Bills at Chargers 1980 a fun watch

[Chandler#81]

 

[Beast]

I was a kid, about 13 years old then. When the Bills fell behind in the 4th by a couple scores I met my buddies and had a pick up game of football in a backyard. I remember his mother opening the back door and yelling the Bills won. We were all pretty excited!

Edited July 8, 2022 by Beast

[LeGOATski]

I'll wait to watch the NFL Game Pass 30 min version. Glad football is finally back.

[Bermuda Triangle]

Cribbs was so underrated - he was a great receiver out of the backfield as well.

[Ned Flanders]

I remember this game well, with the Bills going 5-0 with the big win and Rod Kush having the game of his life, before he unfortunately got hurt, putting him out for the rest of the year. 

 

Disgusting that the Chargers are no longer in San Diego.  Spanos stinks.

[Charles Romes]

47 minutes ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

Cribbs was so underrated - he was a great receiver out of the backfield as well.

add his USFL years to his NFL years and he’s in the Hall

[Stranded in Boston]

Thanks Chan! I had to work that day for some reason — although we had the game going on the radio — so that’s the first time I watched it in 42 years! Great ending, but I also recall that game as the one that effectively ended Jeff Nixon’s promising career. What a ball-hawk: he had something like 5 ints in the first 5 games in ‘80, but he never really recovered from that knee injury. Rod Kush had a career game as his sub (what a hitter!), but was a liability in coverage, so Chuck brought in Bill Simpson. ... I was too young for the Bills AFL championship run in the ‘60s and suffered through the 70s, but man, 1980 sure seemed like the year we were going to win it all … 😕

Edited July 8, 2022 by Stranded in Boston

[Buftex]

This is one of the 1980 games that will forever be etched in my memory.  Love the Bills every year, but 1980 is still my favorite Bills season of all...my Bills memories only go back to 1972, but this was the first year that I remember thinking "holy *****, the Bills might actually be the best team in the NFL".  This was such a great game.  Rod Kush is a relatively obscure name in Bills history, but one I will never forget, because of this game.

 

1 hour ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

Cribbs was so underrated - he was a great receiver out of the backfield as well.

An all-time Bill, as far as I am concerned.  A unique talent at the time.  If Ralph hadn't played games, and kept that team together, I really think Cribbs would be remembered the way Roger Craig is remembered by most.

[Ned Flanders]

12 minutes ago, Buftex said:

An all-time Bill, as far as I am concerned.  A unique talent at the time.  If Ralph hadn't played games, and kept that team together, I really think Cribbs would be remembered the way Roger Craig is remembered by most.

Ralph is cheap.

[Buftex]

2 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

Ralph is cheap.

He was

[Rubes]

Great stuff. What an amazing game from Kush. Also find it so interesting that big plays back then were hardly celebrated. After the punt block recovered for a TD, the players were just walking back to the sidelines as if it was just another play. These days the whole team would be going completely bonkers.

 

[dwight in philly]

The  Jan  1981 playoff loss to them still hurts .. they win , they host Oakland in the AFC chanpionship game.. Hmmm.. 

Edited July 8, 2022 by dwight in philly

[Tisker A Tasker]

We asked my dad about it and he remembers it vividly, because he's also a Dodger fan:

 

"I remember it well. Watched it at home. I had the Bills game on the big TV and the Dodgers/Astros game on the small TV, in the great room. The LAD game had post season implications, as they needed to win to force a divisional play-off.

Believe it or not, Haslett’s INT occurred almost EXACTLY the same time as when Ron Cey hit a 2 run HR (Garvey on) in bottom 8 to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead, the final score."

[Augie]

One could easily argue the Bills and the Chargers have the two best uniforms of all time. The Raiders might round out the top three.

 

This game was during college for me. It was a bit of a down period trying to follow my Bills from out of town. The options today are incredible compared to not all that long ago. I mean, in the early 90’s I would go to Chili’s every Tuesday (I think it was) to have lunch and read the one or two sentences they had for every NFL team in the free USA Today at the bar. Now? I can watch the 1980 Bills/Chargers game on my iPad in my recliner!  Life is pretty good. 

 

 

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Edited July 8, 2022 by Augie

[Ethan in Cleveland]

9 hours ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

Cribbs was so underrated - he was a great receiver out of the backfield as well.

He is not underrated by those that saw him play.  He was a great RB.  He was a bit faster than Thurman and could run inside or outside.  No Bills RB had the power OJ did but Cribbs and Thurman were amazing in their own right. Thurman may have been a better pure RB as he read his blockers as well as any RB the league has ever seen and found creases for 5 yard gains when there should have been none.   

1 hour ago, Augie said:

One could easily argue the Bills and the Chargers have the two best uniforms of all time. The Raiders might round out the top three.

 

This game was during college for me. It was a bit of a down period trying to follow my Bills from out of town. The options today are incredible compared to not all that long ago. I mean, in the early 90’s I would go to Chili’s every Tuesday (I think it was) to have lunch and read the one or two sentences they had for every NFL team in the free USA Today at the bar. Now? I can watch the 1980 Bills/Chargers game on my iPad in my recliner!  Life is pretty good. 

 

 

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Agree especially when you look at both the current and the various throwback options.  

Would love to see the red helmet and dark navy that Kelly wore his first year come back for a game or two.  

 

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, Ethan in Portland said:

He is not underrated by those that saw him play.  He was a great RB.  He was a bit faster than Thurman and could run inside or outside.  No Bills RB had the power OJ did but Cribbs and Thurman were amazing in their own right. Thurman may have been a better pure RB as he read his blockers as well as any RB the league has ever seen and found creases for 5 yard gains when there should have been none.   

 

Thurman also had the ability to pick up the blitz as well as any RB I can remember. 

[chongli]

This video brings back awesome memories!

 

This is the game where retired safety Bill Simpson, who was sitting in the stands that game as a fan, was convinced to come out of retirement and join the Bills, who had just lost both starting safeties to injury (Rod Kush and Jeff Nixon):

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/25/sports/simpson-of-bills-valuable-retread.html

 

"The Bills won the game but lost their starting safeties, Jeff Nixon and Rod Kush, because of knee injuries. Afterward Simpson dropped by the Buffalo locker room to say hello to the coaches - Chuck Knox, Tom Catlin and Jim Wagstaff - for whom he had played in Los Angeles.

 

Wagstaff, the defensive backfield coach, looked him over like a butcher at a cattle auction . ''You ready to come back?'' he said. Wagstaff had to be joking. Simpson had last played for the Rams 21 months before. After that had come the last knee operation and a failed physical examination in 1979 that led to an official retirement.

 

''Let's not even talk about it,'' he said. At midnight the telephone rang at his home in Garden Grove, Calif. It was Wagstaff in Buffalo. ''I need you, you know our system, how do feel physically?'' Wagstaff said in one breath.

 

[...]

 

Even though his knees felt fine after almost two years away from football, Simpson agonized. ''I was out of the game and happy in another profession,'' he said. ''I wasn't itching to get back, waiting for a phone call.''

 

But the job could be put on hold, and his wife and friends approved. So Simpson went to Buffalo, reporting Wednesday and starting Sunday, when he intercepted a Baltimore pass."

[chongli]

8 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

The  Jan  1981 playoff loss to them still hurts .. they win , they host Oakland in the AFC chanpionship game.. Hmmm.. 

 

Under today's rules, where there is no preventing two teams in the same division from playing in the divisionals, #3 Buffalo would have gone to #2 Cleveland instead of #1 San Diego. #1 San Diego would have hosted the Wild Card winner #4 Oakland. I think Buffalo would have had an easier time against Cleveland, and then would have hosted Oakland. (BTW, all three AFC division winners that year had identical 11-5 records, and Buffalo had beaten San Diego in the regular season as well. I'm still smarting they didn't get to host San Diego.)

 

Also, as I stated in another of Chandler#81's threads, I have the full videos of the Bills at Chargers in the playoffs that year, but YT won't let me upload them since the NFL completely bans them, even if directly viewed on their YT channel. I'm pretty annoyed by this because there are no videos online of that game.

Edited July 9, 2022 by chongli

[Buffalo716]

14 hours ago, Charles Romes said:

add his USFL years to his NFL years and he’s in the Hall

Adding his USFL years he still only has 7800 yards 

 

Nowhere near enough for a Hall of Fame running back… TD got in with 7800 yards because he All prod 3 times and ran for 2k 

 

cribbs didn’t do any of that 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Buffalo716

[Buffalo716]

13 hours ago, Buftex said:

He was

Ralph made OJ the highest paid player in the 70s …. Jim the highest paid QB in the 80s…. Bruce the highest paid defensive player in the league 

 

The 90s bills were nicknamed the millions dollar bills because how much he spent … in the 2000s he made Derrick Dockerey the highest paid guard in the NFL, and Mario Williams the highest paid defensive player in NFL history at the time 

 

There were times where he spent his money on the wrong people… But over 50 years he was always willing to spend

[Buftex]

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

Ralph made OJ the highest paid player in the 70s …. Jim the highest paid QB in the 80s…. Bruce the highest paid defensive player in the league 

 

The 90s bills were nicknamed the millions dollar bills because how much he spent … in the 2000s he made Derrick Dockerey the highest paid guard in the NFL, and Mario Williams the highest paid defensive player in NFL history at the time 

 

There were times where he spent his money on the wrong people… But over 50 years he was always willing to spend

He opened the purse strings a bit in his later years but sorry, he was cheap.   To say he was "always willing to spend" is not accurate.  Making OJ the highest paid player was a "no brainer", as was paying Kelly.  If he was "always willing to spend" as you suggest, Kelly would have not spent two years in the USFL. His cut-rate style ruined those early 80's teams...the best he had since the AFL championship days.  

 

I will concede you that his commitment was better after those Super Bowl years. The entire business model of the NFL changed when free-agency started in the NFL. You had to pay players. 

 

Not to be too critical of the old man (I'm eternally grateful that he kept the team in WNY) but I will contend, he got extremely lucky in stumbling upon Polian and Levy.  Both guys were hired as much for their small price tag, as their football acumen. Marv was "retread" that nobody else wanted, and as legend has it, Ralph didn't even know who Polian was when he made him GM. It was Polian who was responsible for finding Marv.  It was one of those extremely rare instances where Raph struck gold, despite himself.

[shane nelson]

Those Chuck Knox teams were so great, we were on the verge of elite status, but Ralph would not spend the money need to stay at the top.  I still think Chuck Knox was an amazing HC..GoBills  

[WotAGuy]

19 hours ago, Augie said:

The options today are incredible compared to not all that long ago. I mean, in the early 90’s I would go to Chili’s every Tuesday (I think it was) to have lunch and read the one or two sentences they had for every NFL team in the free USA Today at the bar. Now? I can watch the 1980 Bills/Chargers game on my iPad in my recliner!  Life is pretty good. 

I have dozens of DVDs of Bills games and highlights I paid and traded for, paying anywhere from $10 to $20 per game. And now almost every one of those games and the weekly highlights from the 70s are on YouTube. 
 

It’s like owning a truckload of Betamax machines.

Right @Buftex?

🤣🤣

Edited July 9, 2022 by WotAGuy

[dwight in philly]

13 hours ago, chongli said:

 

Under today's rules, where there is no preventing two teams in the same division from playing in the divisionals, #3 Buffalo would have gone to #2 Cleveland instead of #1 San Diego. #1 San Diego would have hosted the Wild Card winner #4 Oakland. I think Buffalo would have had an easier time against Cleveland, and then would have hosted Oakland. (BTW, all three AFC division winners that year had identical 11-5 records, and Buffalo had beaten San Diego in the regular season as well. I'm still smarting they didn't get to host San Diego.)

 

Also, as I stated in another of Chandler#81's threads, I have the full videos of the Bills at Chargers in the playoffs that year, but YT won't let me upload them since the NFL completely bans them, even if directly viewed on their YT channel. I'm pretty annoyed by this because there are no videos online of that game.

I agree about that playoff formula back then.. and had Romes had that pick before the TD to Smith, .. totally convinced we would have won it all.. last night i looked for the game, was surprised  it wasnt on., thanks for the info .. I think enough time has passed  for me.. could watch it now..  Funny, never  had  a prob watching wide right , but that  SD game was as painful as last jan.. 

[Wheels Not So Golden Now]

"Rediscovering The Magical Season Of The 1980 Buffalo Bills" by Rich Blake is an interesting read on that magical season that started off with a tremendous victory over the hated Dolphins after losing every single %$# time to them during the 70's. Jeff Nixon, the Bermuda Triangle, Fergy, Cribbs, Jerry Butler; ahhh those were the days. BTW, there were certainly some terrible calls by the refs during a few of those games in the 70's that definitely affected the outcomes. Little surprise considering that Shula ALWAYS got the calls to go his way.

[Buffalo Super Fan]

The 1980 Buffalo Bills is one of my favorite teams losing to the San Diego Chargers with that disco song “Charger Power” played after every Chargers touch down sucked. The city of San Diego beat my Bills and stole my Buffalo Braves it sucked at the time of the loss plus the Buffalo Sabres were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 1979 by the Pittsburgh Penguins with George Ferguson. Losing the Buffalo Braves was awful because it wasn’t like today so all you had was the NBA game of the week on television and NBA San Diego Clippers box scores to follow Randy Smith and Swen Nater with the San Diego Clippers. I am a Los Angeles Clippers fan to this day. I decided to follow the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres like I did the Buffalo Braves if they left Buffalo because it wasn’t my fault as a fan.
 

Because it isn’t my fault the city I live in Buffalo is backwards with horrible political and business leaders that is there shortsightedness if the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres moved away. Plus all the games are on television or streaming today you can follow it easier than I could the Braves when they left Buffalo in 1978 when I was 10 years old. I wouldn’t give up the Bills or the Sabres if they left Buffalo. The Los Angeles Braves-Clippers are building a $2 billion dollars arena privately done. So I think I am going to see a Braves-Clippers NBA championship soon which will be nice. Because I am a hardcore NBA basketball and the Buffalo Big 4 college basketball team fan in my opinion. Go Bills! Go Braves-Clippers! Let’s Go Buffalo  

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Buffalo Super Fan

[SoMAn]

On 7/8/2022 at 4:53 PM, Augie said:

This game was during college for me. It was a bit of a down period trying to follow my Bills from out of town. The options today are incredible compared to not all that long ago. I mean, in the early 90’s I would go to Chili’s every Tuesday (I think it was) to have lunch and read the one or two sentences they had for every NFL team in the free USA Today at the bar. Now? I can watch the 1980 Bills/Chargers game on my iPad in my recliner!  Life is pretty good. 

 

 

.

 

 

.

Times have certainly changed. We are probably about the same age.

Relocating to metro Atlanta in mid-80’s, finding a crumb of Bills news was a chore. A few seconds on ESPN or a sentence or two in USA Today if you were lucky.
No sports bars with satellite feeds and still a decade away from practical smaller residential satellite dishes. No internet. No cell phones. 
Around that time I found a large local bookstore in Atlanta where I could get the Sunday Buffalo News, usually by the following Friday. At least there was decent enough Bills’ content on the days leading into and throughout the season. 
The difference in today’s instant access is analogous to having to cross the continent by covered wagon in months compared to jetting from NY to L.A. in a few hours. 
You young whipper snappers with your fancy smart phones are the beneficiaries of a technical era in which you don’t know know anything other than immediate gratification. You spoiled little bastards! 😜

USA Today can SMD

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

Charlie Jones with the beard…when beards weren’t cool….

[WotAGuy]

1 hour ago, SoMAn said:

Times have certainly changed. We are probably about the same age.

Relocating to metro Atlanta in mid-80’s, finding a crumb of Bills news was a chore. A few seconds on ESPN or a sentence or two in USA Today if you were lucky.
No sports bars with satellite feeds and still a decade away from practical smaller residential satellite dishes. No internet. No cell phones. 
Around that time I found a large local bookstore in Atlanta where I could get the Sunday Buffalo News, usually by the following Friday. At least there was decent enough Bills’ content on the days leading into and throughout the season. 
The difference in today’s instant access is analogous to having to cross the continent by covered wagon in months compared to jetting from NY to L.A. in a few hours. 
You young whipper snappers with your fancy smart phones are the beneficiaries of a technical era in which you don’t know know anything other than immediate gratification. You spoiled little bastards! 😜

USA Today can SMD

This brings back memories!  Moved to Syracuse in the 80s and found a newstand that had the Buffalo News Sunday edition the same day and the weekday editions a day or three later. You could reserve a copy by having them write your name in a big red ledger book. 
 

Home and most away games were not always shown on the Syracuse stations, especially when the Bills were terrible and the Jets or Giants were on at the same time. There was no local radio coverage so I could sometimes get the game on a Buffalo or Rochester AM station (signals carried a lot farther in the analog days), but usually it was just static and the game faded in and out. 
 

It was an awful lot of work to follow a friggin 2-14 team. It was really frustrating when Kelly arrived and interest in the Bills skyrocketed, but it took a few seasons to consistently show the games on local TV. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by WotAGuy

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

On 7/8/2022 at 4:21 PM, dwight in philly said:

The  Jan  1981 playoff loss to them still hurts .. they win , they host Oakland in the AFC chanpionship game.. Hmmm.. 

 

Yes..the playoff loss…Romes dropped the INT that would have ended the game…but, as I recall, there was a massive snowstorm in Buffalo the Championship weekend…would have been a interesting game.

 

[SoMAn]

24 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

This brings back memories!  Moved to Syracuse in the 80s and found a newstand that had the Buffalo News Sunday edition the same day and the weekday editions a day or three later. You could reserve a copy by having them write your name in a big red ledger book. 
 

Home and most away games were not always shown on the Syracuse stations, especially when the Bills were terrible and the Jets or Giants were on at the same time. There was no local radio coverage so I could sometimes get the game on a Buffalo or Rochester AM station (signals carried a lot farther in the analog days), but usually it was just static and the game faded in and out. 
 

It was an awful lot of work to follow a friggin 2-14 team. It was really frustrating when Kelly arrived and interest in the Bills skyrocketed, but it took a few seasons to consistently show the games on local TV. 

 Fortunately, the satellite revolution was coming in about the time the team was ascending into a playoff power, making it easier for us out of town transplants to witness the team’s rise.
 In the late 80’s Sports bars were discovering the advantages of catering to a dedicated team fan base, so in Atlanta there were a couple of ‘Bills bars’ that were sure to be a gathering spot for the pre-mafia fan base.
 Good fun and great way to commune with the fellow faithful.
 Eventually, residential dishes and NFL Sunday Ticket displaced the weekly sports bar. As convenient as the bars were at the time, it could get expensive and it was risky enjoying a few adult beverages unless you had a dedicated driver.

 As I get older, the comfort of my own easy chair and HDTV to never miss a game* are a luxury, though I’m hoping to join the mafia for at least one game at our local Anchor Bar in Kennesaw. 

* about the only time my viewing was interrupted was when some doofus let a Mylar balloon loose, hitting power lines outside the stadium and it blew out all power for the broadcast of the Chargers against the Trent Edwards-led Bills. 
 

[WotAGuy]

1 minute ago, SoMAn said:

 Fortunately, the satellite revolution was coming in about the time the team was ascending into a playoff power, making it easier for us out of town transplants to witness the team’s rise.
 In the late 80’s Sports bars were discovering the advantages of catering to a dedicated team fan base, so in Atlanta there were a couple of ‘Bills bars’ that were sure to be a gathering spot for the pre-mafia fan base.
 Good fun and great way to commune with the fellow faithful.
 Eventually, residential dishes and NFL Sunday Ticket displaced the weekly sports bar. As convenient as the bars were at the time, it could get expensive and it was risky enjoying a few adult beverages unless you had a dedicated driver.

 As I get older, the comfort of my own easy chair and HDTV to never miss a game* are a luxury, though I’m hoping to join the mafia for at least one game at our local Anchor Bar in Kennesaw. 

* about the only time my viewing was interrupted was when some doofus let a Mylar balloon loose, hitting power lines outside the stadium and it blew out all power for the broadcast of the Chargers against the Trent Edwards-led Bills. 
 

My buddy installed one of those massive 6-foot dishes in his yard. I think it’s still there, under 30 years of undergrowth. 🤣

[chongli]

11 hours ago, Buffalo Super Fan said:

The 1980 Buffalo Bills is one of my favorite teams losing to the San Diego Chargers with that disco song “Charger Power” played after every Chargers touch down sucked.

 

 

That song drove me crazy.

 

[And my friend in elementary school sometimes sang a song like "We're the Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers...we're gonna win!". This was growing up in Chautauqua County, btw. They were a good team in the late 70's and early 80's. And another friend of mine in school was a big-time Pittsburgh Steelers fan...ugh. Eventually we became not friends anymore, lol]

[stuvian]

was waiting for Len Dawson to light up a smoke like he used to do on the sideline

[Mike in Horseheads]

San Diego never should have lost the Chargers to LA where nobody cares about either team especially the Chargers.  Makes me feel good that the Bills were able to work out a deal on a new stadium or we'd pry be in the same situation.

[Gugny]

12 hours ago, SoMAn said:

 Fortunately, the satellite revolution was coming in about the time the team was ascending into a playoff power, making it easier for us out of town transplants to witness the team’s rise.
 In the late 80’s Sports bars were discovering the advantages of catering to a dedicated team fan base, so in Atlanta there were a couple of ‘Bills bars’ that were sure to be a gathering spot for the pre-mafia fan base.
 Good fun and great way to commune with the fellow faithful.
 Eventually, residential dishes and NFL Sunday Ticket displaced the weekly sports bar. As convenient as the bars were at the time, it could get expensive and it was risky enjoying a few adult beverages unless you had a dedicated driver.

 As I get older, the comfort of my own easy chair and HDTV to never miss a game* are a luxury, though I’m hoping to join the mafia for at least one game at our local Anchor Bar in Kennesaw. 

* about the only time my viewing was interrupted was when some doofus let a Mylar balloon loose, hitting power lines outside the stadium and it blew out all power for the broadcast of the Chargers against the Trent Edwards-led Bills. 
 

 

I don't have satellite TV.  During the drought, when the Bills were rarely on regular CBS/Fox affiliates (I live in northeastern NY ... so Giants and Jets got dibs every Sunday), I'd go to a local bar/restaurant to watch the Bills games.  On average, it cost me about $45 every time I went.  Glad those days are over (for now).

[eball]

20 hours ago, SoMAn said:

 Fortunately, the satellite revolution was coming in about the time the team was ascending into a playoff power, making it easier for us out of town transplants to witness the team’s rise.
 In the late 80’s Sports bars were discovering the advantages of catering to a dedicated team fan base, so in Atlanta there were a couple of ‘Bills bars’ that were sure to be a gathering spot for the pre-mafia fan base.
 Good fun and great way to commune with the fellow faithful.
 Eventually, residential dishes and NFL Sunday Ticket displaced the weekly sports bar. As convenient as the bars were at the time, it could get expensive and it was risky enjoying a few adult beverages unless you had a dedicated driver.

 As I get older, the comfort of my own easy chair and HDTV to never miss a game* are a luxury, though I’m hoping to join the mafia for at least one game at our local Anchor Bar in Kennesaw. 

* about the only time my viewing was interrupted was when some doofus let a Mylar balloon loose, hitting power lines outside the stadium and it blew out all power for the broadcast of the Chargers against the Trent Edwards-led Bills. 
 

 

Good stuff.  I moved to Atlanta in ‘93 and vividly remember calling sports bars to ask if they could pick up Bills’ preseason games.  For a year or two I would go to one of the Atlanta Bills bars for the regular season but I can’t remember the name.  Then DirecTV came around and I signed up immediately to get the Ticket.