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Bills Mount Rushmore


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I know we did a Mt. Rushmore of Bills and Sabres coaches and now Fox has done that with Bills players.  I did not see another post on this so here goes.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/buffalo-bills-all-time-mount-rushmore-4-best-players-in-franchise-history

 

They picked Jim Kelly, Smith, OJ Simpson, & Andre Reed.  All are great players, but once again like when he was coming out of college, Thurman Thomas was forgotten and disrespected.  I would replace Reed with Thomas.  I know the obvious choice to toss should be Simpson, but not for his performance on the field.  For me, I can't disregard his on field performance, which was standard setting.

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I agree with the OP it’s a toss up between Andre and Thurmon.  Maybe Fox was trying to not place two RB’s on there.  I know OJ’s off field behavior is reprehensible, but he is the only RB in history who made it 2003 yards in 14 games.  I tried to look up Dickerson and AP, but I could swear they didn’t get there by week 14.

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1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

I agree with the OP it’s a toss up between Andre and Thurmon.  Maybe Fox was trying to not place two RB’s on there.  I know OJ’s off field behavior is reprehensible, but he is the only RB in history who made it 2003 yards in 14 games.  I tried to look up Dickerson and AP, but I could swear they didn’t get there by week 14.

 

Not even close.  I think they were both around 1,800 after 14 games.   To me this is the definitive stat on how great the '73 season was for OJ (and his '75 season which rarely gets mentioned).  

 

All time YPG in a season:

1    O.J. Simpson+ (26)    143.1    1973    BUF
2    Jim Brown+ (27)    133.1    1963    CLE
3    Walter Payton+ (23)    132.3    1977    CHI
4    Eric Dickerson+ (24)    131.6    1984    RAM
5    Adrian Peterson (27)    131.1    2012    MIN
6    O.J. Simpson+ (28)    129.8    1975    BUF
7    Jamal Lewis (24)    129.1    2003    BAL

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1 hour ago, KD in CA said:

 

Not even close.  I think they were both around 1,800 after 14 games.   To me this is the definitive stat on how great the '73 season was for OJ (and his '75 season which rarely gets mentioned).  

 

All time YPG in a season:

1    O.J. Simpson+ (26)    143.1    1973    BUF
2    Jim Brown+ (27)    133.1    1963    CLE
3    Walter Payton+ (23)    132.3    1977    CHI
4    Eric Dickerson+ (24)    131.6    1984    RAM
5    Adrian Peterson (27)    131.1    2012    MIN
6    O.J. Simpson+ (28)    129.8    1975    BUF
7    Jamal Lewis (24)    129.1    2003    BAL


KD, thanks for doing this research.  I could do the avg. yards per game, but wasn’t sure of the 16 game players, did they have their yards front loaded and could any of them made it in 14 games, and then tailed off the last game or two.  I tried really hard to find by week 14 how many yards actually did each of the six get to in the books, but I guess the avg. is good enough.  Sucks he had to ruin such great football memories with atrocious behavior later in his life.

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8 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

No Marshawn Lynch???

 

He lost the Canadian vote, I’m afraid. 

 

 

Bruce has to be #1 for me, and Thurman and Kelly have to be included. If I include one “old timer”, it’s Butch Byrd who seems often overlooked for some reason. 

4 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:


KD, thanks for doing this research.  I could do the avg. yards per game, but wasn’t sure of the 16 game players, did they have their yards front loaded and could any of them made it in 14 games, and then tailed off the last game or two.  I tried really hard to find by week 14 how many yards actually did each of the six get to in the books, but I guess the avg. is good enough.  Sucks he had to ruin such great football memories with atrocious behavior later in his life.

 

I was on the fence until he stole those cookies in prison! 

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Bruce, OJ, Jimbo and Thurman.   

 

You could make legitimate arguments that Smith and Simpson were the greatest at their position, all time.  You can't leave either of them off, if you are talking Buffalo Bills.

Kelly is the epitome of the Buffalo Bills, and possibly, the most important player in franchise history. You can't leave him off.

 

I understand why they picked Reed.  If I had to include a WR, he is the guy.  But if it comes down between he and Thomas,  Thurman was the motor all those years. He belongs.

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3 hours ago, Bferra13 said:

Only people age 60+ can answer a subjective question like this. I'm not close. Im bowing out. Bruce and Jimbo are obvious though.


If you went with best players ever it would be

 

Billy Shaw

Tom Sestak

Bruce Smith

OJ

 

but you have to include Jim Kelly as probably most important.

i would go

 

Kelly

Sestak

Smith

OJ

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9 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:


KD, thanks for doing this research.  I could do the avg. yards per game, but wasn’t sure of the 16 game players, did they have their yards front loaded and could any of them made it in 14 games, and then tailed off the last game or two.  I tried really hard to find by week 14 how many yards actually did each of the six get to in the books, but I guess the avg. is good enough.  Sucks he had to ruin such great football memories with atrocious behavior later in his life.

No MGK, none would have been close. See below for the first 14 games of the season for all 2000 yard/season rushers (plus Jim Brown's season that OJ surpassed). In fact, if you eliminate the worst two games any of them had that got there in a 16 game season, only Dickerson and Sanders would have hit 2000. For Dickerson, he'd have 2015 yards (worst two games were 38 and 49 yards in weeks 8 and 14 respectively). Sanders' worst two games were weeks 1 and 2, he actually had exactly 2000 yards in the last 14 games of the 1997 season. Also note that OJ is the only one who surpassed Jim Brown in the 1st 14 games of a season.

 

Player Year Rushing Yds
1st 14 Games
16 Game
Rushing Yards
Eric Dickerson 1984 1792 2105
Barry Sanders 1997 1731 2053
Terrell Davis 1998 1801 2008
Jamal Lewis 2003 1747 2066
Chris Johnson 2009 1730 2006
Adrian Peterson 2012 1812 2097
OJ Simpson 1973 2003 NA
Jim Brown 1963 1863 NA

 

 

To the original question, I was too young to remember Sestak or Shaw, but I'd pick OJ, Kelly, Bruce, and Thurman. Although he was great, I don't see Reed as nearly as important to the Bills of the early '90s as Thurman was.

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