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USA Today: A Look Back at Ed Rutkowski as the Bills' 1968 Disaster QB


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It’s not easy being Nathan Peterman. Just ask Ed Rutkowski. Fifty years ago, he was Peterman.
 
Rutkowski started at quarterback for the Buffalo Bills then for the same reason Peterman is starting for them now. Namely, everyone else was hurt.
 
"Been there, done that,” Rutkowski, who’s 77, tells USA TODAY.
 
He was known as the Bills’ “disaster quarterback” during that 1968 season. These days the disaster is Peterman’s play. His quarterback rating on this season’s opening day — 0.0 — earned a dreaded Blutarsky, so named for the John Belushi Animal House character who carried a 0.0 GPA.
 
There are key differences. Peterman was drafted as a quarterback while Rutkowski wasn’t drafted at all. And Rutkowski played what seemed like everything other than quarterback during his AFL career — wide receiver and running back and tight end and defensive back and returner of kickoffs and punts — until injuries took out all of the Bills’ real QBs five decades ago.
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I've often wondered what would of happened if Ed had not fumbled that goal line bootleg play and the Bills went on to win that

game in OAK.

 

The Atlanta Falcons would of drafted OJ and the Bills may have drafted Mean Joe Greene.

I wonder how it would of worked out.

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1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

I've often wondered what would of happened if Ed had not fumbled that goal line bootleg play and the Bills went on to win that

game in OAK.

 

The Atlanta Falcons would of drafted OJ and the Bills may have drafted Mean Joe Greene.

I wonder how it would of worked out.

That is one heckuva what if. I'd like to think Rauch would have preferred Joe Greene, but I suspect he may have opted for Greg Cook instead. 

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11 minutes ago, K-9 said:

That is one heckuva what if. I'd like to think Rauch would have preferred Joe Greene, but I suspect he may have opted for Greg Cook instead. 

 

That would have been great. Cook was one helluva QB before the shoulder injury against KC that effectively ended his career. . 

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5 minutes ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

That would have been great. Cook was one helluva QB before the shoulder injury against KC that effectively ended his career. . 

Yeah, Cook got a tough break. He was destined for greatness. And the Bengals were just starting to introduce some innovative offensive schemes. 

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1 minute ago, K-9 said:

Yeah, Cook got a tough break. He was destined for greatness. And the Bengals were just starting to introduce some innovative offensive schemes. 

 

They had to create the beginning of the West Coast Offense to compensate for the loss of Cook with Virgil Carter as his replacement.  Bill Walsh was the mastermind on that Bengals' staff under Paul Brown. 

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7 minutes ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

They had to create the beginning of the West Coast Offense to compensate for the loss of Cook with Virgil Carter as his replacement.  Bill Walsh was the mastermind on that Bengals' staff under Paul Brown. 

 

Yea that was the story I heard. Cook had an arm but when he went down the backup didnt so they had to go to more of a horizontal passing attack. 

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17 minutes ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

They had to create the beginning of the West Coast Offense to compensate for the loss of Cook with Virgil Carter as his replacement.  Bill Walsh was the mastermind on that Bengals' staff under Paul Brown. 

Yep. And Kenny Anderson really reaped those benefits when that offense took full shape and began to hum. I give Paul Brown a ton of credit for not trying to stifle some of the elements that they incorporated. That early Bengals offense had all sorts of influences, from Cleveland's running and blocking schemes to Sid Gilman's passing concepts. As a little kid, they were fun to watch. 

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13 minutes ago, Formerly Allan in MD said:

Give Dan a break.  He was a nobody coming out of William & Mary, I believe.  He lit it up in camp and got playing time.  As I recall, he became injury prone and got cut.  At the outset, it was a good story.

Thank you Erik.

 

just peeking at the encyclopedia for 1967 through 1969, so Kemp got hurt for the whole 1968 year?

 

that would put a crimp in any team's plans, it should be stated up front that this happened, just like Juice got hurt in 1977 to make that bad season even worse

 

 

 

 

(and Dan's getting a free pass as to historic Bills futility at QB... jeepers...)

 

 

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2 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

I've often wondered what would of happened if Ed had not fumbled that goal line bootleg play and the Bills went on to win that

game in OAK.

 

The Atlanta Falcons would of drafted OJ and the Bills may have drafted Mean Joe Greene.

I wonder how it would of worked out.

just a point of reference , philly took Leroy Keyes out of Purdue after OJ

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1 hour ago, row_33 said:

 

just peeking at the encyclopedia for 1967 through 1969, so Kemp got hurt for the whole 1968 year?

 

that would put a crimp in any team's plans, it should be stated up front that this happened, just like Juice got hurt in 1977 to make that bad season even worse

 

 

 

 

(and Dan's getting a free pass as to historic Bills futility at QB... jeepers...)

 

 

You're suggesting Dan was a star like Jack and OJ?  It's apples and orange juice.

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2 hours ago, K-9 said:

That is one heckuva what if. I'd like to think Rauch would have preferred Joe Greene, but I suspect he may have opted for Greg Cook instead. 

 

But....how would you use Mean Joe as a decoy? 

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3 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

He takes off his jersey, and tosses it to an opposing player?  While everyone stops to watch that, 'Clancy lowers the boom' on the opposing ball carrier.

 

An all-time classic commercial! Really, not TOO many top that. 

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4 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

I've often wondered what would of happened if Ed had not fumbled that goal line bootleg play and the Bills went on to win that

game in OAK.

 

The Atlanta Falcons would of drafted OJ and the Bills may have drafted Mean Joe Greene.

I wonder how it would of worked out.

 

...hell he's only 77...should we bring 'em in?.......maybe things improved...............

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