Question about 90's Bills

[eball]

On 7/28/2018 at 11:01 PM, plenzmd1 said:

I would have taken 5 more in a row. Only one i thought they would lose is #2 . 

 

Yup.  I don't understand any other way of thinking about it.  Regardless of the odds, you want your team playing in the championship.  Period.

 

I agree that #2 was the only one I was uneasy about, when the Bills couldn't score an offensive TD against the Broncos in the AFC championship while Washington was running roughshod over everyone.  Even #3 shifted on some wacky turnovers; I think people forget the Bills had just scored at the end of the 3rd quarter to make it 31-17.  And in #4 they led at the half!

 

Edited July 30, 2018 by eball

[plenzmd1]

38 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Yup.  I don't understand any other way of thinking about it.  Regardless of the odds, you want your team playing in the championship.  Period.

 

I agree that #2 was the only one I was uneasy about, when the Bills couldn't score an offensive TD against the Broncos in the AFC championship while Washington was running roughshod over everyone.  Even #3 shifted on some wacky turnovers; I think people forget the Bills had just scored at the end of the 3rd quarter to make it 31-17.  And in #4 they led at the half!

 

Lived in DC then, watched and/or went to almost all the Redskins game that year...the offensive line was the best I have ever seen. 

 

#3 I will always remember Reich missing Lofton on a go route down the sideline in front of us beginning of the 4th. Frank had done a great looking off the safety, and if he hits him in stride it was a TD. Knew we were dead then.

 

Edited July 30, 2018 by plenzmd1

[Soda Popinski]

I rooted for them to go back a 5th time, but i was relieved I didn't have to go through it again. 

[SMAKCruiser]

4 minutes ago, Soda Popinski said:

I rooted for them to go back a 5th time, but i was relieved I didn't have to go through it again. 

 

I did too, but that 1994 team just wasn't any good.   

[Soda Popinski]

12 minutes ago, SMAKCruiser said:

 

I did too, but that 1994 team just wasn't any good.   

I am sure they were emotionally more drained than I was so i understand why they just couldn't keep goign. 

[row_33]

On 7/28/2018 at 10:36 PM, Billsfanatic8989 said:

By the 92 season, as a fan, did you not want the Bill's to get back to the SB? Mainly because you knew they were unlikely to beat the 49ers or Cowboys, and it was too tough to take? I know it sounds crazy. But Marv Levy said fans would come up to him and plead that they not get back to the SB. Mostly because they didn't have a great shot of winning, and they ( Fans) couldn't deal with more dissapointments.

 

Furthermore, how did you feel about their chances going into the SB's against the Redskins & Cowboys (X2)?

 

 

the rest of the football world was sick to death of the Bills getting massacred by the 4th one.

 

Bills fans didn't bother selling out the Comeback Game during the 3rd SB run, it was a blackout for Buffalo TV, so the commitment of Bills fans may be seen as drooping bad at the time

 

Bills run was part of the AFC as total joke losing 13 straight SBs, and even the bookend wins by the AFC were consider upsets, so what were the Bills supposed to do but keep on winning and getting steamrolled in those last 3 SBs?

 

(shoulda won the first one though...)

 

 

On 7/28/2018 at 11:55 PM, Another Fan said:

Actually if I remember right in Super Bowl 27 they were still within stricking distance in the 4th quarter.  Reich hit Beebe for the last play of the 3rd quarter to make it 31-17.  I think they even got the ball back only down 14 in the 4th qtr.  Needless to say we both know what happened next 

 

the last 3 were dreadful, being "in it" at some point didn't help at all when they were over

[The Jokeman]

49 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

 

the rest of the football world was sick to death of the Bills getting massacred by the 4th one.

 

Bills fans didn't bother selling out the Comeback Game during the 3rd SB run, it was a blackout for Buffalo TV, so the commitment of Bills fans may be seen as drooping bad at the time

 

Bills run was part of the AFC as total joke losing 13 straight SBs, and even the bookend wins by the AFC were consider upsets, so what were the Bills supposed to do but keep on winning and getting steamrolled in those last 3 SBs?

 

(shoulda won the first one though...)

 

 

 

the last 3 were dreadful, being "in it" at some point didn't help at all when they were over

Let's not forget the week before the Oilers beat the Bills and we lost our starting QB for the Wild Card game, Frank was good but I don't think anyone would have thought he'd be that good that day. I remember turning the radio off after the pick 6 he threw to start the 3rd quarter. I only turned it back on later as was curious how it was going and actually was able to see the ending on tv because NBC pre-empted the other playoff game to show the end of the comeback. 

[major]

I wanted us to keep going every year to the SB (still do). Felt the best about Super Bowl 28, but that fumble changed the whole mentality of our team and down we went. 

[Boatdrinks]

1 hour ago, SMAKCruiser said:

 

I did too, but that 1994 team just wasn't any good.   

True. The first two offseasons of the free agency era decimated the Bills roster. They arguably lost more talent than any team when FA started, and the AFC mini dynasty met an early demise. 

[Kwai San]

18 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

It was the Big Sombrero in Tampa.  Not Miami.

 

Yup - been booted in the keister for this already.....like I said - tough gitting old!

[SMAKCruiser]

54 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

True. The first two offseasons of the free agency era decimated the Bills roster. They arguably lost more talent than any team when FA started, and the AFC mini dynasty met an early demise. 

Losing Ballard and Odomes off that team hurt us bad.   I remember that 1994 Oline being complete garbage.

[Cash]

On 7/28/2018 at 10:36 PM, Billsfanatic8989 said:

By the 92 season, as a fan, did you not want the Bill's to get back to the SB? Mainly because you knew they were unlikely to beat the 49ers or Cowboys, and it was too tough to take? I know it sounds crazy. But Marv Levy said fans would come up to him and plead that they not get back to the SB. Mostly because they didn't have a great shot of winning, and they ( Fans) couldn't deal with more dissapointments.

 

Furthermore, how did you feel about their chances going into the SB's against the Redskins & Cowboys (X2)?

 

1.) No, I very much wanted them to get back to the Super Bowl.  I was a kid at the time, so there wasn't a lot of logic behind my stance, but adult me agrees.  Even the worst team in the league probably has a 10-20% chance against the best team at a neutral site.  I'll take a 10% chance at a championship over a 0% chance every time.  And while the 1992 Bills probably weren't quite as good as the previous 2 years, they still were legitimately great.  I'd say they had at least a 40% chance on a neutral field.  The game we actually saw was basically both the worst game the Bills could play and the best game the Cowboys could play.  As an aside, didn't we beat the 49ers in SF in the no-punt game that regular season?  Plus we beat the Giants with Simms in the 1990 regular season, and beat the Cowboys in Dallas in the 1993 season (albeit without Emmitt Smith).  It's not like the Bills were going 0-4 against the NFC during the Super Bowl years - we held our own with the NFC powers, just didn't play our best game in the Super Bowls.

 

2a.) Vs. Washington - I genuinely thought we would win.  We should've won the Super Bowl the previous year, and while Washington was maybe a better team than Simms-less Giants, the Bills were seemingly better in the 1991 season than in 1990.  (O was better and really dialed in; D was worse in regular season due to major injuries, but was healthy for the playoffs.)

 

2b.) Vs. Cowboys #1 - I was pretty nervous at this point, but thought we'd have a good chance.  The decreased optimism was partially because of losing 2 in a row, but also because the Cowboys looked REALLY good that year.  I don't think a close loss would've shocked me, but the blowout did.

 

2c.) Vs. Cowboys #2 - I was a complete basketcase by then, and hoping for the best while simultaneously dreading the worst.

[Beach]

I thought we were going to win each game.  I watched every game for those 4 seasons and if you did you expected a win every game, they were just great.

[billsbackto81]

On 7/29/2018 at 8:39 AM, Freddie's Dead said:

That was a critical play, but the 3rd and 7 to Mark Ingram, where no less than 7 Bills failed to tackle him, sealed our fate.

 

On 7/29/2018 at 12:33 AM, Buftex said:

Rediculous.  Why was it Andre Reeds fault, "period"?  Why not Darryl Talley, and the 3 other Bills who whiffed on tackles as Mark Ingram killed them on 3rd & 22, and helped the Giants, essentially hold the ball for the entire 3rd quarter...or Jim for throwing a meaningless pass for 2 yards, to Keith McKellar, which wasted about 8 seconds on the clock during the final drive? Or hell, why not Keith McKellar for not having the prescense of mind to "drop" that same pass, inistead of making a great effort for the shoe-string catch? Of mayve blame Jim for getting a little pass-happy on that final drive, when Thurman was having an MVP type game. Blaming Reed for the loss,, "period" is absurd.  The Giants/Bellechiks' defense game plan in 25 was to punish the Bills WR's.  To their credit, they did...look at the boxscore for that game.  Reed caught 8 passes for 62 yards....Lofton caught 1 pass for 61 yeards.  McKellar 2 for 11.  The Giants were determined to shut down the Bills potent passing game...and they did for the most part.  Plenty of mistakes made that day...Andre Reed was far from the only reason they lost.

 

 

It was 3rd and 12 IIRC.

 

1. Over confidence.

2. No change in game plan when it was obvious what NY was doing.

3. Getting plowed over and over by an aging RB, killing the clock.

4. Letting a back up QB control the game. 

5. Norwood choking. 

 

The list goes on.  I was 23 years old and til this day the only Bills game I ever cried over.

Edited July 30, 2018 by billsbackto81

[Freddie's Dead]

12 minutes ago, billsbackto81 said:

 

It was 3rd and 12 IIRC.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199101270buf.htm#all_pbp has it listed as 3rd and 13, so you're closer than either of us others.  My apologies, I got mixed up because of the 7 players that missed the tackle.  I've gone back and fixed mine.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

On 7/28/2018 at 11:01 PM, plenzmd1 said:

I would have taken 5 more in a row. Only one i thought they would lose is #2 . 

This.    

 

Though had they won 1 then 4 would have sufficed.   

[mjt328]

The Bills were a ridiculously talented team.  Anyone that says they "knew" the team was going to lose in the Super Bowl is just being negative.  That team was totally capable of beating the Giants, Redskins and the Cowboys. 

 

Despite that, I will say that those NFC East teams were a nightmare matchup for our defense.  If the 90s Bills had one weakness, it was an undersized front 7.  We sometimes struggled with powerful offensive lines and strong/smash-mouth running games.  Which happens to be the common denominator with those Super Bowl teams.  Our gameplan should have been airing it out, racking up points and trying to force the opponent to give up on the running game.  But we tried to play too conservative, and got punched in the teeth.

 

The 90s Bills probably would have matched-up better against the 49ers.  Somehow, the 49ers appeared in 6 NFC Championships between 1988-1994, and never faced us once in the Super Bowl.