15 replies to this topic

[Coach55]

I was just thinking of how the current Bills are made up of a material amount of castaways and undrafted players and thought to just see the composition of early 90's Bills.  Quite amazing how much the team's starters were composed of such high draft picks and sought after players....

1st Rounders (8) - Bruce Smith (#1), Cornelius Bennett (#2),Lofton (#6), Shane Conlan (#8), Jim Kelly (#14), Ritcher (#16), Leonard Smith (#17), Wolford (#20)

2nd Rounders (3) - Odomes (29), Thomas (40), Talley (39)

That's 11 starters that were rounds 1 or 2 on the 90 Bills, not to mention they added the following other quality  replacements:

1st - Henry Jones (#26), Fina (#27)
2nd - Hansen (#53)

It's hard not to be good with the pedigree of the players we had.  This doesn't even take into consideration we had some pro-bowlers from the later rounds or undrafted - Kent Hull (und), Andre Reed (4th), Howard Ballard (11th)... Its quite sick.

By comparison - last years' Bills had 3 firsts (Dareus, Barnett and Wood) and 5 seconds (Dwan Edwards, Kelsay, Florence, Bird and Levitre)

[Coach55]

One other note - of the 11 starters on the 90 Bills drafted in rounds 1&2, only Leonard Smith was never elected to a Pro-bowl...

[eball]

This just in -- the team that went to an unprecedented four consecutive Super Bowls was loaded.  

[GOBILLS78]

eball, on 06 August 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

This just in -- the team that went to an unprecedented four consecutive Super Bowls was loaded.  

They had a lot of talent, too.  

[uncle flap]

GOBILLS78, on 06 August 2012 - 01:02 PM, said:

They had a lot of talent, too.  

[eball]

GOBILLS78, on 06 August 2012 - 01:02 PM, said:

They had a lot of talent, too.  

In the spirit of Olympic women's beach volleyball, I'm glad you enjoyed that set.  

[BRAWNDO]

eball, on 06 August 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

This just in -- the team that went to an unprecedented four consecutive Super Bowls was loaded.  

If they were a littlest less loaded in Tampa they probably would have won

[BringBackFergy]

Dangnabit- Brady in the 6th round, Stevie Johnson in the 7th and other notable NFL players who were drafted late but proved successful screw up your theory.

[Cub Reporter]

I wish I could have witnessed those years myself, they sounded awesome.

[atlbillsfan1975]

Cub Reporter, on 06 August 2012 - 04:46 PM, said:

I wish I could have witnessed those years myself, they sounded awesome.

Those years were amazing.
I was in high school and would go watch them with my dad, uncle, and cousin at a sports bar in Atl. I was lucky enough to go to 2 of the 4 superbowls.
I also got to know some of the players on the team, due to my families ties with the Bills.
Richter was all class. A real beast. He worked out crazy hours.
Kelly was a big clown. use to always bust our oranges.
Lofton was a gentleman through and through.

The early 90's Bills was a great time to be a fan of the team. You always KNEW you were going to win a game...until the Super Bowl, sadly. I hope Chan can install that same attitude to this team. i think the talent is pretty close, they just have to believe they deserve it.

Edited by atlbillsfan1975, 06 August 2012 - 05:03 PM.

[JinWPB]

Coach55, on 06 August 2012 - 12:33 PM, said:

I was just thinking of how the current Bills are made up of a material amount of castaways and undrafted players and thought to just see the composition of early 90's Bills.  Quite amazing how much the team's starters were composed of such high draft picks and sought after players....

1st Rounders (8) - Bruce Smith (#1), Cornelius Bennett (#2),Lofton (#6), Shane Conlan (#8), Jim Kelly (#14), Ritcher (#16), Leonard Smith (#17), Wolford (#20)

2nd Rounders (3) - Odomes (29), Thomas (40), Talley (39)

That's 11 starters that were rounds 1 or 2 on the 90 Bills, not to mention they added the following other quality  replacements:

1st - Henry Jones (#26), Fina (#27)
2nd - Hansen (#53)

It's hard not to be good with the pedigree of the players we had.  This doesn't even take into consideration we had some pro-bowlers from the later rounds or undrafted - Kent Hull (und), Andre Reed (4th), Howard Ballard (11th)... Its quite sick.

By comparison - last years' Bills had 3 firsts (Dareus, Barnett and Wood) and 5 seconds (Dwan Edwards, Kelsay, Florence, Bird and Levitre)

What about 1st rnd: Spiller, Mckelvin,Merriman 2nd rnd: ,A.Williams,

Edited by JinWPB, 06 August 2012 - 05:14 PM.

[Hopeful]

Cub Reporter, on 06 August 2012 - 04:46 PM, said:

I wish I could have witnessed those years myself, they sounded awesome.

They were.  And part of what made them so awesome was living through the 2-14 debacles that preceded them.

[Jim in Anchorage]

Cub Reporter, on 06 August 2012 - 04:46 PM, said:

I wish I could have witnessed those years myself, they sounded awesome.

They were not that great. I lived though 4 years of going to buddy's houses for the SB, drinking beer with the guys and gals, man we are going to party like it's 1999 when the Bills win!
End of game? Well gotta go home. Work tomorrow

[machine gun kelly]

The main difference is is this the era of free agency in it's current form.  That old school ended when we didn't m,ake it.  The larger concern for our team is we lost Polian, and then Butler who was fantastic, but not Polian with a long term vision (God Bless his soul).

Our FO as I've said many times has been our achilles heel.  Why? When you have great FO leadership, you hire well, pick top talent, and are smart enough to an excellent head coach.

We've been in the desert for years.  Don't lose sight of a great FO now.  I know it takes years for that to be realized on the field, but I'm so hopeful in ralph's sunset he allows these good football men to bring him and his family a championship.  

It can hsppen guys in the next three years.  Noone in New Orleans would have believed that in 2004.  

Go Bills

[sllib olaffub]

machine gun kelly, on 06 August 2012 - 08:42 PM, said:

The main difference is is this the era of free agency in it's current form.  That old school ended when we didn't m,ake it.  The larger concern for our team is we lost Polian, and then Butler who was fantastic, but not Polian with a long term vision (God Bless his soul).

Our FO as I've said many times has been our achilles heel.  Why? When you have great FO leadership, you hire well, pick top talent, and are smart enough to an excellent head coach.

We've been in the desert for years.  Don't lose sight of a great FO now.  I know it takes years for that to be realized on the field, but I'm so hopeful in ralph's sunset he allows these good football men to bring him and his family a championship.  

It can hsppen guys in the next three years.  Noone in New Orleans would have believed that in 2004.  

Go Bills

I look at NFL football teams, and depending on the rosters and GM's, I see most teams are cyclical and are operating within certain windows.  This team is just at the first year of it's current window.  We've got to resign some key guys, like Levitre, Wood, and Byrd - and keep others, like Spiller, in the next few years, but otherwise, we look to have this nucleus, WITH A CHANCE TO ADD TALENT, for the next 4 to 5 years, before we start to see bundles of contracts ending, and larger portions of the team being turned around.  

I'd say the one striking difference between this Bills team and the one in 1989 is the QB.  Having a franchise QB is kind of equivalent to having an entire D-line, in their respective importance to how the overall units perform.  You can have a very good offense if you have a great QB, just as you can have a very good Defense if your D-line is stellar.  Anyway, I've read stats on this site suggesting that Fitzpatrick's play over the last 2 years is close to Kelly's.  I think Fitz is lacking in something - some kind of confidence, maybe, and also a sort of tendency to win.

Anyway - this 5 year window is either going to seriously begin this year, or we'll see a rookie QB come in next year, and then we'll have the first year of "learning" and then the second year - 2014 - will be "the time".  At that point, we'd have a window of about 2-3 years, with this nucleus, to get the job done.  I think starting a young, promising rookie QB would amount to a year of "learning", so... I sure hope Fitz gets it done this year.  If he has a great year, this Bills team can make a push NOW, and we'll have 4 or 5 years of potential to look forward to.

[jumbalaya]

sllib olaffub, on 06 August 2012 - 08:57 PM, said:

I look at NFL football teams, and depending on the rosters and GM's, I see most teams are cyclical and are operating within certain windows.  This team is just at the first year of it's current window.  We've got to resign some key guys, like Levitre, Wood, and Byrd - and keep others, like Spiller, in the next few years, but otherwise, we look to have this nucleus, WITH A CHANCE TO ADD TALENT, for the next 4 to 5 years, before we start to see bundles of contracts ending, and larger portions of the team being turned around.  

I'd say the one striking difference between this Bills team and the one in 1989 is the QB.  Having a franchise QB is kind of equivalent to having an entire D-line, in their respective importance to how the overall units perform.  You can have a very good offense if you have a great QB, just as you can have a very good Defense if your D-line is stellar.  Anyway, I've read stats on this site suggesting that Fitzpatrick's play over the last 2 years is close to Kelly's.  I think Fitz is lacking in something - some kind of confidence, maybe, and also a sort of tendency to win.

Anyway - this 5 year window is either going to seriously begin this year, or we'll see a rookie QB come in next year, and then we'll have the first year of "learning" and then the second year - 2014 - will be "the time".  At that point, we'd have a window of about 2-3 years, with this nucleus, to get the job done.  I think starting a young, promising rookie QB would amount to a year of "learning", so... I sure hope Fitz gets it done this year.  If he has a great year, this Bills team can make a push NOW, and we'll have 4 or 5 years of potential to look forward to.

There are always some pretty good vet QBs that are available every year.  If Fitz doesn't cut it, and I think he will do fine, we can pick up another vet like a carson palmer, drew brees, mike vick, lots of good qbs change teams for a lot of reasons.  We can find a quality one especially if we have a team that only needs a QB to get there.
At the same time we draft a young guy and let him learn.