective. Yes we got a QB and WR, but we gave up a QB and WR (Glenn Bass). Lamonica and Kemp were two different QBs forcing defenses to be ready for either one. Flores was more like Kemp, and both Flores and Kemp were nearing the ends of their careers, so we quickly went into the abyss that didn't end till Joe Ferguson showed up. We liked the abyss so much we went back in until Jim Kelly showed up. Apparently we're convinced the abyss has our name on it because we've been there ever since.

 

I don't know whether the stories about Lamonica's chasing women were true. I grew up in West Seneca, and used to drive past some apartments on South Fisher Road, and my Dad always said that's where Lamonica lived. Those apartments never looked like much (they're still there) so from a bachelor pad perspective I think he could have done better.

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Green Lightning Veteran

Green Lightning

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There was nothing wrong with Lamonica's eyes or arm. He did the job here. He was stuck behind Jack Kemp, and the budding geniuses in the front office thought they were smarter than everyone else, and made one of the worse trades in football history. Just look at our record after the trade, and then look at what Oakland did.

 

Great idea. Make a trade with two of the smartest minds in football, Al Davis and Bill Belichek.You have to be sharp enough to know that Davis and Belichek are light years ahead of you., and would never give you a QB if he was worth anything. Hence, Flores was ok, sort of like faded vanilla pudding, but Bledsoe was exhausted when he got here and had hardly anything left in the tank.

 

Umm, time to re-calibrate you sarcasm detector. It was a joke. I enjoyed watching the mad-bomber as a boy myself.

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bbb Hall of Famer

bbb

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don't know about the loan, but over the years, I have heard that he wore out his welcome here, not with the fans, but with everyone else associated with the team, from the top down to the locker room

 

as for AL, a visionary if there ever was one

 

I remember hearing rumors years later that he was having an affair with at least one coach's wife!

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Chandler#81 Hall of Famer

Chandler#81

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My father was close friends with an Assistant Coach at the time and verified Lamonica's extracurricular activities. However, Flores was coming off a solid year and Art Powell was a great WR at the time, Bills felt they needed offense.

 

I was just going to leave this thread alone, given how inaccurate rcatty and others memory is. Thankfully, you and Utah John showed up with facts. Powell was an All-Star. At the time of the trade, it seemed to most that the Bills fleeced the Raiders. Ya just never know how things will turn out. Bass caught a TD pass in SBII and injuries kept Flores from seeing the field in Buffalo. Collier, the acknowledged architect of the Safety Blitz, lead the Bills to the AFL Championship game -at home, only to lose to KC for entry into 'SBI'. Rauch was a good coach for Oakland, but Al wanted to promote Madden. Rauch was more 'reknown' for gutting a still talented roster than the folly of decoying Juice.

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vorpma Veteran

vorpma

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I was just going to leave this thread alone, given how inaccurate rcatty and others memory is. Thankfully, you and Utah John showed up with facts. Powell was an All-Star. At the time of the trade, it seemed to most that the Bills fleeced the Raiders. Ya just never know how things will turn out. Bass caught a TD pass in SBII and injuries kept Flores from seeing the field in Buffalo. Collier, the acknowledged architect of the Safety Blitz, lead the Bills to the AFL Championship game -at home, only to lose to KC for entry into 'SBI'. Rauch was a good coach for Oakland, but Al wanted to promote Madden. Rauch was more 'reknown' for gutting a still talented roster than the folly of decoying Juice.

Powell started off the 67 season on fire then injured his knee and never recovered, but he was the premier AFL wide out at the time. Tom Flores and Art Powell connected explosively in the first game an NFL Team visited the ole rockpile for a preseason game. The game (Eagles) had intensity and was competitive until Tom Flores injured his throwing arm and never recovered. I woefully admit that as a young ten year old who collected trading cards and loved the AFL, thought we got the deal.

 

For you old timers, the Bills - Eagles preseason game was awesome, never seen an exhibition game played in that manner again. Playoff atmosphere in August, Tom Flores gets hurt after burning up the field with Art Powell, the sellout crowd boo's Jack Kemp as he enters the game. Kemp responds by throwing an immediate 60 yard TD strike to Albert Dubenion to turning boo's into a standing ovation.

 

Powell started off the 67 season on fire then injured his knee and never recovered, but he was the premier AFL wide out at the time. Tom Flores and Art Powell connected explosively in the first game an NFL Team visited the ole rockpile for a preseason game. The game (Eagles) had intensity and was competitive until Tom Flores injured his throwing arm and never recovered. I woefully admit that as a young ten year old who collected trading cards and loved the AFL, thought we got the deal.

 

For you old timers, the Bills - Eagles preseason game was awesome, never seen an exhibition game played in that manner again. Playoff atmosphere in August, Tom Flores gets hurt after burning up the field with Art Powell, the sellout crowd boo's Jack Kemp as he enters the game. Kemp responds by throwing an immediate 60 yard TD strike to Albert Dubenion to turning boo's into a standing ovation.

 

The GM was Harvey Johnson, who coached the Bills in 68 and 71 with horrendous results; two victories combined.

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