Who was the best player on the Bills roster during the Super Bowl years?

[AuntieEm]

2 hours ago, Utah John said:

Bruce Smith was the best player, but Jim Kelly was the most important.  

   

   Nah Kelly was good but wasn't most important.  He was a decent qb but without Thurman, reed and really alot of solid offensive players Kelly couldn't carry the team on his own.  And rarely did the team sputter when he was out and Reich filled in.  

[billsfan1959]

The Bills had a core group that were great players on that team. Bruce Smith is the only one of that group that is legitimately in the argument for best ever at his respective position. To me, it is an obvious choice:

 

Bruce Smith

[Xwnyer]

Thurman his running breakaway capability and pass catching made him the best weapon those teams had

[Greg S]

78 AINEC.

[eball]

Any answer besides #78 is the wrong answer.  Sorry Jimbo, Thurman, and Andre.

[May Day 10]

1 hour ago, billsfan1959 said:

The Bills had a core group that were great players on that team. Bruce Smith is the only one of that group that is legitimately in the argument for best ever at his respective position. To me, it is an obvious choice:

 

Bruce Smith

 

Pretty much this.  Bruce Smith is an all-time NFL great.

 

They had a lot of other special players and hall of fame players.  All-time Bills-greats...  

[mushypeaches]

It's Bruce Smith and it's not even really that close

 

[Greg S]

If you break it down in Bills history as the best ever then this is how I see it

 

Offense - OJ

Defense - Bruce

Special teams - Tasker.

Coach - Saban. B2B AFL championships in 64 and 65 beat 4 straight trips to the Super Bowl. Sorry Marv.

GM - Polian

Edited February 21, 2022 by Greg S

[SC BIlls Fan]

Bruce & the Thurmanator

[JohnnyK]

Best player Bruce, most important player...Thurman he is what made the Bills offense better than all the others.

 

 

[Dr. K]

Bruce or Thurman for sure. 

[hondo in seattle]

8 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

OJ is in the best ever discussion?  With who?  OJ?

 

He's not even close to the best ever.

 

Gugs, with all due respect to your otherwise impressive football knowledge, you're so very wrong on this one.

 

OJ is a POS as a human being.  But he was angelic as runner.   A threat to take it to the house on every play. 

 

Given that the Bill's passing offense and overall defense were fairly pedestrian during OJ's time, the opposing defense had just one job to do in order to win the game: stop OJ.  They couldn't do it.

Let's not forget that defenses in the run-first era were designed to defeat running attacks and destroy running backs.  DEs existed to smother runners.  LBs were mean SOBs like Dick Butkus and Jack Lambert who didn't just want to tackle you, they tried to hospitalize you.  The defensive box was crowded with back-killers out for blood.  

 

Let's also remember that in those days the best athletes became RBs.  They were drafted in the first round.  They made the cover of SI.  GMs built their teams around them.  Groupies flocked to sleep with them.  They were the kings of the gridiron.  

 

Yet, in 1973, OJ more-or-less doubled the rushing yardage totals of Calvin Hill, Chuck Foreman, Franco Harris, Larry Csonka, Larry Brown, Mercury Morris and the other great backs in the league at the time.   OJ was on another level.    No one challenged him statistically.  And no one else could both embarrass and awe would-be tacklers the way OJ did with his ungodly combination of speed, power, vision and elusiveness.  

 

And OJ didn't do it against today's light defense where DEs are agile sack artists, and LBs are smallish but fast guys who can cover, and DC's line up their squads in nickel (which was called "pass prevent" in OJ's day) more than any other defense.  OJ would run through today's defenses like an M1 tank's sabot round through a Tesla's aluminum-steel body.  

 

Bruce and OJ are truly the best Bills ever. 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by hondo in seattle

[Stranded in Boston]

2 hours ago, cage said:

 

Always on, relentless, stone cold killer... if we had him today, we would have just had our second SB parade

"Stone cold killer" ... right on, Cage! Thurmon especially enjoyed blowing up the Dolphins (and for those of us who suffered through the 70s losses to Miami,  we couldn't get enough payback!). He'd play them with that blank look on his face, flipping the ball to the officials after his (many) TDs and loping back to the sideline. I recall one year ('98?) he was out for a few games with an ankle sprain or something, and a sideline reporter asked him how he was doing. He gritted his teeth and said, "I'll definitely be back for Miami ... I'll DEFINITELY be back for Miami".  What a competitor.

[hondo in seattle]

10 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Bruce and OJ are really the only two players in Bills history who are really in "best ever at their position" discussions so that's a pretty easy one.

 

Kelly, Thurman, Reed...  all great players and so much fun to watch.  

But in my mind, the best ever DE is a two-man conversation:

 

Bruce or Reggie

 

And the best RB ever is also a two-man conversation:

 

Jim Brown or OJ.

 

So, for me, Bruce is the best of those 90s teams.  

 

 

55 minutes ago, Greg S said:

If you break it down in Bills history as the best ever then this is how I see it

 

Offense - OJ

Defense - Bruce

Special teams - Tasker.

Coach - Saban. B2B AFL championships in 64 and 65 beat 4 straight trips to the Super Bowl. Sorry Marv.

GM - Polian

 

This is a good list.  I'd probably argue for Levy since he was mostly successful against better competition, but I see your point.  

[Gugny]

40 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

Gugs, with all due respect to your otherwise impressive football knowledge, you're so very wrong on this one.

 

OJ is a POS as a human being.  But he was angelic as runner.   A threat to take it to the house on every play. 

 

Given that the Bill's passing offense and overall defense were fairly pedestrian during OJ's time, the opposing defense had just one job to do in order to win the game: stop OJ.  They couldn't do it.

Let's not forget that defenses in the run-first era were designed to defeat running attacks and destroy running backs.  DEs existed to smother runners.  LBs were mean SOBs like Dick Butkus and Jack Lambert who didn't just want to tackle you, they tried to hospitalize you.  The defensive box was crowded with back-killers out for blood.  

 

Let's also remember that in those days the best athletes became RBs.  They were drafted in the first round.  They made the cover of SI.  GMs built their teams around them.  Groupies flocked to sleep with them.  They were the kings of the gridiron.  

 

Yet, in 1973, OJ more-or-less doubled the rushing yardage totals of Calvin Hill, Chuck Foreman, Franco Harris, Larry Csonka, Larry Brown, Mercury Morris and the other great backs in the league at the time.   OJ was on another level.    No one challenged him statistically.  And no one else could both embarrass and awe would-be tacklers the way OJ did with his ungodly combination of speed, power, vision and elusiveness.  

 

And OJ didn't do it against today's light defense where DEs are agile sack artists, and LBs are smallish but fast guys who can cover, and DC's line up their squads in nickel (which was called "pass prevent" in OJ's day) more than any other defense.  OJ would run through today's defenses like an M1 tank's sabot round through a Tesla's aluminum-steel body.  

 

Bruce and OJ are truly the best Bills ever. 

 

 

 

 

I actually think I misunderstood the comment. When someone else said "best ever" I thought he meant league-wide.  If this is just Bills team rankings, then yes .. I absolutely agree that OJ was the best Bills RB ever.  But they should take his name off the wall (sorry, couldn't/didn't want to help myself)!

[Nester]

Has anyone said Bruce? 😁

[KenMac]

78

[Buftex]

It seems like every time a discussion comes up about the Super Bowl-era Bills, there is a vocal segment of fans who feel the need to "keep it real" and declare that Kelly and Reed (in particular) were just average,  "good", or not great.  In this particular vote, I chose Bruce Smith, but it seems like people really under-appreciate how truly great all of those guys were.

[Greg S]

2 minutes ago, Buftex said:

It seems like every time a discussion comes up about the Super Bowl-era Bills, there is a vocal segment of fans who feel the need to "keep it real" and declare that Kelly and Reed (in particular) were just average,  "good", or not great.  In this particular vote, I chose Bruce Smith, but it seems like people really under-appreciate how truly great all of those guys were.

 

Kelly, Reed, Thomas were great players. Bills legends for sure. But only Bruce would be in the discussion for the greatest at his position. You can't say that about  anyone else on those teams.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

This is subjective and while I respect the differing opinions upthread, I personally feel that Kelly made it all “go” and was the perfect QB for those era Bills…he gets my vote.