Can someone take a minute and explain the 1994/1995 season to me?

[ThurmasThoman]

My first "exposure" to the Bills was as a kid during the Super Bowls, but the first season that I followed from the preseason on was the 1994/1995 season. Full disclosure: I was 10.

I learned most of the rules to the game by playing Tecmo Super Bowl on the Super Nintendo. And living out of market, I relied on games that got national broadcasts to see the team. We had a dailup 14k modem at the time, and the sports news I had access to was on AOL. Suffice it to say, following the team from afar took a good amount of work back then, but I loved it. Buuuuuut I also think I missed most of the major details.

 

The next season, the year Buf lost to Pit in the divisional round after beating Miami at Rich made a little more sense to me, and by 97 when Kelly went down vs Jax I was hooked.

 

But now that I'm older and I look back at the Bills of the 90s, that 1994/95 season sticks out like a sore thumb. The only other year they missed the playoffs that decade was the year Kelly retired, but then they were right back to excellence with Flutie. 

 

Im sure the answer is something like "fatigue" but is that really it? 

To the old timers: did it feel like they had a shot that season? Was there hope going into the season? Or did you think the team was done and needed to retool?

Help put this mystery of my childhood into context for me, anyone, please!

[GRHater69]

The offensive line was a mess in '94. In two successive years they lost Will Wolford and Howard Ballard. They really didn't recover from that. Teams had caught up to the no-huddle attack and they were missing some speed on the outside with Lofton long gone. Also the defense was struggling in '94. Jeff Wright was a good player but was not meant to be a nose tackle and teams out muscled the Bills in the middle all season. Wright had shoulder issues that year an retired after the season. They also needed help in the secondary. They were starting Mickey Washington at corner and he was a backup at best. Add all that in with Walt Corey's bend but don't break philosophy and the D really hurt them in '94.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by GRHater69

[Seasons1992]

It sucked. No SB.

[JESSEFEFFER]

Off hand I would say that John Butler tried to keep the team intact as best he could for one last run. By that time age, free agency salary cap crap and such meant that the end was approaching in some inevitable way.  It was jsut a matter of when.  One big issue that I remember was the decline of the o-line.  The Bills lost both tackles (Wohlford and Ballard) to free agency,  Wohlford in 93 to some shady contract language that prevented the Bills from matching which has since been made illegal.  Ballard was replaced by Jerry Crafts who I likened to a bank vault door swiveling on a hinge.  The Bills got caught without  a decent replacement for Ballard, and Crafts was the weak link of that line who was huge by the standards of 25 years ago but was remarkably slow footed, imo.

[djp14150]

Understand how free agency worked then...

 

Buffalis roster depth got raided over the years.  Thry lost other pkayers to free agency. The biggest one was Eollford.  Wollfords contract had escalator clauses that are now illegal.  He had clauses that guaranteed he would bethe highest player paid on offense .  Not an issue with the colts. But with Buffalo it woukd have bern costly.

They also Lost Ballard there two Tackles were gone.

 

thry also list their top CB in Nate Odomes who left as a UFA.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by djp14150

[JESSEFEFFER]

14 minutes ago, GRHater69 said:

The offensive line was a mess in '94. In two successive years they lost Will Wolford and Howard Ballard. They really didn't recover from that. Teams had caught up to the no-huddle attack and they were missing some speed on the outside with Lofton long gone. Also the defense was struggling in '94. Jeff Wright was a good player but was not meant to be a nose tackle and teams out muscled the Bills in the middle all season. Wright had shoulder issues that year an retired after the season. They also needed help in the secondary. They were starting Mickey Washington at corner and he was a backup at best. Add all that in with Walt Corey's bend but don't break philosophy and the D really hurt them in '94.

 

 

 

Ha!  I took to long to type my answer but at least we agreed on the o-line point.  As to Jeff Wright, he may have been among the Bills best defenders in Super Bowl XXV.  Conlan had a great game too but neither was involved in that Mark Ingram 3rd and 13 play that killed their chance to end that first Giants drive of the 3rd quarter.

[Tuco]

The '94 season was the first season with a salary cap - even though free agency began in 1993. After giving big contracts to Thurman and Bruce, as well as front loading a bunch of other guys in '93 to help with the oncoming cap, the Bills still went into the '94 season almost $10 million over the cap. That doesn't sound like a lot these days, but the cap in '94 was $33.6 mil and the Bills were at $44 mil. So they were about 30% over.  That would be like being almost $60 million over today.

 

Just getting under the cap made it almost impossible to keep their free agents. Having lost Wolford to the original poison pill the year before, the line was further devastated in losing House Ballard and Jim Ritcher. Add in other free agent losses like Nate Odoms and Kirby Jackson and, well, we just weren't as good of a team any more. 

 

 

[SirAndrew]

My earliest memories of the Bills are quite similar to yours. I remember the last two Super Bowls, but the first full season I recall was 94. I’m not sure how accurate my memory is, but I remember thinking Kelly had begun to decline quite significantly. I was too young to fully understand the game, and the team certainly had other issues, but Kelly stood out to me. 

[BADOLBILZ]

2 minutes ago, Tuco said:

The '94 season was the first season with a salary cap - even though free agency began in 1993. After giving big contracts to Thurman and Bruce, as well as front loading a bunch of other guys in '93 to help with the oncoming cap, the Bills still went into the '94 season almost $10 million over the cap. That doesn't sound like a lot these days, but the cap in '94 was $33.6 mil and the Bills were at $44 mil. So they were about 30% over.  That would be like being almost $60 million over today.

 

Just getting under the cap made it almost impossible to keep their free agents. Having lost Wolford to the original poison pill the year before, the line was further devastated in losing House Ballard and Jim Ritcher. Add in other free agent losses like Nate Odoms and Kirby Jackson and, well, we just weren't as good of a team any more. 

 

 

 

 

All true.............but even with that they had finished the previous two AFC playoffs in dominating fashion.........which re-inforced the idea that they would do it again.

 

On December 4 they beat the 8-4 Dolphins in an exciting game in Miami and appeared to be taking control of the AFC East back.

 

The AFC was weak...........it seemed like they were going to catch fire and win out and probably go to another SB(and get beaten by either SF or Dallas who were dominating).

 

The next week reality set in..........they looked tired and flat at home against Minnesota and the notoriously dirty Dungy/Teerlink Vikings hit Kelly with a cheap shot to the knee and that was it.

 

Season over.

 

One forgotten aspect was how awful Frank Reich was filling in for Kelly........they totally unraveled with Frank's feeble game manager skillset after being carried by Kelly all year.

 

After that you stopped hearing all the muttering about how Frank would have done better...........Kelly was respected much more by the fanbase as a whole after that season.     

 

 

[row_33]

Football identifies the year of the season by the date the season started

 

there is no 1994-95 season, you mean the 1994 season

 

and yes.... NFL football playoffs have been in January since around 1965, but college and pro football do not call it a split year like hockey and basketball, which go into June or is it now July?

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by row_33

[BADOLBILZ]

48 minutes ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

Off hand I would say that John Butler tried to keep the team intact as best he could for one last run. By that time age, free agency salary cap crap and such meant that the end was approaching in some inevitable way.  It was jsut a matter of when.  One big issue that I remember was the decline of the o-line.  The Bills lost both tackles (Wohlford and Ballard) to free agency,  Wohlford in 93 to some shady contract language that prevented the Bills from matching which has since been made illegal.  Ballard was replaced by Jerry Crafts who I likened to a bank vault door swiveling on a hinge.  The Bills got caught without  a decent replacement for Ballard, and Crafts was the weak link of that line who was huge by the standards of 25 years ago but was remarkably slow footed, imo.

 

 

The worst part of losing Wolford was then watching the NFL hand the Eagles and Cardinals the 13th and 20th picks in round one of THAT 1993 draft just to ease their pain for losing Reggie White and Tim McDonald.    They literally just made up two extra comp picks in the middle of round one for those dudes.

 

The Bills..........who were actually HARMED by the NFL leaving a loophole in the CBA allowing the Colts to create an elevator clause that would cause the Bills to pay Wolford the same as Jim Kelly if they matched..........a tactic that was banned immediately after the Bills lost the ruling..........and they got only the 48th overall pick in THE FOLLOWING draft.   Wolford was worth A LOT more to teams that McDonald and that's before you factor in the league being semi-responsible for Wolford leaving.

 

 

[JESSEFEFFER]

30 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

The worst part of losing Wolford was then watching the NFL hand the Eagles and Cardinals the 13th and 20th picks in round one of THAT 1993 draft just to ease their pain for losing Reggie White and Tim McDonald.    They literally just made up two extra comp picks in the middle of round one for those dudes.

 

The Bills..........who were actually HARMED by the NFL leaving a loophole in the CBA allowing the Colts to create an elevator clause that would cause the Bills to pay Wolford the same as Jim Kelly if they matched..........a tactic that was banned immediately after the Bills lost the ruling..........and they got only the 48th overall pick in THE FOLLOWING draft.   Wolford was worth A LOT more to teams that McDonald and that's before you factor in the league being semi-responsible for Wolford leaving.

 

 

Details long forgotten by me.  Woodford leaving via the means he did hurt.  The fact that there was not an at the replacement for him made the hurt linger.

[Utah John]

The amazing thing is that the Bills stayed as good as they did for so long.  They had a very good team in 1988, going 12-4, winning the AFC East and losing in the AFC championship game. They won the AFC East again in 1989.  They went to the SB in 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993.  Six years in a row making the playoffs and really dominating the AFC, and also the NFC East during the regular season.  Really the only team that's been able to surpass that level of sustained dominance is the Patriots. 

 

They probably could have kept it going longer.  They didn't draft all that well in the early 90s, they had the Polian spat with Wilson's daughter, there was Plan B free agency, then Ralph fired John Butler, and the salary cap and inability to keep all the stars.  Kelly finally retired, and we had the Flutie/Johnson drama. Somehow they kept it together pretty well through the end of the decade, but they were definitely trending downward.

 

[DBilz2500]

Kelly regressed sooner than expected, Thurman was nearing the 30 year mark and had clearly lost a step, and our O-Line became a mess overnight. Add on the fact that the no-huddle was starting to get figured out by Def coordinators and you end up with that 7-9 season. 

[Thurmal34]

28 minutes ago, Utah John said:

The amazing thing is that the Bills stayed as good as they did for so long.  They had a very good team in 1988

 

I called it on 8/16. It’s 1988 all over again. Bills lose in AFC championship to a better team. After that, all bets are off.

 

Book your flight for a parade. It’s not going sideways this time. Watch. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

36 minutes ago, Thurmal34 said:

 

I called it on 8/16. It’s 1988 all over again. Bills lose in AFC championship to a better team. After that, all bets are off.

 

Book your flight for a parade. It’s not going sideways this time. Watch. 

That 1988 team was one of my favorite teams. I was absolutely crushed by the loss to the Bengals in the playoffs, but then minutes later, knew next year was our time (with absolute certainty). 1988 just felt like it clicked and we arrived. 

[Thurmal34]

22 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

That 1988 team was one of my favorite teams. I was absolutely crushed by the loss to the Bengals in the playoffs, but then minutes later, knew next year was our time (with absolute certainty). 1988 just felt like it clicked and we arrived. 

 They weren’t ready - Bengals were better. Of course if bickering Bills didn’t happen they would have been in SB in 89. Remember hearing stories from Berman about how hard they were partying in 90. #######s.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Thurmal34

[bbb]

3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

The worst part of losing Wolford was then watching the NFL hand the Eagles and Cardinals the 13th and 20th picks in round one of THAT 1993 draft just to ease their pain for losing Reggie White and Tim McDonald.    They literally just made up two extra comp picks in the middle of round one for those dudes.

 

The Bills..........who were actually HARMED by the NFL leaving a loophole in the CBA allowing the Colts to create an elevator clause that would cause the Bills to pay Wolford the same as Jim Kelly if they matched..........a tactic that was banned immediately after the Bills lost the ruling..........and they got only the 48th overall pick in THE FOLLOWING draft.   Wolford was worth A LOT more to teams that McDonald and that's before you factor in the league being semi-responsible for Wolford leaving.

 

 

 

I could have sworn we never got compensated for Wolford.  It seemed like they kept delaying it..........I didn't get why Wolford signed that tender.  He was never going to get the kind of money like that on the Colts roster - not in the Jim Kelly range.

 

2 hours ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

Details long forgotten by me.  Woodford leaving via the means he did hurt.  The fact that there was not an at the replacement for him made the hurt linger.

 

John Fina wasn't too bad.  

3 hours ago, row_33 said:

Football identifies the year of the season by the date the season started

 

there is no 1994-95 season, you mean the 1994 season

 

and yes.... NFL football playoffs have been in January since around 1965, but college and pro football do not call it a split year like hockey and basketball, which go into June or is it now July?

 

 

 

Especially since the Bills didn't even play a game in 1995, unfortunately.  

[machine gun kelly]

8 hours ago, GRHater69 said:

The offensive line was a mess in '94. In two successive years they lost Will Wolford and Howard Ballard. They really didn't recover from that. Teams had caught up to the no-huddle attack and they were missing some speed on the outside with Lofton long gone. Also the defense was struggling in '94. Jeff Wright was a good player but was not meant to be a nose tackle and teams out muscled the Bills in the middle all season. Wright had shoulder issues that year an retired after the season. They also needed help in the secondary. They were starting Mickey Washington at corner and he was a backup at best. Add all that in with Walt Corey's bend but don't break philosophy and the D really hurt them in '94.

 

 

 

I couldn’t stand Jeff Wright.  The claim was he was more athletic than Smerlas, but Smerlas was meant to be a 3-4 Nose Tackle.  He clogged the middle just like big old Teddy Washington later in the 90’s.  What was amazing to me was how the all time sack leader in Bruce, was an end in a traditional 3-4 DE.  

 

When the debate over him and White comes up who was fantastic, what Bruce did in this system was nothing short of amazing.  He should go down as the GOAT of DE in the NFL.  I know that was a tangent but just reminded me of those days.

 

What is amazing now is this defense and team is ascending and a dynasty is coming.  Of course would love to win the SB, but if we can convincingly beat the Texans and pay back the Pats if we draw them and beat them in NE.  I can live with losing to KC or Baltimore this year and get more talent for next year,

[BreezeMafia]

8 hours ago, GRHater69 said:

The offensive line was a mess in '94. In two successive years they lost Will Wolford and Howard Ballard. They really didn't recover from that. Teams had caught up to the no-huddle attack and they were missing some speed on the outside with Lofton long gone. Also the defense was struggling in '94. Jeff Wright was a good player but was not meant to be a nose tackle and teams out muscled the Bills in the middle all season. Wright had shoulder issues that year an retired after the season. They also needed help in the secondary. They were starting Mickey Washington at corner and he was a backup at best. Add all that in with Walt Corey's bend but don't break philosophy and the D really hurt them in '94.

 

 

 

Spot on summary of the '94 season.