2000 Bills Team Question

[FilthyBeast]

The 2000 season was important for a number of reasons...

 

This was the season where the Flutie/Rob Johnson QB controversy came full circle, and the realization neither were the answer anymore.

 

It was also the official end of the 90's/Kgun Bills era with the last key pieces gone after the season.

 

Also I believe Wade Phillips was fired by Ralph Wilson for refusing to make a change to his ST coach.

 

And finally it was the beginning of a horrible 17 year playoff drought that coincidentally ended with the current regime's first season in Buffalo.

[colin]

i remember a lot of people, perhaps me i don't recall, being on team wade when ralph canned him, but wade was an awful HC and a great DC.

 

remember when he refused to ware a headset?  he put one on in dallas tho!

 

wade hiring jones and refusing to fire him is just a great example of what a clown he was.  how do you have the worst special teams ever?  like, it's not so hard to be kinda ok there.  but i remember game after game of just awful awful special teams performance.  if we had a drive stall out at the say 35 of our own side of the field, you were hoping they didn't start the next drive at the 50.  it was disgusting.

[BADOLBILZ]

1 minute ago, dave mcbride said:

The thing is, Flutie played really well in 2000 (in the five games he started). For all of his flaws, they were an 11 win team with him in there. Johnson was horrible that season. Flutie's numbers were better than what showed given that he put up bad numbers in the two Dolphins games after they were out of hand and he went in to replace Johnson, who had been sacked out of both games. RJ was sacked at a 13.8 percent rate that year (49 times on only 355 dropbacks!!), which is just unacceptable (Flutie was 4.1 percent). I do think the STs cost them too -- they were really that bad -- but if I had to pick one thing, I'd say it was the sack-taking by Johnson. It killed so many drives.  Again, 49 times on 355 dropbacks. That was a nightmare to watch. 

 

Well Flutie was also horrific in 1999........with an otherwise SB quality team that season...........and Johnson had put up monster numbers in 10 games over 1998-1999.......crazy numbers like 8.6 yards per pass attempt.

 

The reality is that BOTH of them were very defensible when the opponent was prepared for them.

 

If ever there were two QB's who needed to be substituted for the hot hand........it was those two.

 

It was a defense first team..........but like I said, that would have required a much stronger HC........a pre-Marino Don Shula or an 80's Joe Gibbs.

 

[CSBill]

1 hour ago, dave mcbride said:

The thing is, Flutie played really well in 2000 (in the five games he started). For all of his flaws, they were an 11 win team with him in there. Johnson was horrible that season. Flutie's numbers were better than what it seems given that he put up bad numbers in the two Dolphins games after they were out of hand and he went in to replace Johnson, who had been sacked out of both games. Take away those two garbage time outings, and he had a rating of 92.8, which in 2000 was really good. RJ was sacked at a 13.8 percent rate that year (49 times on only 355 dropbacks!!), which is just unacceptable (Flutie was 4.1 percent). I do think the STs cost them too -- they were really that bad -- but if I had to pick one thing, I'd say it was the sack-taking by Johnson. It killed so many drives.  Again, 49 times on 355 dropbacks. That was a nightmare to watch. 

 

I have been a diehard Bills fan for over 60 years. Pretty much since the beginning of the franchise. And like many of you, I have been as loyal to the team as any fan can be, even in the terrible years. There was ever only one player I despised in all that time, and that was Rob Johnson--not sure I ever said it out loud, by I know I rooted for him to fail in my heart-of-hearts.

 

Why?

 

The vitriol was probably not fair to him, but it was clear to all that Flutie was the better QB, or at least he gave the team the better chance to win. Johnson looked like the prototype NFL QB getting off the bus--Flutie, of course, was just the opposite. But one was a winner, and the other was not. Johnson was average at best. Flutie was unconventional in every way, but he was a fierce competitor who gave his team the opportunity to win. Johnson was no more than an average NFL QB. And the way all this was handled by the organization set us up for the 17-year Flutie curse and drought.

 

But good news, my counseling is going well, and my therapist thinks if the Bills win the Super Bowl this year, I may finally be over this bitterness.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by CSBill

[WotAGuy]

All I remember is that if Wade had just worn a headset, the Bills would have won the Super Bowl. 

[st pete gogolak]

Chris Watson, "he's really a punt catcher, not a punt returner".  Wade Phillips.  Was that 2000?

[CSBill]

50 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

Chris Watson, "he's really a punt catcher, not a punt returner".  Wade Phillips.  Was that 2000?

 

One of Wade's best lines.

[ganesh]

10 hours ago, BUFFALOBART said:

You know you are in trouble, when the punter is the best player on the team.

and we were for a decade

5 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

The 2000 season was important for a number of reasons...

 

This was the season where the Flutie/Rob Johnson QB controversy came full circle, and the realization neither were the answer anymore.

 

It was also the official end of the 90's/Kgun Bills era with the last key pieces gone after the season.

 

Also I believe Wade Phillips was fired by Ralph Wilson for refusing to make a change to his ST coach.

 

And finally it was the beginning of a horrible 17 year playoff drought that coincidentally ended with the current regime's first season in Buffalo.

17 years of drought,  17 QBs before we drafted #17 !!!!!!!

[Einstein]

11 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

Wade continued the mistake of starting Scrub Johnson

 

That was Ralph.