Author Archives: The Chancellor of Football

2025 NFC West Preview!

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When you hear an aging quarterback is having aches and pains its one thing, but not practicing or playing in a preseason when the team’s biggest acquisition is a top flight receiver? Not good and when its the back of a 37 year old Matt Stafford, its impossible to look off the beating he took as qurterback of the Detroit Lions and recently out in Los Angeles.

A healthy  Matt Stafford and this team could make the NFC Championship however the crystal ball says he won’t and will succumb to missing 4 games this year due to a rising defense within the division.

NFC West 2025 Prediction:

  1. Arizona Cardinals 11-6 *
  2. Los Angeles Rams 9-8
  3. San Francisco 49ers 6-10
  4. Seattle Seahawks 3-14

With the addition of 2nd round selection CB Will Johnson, DT Calais Campbell, and DE Josh Sweat the Cardinals defense will vault from 21st into the top 10.

Johnson was college football’s best defensive back at Michigan and was skating to a top 10 selection until he was lost to injury in his last year. At 6’2 200 lbs, he has the physicality to face up with an “X” and the agility to blanket a “Z”. He is a 1 stepper that jumps routes with the best and has the chance to be the Cardinals best ever Corner. The kid is special.  Did you notice how many plays he made against All American Marvin Harrison Jr in the video? Those were huge Michigan v OSU matchups. Now they sharpen each other’s iron on the same team in the pros.

Josh Sweat should have been Super Bowl LIX MVP with his 2 1/2 sack performance against Mahomes back in February. He had my vote…  They need him to build off the 25 sacks garnered over the last 3 seasons playing in Philadelphia’s defensive rotation. Keep in mind his best season came in ’22 with 11.5 sacks playing for current Head Coach Jonathan Gannon when the Eagles played in Super Bowl LVII. The team with 70 sacks.

A lead dog pass rusher was what the Cardinals needed to force more turnovers and errant throws. Schematically their pass defense has been sound. In ’24 they were 14th against the pass but was 5th in fewest touchdowns allowed with 20. They plan on forcing more turnovers and creating short fields for the offense.

This is a make or break year for Kyler Murray and he has to show he can play within the specificity of the offense. Last year this team started 4-4 losing close games to Buffalo (34-28) and Detroit (20-13) when Murray played well. The growth has been steady and he has to put it all together and have Marvin Harrison Jr in his 2nd year where he is set to make a big leap to elite status. This team has the chance to start 6-0 this year and will win the West.

The 49ers brought back DC Robert Saleh but the defense has been rebuilt and no longer has the DLine rotation he enjoyed in his 1st stint. Fred Warner is there to lead a youthful unit but they will have some growing pains this year. Do you realize the 49ers are missing 7 defensive starters since Super Bowl XLVIII just a year and a half ago?

Brock Purdy got the big payday and now has to be the catalyst to San Francisco’s offense with TE Kittle and a Christian McCaffrey who was injury riddled in 2024 and has some serious mileage on his tires. 49ers brass traded for RB Brian Robinson to lighten the load. Keep in mind McCaffrey has missed 37 games due to leg injuries dating back to 2020 and if you notice, more workhorse style backs are who they bring in to spell him.

The loss of Deebo Samuel will be huge. Over the last 4 years he was the swiss army knife of the offense they could turn to when a critical 1st down was needed. He did it from the backfield, the slot, bubble screens, jet sweeps and reverses. Without him Purdy will be called on to make more throws when defenses will be expecting them. The limitations in his play that surfaced last year will be front and center without Deebo to mask deficiencies.

The Cardinals have a rough and rugged team and will emerge in the NFC West in 2025. They have to learn to win those games they have stayed close in the past. This is a lesson they will learn but they start the season with an extremely favorable schedule. Gannon’s team will cash in this season.

Thanks for reading and please share the article.

 

What Comes Around Goes Around – Russell Wilson & Jaxson Dart

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“Sittin’ here reminsicing back through high school…” for the hip hop impaired was the start of the late Biz Markie’s song titled “What Comes Around Goes Around”… Remember that?? Well lets take you back to the finale of the 2011 NFL season when the Packers were hosting the Detroit Lions. The 14-1 Packers had locked up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and gave league MVP Aaron Rodgers the finale off.

Let 4th year backup Matt Flynn get a start and what did he do? He shattered the Packers all time single game passing records for passing yards (480 yds) & TDs (6) and opened the eyes of GMs around the league. The Seahawks bit and signed Flynn to a free agent deal of 3 years $26 million. Yes, based off that one performance. He was the projected starter however he was being outplayed by a rookie named… *drum roll* Russell Wilson, a 3rd round selection.

He kept making plays through mini-camp then the preseason and ultimately Head Coach Pete Carroll went with his gut and named Russell Wilson the starter. After paying Matt Flynn all that money?? Yes… and Seattle went on to an 11-5 record and came within a last second field goal of making the NFC Championship Game. Flynn was let go midway through the following season as Wilson led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl XLVIII Championship.

That Russell Wilson? Yes that same Russell Wilson 12 years later is the embattled veteran who has been outplayed by Giants prized rookie QB Jaxson Dart. Not only have the statistics been better but he passes the eyeball test when on the field.

  • Wilson – 10 of 14 136yds 0TDs 1 Int
  • Dart- 32 of 47 372 yds 3TDs 0 Int

Head Coach Brian Daboll has named Wilson the starter for the season to protect his new quarterback and I think its a decision that will be reversed within the first 5 weeks of the season. Wilson hasn’t been the same since he left Seattle and either throws deep or checkdowns, leaving plays all over the field. Its what led to his benching in Denver and Pittsburgh not retaining him. Now he is learning a new offense for the 3rd time in 3 years and we expect good veteran performance??

Let’s face it the offense looked livelier with Dart on the field and he didnt look rattled. Even in the 1st preseason game against Buffalo, he had the team driving and threw a tipped pass that was intercepted nearing the redzone. The play was reversed and the next play Dart beat one on one coverage with a go route right up the left sideline for a 28 yd touchdown. Perfect throw, 5 steps on time, perfect trajectory and delivered with confidence.He remained unrattled the rest of that game and the preseason.

I think Daboll is making a mistake keeping this kid on the bench. The offense looked livlier with him on the field this entire preseason and produced more scoring drives. The Giants have a rough start to begin the season with Washington, the AFC Champion Chiefs and Dallas among their first four games.

If Russell Wilson doesn’t have the Giants 2-2 with his play central to their success, Dart will be the starter in game 5 vs New Orleans and Spencer Rattler. Who?  Too bad Daboll didn’t go with his gut for week 1 and get his prized rookie on the field. Keep in mind Jaxson Dart is a 1st round selection and he is meant to take the field and produce. Well…all I know is Russell Wilson is about to be Matt Flynn’d.

 

 

The Arizona Cardinal Should Have a Commemorative Patch for Fallen Cardinal Luis Sharpe

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On July 11th of this year the Cardinals family lost one of their own in Offensive Tackle Luis Sharpe. Although I saw items locally and an official statement from the team I haven’t seen any commemorative patches or decals on their uniform. Keep in mind this was one of the stalwarts who came to the desert when the team relocated from St Louis in 1988.

He is listed 6th in Cardinals history in games played with 189 while making 3 Pro Bowls. Twice being voted All Pro by Sportswriters.  Keep in mind this is the oldest franchise in the NFL and preceded the league itself starting in Chicago in 1898. Yes, the Cardinals franchise precedes the NFL as a league by almost a quarter of a century with the league establishing itself in 1920 on a Hupmobile showroom floor in Canton, Ohio.

Think back to the 1998 Cardinals when they upset Dallas in the NFC Wildcard and you’ll see the 100th season commemorative patch. This was on their uniform the entire season here on the late Pat Tillman for reference.

Even the likeness used to immortalize Tillman in bronze has that season’s jersey with patch on outside the stadium.

I haven’t seen any information if the Cardinals will put a patch on the jersey or a decal of Sharpe’s “67” but they need to. As one of the league’s best Left Tackles in the NFC he faced the like of Dexter Manley, Lawrence Taylor, Leonard Marshall, Pat Swilling & Richard Dent in the heydey of the NFC during their 13 year championship run. These were the primary pass rushers on some of history’s best ever NFL defenses. He protected the blind side for Neil Lomax and Tim Rosenbach.

He overcame addiction in his post playing career, turned his life over to Christ and spoke at many Hall of Fame events. Luis  had a great sense of humor and always had an encouraging word with all the fans he came across. In real life & social media. During Super Bowl LVII here in Phoenix we kept missing each other and were supposed to meet but between interviews on Radio Row and all the events it didn’t happen. In one of my pics elsewhere at Ditka Jaws Cigar Party I put up a pic with Seth Joyner and Luis let me know it was Seth who invited him to church which fueled his relationship with the Lord. He learned #59 did the same for me back in 2015 and Luis & I had an even greater connection.

One of the last times he came to visit Pheonix, I was out in Southern Cal getting married. Those missed connections felt like minor setbacks as we would sit and break bread in the future and we didn’t get the chance.

 

It was fun to recall the NFL wars and games with his UCLA Bruins and learned I attended one of his games in Ohio Stadium in 1980. Even recalling a brawl in the ’86 preseason between the Super Bowl champion Bears & his St Louis Cardinals. He and the great Wilber Marshall were locked in combat that went beyond the whistle. I would tease him with Marshall pics on Facebook. All in good fun…

His response in this one:

One of God’s fiercest warriors who battled in NFL trenches for 13 years and yet maintained a sense of humor, pride and honor with the men he played with and against. I was taken aback when i didn’t see a #67 decal or a commemorative patch on the Cardinals uniform.

Commemorative patch worn by the 1992 Philadelphia Eagles in Jerome Brown’s memory.

One like the 1992 Philadelphia Eagles wore in memory of Jerome Brown who passed a few months before the season. Or the “Spider 43” patch adorned on the ’86 NY Giants jersey they carried to the Super Bowl XXI championship. It was for fallen Giant Cornerback “Spider” Lockhart who played back in the 60s & 70s in forgettable years for the Giants who had just passed. Its not just your Hall of Fame players you do this for but those rank and file players who gave blood and guts for their team. Even in games when you were up against a superior opponent facing long odds.

I hope the Cardinals do that here. A former player whose spirit to fight back and never give up had everything to do with how Luis Sharpe faced life, faith and adversity on the field of battle.Your team should know one of the fiercest Cardinals and draw inspiration from his storied journey. Especially your offensive linemen. Keep in mind this is the 1st season the NFL will give “The Protector of The Year Award to the best OLineman out there.

If you need an idea for a patch here is an image to craft it from when Luis was blocking Eagles DE Clyde Simmons.

Arizona Cardinals let’s go with a tribute for Luis with a decal or patch for the 2025 season.

RIP Luis, miss joking about football with you already.

Lester Hayes Belongs In The Pro Football Hall of Fame

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Originally Written June 1, 2012 -Reissued August 12,2025

As the NFL changed the rules in 1978 to liberate the passing game, many thought the big physical cornerback would give way to smaller quicker men. Those who could turn and run with receivers after the 5 yard “chuck” zone (The Mel Blount Rule) would be highly sought after. Yet one team held steadfast to the belief of not allowing that receiver a free ride off the line of scrimmage.

The Oakland Raiders who in 1977, just one year removed from winning Super Bowl XI, selected Lester Hayes out of Texas A&M. Where the league saw smaller cornerbacks at 175-180 lbs enter the league at that time. Hayes was a converted college safety who stood 6’0 and weighed 200 lbs.

Does he have on enough stickum??

His inclusion into the Raiders organization was at the right time as Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown retired and took over as secondary coach. Under his tutelage Hayes became a master of bump and run coverage and with his size, manhandled receivers at the line of scrimmage. Sure a receiver could run free after 5 yards but he had to get there first.

Another retiring Hall of Fame Raider was WR Fred Biletnikoff who went against Hayes in practice. Fred ran crisp routes and was a slower version of Steve Largent or a Charlie Joiner. Going up against he and Cliff Branch, who was the one of the league’s perennial deep threats, honed his skills to that of one of the greatest cornerbacks the game had ever seen. He also borrowed Biletnikoff’s use of stickum and took it to obscene levels. Take a look at the pic on the right if you think we’re joking.

Stickum talk aside, his true coming out party was the 1979 season where he led the team with 7 interceptions, returning 2 for touchdowns in the only losing season for the Raider organization during the 1970’s. John Madden had retired and Tom Flores had taken over as Head Coach and the Raiders were a team in transition.

Most teams make a transition in personnel with a defensive leader being a linebacker or a star defensive lineman being a marquee player yet here was a cornerback just starting to make a name for himself at the helm. However he couldn’t unseat Louis Wright of Denver, Mel Blount of Pittsburgh, or Mike Haynes of New England on the 1979 AFC Pro Bowl roster. Naturally you’ll conclude they had better seasons yet Blount and Haynes made it on reputation with only 3 interceptions each and Wright only had 2. A gross injustice just because Hayes team had slipped that year.

Enter the greatest single season for a cornerback in NFL history and the greatest coaching job in NFL history…the 1980 Oakland Raiders. In the second season for Tom Flores, the Raiders became the first team to win the Super Bowl from a wildcard position. The team had replaced nine defensive starters from a Super Bowl team just four years before.

Lester Hayes intimidating style at cornerback belied his agility to cover the fastest and best route runners in the NFL.For the season, he picked off 13 passes, just one short of the NFL record by “Night Train” Lane in 1951.  Not only was that the highest total in 29 years, no cornerback has come within 2 of that performance since then (Everson Walls in 1981). He returned those passes for 273 yards and one touchdown and went on to be the Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

He was the first player to receive the award while playing for a team that didn’t finish as a top 10 defense with the Raiders finishing 11th. He did this while facing Hall of Fame WRs Steve Largent in Seattle, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow in San Diego, and the electrifying John Jefferson also of the Chargers with whom he had epic battles with.

During the 1980 season teams kept testing him and coming up snake eyes. If you added his 4 interceptions during the playoffs he finished with 17 interceptions in one season. If you look at that against the year Hall of Famer Deion Sanders won his NFL MVP (1994 with San Francisco) from the same position, 6 interceptions for 303 yards and 3 TDs with 2 more ints. in the postseason, it dwarfs it tremendously. Sanders needed another NINE interceptions just to tie him!!!  You would have to add Deion’s next FOUR seasons with Dallas just to tie him with 17!! Tremendous

Oakland went on to win Super Bowl XV and the 80 playoffs began with a wildcard battle against Houston and former quarterback Ken Stabler. The Raiders prevailed 27-7 with the final points scored on Hayes intercepting Stabler and returning it 20 yards hand held high to send the Raiders to Cleveland and the divisional round.

He intercepted Stabler twice then intercepted 1980 NFL MVP Brian Sipe twice in the 14-12 upset of the Browns. In the AFC Championship against the Chargers and the Super Bowl with the Eagles, Dan Fouts and Ron Jaworski just didn’t throw into his area. How do we know this?? In Super Bowl XV Hayes was the left cornerback. Jaworski threw exclusively to his left and Right OLB Rod Martin picked off a Super Bowl record 3 interceptions in a 27-10 win.

The NFL outlawed stickum after that 1980 season in anther decision that Raider loyalist felt was the offspring from the court battle between Raiders’ owner Al Davis and commissioner Pete Rozelle. Some thought that Hayes inability to use stickum had a lot to do with his interception total dropping, when in fact quarterbacks just flat didn’t throw into his area. He never intercepted more than 3 passes in a season from that point forward.

Lester Hayes showing off both rings from Super Bowl XV and XVIII

After being overshadowed by Mike Haynes for that 1979 Pro Bowl slot, he was joined by his former counterpart in 1983 to form one of the greatest CB tandem in NFL history. In that year the Washington Redskins became the highest scoring team in NFL history scoring 541 points on their way to Super Bowl XVIII. Washington’s quarterback Joe Theismann was the NFL’s MVP and the Redskins were being hailed as the greatest team in NFL history…yet they had to defend their title against Los Angeles.

The Raiders started their charge in the 83 playoffs with a 37-10 devastation of the Pittsburgh Steelers which ironically began with Hayes getting the team started with an 18 yard TD interception return. After a 30-14 win against the Seahawks in the AFC Championship experts had the Redskins winning a high scoring game.

What took place in Super Bowl XVIII was a dismantling of epic proportions. Charlie Brown, who had caught 78 for 1,225 and 8 TDs during the regular season, was smothered along with Art Monk and held to a combined 4 receptions by Hayes and Haynes. The coverage was so superb the Raiders blitzed their linebackers and recorded 6 sacks as Joe Theismann had his worst game of the year. His stat-line?? Theismann was held to 16 of 35 for 243 yards and 2 ints. Only one pass was completed in Lester Hayes area the entire day. He won his second championship ring as the Raiders won in dominating fashion 38-9.

Hayes at this point was the best cornerback in all of football. He played in 5 straight Pro Bowls from 1980-1984 and was the player most future NFL’ers modeled their game after. Most notably Hanford Dixon of the Cleveland Browns. Everything from the three foot long towel hanging from his waist to his aggressive play against a receiver at the line. Dixon and Frank Minnifield are the tandem that Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes are most often compared to. As a combo… Dixon and Minnifield were the best tandem in NFL history. Yet the man who coined the Brown’s “Dawg Defense”, was a 3 time Pro Bowler who modeled himself to be like Lester, what would you call Hayes?? In The Chancellor’s book, he’s a Hall of Famer.

Please lend your thoughts as well by writing in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to the address below. Please be respectful and positively lend your voice:

Please write & nominate #37 Lester Hayes
Send letters to:
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Attention Senior Selection Committee
2121 George Halas Dr NW, Canton, 
OH 44708

For induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I present to you Lester Hayes!

Past Hall of Fame Articles:

Robert Brazile 2011 (inducted 2018)

Ran into Robert Brazile after the Gold Jacket Dinner. Great time.

Kevin Greene 2011 (inducted 2016)

With Kevin Greene after the Induction ceremony.

Sterling Sharpe 2011 (will be inducted 2025)

Terrell Davis 2011 (inducted 2017)

Jerry Kramer 2011 (inducted 2018)

“Hey big guy!” ’18 HOF

Everson Walls 2011

Randy Moss 2011 (inducted 2018)

Cris Carter 2011 (inducted 2013)

Tom Flores 2012 (inducted 2021)

Lester Hayes 2012

Chuck Foreman 2012

Edgerrin James 2013 (inducted 2020)

Andre Reed 2013 (inducted 2014) 

Roger Craig 2013

Corey Dillon 2014

Ken Riley 2015 (inducted 2023)

Ken Stabler 2015 (inducted 2016)

Drew Pearson 2016 (inducted 2021) 

Cliff Branch 2016 (inducted 2022)

Todd Christensen 2017

Hardy Nickerson 2020

Wilber Marshall 2024

 

The NFL’s Shameful Impatience with Black Quarterbacks: The Odyssey of Shedeur Sanders

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What has transpired with Shedeur Sanders since the NFL Draft has been a study in contrasts. The debate between fans & media everywhere: “Was this collusion meant to humble a black QB from a proud family? Those wanting to strike a blow to Deion Sanders ego who have laid in wait taking shots at his stint in Colorado & his son at quarterback?” All of the above coalesced into Shedeur dropping to the 5th round and the 2nd QB Cleveland selected behind Dillon Gabriel.

He was the winner of the 2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award for his senior season at Colorado. The winner in 2023? A kid by the name of Jayden Daniels, who was runaway rookie of the year taking Washington to last year’s NFC Championship Game. Daniels was the 2nd pick overall v. Sanders at 146. So here we are with a crowded 4 quarterback carousel in training camp in Northeast Ohio. Free agent Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel picked in the 3rd round this year, Sanders and projected starter Joe Flacco.

Who?? Yes…current Brown QB Joe Flacco was Super Bowl XLVII MVP when he was with the Baltimore Ravens. Do you understand how long ago that was?? His teammate Ray Lewis was enshrined in the PFHOF 7 years ago. The MVP of Super Bowl XLVI the season before, Eli Manning, has retired and passed the 5 year mark and is eligible for Canton himself. This is Flacco’s 2nd stint with the Browns after toiling for the Broncos, Jets, and Colts after playing for the Ravens. At 40 years of age this journeyman is going to navigate the Browns to Super Bowl LX?? Uhhhhhh…ok

In camp Sanders has made throws that have made the media rounds showing promise. He has spun the ball well and ESPN Cleveland posted these stats on all 4 quarterbacks performance thus far. He’s thrown for the most TDS and completed the highest percentage but it’s unclear how many have been against the 1st team defense.

Yet the gap between Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, selected ahead of Shedeur is alarming. While putting this article together an episode of FS1’s First Things First was on in the other room. They reported Gabriel going 0 for his first 5 throws in Friday’s live practice and he wasn’t close on any. They showed each one in succession on the air, leaving the panel looking befuddled at how poor each throw was.

Dillon looks completely undersized and overwhelmed and these preseason games will be the truth serum for himself & Shedeur. Yet the Browns aren’t really showing signs of totally being behind Sanders.

What was with Brown’s Owner Jimmy Haslam’s comments in a press conference last week? It didn’t engender confidence & brings to question will he get a legitimate chance to play meaningful football this preseason. He didn’t make it seem as though he even wanted him.

The ESPN Cleveland stats withstanding, the Browns placed Sanders 4th on their starting depth chart. Is this based on performance or draft status? Yes he was behind Dillon who has completed 54% of his throws in camp v 70%. Being drafted in the 3rd round doesn’t justify that. Just keep in mind the Browns have had 40 QBs under center since the Browns came back to the NFL in ’99.

Sanders draft day plummet withstanding, the kid has shown up ready to work and has viewed this opportunity with optimism. Reports have come in he’s mixed well with the veterans and players have gravitated to him. You don’t gain locker room stature from high visibility before joining a team. Yet he appears to be on a short leash and the Browns need to put the best quarterback on the field. Even if he does get on the field he won’t have the chance to have any bad moments in preseason or look poor during the season. The Browns have multiple #1 draft picks coming in 2026 and its been reported Haslam has a relationship with the Manning family.

This installment of “Impatience With Black Quarterbacks” is unique vs the articles on Lamar Jackson & Jalen Hurts yet totally related. It began with the 5th round draft selection and is ongoing midway through training camp. Not only with the depth chart but the owner distancing himself from Sanders selection in the 1st place. Dillon was a 3rd round pick not some highly touted #1 overall pick that would embarrass the franchise if left on the bench. We still haven’t distanced ourselves from the collusion that took place during the 2025 draft to say racial attitude isn’t & wasn’t a factor.

This preseason will be watched with tremendous scrutiny. Shedueur, your mission should you choose to accept it…

Thanks for reading and the previous 2 installments of this series are below:

2018 – The NFL’s Shameful Impatience with Black Quarterbacks: Lamar Jackson

2020 NFL Draft: Wither Jalen Hurts – Shameful Impatience with Black QBs Take Two

Jalen Hurts

1990’s Buffalo Bills – The Rasputins of The NFL

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Originally Written August 7, 2014 – Reissued August 2, 2025 with Marv Levy turning 100 tomorrow! Where else would you rather be???

When you think back to the Buffalo Bills team that made it to 4 straight Super Bowls, there are two schools of thought. You have one from the ignorant callous fan that says “Well they lost 4 straight Super Bowls.”  Then you have a more respectful set of players and fans that marvel at the feat of making it to four straight.

There was a point right before Super Bowl XXVIII when the media started to change their attitude toward the Buffalo Bills. After the win over Joe Montana’s Kansas City Chiefs in the ’93 AFC Championship, the country lamented over the Bills going to a fourth straight Super Bowl. When all of a sudden one of the networks had Stephen Hawking on and asked him a question: With the current landscape of 28 teams how long would it be before we would see another team make it to 4 straight Super Bowls?? Hawking sat quietly for a second and then pronounced “With the current landscape of teams it would take another 46 years.” Or if you’re counting at home it would happen in the year 2039.

The Buffalo Bills clowning around on Super Bowl picture day before XXV.

The Buffalo Bills clowning around on Super Bowl picture day before XXV.

Well the NFL now has 32 so it may not happen again in our lifetimes thanks to new mathematical algorithms. On Saturday WR Andre Reed became the 6th member of the early 90’s Bills to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it’s time to take a look back at one of the unique teams in NFL history and The Chancellor of Football’s favorite football team.

When did the thought of Buffalo making it to the Super Bowl have genesis?? Try week 1 of 1986 when Jim Kelly debuted after coming over from the USFL:

Reed joins fellow WR James Lofton, RB Thurman Thomas, the late Ralph Wilson former owner and founder, Head Coach Marv Levy, and QB Jim Kelly in Canton. It was this team’s closeness that was on full display as Reed was inducted. Kelly, who has been battling cancer, was determined to attend the ceremony and threw Reed one final pass that brought on the loudest cheer of the evening.

Kelly and Reed before taking the field in 1990.

Kelly and Reed before taking the field for the 1990 AFC Championship Game.

The amazing thing is how far this group had grown as men. Most people don’t realize or remember this team was known as the “Bickering Bills” during the 1989 campaign. Infighting almost derailed a season as they went 9-7 after a 12-4 campaign the year before marked them as a team on the rise. They would go on to become the NFL’s most galvanized team as the new decade took shape.

XXV AFC Championship Ring

The 1990 Buffalo Bills were the first team to lose the NFL Championship or Super Bowl by a single point…20-19. Talk about being tantalizingly close. Most experts and pundits believed they would be dominant in 1991 as they went 13-3 with homefield advantage again. Thurman Thomas was league MVP and Bruce Smith was coming back from injury as the 1991 playoffs beckoned.

Back to back Super Bowl losses had many fans and pundits writing off the Bills. How would they recover?? Yet all these players were in their prime and led by unsung leaders like LB Darryl Talley, they dusted themselves off and came right back in 1992. During this season they were 4-0 against the NFC west including a 38-35 win in San Francisco vs. the 49ers who went 13-3. Good enough for homefield advantage in the NFC. Going into the final week of the season the Bills were ready to clinch homefield in the AFC when:

Once the most dominant team in the AFC, several teams had caught up to the Bills and the K-Gun offense. The 1993season brought on the first season of free agency as the Bills roster started to be plucked over. Gone were LBs Shane Conlan and Carlton Bailey. LT Will Wolford signed with the Indianpolis Colts. How much longer could they jeep their core players intact??

Other AFC teams bolstered their offensive units as QB Joe Montana and Marcus Allen joined the Kansas City Chiefs. The Dolphins started to acquire talent around Dan Marino as they brought in free agents Keith Byars and Mark Ingram. The Raiders pulled a coup and brought in Jeff Hostetler to quarterback the Raiders back to the playoffs.

The Houston Oilers resurrected Buddy Ryan and his 46 defense to conquer the AFC. They signed LB Wilber Marshall to help fortify an already talented defense. After all it was the defensive collapse in the 41-38 loss to the Bills in the ’92 playoffs that propelled Ryan’s hire in the first place. All of these teams wanted a shot at the aging Bills.

feba153a3db76a441512fc3dd472d8e5The 1993 team fought it’s way to another 12-4 record although the games were much closer. Was this still the AFC’s best team?? They seemed to be just a step ahead of the competition within the conference instead of leaps and bounds as they had been in 1990 or 1991.

The offense evolved into Kelly engineering more of a controlled passing game as TE Pete Metzellars led the team in receiving. Where in previous years the team really stretched the field with James Lofton and Andre Reed. Lofton retired after ’92 and the Bills brought in possession receiver Bill Brooks. Thurman Thomas was still in his prime but defenses ganged up on the run now that the Bills couldn’t stretch the field. The result?? Thurman did rush for 1,315 yards but a career low 3.7 yard average.

With the wear and tear of 10 additional postseason games over the previous 3 seasons, would they have enough in the tank to make it to that 4th Super Bowl?? That became the prevailing question. After a 29-23 come from behind win against the LA Raiders in sub zero weather in the divisional playoffs, here came Joe Montana, Marcus Allen and the Kansas City Chiefs. The AFC Championship at stake.

As we’re winding down the football life of these Buffalo Bill teams of the early 90’s, we get to really appreciate it several decades later. The outside world caught a glimpse into the closeness of this team. It was on full display as you watched last weeks induction ceremony. It was felt with conviction when Reed declared “The Bills will stay in Buffalo!”

There is nothing like being a Buffalo Bills fan. The excitement leading up to each of those Super Bowls were tempered as you came down after each loss. Then six month later we had to endure the fall of OJ Simpson, the greatest player in the history of the franchise. Bills players and fans had to endure that purgatory together and it could be the genesis of all this closeness. No one else could share in the pure elation after the greatest comeback in NFL history either. That entire January in 1993 was special.

The entire AFC had been caught in a vice as they had to deal with the 1st prolific passing offense to hail from a cold climate. The Bills were undefeated in Rich Stadium in the playoffs until 1996. They were 7-0 during these four years.

We watched as they endured the advent of true free agency and kept on winning. Public scorn or ridicule as the Super Bowl losses began to mount. Teams even tried to resurrect dead legends in Joe Montana, Buddy Ryan, Keith Jackson, and Marcus Allen to knock us off…yet the Bills kept marching.

Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas as they visited Jim Kelly at the start of his battle with cancer.

Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas as they visited Jim Kelly at the start of his battle with cancer.

To be a Bills fan and rally around the exploits of these players was easy. The ability to dust themselves off and march right back to the Super Bowl year after year taught a lesson in perseverance. Twenty five years ago they were known as “The Bickering Bills” and now they have matured into a close group rallying around Jim Kelly with his cancer battle. Its even easier to rally around them as men. Now each have taken their place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame which comes with a big ring.

me-thurman-hof

Met Thurman Thomas at the post enshrinement party for Kevin Greene at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Prayers from The Chancellor of Football are with you Jim Kelly. As a Miami Hurricane and Buffalo Bill fan…big time prayers. Get well!

Thanks for reading and please share the article.

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The Chancellor at Rich Stadium for Bills v Cowboys in Sept. 1996.

“Lets Go Buffalo” I had to shout it once at the Jerry Kramer party at The Hall in 2018 when I ran into James Lofton