BigDingus Posted April 13 Posted April 13 (edited) Do people today not know how great Bruce Smith was? I came across this poll on YouTube, and my jaw dropped when I saw the results. If there were only a couple thousand votes, I'd not think much of it. But with 128k votes, I can only think that people forgot (or never knew) how good Bruce was. He's arguably this franchise's best player ever, yet it seems not many people recognize that. Am I just biased, or are these results understandable for non Bills fans? Edited April 14 by BigDingus 1 Quote
Mikie2times Posted April 13 Posted April 13 Recency bias. If it's Reggie I get it. That's like flavors of Ice Cream. But Donald and Watt are more like snickers than flavors. Reggie and Bruce are the best that have ever done it. When you watch the tape it becomes clear they're the best that ever did it. Anything short of those two guys is IQ reflecting. 7 6 1 1 Quote
13 Seconds to Mars Posted April 13 Posted April 13 They all have the ability to take over a game. 1 Quote
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted April 13 Posted April 13 Certainly some recency bias, but other things too, when people think of the Bills they think of a team that lost 4 straight SB's and because of that, weren't the most liked team. And Bruce didn't exactly have this all embracing personality either and had the drug issue. Put all these things together and the results aren't shocking. 1 Quote
BearNorth Posted April 13 Posted April 13 Watt sticks out to me as more fragile than the other 3. Quite a gap in games played between Watt & Donald vs. White and Smith, Bruce played - [Yikes] 279 games, White played 232. Donald and Watt are in the 150 games played range when they retired. 2 1 Quote
DrDawkinstein Posted April 13 Posted April 13 It's youtube poll voting. Most probably have never even watched American football, let alone know a player who was drafted 40 years ago. 1 Quote
MadPerry Posted April 13 Posted April 13 Bruce was a football GOD. Since Donald retired in his prime(IMO), we won't really ever know if he would pass Bruce. So Donald 2ND. The Minister of Defense is a solid 3. And Watt sure did a lot of commercials. Good for him. My eyes told me Smith and Donald were absolute freaks. Standouts among the best athletes. 1 Quote
BuffaloBillyG Posted April 13 Posted April 13 I would guarantee that 90% of the people that voted have never seen either Bruce or Reggie play. Being a poll from YouTube, I'd say the number that voted that don't watch football is fairly high as well. People just want to vote. They don't need to know the topic. 2 minutes ago, MadPerry said: Bruce was a football GOD. Since Donald retired in his prime(IMO), we won't really ever know if he would pass Bruce. So Donald 2ND. The Minister of Defense is a solid 3. And Watt sure did a lot of commercials. Good for him. My eyes told me Smith and Donald were absolute freaks. Standouts among the best athletes. Watt isn't even the best QB sack specialist in his own family. Quote
MadPerry Posted April 13 Posted April 13 4 minutes ago, Chicken Boo said: JJ Watt 😆 Shouldn't LT be in there instead? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nfHOQAT0-Mk Quote
machine gun kelly Posted April 13 Posted April 13 This pool is silly. Bruce was in the old fashioned 3-4, and had 200 sacks. No one has even come close. This is a bunch of kids who know nothing. 5 Quote
Big Turk Posted April 13 Posted April 13 Donald might have a case....I have never seen an entire offense game plan to block one player like I have Donald and still often times lose. There were games he was getting Quadruple teamed and on the few plays he was only being triple teamed he would make game changing plays like sacks or sack/strip/recoveries. It was unbelievable. 1 Quote
Albany,n.y. Posted April 13 Posted April 13 It's JJ Watt all the way. He missed significant time 4 different seasons. JJ played in 151 of 192 possible games, 78.6%, Bruce played in 279 of 300 games 93% which includes sitting out the season finale prior to the playoffs 4 times & a 4 game drug suspension. He also played in 20 playoff games & 4 Super Bowls. Bruce only missed significant time in 1991 when he was recovering from surgery, and the one infamous playoff game at Pittsburgh. 2 1 Quote
cba fan Posted April 13 Posted April 13 1 hour ago, BigDingus said: Do people today not know how great Bruce Smith was? I came across this pill on YouTube, and my jaw dropped when I saw the results. If there were only a couple thousand votes, I'd not think much of it. But with 128k votes, I can only think that people forgot (or never knew) how good Bruce was. He's arguably this franchise's best player ever, yet it seems not many people recognize that. Am I just biased, or are these results understandable for non Bills fans? Bruce was awesome but seemed to come up small in the biggest games. 3 1 Quote
SinceThe70s Posted April 13 Posted April 13 The poll is missing the obvious choice: None of the above. Quote
BigDingus Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 1 hour ago, BearNorth said: Watt sticks out to me as more fragile than the other 3. Quite a gap in games played between Watt & Donald vs. White and Smith, Bruce played - [Yikes] 279 games, White played 232. Donald and Watt are in the 150 games played range when they retired. 1 hour ago, Albany,n.y. said: It's JJ Watt all the way. He missed significant time 4 different seasons. JJ played in 151 of 192 possible games, 78.6%, Bruce played in 279 of 300 games 93% which includes sitting out the season finale prior to the playoffs 4 times & a 4 game drug suspension. He also played in 20 playoff games & 4 Super Bowls. Bruce only missed significant time in 1991 when he was recovering from surgery, and the one infamous playoff game at Pittsburgh. This is my biggest reason for picking Watt, though I wonder if people are holding Bruce's longevity against him, kinda similar to how Emmitt Smith is viewed in the greatest RB of all time discussion. And since this poll specifies who in their "PRIME" would get cut, maybe people think PRIME Watt had a higher ceiling than Bruce? That's my only guess other than recency bias. Quote
Steve O Posted April 14 Posted April 14 2 hours ago, BigDingus said: Do people today not know how great Bruce Smith was? I came across this pill on YouTube, and my jaw dropped when I saw the results. If there were only a couple thousand votes, I'd not think much of it. But with 128k votes, I can only think that people forgot (or never knew) how good Bruce was He's arguably this franchise's best player ever, yet it seems not many people recognize that. Am I just biased, or are these results understandable for non Bills fans? It's rare that the top overall pick actually exceeds expectations, Bruce did. 1 Quote
NoSaint Posted April 14 Posted April 14 1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said: It's youtube poll voting. Most probably have never even watched American football, let alone know a player who was drafted 40 years ago. Thats really the thing- it’s a very long stretch between 2 old and 2 pretty current guys. the other old guy both has a nifty nickname and a couple fan bases behind him I think all 4 are very close and whoever you watched least is probably who most people picked Quote
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