1994 - Kelly & Reed vs Favre & Sharpe - NFL Throwback

[BillsPride12]

13 hours ago, BigDingus said:

 

No, I meant that we all consider Allen such an amazing player, that most Bills fans already rank him above Kelly as the best Bills QB ever. 

 

Not only that, I've seen fans slowly push Kelly further & further down the list of best Bills players of all time (myself included). The way people talk about him is if he was just a solid QB that got the ball to the better players around him, but watching him again reminded me that simply isn't true. 

 

He had a ton of talent, only in different ways to modern QBs. I remember many commentators & sports talk shows calling Kelly a LB that played QB due to how tough he was, but you hear the same thing today regarding Allen. Difference is when they say it about Allen, they mean he's built like a truck & runs like one too. 

 

Sorry if my wording was confusing. 

Completely agree with this. It feels like over time Bills fans have reduced Jim Kelly into another Jim McMahon but Kelly was in the upper echelon of QB's in the late 80s and early 90s. I think many people also forget we lost a couple of his prime years to the USFL too.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

What a great gem OP! Since the ‘94 season was such a clunker (7-9) compared with the SB run, it’s easy to forget there were some good individual games in there nonetheless! Reed still looking so smooth, could do it all, slot, X, contested deep balls, you name it,  what a weapon! Kelly finding the fountain of youth for this one too…

[Solomon Grundy]

Didn't Paup come to the Bills the next season?

Thurman Thomas was a bad man!!

[corta765]

On 6/14/2025 at 9:14 PM, BillsPride12 said:

I vividly remember wanting to go to this game so bad as a kid...on top of being a Bills fan I really liked those Packers teams with Favre and Sharpe too.

Nope my parents didn't get me tickets to it....thanks for stirring up some unresolved childhood PTSD 

How I feel about Bills Raiders 2002. Rich Gannon was my fav QB at the time and those Raiders were fun to watch. Begged my dad to go, nope. INSTEAD he went with buddies who had a suite lol

[corta765]

On 6/15/2025 at 12:45 PM, BillsPride12 said:

Completely agree with this. It feels like over time Bills fans have reduced Jim Kelly into another Jim McMahon but Kelly was in the upper echelon of QB's in the late 80s and early 90s. I think many people also forget we lost a couple of his prime years to the USFL too.

 

It is because in general football fans who only know the NFL 2005 on do not understand how much the game has changed and how protected the QB is now just by the rules alone. Between the protection of QB and the rules that limited what a defender can do against a WR on a hit the game favors big QB play over anything. Back before this it was way more common for average QBs to win SBs because the team itself mattered far far more and the stats by QBs looked far more pedestrian compared to now. That obviously wasn't the case and the eye test will show you how guys like Elway Kelly Farve were warriors between the hits and play they took. It is why you cannot compare era to era because the playing field changes every ten years and the game evolves.

[34-78-83]

This was a great and memorable game to be at. I still think about it often when telling my boys about the old 90's days.

[Comebackkid]

On 6/14/2025 at 9:38 PM, BigDingus said:

 

No, I meant that we all consider Allen such an amazing player, that most Bills fans already rank him above Kelly as the best Bills QB ever. 

 

Not only that, I've seen fans slowly push Kelly further & further down the list of best Bills players of all time (myself included). The way people talk about him is if he was just a solid QB that got the ball to the better players around him, but watching him again reminded me that simply isn't true. 

 

He had a ton of talent, only in different ways to modern QBs. I remember many commentators & sports talk shows calling Kelly a LB that played QB due to how tough he was, but you hear the same thing today regarding Allen. Difference is when they say it about Allen, they mean he's built like a truck & runs like one too. 

 

Sorry if my wording was confusing. 

one thing i noticed about kelly and maybe one of the contributing factors of his career being so short was, he

would stand in the pocket until the last second.   more times than not getting totally leveled and get right back up and do it again.

 

On 6/14/2025 at 9:38 PM, BigDingus said:

 

No, I meant that we all consider Allen such an amazing player, that most Bills fans already rank him above Kelly as the best Bills QB ever. 

 

Not only that, I've seen fans slowly push Kelly further & further down the list of best Bills players of all time (myself included). The way people talk about him is if he was just a solid QB that got the ball to the better players around him, but watching him again reminded me that simply isn't true. 

 

He had a ton of talent, only in different ways to modern QBs. I remember many commentators & sports talk shows calling Kelly a LB that played QB due to how tough he was, but you hear the same thing today regarding Allen. Difference is when they say it about Allen, they mean he's built like a truck & runs like one too. 

 

Sorry if my wording was confusing. 

I do this with Thurman.   I remember him as he was at the tail end of is career but watch him earlier in his prime and he was epic.   I forget just

how fast and elusive he was.

[BillsPride12]

1 hour ago, Comebackkid said:

one thing i noticed about kelly and maybe one of the contributing factors of his career being so short was, he

would stand in the pocket until the last second.   more times than not getting totally leveled and get right back up and do it again.

Kelly Tough

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

On 6/14/2025 at 8:40 PM, BigDingus said:

Was going through old game footage & figured I'd post this one. 

 

Allen is such a great & unique talent that it's almost easy to let hyperbole take over & downplay how great Kelly was.

 

His rhythm, the timing, the way he throws, and just how quick he was is a thing of beauty to watch. He escapes pressure not with his feet, but by being so quick to get the ball out of his hands (much like Brady). He knows when & where guys are going to be, then just as he hits the final step of his drop, the ball is released. 

 

If not, he takes a few steps in one direction & then lets it rip. 

 

Can't forget Reed either. He was all over the field making plays. A true WR1 that could out-physical anyone. Him & Kelly out-dueled Favre & Sharpe, and I'm glad I stumbled across this game. 

 

Also, I don't see how anyone can think these unis weren't beautiful! Hard to not feel nostalgic seeing that field, the red endzones, the red helmets + blue jerseys, man... it's criminal we don't use these as throwbacks. 

 

Anyway, hope someone out there enjoys as much as I did!

 

 

NFLThrowback is such a great YT channel to watch in the offseason. I like to watch games I haven’t seen before. And those Bills uniforms are the epitome of the 90s. 

[2003Contenders]

IIRC that was the “hug and make up” game for Kelly and Reed. The previous game, the offense struggled, and Jim and Andre had a very public and heated altercation on the sideline.

 

This GB game showed them clicking on all cylinders, and I believe Andre set the record (at that time) for the most receptions in a game.
 

Showed what a leader Jim was. 
 

Such a shame that Jim went down with a knee injury a few weeks later in a comeback attempt against the Vikings. The Bills lost the remaining 3 games without him and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1987.

 

[T master]

On 6/14/2025 at 6:40 PM, BigDingus said:

Was going through old game footage & figured I'd post this one. 

 

Allen is such a great & unique talent that it's almost easy to let hyperbole take over & downplay how great Kelly was.

 

His rhythm, the timing, the way he throws, and just how quick he was is a thing of beauty to watch. He escapes pressure not with his feet, but by being so quick to get the ball out of his hands (much like Brady). He knows when & where guys are going to be, then just as he hits the final step of his drop, the ball is released. 

 

If not, he takes a few steps in one direction & then lets it rip. 

 

Can't forget Reed either. He was all over the field making plays. A true WR1 that could out-physical anyone. Him & Kelly out-dueled Favre & Sharpe, and I'm glad I stumbled across this game. 

 

Also, I don't see how anyone can think these unis weren't beautiful! Hard to not feel nostalgic seeing that field, the red endzones, the red helmets + blue jerseys, man... it's criminal we don't use these as throwbacks. 

 

Anyway, hope someone out there enjoys as much as I did!

 

 

I'd say 2 of the toughest QB's to ever play the game !! 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

On 6/15/2025 at 6:45 AM, Marlton Bills said:

I’m sure most remember but I always like to point out that his stats don’t include the three seasons he missed due to playing in the USFL. I would estimate an additional (at least):

 10,000 yards

 70 TD’s

20 INT’s

 

 something like that.  

I always wondered what Kelly’s career trajectory would’ve looked like if he had immediately came to Buffalo instead of all that USFL crap. Kind of seemed like a waste of 3 more potential prime years. 

[Your Brown Eye]

It's funny, I was in elementary school (3rd grade) for this game, and was at a birthday party and we were playing football in the back because the classmate with the birthday had a large rectangular backyard. When my mom came to pick me up I asked about the Bills game and she told me the Bills won and the score and I did quick math in my head and thought the Bills score was unusual. So I asked how it happened and remember her vividly to this day saying "they scored a lot of touchdowns and the refs gave the Bills two points for some reason". This thread and youtube video was the first time I actually saw why "the refs gave the Bills two points" after all of these years lol

[Gregg]

On 6/14/2025 at 11:36 PM, Buffalo716 said:

Yep 0-8 or something if I recall 

 

Shows you how tough it is to come into our Barn for any franchise

 

Best home record in recent seasons.

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/what-team-has-the-best-home-record-in-the-nfl-over-the-past-5-years

 

 

[ScotSHO]

On 6/15/2025 at 11:16 AM, njbuff said:

On the flip side, the Bills haven’t beaten New Orleans at home since 1983.

 

0-4

 

Weird

Uhhh Bills Saints 2021

 

[njbuff]

1 hour ago, ScotSHO said:

Uhhh Bills Saints 2021

 

I was referring to the Bills not beating the Saints in WNY since 1983.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

[ScotSHO]

4 minutes ago, njbuff said:

I was referring to the Bills not beating the Saints in WNY since 1983.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

Gotcha