What was it like going to 4 straight Super Bowls? Inside the NFL tells the story

[Shaw66]

30 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I love Levy so I hate to pile on, but I'll tell this story...

 

In 1983, the Purdue Boilermakers basketball squad was predicted to finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten.  It lacked the kind of prototypical talent seen on other squads.  But the Boilers had some uniqueness to them.  For example, center Jim Rowinski was only 6'8," clumsy, and could barely dribble.  But he was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Keady believed that if he could leverage the team's odd and disparate skills, and play together as a team, they could make a run.  But the team needed to believe, too.  Only they didn't because of their lack of accomplishment in the past and the poor assessments of them in the media.

 

So Keady hired a motivational consultant/mental performance coach named David Cook to work with the team.  And the Bad News Boilers went on to shock the basketball world that season by winning the Big Ten title and earning a NCAA Tournament berth.  Rowinski was named Big Ten co-MVP.

 

I always thought Levy should have hired a mental performance coach because it was clear there was something mentally off with the Bills in the Super Bowls.   

Yes. Good story.

 

To be fair to Marv, it was a different era. There were a lot of old-school coaches back then, and they all were doing it the way they'd seen their predecessors do it. These days, every coach knows that he needs to access resources of all kinds to improve performance.  Still, most old-school coaches understood that motivating their players was part of the job.

[SoCal Deek]

3 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I love Levy so I hate to pile on, but I'll tell this story...

 

In 1983, the Purdue Boilermakers basketball squad was predicted to finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten.  It lacked the kind of prototypical talent seen on other squads.  But the Boilers had some uniqueness to them.  For example, center Jim Rowinski was only 6'8," clumsy, and could barely dribble.  But he was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Keady believed that if he could leverage the team's odd and disparate skills, and play together as a team, they could make a run.  But the team needed to believe, too.  Only they didn't because of their lack of accomplishment in the past and the poor assessments of them in the media.

 

So Keady hired a motivational consultant/mental performance coach named David Cook to work with the team.  And the Bad News Boilers went on to shock the basketball world that season by winning the Big Ten title and earning a NCAA Tournament berth.  Rowinski was named Big Ten co-MVP.

 

I always thought Levy should have hired a mental performance coach because it was clear there was something mentally off with the Bills in the Super Bowls.   

Purdue? Those bastards! 

[hondo in seattle]

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Yes. Good story.

 

To be fair to Marv, it was a different era. There were a lot of old-school coaches back then, and they all were doing it the way they'd seen their predecessors do it. These days, every coach knows that he needs to access resources of all kinds to improve performance.  Still, most old-school coaches understood that motivating their players was part of the job.

 

You're right as usual, Shaw.  Just learned that David Cook, Purdue's mental performance guy, also served as mental training coach for the San Antonio Spurs during their championship runs. 

 

When I first became an army officer my attitude was: leave me alone... this is my platoon, I'm fully capable, and don't need help.  Later as I grew as a leader, I wanted to harness all the outside resources I could get, not because I lacked self-confidence, but because I wanted to win and win big.  

[BillsShredder83]

On 9/2/2025 at 9:52 PM, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

“Listen, we might have taken a bad beat, but with perseverance, hard work and patience we can make anything possible. Take Timothy McVeigh for example” 

Bruh 🤣🤣🤣

 

Side note, theres

 

"ok city bombing: one day in America" on Hulu.

 

I was too young to understand it, and by the trial it felt like old news to my brain. I couldn't fathom why people still talked about it.

 

Im a huge documentary guy. This one is absolutely in my top 3 - Ken Burns Vietnam miles in front of everyone

 

 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

11 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Bruh 🤣🤣🤣

 

Side note, theres

 

"ok city bombing: one day in America" on Hulu.

 

I was too young to understand it, and by the trial it felt like old news to my brain. I couldn't fathom why people still talked about it.

 

Im a huge documentary guy. This one is absolutely in my top 3 - Ken Burns Vietnam miles in front of everyone

 

 

I’ll have to check it out! I’m big into documentaries myself. I wanna take a stab at making one before my lifetime 

[Thrivefourfive]

17 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Bruh 🤣🤣🤣

 

Side note, theres

 

"ok city bombing: one day in America" on Hulu.

 

I was too young to understand it, and by the trial it felt like old news to my brain. I couldn't fathom why people still talked about it.

 

Im a huge documentary guy. This one is absolutely in my top 3 - Ken Burns Vietnam miles in front of everyone

 

 

 

17 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

I’ll have to check it out! I’m big into documentaries myself. I wanna take a stab at making one before my lifetime 

Include the Waco docs and dramas as you go. 

[Pete]

On 9/1/2025 at 1:46 PM, HIT BY SPIKES said:

FOR JIMBO IT WAS LIKE THIS...

 

 

Cocaine was written by JJ Cale- it’s his songs not Clayton’s.  JJ Cale is SlowHand- not Clapton.  After Midnight- JJ Cale as well.  Clapton is a thief

[Pete]

18 hours ago, Pete said:

Cocaine was written by JJ Cale- it’s his songs not Clayton’s.  JJ Cale is SlowHand- not Clapton.  After Midnight- JJ Cale as well.  Clapton is a thief

Funny story.  I was living in CT by Mohegan Sun.  I was moving to Massachusetts, and had an antique couch listed on Craigslist. A young lady from NYC was most interested in the couch, and her and her assistant drove from NYC to Norwich CT, a good distance.  
 

The young lady and her assistant show up to my apartment.  I’m playing Naturally on vinyl.  My girlfriend is over, and she’s helping me clean apartment for move.  She said nobody would offer any money for “that couch”. Lol

 

The young lady commented on what great music was playing.  I said that is JJ Cale, one of the all time great guitarists and songwriters.   No one knows JJ Cale,yet Everyone knows JJ Cale.  Cocaine.  JJ.  After Midnight- JJ.  Call Me The Breeze-JJ.  SlowHand is JJ.  Clapton is a fraud- he’s not Slow Hand- that’s JJs Cape. I ***** talked Clapton, and waxed poetic about JJ 

 

Young lady was quite interested in my rant.  Let me tell you who I am.  I am Eric Claptons Daughters roommate.  My girlfriend’s lady radar heard that, she knows everything about Clapton, runs out-and grills the girl.  “Who’s your mother?  What are your siblings names?  Where does Eric vacation often?  Which island?  How old is Eric’s  daughter?……this girl goes on vacation with Eric and his family “.  After thorough interrogation, she tells me”that is Eric Claptons Daughters roommate.

 

We hung out for a bit.  She thanked us for the beautiful couch,  and she that had a great time.  She hands me $600 LOL.

 

-So I ***** talked about Eric Clapton to his family, unknowingly lol.

 

-My old couch is in Eric Claptons daughter’s apartment.  I’m sure Eric has sat in it since lol.

 

-the oh so sweet feeling when I flashed the $600 in my GFs face, after she doubted anyone wanted that old couch.  I reminded her that because of that old couch,, we got to meet Claptons daughters roommate.

 

 

Edited September 7 by Pete

[Thrivefourfive]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Funny story.  I was living in CT by Mohegan Sun.  I was moving to Massachusetts, and had an antique coach listed on Craigslist. A young lady from NYC was most interested in the coach, and her and her assistant drove from NYC to Norwich CT, a good distance.  
 

The young lady and her assistant show up to my apartment.  I’m playing Naturally on vinyl.  My girlfriend is over, and she’s helping me clean apartment for move.  She said nobody would offer any money for “that couch”. Lol

 

The young lady commented on what great music was playing.  I said that is JJ Cale, one of the all time great guitarists and songwriters.   No one knows JJ Cale,yet Everyone knows JJ Cale.  Cocaine.  JJ.  After Midnight- JJ.  Call Me The Breeze-JJ.  SlowHand is JJ.  Clapton is a fraud- he’s not Slow Hand- that’s JJs Cape. I ***** talked Clapton, and waxed poetic about JJ 

 

Young lady was quite interested in my rant.  Let me tell you who I am.  I am Eric Claptons Daughters roommate.  My girlfriend’s lady radar heard that, she knows everything about Clapton, runs out-and grills the girl.  “Who’s your mother?  What are your siblings names?  Where does Eric vacation often?  Which island?  How old is Eric’s  daughter?……this girl goes on vacation with Eric and his family “.  After thorough interrogation, she tells me”that is Eric Claptons Daughters roommate.

 

We hung out for a bit.  She thanked us for the beautiful coach and she had a great time.  She hands me $600 LOL.

 

-So I ***** talked Eric Clapton to his family, unknowingly lol.

 

-My old couch is in Eric Claptons daughter’s apartment.  I’m sure Eric has sat in it since lol.

 

-the oh so sweet feeling when I flashed the $600 in my GFs face, after she doubted anyone wanted that old coach.  I reminded her that because of that old coach, we got to meet Claptons daughters roommate.

 

 

Would cocaine help me understand the Who’s who in your story?

[Pete]

 

 

 

52 minutes ago, Thrivefourfive said:

 

Edited September 6 by Pete

[RyanC883]

Losing a Super Bowl to a backup QB and mediocre RB and WR unit, really disappointing.  

[HIT BY SPIKES]

11 hours ago, Pete said:

Cocaine was written by JJ Cale- it’s his songs not Clayton’s.  JJ Cale is SlowHand- not Clapton.  After Midnight- JJ Cale as well.  Clapton is a thief

 

Clapton also stole Bob Marley's "I shot the Sheriff".

[strive_for_five_guy]

On 9/4/2025 at 10:39 PM, Livinginthepast said:

I was 22 when they made it to the first one. If they played that game 10 times, the Bills win 9/10  but every piece of bad luck hit the Bills that night. Sure Bellichick came up with some wizardry, the Bills players were overconfident and possibly hung over, Marv wasnt a coach to make adjustments on the fly. But all that considered they should have beaten that Giants team. Had they won that first game every game after changes. Who knows maybe they wouldnt have gone to 4 in a row? I think they would have won 2-3 but after that loss got in their heads they could never get over the hump and could never do what they had to do to win in that high pressure game. Watching Norwood miss is still one of the worst moments of my life (as trivial as that seems with all of lifes triumphs and tragedies).  Over the past 34 years, when I have seen replays of the game and the miss, I sometimes get a fleeting memory of that horrible despair I felt in that moment and its awful. They have to win one to get that weight off me!!

Hate to say it, but it sounds like you’re living in the past.

[Victory Formation]

What is it like to go to FOUR Super Bowls and lose them back to back to back to back! 

[Pete]

5 hours ago, HIT BY SPIKES said:

 

Clapton also stole Bob Marley's "I shot the Sheriff".

Strange Brew is a stolen riff from Buddy Guy and Junior Wells song Hey Lawdy Mama.

 

Jim Gordon wrote Layla, Rita Coolidge wrote the Piano part.

 

Clapton stole Patti Boyd from George Harrison.

 

Clapton a slippery thief.

[Nihilarian]

On 9/1/2025 at 1:43 PM, Joe Ferguson said:

There were so many chances of Bills winning their first  Super Bowl game. Cornelius Bennett dropping that pass from Hostetler that could have been a pick 6 was huuuge!

For me, it was Bruce Smith tackling Hostetler in the end zone...that backup QB just curled up around the ball and took the safety. 

 

Because the starting QB, Phil Simms, was out injured, nobody thought the NY Giants had a chance. Plus, Buffalo must have missed the previous Giants game where they beat the Niners 13-15 at SF. Holding Joe Montana to 190 yards passing and one TD. That Giant defense was #1 in points allowed, #2 in yards allowed that season. 

 

If they had only run Thurman more than 15 times, in which he had 135 yards for those attempts. 

[machine gun kelly]

On 9/1/2025 at 12:44 PM, hondo in seattle said:

At the time of our first Super Bowl, I was with a Cavalry unit deep in the Arabian Desert for the First Gulf War.  Kickoff was at something like 2:30am local time, but I was far out of TV or radio reach.  The only thing we could weakly pick up sometimes on a shortwave radio was the BBC World Service, which didn't usually cover American sports.   Nonetheless, I asked the soldiers on radio watch that night to wake me up if they heard anything.  

 

Just before dawn, one of my soldiers shook me violently as I lay asleep, "Sir!  Wake up!  The Bills won!  The Bills won!"

 

I jumped out of my cot and asked him the final score.  But he seemed confused.  When I pressed him, he admitted the signal from BBC World Service was full of static and he wasn't sure what the announcer actually said.  Something about a last-second field goal.

Frantic, I called higher headquarters on the army FM radio but they hadn't gotten an update.  So I glued myself to the shortwave radio, listening to the BBC.  There was so much hissing and crackling, I only understood maybe 1 word in 10.  But finally, hours later, came the crushing disappointment.  To this day, I've never watched a replay of that game and never will.  

Hondo, first thank you very much for your service.  As my father said as he was in during the Korean War (Navy), freedom isn’t free.

 

As far as that day, I had just moved to Tampa 5 days or so before and was with my fraternity brother who transferred to USF from Oswego.  I moved to Tampa as was starting my Masters program and landed my first career job.  Well as many of you know the Bills-Giants SB was at the old sombrero, and where On Bucs Drive (the now training facility was the Tampa Mall.  The local radio station set up a Movie screen outside on the wall of Dillards (it might have been Macys) and 97 Rock had their vans and sound system where it was as loud as the stadium.  I must have seen thousands of Buffalonians there and knew quite a few.  My buddy, Joe’s friends were all Giants fans, so I was with the enemy.  We arrived at 8am and brought four cases of beer, a charcoal grill, and lawn chairs.  We had presidential type seating as right in the front of the screen, and had a lot of fun all day.  It was so heart breaking seeing wide right, and all my buddies celebrating like crazy.  Joe didn't have the heart to rub it in, and just put his arm around me.  I had tears in my eyes, and he tried to console me.  Hearing that stadium cheering in those final seconds ripped me apart.

 

That one hurt the most.  Nevertheless, it was a fun day throwing footballs around, etc. and let’s just say we had to make another beer run at noon.

 

By the way, I just finished watching NFL Matchup, and the Bills Ravens matchup was their signature review, mostly Ravens focused.  Cosell mentions at the end the Bills ran the ball 36 times in the playoff game, and states the Bills Danit 60+% of the time against the #1 rushing defense in the Ravens.   The Bills controlled the clock, and he indicates it’s why the Bills won last January.

 

It will be interesting if we do the same tonight if we control the clock and time of possession, we can hide a little more the weak spot of our secondary.

 

As always Chandman, thanks for the memories.  You are the best at that on our board.

[Livinginthepast]

7 hours ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Hate to say it, but it sounds like you’re living in the past.

[SoonerBillsFan]

On 9/1/2025 at 11:44 AM, hondo in seattle said:

At the time of our first Super Bowl, I was with a Cavalry unit deep in the Arabian Desert for the First Gulf War.  Kickoff was at something like 2:30am local time, but I was far out of TV or radio reach.  The only thing we could weakly pick up sometimes on a shortwave radio was the BBC World Service, which didn't usually cover American sports.   Nonetheless, I asked the soldiers on radio watch that night to wake me up if they heard anything.  

 

Just before dawn, one of my soldiers shook me violently as I lay asleep, "Sir!  Wake up!  The Bills won!  The Bills won!"

 

I jumped out of my cot and asked him the final score.  But he seemed confused.  When I pressed him, he admitted the signal from BBC World Service was full of static and he wasn't sure what the announcer actually said.  Something about a last-second field goal.

Frantic, I called higher headquarters on the army FM radio but they hadn't gotten an update.  So I glued myself to the shortwave radio, listening to the BBC.  There was so much hissing and crackling, I only understood maybe 1 word in 10.  But finally, hours later, came the crushing disappointment.  To this day, I've never watched a replay of that game and never will.  

First, thank you.  Second...dammit!  Lol

[Pete]

4 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

For me, it was Bruce Smith tackling Hostetler in the end zone...that backup QB just curled up around the ball and took the safety. 

 

Because the starting QB, Phil Simms, was out injured, nobody thought the NY Giants had a chance. Plus, Buffalo must have missed the previous Giants game where they beat the Niners 13-15 at SF. Holding Joe Montana to 190 yards passing and one TD. That Giant defense was #1 in points allowed, #2 in yards allowed that season. 

 

If they had only run Thurman more than 15 times, in which he had 135 yards for those attempts. 

I don’t know how Hosteler heard on the ball.  Bruce had his one arm holding the ball, and somehow Jeff switched hands without fumbling.  *****!