OJ Buffalo Memories

[Sojourner]

Someone said to me last year when he died that he was the Josh Allen for the Bills that era…

 

Never saw him play other than old footage and that thanksgiving game against Detroit, wow. What a football player he was!

[Just Jack]

 

 

 

 

[Chandler#81]

His ‘75 season. Notice how often he isn’t even touched because of his speed and ‘shimmy shakes’

 

 

[HOUSE]

Best Running back ever..

[PrimeTime101]

8 hours ago, HOUSE said:

Best Running back ever..

one of the best for sure..

 

but....

[Augie]

9 hours ago, HOUSE said:

Best Running back ever..

 

…and he never missed a flight! 

[Chandler#81]

‘The Run!’

Edited August 4 by Chandler#81

[Chandler#81]

 

[Gregg]

2,003 yards in 14 games is still the gold standard for RBs. Only RB to rush for over 2000 in just 14 games.  I don't see that record ever being broken especially with the NFL more of a passing league. 

[mannc]

7 minutes ago, Gregg said:

2,003 yards in 14 games is still the gold standard for RBs. Only RB to rush for over 2000 in just 14 games.  I don't see that record ever being broken especially with the NFL more of a passing league. 

I believe the Bills passed for less than 1000 yards that year.  Incredible.  

[hondo in seattle]

I have mixed feelings.  I was about 10 when OJ was drafted.  He was my only sports hero ever, and a lesson why you shouldn't have athletes as heroes.

 

I'm annoyed when I see lists of the greatest RBs ever and he's not #1 or at least #2 behind the great Jim Brown.  OJ was otherworldly with the ball.  In 1973 - back when the best athletes became RBs - OJ nearly equaled the combined output of the 2nd and 3rd best backs in the league.  Imagine this year some excellent QBs throw for 4,000+ yards but Josh throws for 7,000+. It was something like that.  Neither Tom Brady nor anyone else ever had a season so statistically off the charts as OJ's.  In his prime, OJ may have been the best RB ever, maybe the best football player ever.  He was like an Olympic god competing against mortals.  

And it wasn't just the numbers that tell us this.  You had to watch him play to truly understand.  He did things no other human could do and did it against defenses designed and manned to stop the run.  Not like today's backs running against marshmallow Nickel and Dime defenses and breaking tackles by skinny coverage LBs who are more agile than they are tough instead of the monstrous brutes of OJ's day.  

I still feel a certain joy watching clips of OJ and marveling at the athletic beauty of it.  But I hate the man for what he did later and want him off the WOF.  

 

 

[Gregg]

3 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

I have mixed feelings.  I was about 10 when OJ was drafted.  He was my only sports hero ever, and a lesson why you shouldn't have athletes as heroes.

 

I'm annoyed when I see lists of the greatest RBs ever and he's not #1 or at least #2 behind the great Jim Brown.  OJ was otherworldly with the ball.  In 1973 - back when the best athletes became RBs - OJ nearly equaled the combined output of the 2nd and 3rd best backs in the league.  Imagine this year some excellent QBs throw for 4,000+ yards but Josh throws for 7,000+. It was something like that.  Neither Tom Brady nor anyone else ever had a season so statistically off the charts as OJ's.  In his prime, OJ may have been the best RB ever, maybe the best football player ever.  He was like an Olympic god competing against mortals.  

And it wasn't just the numbers that tell us this.  You had to watch him play to truly understand.  He did things no other human could do and did it against defenses designed and manned to stop the run.  Not like today's backs running against marshmallow Nickel and Dime defenses and breaking tackles by skinny coverage LBs who are more agile than they are tough instead of the monstrous brutes of OJ's day.  

I still feel a certain joy watching clips of OJ and marveling at the athletic beauty of it.  But I hate the man for what he did later and want him off the WOF.  

 

 

 

It will be interesting to see what the Bills do when they move into the new stadium.  Will OJ be on the WOF in the new place or will they remove him from it. 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

It will be interesting to see what the Bills do when they move into the new stadium.  Will OJ be on the WOF in the new place or will they remove him from it. 

My bet would be no. 

[mannc]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

I have mixed feelings.  I was about 10 when OJ was drafted.  He was my only sports hero ever, and a lesson why you shouldn't have athletes as heroes.

 

I'm annoyed when I see lists of the greatest RBs ever and he's not #1 or at least #2 behind the great Jim Brown.  OJ was otherworldly with the ball.  In 1973 - back when the best athletes became RBs - OJ nearly equaled the combined output of the 2nd and 3rd best backs in the league.  Imagine this year some excellent QBs throw for 4,000+ yards but Josh throws for 7,000+. It was something like that.  Neither Tom Brady nor anyone else ever had a season so statistically off the charts as OJ's.  In his prime, OJ may have been the best RB ever, maybe the best football player ever.  He was like an Olympic god competing against mortals.  

And it wasn't just the numbers that tell us this.  You had to watch him play to truly understand.  He did things no other human could do and did it against defenses designed and manned to stop the run.  Not like today's backs running against marshmallow Nickel and Dime defenses and breaking tackles by skinny coverage LBs who are more agile than they are tough instead of the monstrous brutes of OJ's day.  

I still feel a certain joy watching clips of OJ and marveling at the athletic beauty of it.  But I hate the man for what he did later and want him off the WOF.  

 

 

He’s the only Buffalo Bills player in franchise history who was unquestionably the best player in the NFL during his prime. 

[Shaw66]

On 8/3/2025 at 5:06 AM, Chandler#81 said:

His ‘75 season. Notice how often he isn’t even touched because of his speed and ‘shimmy shakes’

 

 

He was just spectacular. 

[hondo in seattle]

24 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

He was just spectacular. 

 

On 8/3/2025 at 2:06 AM, Chandler#81 said:

His ‘75 season. Notice how often he isn’t even touched because of his speed and ‘shimmy shakes’

 

 

 

Not just the speed and shimmy shakes, though both were great, but he could see the field in a way few backs can.  It's like he had some innate sense of gridiron geometry and could not only see where everyone was but where they were going to be in the next few moments and optimally picked his route through all those moving pieces accordingly.  And sometimes used the shoulder jukes and shimmy shakes to get a defender to move every-so-slightly out of his way. 

 

Well, not always "ever-so-slightly."  I recall plays where defenders got so tangled up trying to stay with Juice's moves that they fell on their butts. 

 

Btw, you wouldn't know it looking at these highlights, but OJ frequently had a spy on him.  Somehow, OJ got him out of the picture.

[Shaw66]

1 minute ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

 

Not just the speed and shimmy shakes, though both were great, but he could see the field in a way few backs can.  It's like he had some innate sense of gridiron geometry and could not only see where everyone was but where they were going to be in the next few moments and optimally picked his route through all those moving pieces accordingly.  And sometimes used the shoulder jukes and shimmy shakes to get a defender to move every-so-slightly out of his way. 

 

Well, not always "ever-so-slightly."  I recall plays where defenders got so tangled up trying to stay with Juice's moves that they fell on their butts. 

 

Btw, you wouldn't know it looking at these highlights, but OJ frequently had a spy on him.  Somehow, OJ got him out of the picture.

All true. 

 

OJ always played in short sleeves. Someone asked him why, and he said that somehow the skin on his arms could "feel" the presence of tacklers nearby. Sounds, improbably, but that "innate sense" you talk about was real, and there must be some explanation for it. Barry Sanders had it, too.