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Happy birthday Aaron Schobel


Brennan Huff

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1 minute ago, Brennan Huff said:


If that’s the first time you heard that then you obviously didn’t spend any time arguing with strangers on the old Bills message boards back in the way 

I didn’t, I avoided Bills forums like the plague during the drought years. People are angry enough when we’re winners. 

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Aaron Schobel was an excellent defensive end who toiled in anonymity on some epically bad Bills defenses.  A quiet guy who just went about his business, never tooting his own horn.  He played 9 years for the Bills, but many on this board aren't fans, or as posted above, ambivalent towards him.  I've never understood it.  Happy Birthday, Aaron.  You deserve to be remembered better than you are around here.

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As I remember, Schobel was a rare light of goodness during the Bills Dark Ages.  Him, Moulds, Freddy, and Kyle are probably the guys I remember and appreciate best from that dismal era.  

 

Schobel's departure wasn't as pretty as it could have been.  He was tired of losing.  And, as I recall, Gailey said he was switching to a 3-4: no QB-loving DE's favorite alignment. 

 

I think Schobel may have said something about maybe  wanting to play somewhere else.  But, in the end, Schobel retired a Bill after 9 good seasons.  

 

I just looked it up: he's 81st on the official NFL sack list.  Sacks were only counted since 1982 (39 years ago).  So, on average, there's roughly only 2 sack artists coming into the league each year better than Aaron.  That's not HOF worthy but still pretty dang good.  In fact, it ranks ahead of Bryce Paup, Cornelius Bennett, Mark Gastineau, Jevon Kearse, Ray Childress, Geno Atkins, Chris Long, Clay Matthews, and a bunch other bigger names.  

 

 

 

Edited by hondo in seattle
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1 hour ago, Blainorama5 said:

Says a lot about that dark era.  😉

 

Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not?

 

On his birthday I want to just put into perspective what a terrific Buffalo Bill, and football player, Aaron Schobel was.

 

Aaron Schobel is officially Buffalo's 2nd all time sack leader

Some of the 1960's 1970's players may have more, since sacks weren't counted until 1982.

 

For those that don't know or didn't watch Schobel's career:

8 of his 9 seasons he played all 16 games. (started 11 in his rookie season, lost 11 games to injury in 2008)

He had 78 sacks, 98 tackles for a loss, 21 forced fumbles, 8 fumble recoveries, 31 passes defended, 3 INT and a defensive TD in 133 games.

He was a complete DE.

 

He was a 2x Pro Bowler, 1 x 2nd team All Pro when Buffalo was largely discounted and an era of excellent pass rushers.

 

Schobel had double digit sacks in 4 of 9 seasons.

That becomes double digit sacks in 4 of 7 seasons as a 16 game starter.

 

3 of his 9 seasons he was in the NFL top ten for forced fumbles (2004, 2006, 2007)

3 of his 9 seasons he was in the NFL top 10 for sacks (2003, 2005, 2006)

3 of his 9 seasons he was in the NFL top 10 for tackles for a loss (2003, 2005, 2009)

These were spread around and not all in the same three seasons.

 

At one point he was neck and neck with Jason Taylor for most sacks over a 3 to 5 year period.

(I can't recall exactly, it was noted in a Bills vs Dolphins game broadcast at the time, a story line was Taylor vs Schobel)

 

Among all defensive players he is currently in the top 100 NFL All Time ranks in the following categories:

43rd for tackles for a loss

60th for forced fumbles

81st  for sacks since 1982 (when stat was started)

 

I have seen Schobel bagged on TBD and among Bills fans at times, which makes no sense, so I wanted to set the record straight.

 

He is in my top 3 Bills during the Buffalo 'Dark Ages' (Moulds/ Schobel/ Brown)

 

Happy Birthday Aaron. He was a hell of a player.

 

I think we would all be happy to see Groot match or exceed this production with the Bills.

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1 hour ago, Brennan Huff said:


What makes you think that I didn’t know any of that? You can also throw in that he did consider an offer from Houston to come out of retirement, but I’m sure you already knew that….

 

Maybe it was the snarky 'and quit on his team and retired' part. For some reason some posters here just can't help but get an unnecessary barb in when talking about past players.

 

He played 9 seasons on garbage teams going no where and never complained, held out, or demanded a trade.

 

Sounds petty given Schobel ranks top 100 of all defensive players, all time in 3 statistical categories. (Sacks/ Tackles for a loss and forced fumbles).

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50 minutes ago, ThurmanThomasEnglishMuffin said:

 

Maybe it was the snarky 'and quit on his team and retired' part. For some reason some posters here just can't help but get an unnecessary barb in when talking about past players.

 

He played 9 seasons on garbage teams going no where and never complained, held out, or demanded a trade.

 

Sounds petty given Schobel ranks top 100 of all defensive players, all time in 3 statistical categories. (Sacks/ Tackles for a loss and forced fumbles).


Was it snarky though? It’s an honest question. A lot of people feel that way

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Why does Schobel get hate? I don't get it. He was a good player for a long time on a crappy team.

3 hours ago, SirAndrew said:

How is retiring quitting on the team. Was there something to his story that I missed ? 

He didn't. It's just a bunch of strange Bills fans who find strange ways to get slighted by people they don't know.

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12 minutes ago, MJS said:

Why does Schobel get hate? I don't get it. He was a good player for a long time on a crappy team.

He didn't. It's just a bunch of strange Bills fans who find strange ways to get slighted by people they don't know.


I don’t get how you think I was hating on him. It’s a narrative that people have about him. I don’t. He was always one of my favorite players in the drought era. 

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3 minutes ago, Brennan Huff said:

I don’t get how you think I was hating on him. It’s a narrative that people have about him. I don’t. He was always one of my favorite players in the drought era. 

I didn't mention you, did I? I was referring to those fans who talk badly about Schobel.

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2 minutes ago, MJS said:

On a different post, yes.


I mean I can see how people can it that way. But at the end of the day, at that point in his career, I don’t blame him for retiring. The team was going nowhere. I don’t blame anyone for wanting out of Buffalo during those years 

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