Crazy and depressing fact.

[njbuff]

Thurman Thomas played for the Bills from 1988-99. In those years, the Bills made the playoffs ten times.

 

The Bills entered the NFL in 1970 and have made the playoffs in 13 of 57 seasons.

 

It means the Bills made the playoffs THREE times without Thurman on the roster in their NFL existence.

 

Now that's an all time scary number.

[Overseas Bills Fan]

When you have an all purpose threat at RB, it opens up so much. Thomas could run up the middle, hit the edge, take a screen, and come out of the backfield to catch.

 

With a weapon like that, it opened up Reed, Lofton, and the entire offense.

[Augie]

Get him in shape and bring him back! He's the secret ingredient!

[KDIGGZ]

and the Dolphins made the playoffs in 2000 with Thurman. so all we need to do is sign Thurman and as long as he's on the roster there's a 85% chance of us making the playoffs

 

#analytics

[Deranged Rhino]

Get him in shape and bring him back! He's the secret ingredient!

[Big Turk]

Thurman Thomas played for the Bills from 1988-99. In those years, the Bills made the playoffs ten times.

 

The Bills entered the NFL in 1970 and have made the playoffs in 13 of 57 seasons.

 

It means the Bills made the playoffs THREE times without Thurman on the roster in their NFL existence.

 

Now that's an all time scary number.

About to say it couldn't include the AFL years where they made the playoffs regularly...2017-1970 is 47 years btw. Edited June 3, 2017 by matter2003

[JerseyBills]

When you have an all purpose threat at RB, it opens up so much. Thomas could run up the middle, hit the edge, take a screen, and come out of the backfield to catch.

 

With a weapon like that, it opened up Reed, Lofton, and the entire offense.

Wonder where we could get an all purpose threat at RB nowadays??

[CodeMonkey]

When you have an all purpose threat at RB, it opens up so much. Thomas could run up the middle, hit the edge, take a screen, and come out of the backfield to catch.

 

With a weapon like that, it opened up Reed, Lofton, and the entire offense.

It also helped to have a QB that the defense had to worry about for things other than handing Thurman the ball.

Edited June 3, 2017 by CodeMonkey

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

It also helped to have a QB that the defense had to worry about for things other than handing Thurman the ball.

...not to mention having a great mind like Marchibroda as your OC...........

[Original Byrd Man]

About to say it couldn't include the AFL years where they made the playoffs regularly...2017-1970 is 47 years btw.

Actually 46 since they haven't played 2017 yet unless you are already counting them out.

[buffaloboyinATL]

Get him in shape and bring him back! He's the secret ingredient!

It's on like a mofo.

[Buffalo Boy]

It also helped to have a QB that the defense had to worry about for things other than handing Thurman the ball.

Yep!!!

Edited June 3, 2017 by Buffalo Boy

[White Linen]

That number isn't scary at all.

[Rico]

Thurman Thomas played for the Bills from 1988-99. In those years, the Bills made the playoffs ten times.

 

The Bills entered the NFL in 1970 and have made the playoffs in 13 of 57 seasons.

 

It means the Bills made the playoffs THREE times without Thurman on the roster in their NFL existence.

 

Now that's an all time scary number.

Thanks Ralph.

 

I did enjoy watching those 13 teams play though.

[klos63]

Thurman Thomas played for the Bills from 1988-99. In those years, the Bills made the playoffs ten times.

 

The Bills entered the NFL in 1970 and have made the playoffs in 13 of 57 seasons.

 

It means the Bills made the playoffs THREE times without Thurman on the roster in their NFL existence.

 

Now that's an all time scary number.

pretty pathetic- things will be different, all we need is a rich owner that will spend the money.... right?

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

When you have an all purpose threat at RB, it opens up so much. Thomas could run up the middle, hit the edge, take a screen, and come out of the backfield to catch.

 

With a weapon like that, it opened up Reed, Lofton, and the entire offense.

We don't have a Reed, Lofton or Kelly. We have TT that can only see 1/4 of the football field.

[njbuff]

Sorry about 57 instead of 47.

 

My math stunk on that one.

 

LOL

[Big Gun]

Thurman Thomas played for the Bills from 1988-99. In those years, the Bills made the playoffs ten times.

The Bills entered the NFL in 1970 and have made the playoffs in 13 of 57 seasons.

It means the Bills made the playoffs THREE times without Thurman on the roster in their NFL existence.

Now that's an all time scary number.

1970-1987 made playoffs 3x

 

1988-1999 made playoffs 10x

 

2000-2016 made playoffs 0x

 

That's sad.

[hondo in seattle]

Hmmm... the trend is that we do well when someone with the initials T.T. is in the offensive backfield.

 

In fact, we've make the playoffs 10 of the 14 seasons we had a starter in the backfield with the initials T.T. About 71% of the time.

 

Ipso facto, we're looking at a 71% chance of making the playoffs this upcoming season with a T.T. under center.

 

Statistics are wonderful. I'm going to sleep better tonight.

[Augie]

Hmmm... the trend is that we do well when someone with the initials T.T. is in the offensive backfield.

 

In fact, we've make the playoffs 10 of the 14 seasons we had a starter in the backfield with the initials T.T. About 71% of the time.

 

Ipso facto, we're looking at a 71% chance of making the playoffs this upcoming season with a T.T. under center.

 

Statistics are wonderful. I'm going to sleep better tonight.

 

How could one argue against that? It's math! And history! All the stuff they teach us. I'll start saving up for my playoff tickets!

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Get him in shape and bring him back! He's the secret ingredient!

Which Gatorade is the one for 50 year old RBs?

[3rdand12]

and the Dolphins made the playoffs in 2000 with Thurman. so all we need to do is sign Thurman and as long as he's on the roster there's a 85% chance of us making the playoffs

 

#analytics

[Augie]

Which Gatorade is the one for 50 year old RBs?

Which one does Brady drink? I'd start there.....

[row_33]

Since my first game watching in 73, I recall 6 great years with Kelly, a few downside years with Kelly, Juice and Cribbs in the playoffs a few times and a Flutie year. The rest were bad or far worse.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

If we don't make the playoffs this year there will be fans that were born in 2000 and have gone through their enitre grade school picked on for being a bills fan and having never seen them once make the playoffs in their 18 years.

[/dev/null]

Wonder where we could get an all purpose threat at RB nowadays??

Did you check Walmart, Amazon, Craiglist, or Silk Road?

[SoTier]

I think the blame for the Bills' horrendous record from 1970 through 2014 rests squarely on the shoulders of the late Ralph Wilson, Jr. He was the constant through that entire period, and he was an active owner. Wilson's success in the AFL with winning championships on shoestring budgets seemed to have colored his attitudes towards running the team, and he was always cutting corners to save money, preferring profits to wins.

 

All during the 1970s and 1980s, the Bills drafted poorly and often failed to sign the good draft picks they did make: OJ Simpson held out into the regular season I believe; Tom Cousineau went to play in Canada rather than play for the Bills; and Jim Kelly preferred the Houston Gamblers of the WFL to the Bills. The coaching staffs were abominations. Except for Lou Saban in the mid 70s stint and Chuck Knox in the early 80s, these guys were even worse than the coaches since Wade Phillips left.

 

Low attendance finally forced Wilson to put a "football guy" in charge of the team. That would have been Bill Polian, who actually brought the Bills organization up to modern day standards. However, Wilson and Polian had a falling out, and Polian departed for Indy.

 

Polian imperfectly understood how to manage the salary cap, but his astute eye for talent overcame that. John Butler and AJ Smith were Polian's proteges, and they kept the Bills talent pool alive for a few years after BP left. When they left to build a powerhouse in San Diego in the early 2000s, there was nobody in the Bills organization who had a good understanding of how to manage the salary cap while maintaining talent ala New England, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Actually, there was nobody at OBD who could competently manage the salary cap OR recognize talent, as the team's crappy record from 2001 through 2014 demonstrates.

 

The Pegulas have only had about 2 years of ownership, and they didn't make a good start with falling for Ryan's BS. Hopefully, they'll learn from their mistake.

Edited June 4, 2017 by SoTier

[row_33]

To the post just above, sorry you weren't around for those 6 great years with Jim Kelly, your bitterness is comical.

[Rico]

I think the blame for the Bills' horrendous record from 1970 through 2014 rests squarely on the shoulders of the late Ralph Wilson, Jr. He was the constant through that entire period, and he was an active owner. Wilson's success in the AFL with winning championships on shoestring budgets seemed to have colored his attitudes towards running the team, and he was always cutting corners to save money, preferring profits to wins.

 

All during the 1970s and 1980s, the Bills drafted poorly and often failed to sign the good draft picks they did make: OJ Simpson held out into the regular season I believe; Tom Cousineau went to play in Canada rather than play for the Bills; and Jim Kelly preferred the Houston Gamblers of the WFL to the Bills. The coaching staffs were abominations. Except for Lou Saban in the mid 70s stint and Chuck Knox in the early 80s, these guys were even worse than the coaches since Wade Phillips left.

 

Low attendance finally forced Wilson to put a "football guy" in charge of the team. That would have been Bill Polian, who actually brought the Bills organization up to modern day standards. However, Wilson and Polian had a falling out, and Polian departed for Indy.

 

Polian imperfectly understood how to manage the salary cap, but his astute eye for talent overcame that. John Butler and AJ Smith were Polian's proteges, and they kept the Bills talent pool alive for a few years after BP left. When they left to build a powerhouse in San Diego in the early 2000s, there was nobody in the Bills organization who had a good understanding of how to manage the salary cap while maintaining talent ala New England, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Actually, there was nobody at OBD who could competently manage the salary cap OR recognize talent, as the team's crappy record from 2001 through 2014 demonstrates.

 

The Pegulas have only had about 2 years of ownership, and they didn't make a good start with falling for Ryan's BS. Hopefully, they'll learn from their mistake.

Ralph is also responsible for the past 2 years, his trash was still running the team.

[Overseas Bills Fan]

I think the blame for the Bills' horrendous record from 1970 through 2014 rests squarely on the shoulders of the late Ralph Wilson, Jr. He was the constant through that entire period, and he was an active owner. Wilson's success in the AFL with winning championships on shoestring budgets seemed to have colored his attitudes towards running the team, and he was always cutting corners to save money, preferring profits to wins.

 

All during the 1970s and 1980s, the Bills drafted poorly and often failed to sign the good draft picks they did make: OJ Simpson held out into the regular season I believe; Tom Cousineau went to play in Canada rather than play for the Bills; and Jim Kelly preferred the Houston Gamblers of the WFL to the Bills. The coaching staffs were abominations. Except for Lou Saban in the mid 70s stint and Chuck Knox in the early 80s, these guys were even worse than the coaches since Wade Phillips left.

 

Low attendance finally forced Wilson to put a "football guy" in charge of the team. That would have been Bill Polian, who actually brought the Bills organization up to modern day standards. However, Wilson and Polian had a falling out, and Polian departed for Indy.

 

Polian imperfectly understood how to manage the salary cap, but his astute eye for talent overcame that. John Butler and AJ Smith were Polian's proteges, and they kept the Bills talent pool alive for a few years after BP left. When they left to build a powerhouse in San Diego in the early 2000s, there was nobody in the Bills organization who had a good understanding of how to manage the salary cap while maintaining talent ala New England, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Actually, there was nobody at OBD who could competently manage the salary cap OR recognize talent, as the team's crappy record from 2001 through 2014 demonstrates.

 

The Pegulas have only had about 2 years of ownership, and they didn't make a good start with falling for Ryan's BS. Hopefully, they'll learn from their mistake.

 

Shhh. . .I said that a few years ago. One of the mods started stalking me, harassing me in PM and even gave me a warning point for saying what you just said.

[JM2009]

Ralph is also responsible for the past 2 years, his trash was still running the team.

Harsh but true.

I think the blame for the Bills' horrendous record from 1970 through 2014 rests squarely on the shoulders of the late Ralph Wilson, Jr. He was the constant through that entire period, and he was an active owner. Wilson's success in the AFL with winning championships on shoestring budgets seemed to have colored his attitudes towards running the team, and he was always cutting corners to save money, preferring profits to wins.

 

All during the 1970s and 1980s, the Bills drafted poorly and often failed to sign the good draft picks they did make: OJ Simpson held out into the regular season I believe; Tom Cousineau went to play in Canada rather than play for the Bills; and Jim Kelly preferred the Houston Gamblers of the WFL to the Bills. The coaching staffs were abominations. Except for Lou Saban in the mid 70s stint and Chuck Knox in the early 80s, these guys were even worse than the coaches since Wade Phillips left.

 

Low attendance finally forced Wilson to put a "football guy" in charge of the team. That would have been Bill Polian, who actually brought the Bills organization up to modern day standards. However, Wilson and Polian had a falling out, and Polian departed for Indy.

 

Polian imperfectly understood how to manage the salary cap, but his astute eye for talent overcame that. John Butler and AJ Smith were Polian's proteges, and they kept the Bills talent pool alive for a few years after BP left. When they left to build a powerhouse in San Diego in the early 2000s, there was nobody in the Bills organization who had a good understanding of how to manage the salary cap while maintaining talent ala New England, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Actually, there was nobody at OBD who could competently manage the salary cap OR recognize talent, as the team's crappy record from 2001 through 2014 demonstrates.

 

The Pegulas have only had about 2 years of ownership, and they didn't make a good start with falling for Ryan's BS. Hopefully, they'll learn from their mistake.

Good post. If it helps-the Pegulas are 24-24 as owners. Not a terrible record. Some of RW teams had some pretty awful records.

[major]

Dang- that is depressing

[B Fan in LA]

If this helps.................

 

Tom Brady has one or two years left in him before he is put out to pasture.

 

If he plays more than that, he's crazy.

 

We are rebuilding right now, with entirely new leadership.

 

In 2 years we will probably have a franchise QB and a few more weapons on Offense.

 

The defense needs to fill a few holes, but if we had a "Jim Schwartz" type approach, meaning

keeping things simple and letting the herd run wild, we might be ready for playoff action again.

[cba fan]

How could one argue against that? It's math! And history! All the stuff they teach us. I'll start saving up for my playoff tickets!

Math? It was 10 of 15 and 66.66%

[BobbyC81]

Thurman Thomas played for the Bills from 1988-99. In those years, the Bills made the playoffs ten times.

 

The Bills entered the NFL in 1970 and have made the playoffs in 13 of 57 seasons.

 

It means the Bills made the playoffs THREE times without Thurman on the roster in their NFL existence.

 

Now that's an all time scary number.

 

 

That would be 47 seasons in the NFL. Yep, only 13 times in 47 seasons is pathetic. And like you said, 10 came in a 12 year period.

 

As an AFL team, they made the playoffs 4 times (all in a row) in 10 seasons. So, that's 17 playoff appearances in 57 seasons.

 

How about this: the Bills have been successful and made the playoffs with only 4 head coaches. Lou Saban, Chuck Knox, Marv Levy and Wade Phillips.

[Punching Bag]

When you have an all purpose threat at RB, it opens up so much. Thomas could run up the middle, hit the edge, take a screen, and come out of the backfield to catch.

 

With a weapon like that, it opened up Reed, Lofton, and the entire offense.

 

Don't forget the blocking and picking up blitzers, both of those things he did very well which is hard for some RBs.

[Adam]

That offensive line in front of him was halfway decent too

[Fadingpain]

Since my first game watching in 73, I recall 6 great years with Kelly, a few downside years with Kelly, Juice and Cribbs in the playoffs a few times and a Flutie year. The rest were bad or far worse.

That's about right.

 

Hey, some franchises exist to make up the numbers.

 

Unfortunately, ours is one of those.

[4merper4mer]

Since my first game watching in 73, I recall 6 great years with Kelly, a few downside years with Kelly, Juice and Cribbs in the playoffs a few times and a Flutie year. The rest were bad or far worse.

It was more like a "despite Flutie" year.

[Thurman#1]

About to say it couldn't include the AFL years where they made the playoffs regularly...2017-1970 is 47 years btw.

 

 

Exactly. And I don't know why you would leave out those good good early years.

 

Though even with them, it hasn't been a great run overall.

If this helps.................

 

Tom Brady has one or two years left in him before he is put out to pasture.

 

If he plays more than that, he's crazy.

 

We are rebuilding right now, with entirely new leadership.

 

In 2 years we will probably have a franchise QB and a few more weapons on Offense.

 

The defense needs to fill a few holes, but if we had a "Jim Schwartz" type approach, meaning

keeping things simple and letting the herd run wild, we might be ready for playoff action again.

 

 

 

We aren't rebuilding. If we were we wouldn't have kept Tyrod, Kyle Williams, Shady and so on.

 

But reloading takes time too if your roster is weak enough, and right now ours does not look strong overall.

I think the blame for the Bills' horrendous record from 1970 through 2014 rests squarely on the shoulders of the late Ralph Wilson, Jr. He was the constant through that entire period, and he was an active owner. Wilson's success in the AFL with winning championships on shoestring budgets seemed to have colored his attitudes towards running the team, and he was always cutting corners to save money, preferring profits to wins.

 

All during the 1970s and 1980s, the Bills drafted poorly and often failed to sign the good draft picks they did make: OJ Simpson held out into the regular season I believe; Tom Cousineau went to play in Canada rather than play for the Bills; and Jim Kelly preferred the Houston Gamblers of the WFL to the Bills. The coaching staffs were abominations. Except for Lou Saban in the mid 70s stint and Chuck Knox in the early 80s, these guys were even worse than the coaches since Wade Phillips left.

 

Low attendance finally forced Wilson to put a "football guy" in charge of the team. That would have been Bill Polian, who actually brought the Bills organization up to modern day standards. However, Wilson and Polian had a falling out, and Polian departed for Indy.

 

Polian imperfectly understood how to manage the salary cap, but his astute eye for talent overcame that. John Butler and AJ Smith were Polian's proteges, and they kept the Bills talent pool alive for a few years after BP left. When they left to build a powerhouse in San Diego in the early 2000s, there was nobody in the Bills organization who had a good understanding of how to manage the salary cap while maintaining talent ala New England, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Actually, there was nobody at OBD who could competently manage the salary cap OR recognize talent, as the team's crappy record from 2001 through 2014 demonstrates.

 

The Pegulas have only had about 2 years of ownership, and they didn't make a good start with falling for Ryan's BS. Hopefully, they'll learn from their mistake.

 

 

Polian did pretty well with the salary cap, actually. And John Butler very much did not. They had to bring in Whitey to clean up Butler's cap mess. Unfortunately, cleaning up the cap mess was one of the few things he did well.

 

Yeah, Mr. Wilson gets the responsibility for all the bad years, but also the credit for the good ones during the Kelly years and the AFL years.