Tag Archives: Super Bowl Rings

Thank You Taylor Blitz Time Readers!

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Thank you Taylor Blitz Times readers as we had a record month in December that has drawn in more readers than ever before. 30,424 to be exact. To those new readers  who subscribed there are 725 articles covering all the players, teams, and historical articles. So please go to the search bar or subject categories and look for a particular team, player or subject, you’ll be surprised what you’ll find.

This endeavor was started to highlight defensive football and offer an alternative look at the game through the eyes of a historian. Most football shows have deevolved into staring at stats and only talking through the lense of a Walter Mitty type talking about the quarterback position. All the patterned nuance of hitting and visceral football that you and I both grew up playing gets lost. That essence that made us fall in love with the game.

So why The Chancellor of Fooball? Its simple… the love of the game is to cover every single football team and player throughout history, not just my Buffalo Bills. The American Football League and NFL teams before the merger. Writing and talking about your favorite team is too easy to me. It became a challenge to cover every single team with the same fervor than just who you are a fan of. That was my challenge to myself.

The new goal is to see Taylor Blitz Times hit our 1,000,000th read! So yes share the article, comment, agree with points or disagree with points, just be respectful while doing so. I want someone showing their son, nephew, or daughter a player from the past without stumbling across rancor in the comment section. Its not what I built here and as I curate my work its fun seeing articles showing up in places with youngsters because of such. Now you’ll see an occassional cute model for some eye candy but that’s all. Hey if the networks do it why can’t I? But no mudslinging back and forth you see on Twitter, Threads, or Youtube.

For those that are new here I want to encourage you to look around and there were several projects from the past that will be reissued this month. Some are having additional videos or pics loaded up with them to give them a fresher look. Then there are several projects from years gone by you’ll find interesting

Top Ten Single Season Defenses – An 11 article offering where the top 10 received their own article and my list of those that almost made the cut. Criteria? What were they ranked for the season, record vs ProBowl QBs, how many teams held under 10 points in their season and how they did against Top 10 offenses that year. There are 10 more criteria and too much to cover. This link takes you to the “honorable mention” once there go to the bottom and hit next to cycle through the 10 articles.

Where were you when Dwight Clark made “The Catch” to begin the 49ers dynasty of the 1980s? What about the hit in the 1990 NFC Championship that took out Joe Montana for two years? Well you can hear from Giant Leonard Marshall & Mark Collins and their thougts clicking the link. And Joe Montana , I loved seeing him get absolutely decked but this last link is for appreciating the greatest QB in the history of the game? Wouldn’t it be cool to see videos and NFL Films to show you how they were thought of at the time? Click the link… you’ll be right there.

What about The Pro Football Hall of Fame? Well I can tell you my first two subjects Robert Brazile & the late Kevin Greene were written on the same night. Kevin & his lovely wife Tara had me at his 2016 PFHoF induction and I was in attendance for Mr Brazile in 2018. I had the chance to meet him since I had been invited by Jerry Kramer to the induction ceremony in 2018.

With Kevin Greene after the Induction ceremony.

All of this stems from advocating for players and coaches who I believed belong in The Pro Football Hall of Fame. In all 14 of the 22 I’ve written about and sent letters for have been enshrined. I’m still connected with each family and its not lost on me as we head to Super B0wl LX in San Fran not to remember Kevin & Tara learning he had made it in San Francisco before Super Bowl L.

Who did I hear he had made it into Canton? NFL Network? ESPN? No Alicia Kramer, Jerry’s daughter after the disappointment he didn’t get in again. Which made this picture and the trip to Canton in 2018 so special! Very emotional hug right as Rich Eisen was telling everyone to sit down as The Gold Jacket broadcast was seconds from beginning. She was her father’s presenter on Saturday inside the stadium.

What about retrospecives on Ronnie Lott, Jack Tatum, OJ Simpson, Dick Butkus, or the legendary Johnny Unitas? I just gave you 14 links to articles out of 726 or 1.92% of all the articles compiled here with video and personal touch commentary. What other players or stories or conjecture pieces are in the other 712?? Thats for you to go and look for whatever you want to look up. Pay attention to the comment section also you never know what former players have stopped by to leave remarks.

Grab your old man and ask him who Jaguar Jon Arnett was and show him this.RIP he was a friend to Taylor Blitz Times and commented often. As did Chris Burford, do you know who that was? The first ever player signed by Lamar Hunt to play for the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs. Another friend to Taylor Blitz over the years.

Well enjoy and remember: If you enjoy or learn something like sometthing. Comment on it let me know you were here and what you thought. If you do that go ahead and share then subscribe.

Hey….another one of those cute football ladies again.

I’m off to have a dirty Martini with the Mrs. Thanks and I hope you come back and tell your friends to look up Taylor Blitz Times.

 

 

 

Plight of The 2025 Kansas City Chiefs

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The 2025 Kansas City Chiefs look like the 1980 Pittsburgh Steelers. The dynasty ended while they’re players and coaches were still intact. People aren’t seeing them correctly due to suspended muscle memory.

Its like watching Mike Tyson fight after his incarceration. Yes he kept on winning but he wasn’t knocking prime fighters out in less than 2 rounds as we had become accustomed. 1997 Michael Tyson wasn’t 1988 Mike Tyson. Same with the 2025 Chiefs. Time has caught this dynasty. Taylor Blitz AFC West Preview had them finishing 9-8 and missing the playoffs just like that 1980 team.

Keep in mind their core players have played in 21 postseason games dating back to the 2018 season and everyone knows playoff football is amped much more than reguar season games. They haven’t had great records and were able to rest their players these last few years also.

Where does the wear and tear show up? All Pro DT Chris Jones for one looks warn out. Remember the loaf he had in the loss to Jacksonville on Trevor Lawrence’s last second touchdown run?

Let’s be honest, we haven’t seen him make a big play this season when he has been the Chiefs closer the last 7 years. He has a Pro Football Hall of Fame resume built on the multiple big play stops made in the biggest of games. He’s been the hungriest of lions on a defense that now leads the teams. In fact they should be a 4 time champion if it wasn’t for a bogus roughing the passer call in the 2018 AFC Championship Game. With a 21-17 lead on Brady’s Patriots they were hit with this bogus penalty after the Chiefs had roared back to take the lead.

Of course you can scoff that was 7 years ago and he was a younger hungrier player, but thats the point. The Chris Jones of old closed out many games when teams had a sliver of hope in the 4th quarter. Even after his press conference being called out earlier this year we were expecting him to return to the dominant 4th quarter defender thats defined his career. Same body… same number but the fire isn’t there.

Pundits have Patrick Mahomes and still argue he is the best quarterback in the NFL but a slow erosion has taken place. Last year he had to engineer 7 game winning drives in his 15 wins. His passing percentage was better in 2024 (64.5%) was better than his ’22 MVP season (64.1%) but it was for 1,282 less yards and a drop in TD passes by 15. The pack has caught up and last year the wolf was at the door where they had just enough to keep them at bay.

This team with a 5-4 record looks tired and they’ve been a great champion. They still have time to right the ship and mount another comeback but its a lot to expect from an older team after being on top for nearly a decade. Even Travis Kelce and his antics with Taylor Swift make him appear youthful, keep in mind he is running routes and getting hit in a 36 year old body. That is old in NFL years.

His dropoff to 3TDs in 2024 is glaring considering he averaged 11TDs the previous 3 years.

The clock struck midnight on this dynasty in the middle of Super Bowl week last year. They were two steps slow and the old knight couldn’t keep the young lion from taking their crown and fell hopelessly behind 34-0 in LIX when they were trying to 3Peat.

But alas Chiefs fans will say The Chancellor is hating but its the truth and all the cracks in the dynasty are there. You can sit with your brews as you did when an older Michael Tyson took on Evander Holyfield but just like that night…looks like Tyson.. shows flashes like the old Tyson but…. sigh look at this remaining schedule. Going to Mile High (7 game winning streak) and the Colts with NFL rushing leader Jonathan Taylor in these first 2?? Daunting task to say the least…

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SUPER BOWL XXXVI CHAMPION 2001 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

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One of the NFL’s greatest dynasties was stolen from a team set to become one in the St Louis Rams. New England’s 20-17 upset win was a carbon copy of Bill Belichick’s Super Bowl XXV gameplan when the NY Giants beat the Buffalo Bills.

Stolen? Well there had been claims the Patriots recorded the Rams walk through giving them an illegal and unfair advantage. In a game of simulated war you’d have to suspect there would be espionage at play. The Patriots were fined for this practice in 2007 and the taped evidence from the Super Bowl XXXVI incident were inadvertently destroyed. Which raised suspicion…

Super Bowl XXXVI Logo prior to 9/11

Espionage in the game of football?? Everyone is worried about it. Why do you think there are closed practices? Teams practicing wearing numbers different than what they play with on game day. Lombardi’s Packers did this in case they were spied on. In fact before the 1958 NFL Championship Carroll Rosenbloom had a Colts staffer spy on the New York Giants practice, promising him a job for life if caught.

This overshdowed the defensive brilliance of Bill Belichick’s carbon copy of his old Giants defenses. His secondary was physical with all his defensive backs 200 lbs or heavier. SS Lawyer Milloy (6’0 200 lbs) was the new Myron Guyton (6’1 205 lbs) & Tebucky Jones (6-2 218 lbs) were where the Rams receivers were funnelled to and were punished if they survived Patriots Linebackers clogging those lanes.

Super Bowl XXXVI Logo after 9/11 with the date pushed into February.

One of the most telling plays of the game was when NFL MVP Kurt Warner had Torry Holt open up the left sideline. The Rams were desperate to get their offense going and knowing Tebucky Jones was coming from a Cover 2 Safety alignment, came up alligator armed and dropped the pass. Jones hit him full force anyway and the camera NFL Films had on Holt, you saw him take his eye off the ball and look at Jones coming instead of securing the catch.

That drop where he didnt want the smoke is the reason Holt hasn’t made the Pro Football Hall of Fame in The Chancellor’s estimation. It was a lasting image on a huge stage.

Yet the 1st Super Bowl TD of the Patriots dynasty catapulted CB Ty Law on his way to Canton. Midway through the 2nd quarter a hurried Warner threw an out Law jumped and took to the house. Now down 7-3 The Greatest Show on Turf was completely in scramble mode.

Belichick’s bunch had Mike Martz right where they wanted him. An Offensive genius falls in to the trap believing his finesse x’s & o’s will trump fundamental football and arrogantly pass, pass, pass. Leaving NFL Offensive Player of the Year Marshall Faulk on the tarmac having abandoned the run.

This team had been constructed to be a newer version of Bill Parcells & Bill Belichick’s Giants and came to full fruition in February 2002. They were a surprise champion with a Cinderella season where Tom Brady won “The Tuck Rule” game against the Raiders in 1 playoff game. To original starter Drew Bledsoe replacing an injured Brady to lead the Patriots to  a win in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.

For all the world this seemed like a one time champion as they fielded 7 defenders 30 years of age or older. CB Otis Smith (36), DE Willie McGinest (30), ILB Roman Phifer (33), LB Bryan Cox (33), DE Bobby Hamilton (30), DE Anthony Pleasant (33) and Nickle Corner Terrell Buckley (30). They would have to retool but this 1st championship Patriot team was built on defensive might.

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Prime Pass Rushers Tilt The Field

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I forgot where we were having the conversation but I remember explaining to a football fan that nothing changes a team’s fortunes faster than a prime pass rusher. Not only does it improve your defense against the pass but it masks defensive deficiencies in the secondary. Its one of the reasons Taylor Blitz has Green Bay on its way to at least the NFC Championship Game this year with the acquisition of Micah Parsons.

This has been a lesson passed down from days gone by from two defensive terrorists The Chancellor has met that rushed the passer. Fred Dean & Cedrick Hardman. This especially holds true when a pass rusher in his prime is all of a sudden dropped on to a new team in a new division and I needed to elaborate further.

In 5th grade (1980) i remember the Raiders signing veteran Cedrick Hardman to rush the passer #86. He got 9.5 sacks as a designated pass rusher that helped Lester Hayes lead the NFL with 13 interceptions & they won Super Bowl XV.

The next year the idiotic move was San Diego sending a prime Fred Dean to San Francisco and they came out of nowhere to win Super Bowl XVI. It was Hardman, Dean and Lawrence Taylor that taught me the effects of great pass rushers.
To further the notion, the 1980 Chargers with Fred Dean was 6th in total defense & led the league with 60 sacks. Without Dean they gave up 1,500 more yards (4,691 to 6,136 yards allowed) and fell to a ranking of 27th and history misremembers them as Air Coryell & a terrible defense. They had finished 5th in ’79 & 6th in ’80 with Dean on the roster.
Other notables:
  • DE Charles Haley in ’92 – Cowboys were 16th in defense and rose to #1 and won Super Bowl XXVII
  • DE Jevon Kearse in ’99 – Titans had 30 sacks in ’98, they had 54 as Kearse’s Titans made Super Bowl XXXIV
  • OLB Von Miller in ’21 – Added to the #1 defense from ’20 & had 2 sacks in Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.
  • OLB Haason Reddick in ’22 – Improved from 10th to 3rd in defense & 39 sacks to 770 sacks. Went to Super Bowl LVII.

In Kearse’s case he set the NFL Rookie Record with 13.5 sacks and the Titans became one of the league’s most physical defenses. Reddick was Taylor Blitz Times Defensive Player of the Year with 16.5 sacks and spearheaded one of the NFL’s historic sack totals. We hadn’t seen a sack total like that since the ’89 Vikings with 71 sacks, just 1 off the league record of 72 by Chicago. Both the Bears & Vikings were #1 defensively and the Eagles would have been had they not been in so many blowout victories.

Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick forces a first quarter fumble on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, January 29, 2023 in Philadelphia.

The NFL world is still buzzing with the idiotic trade of Dallas prime pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. Moves like this completely tilt the field when a defense receives a weapon to bolster its lineup. Especially in this division. We all know of the seismic shift that took place when Green Bay signed the late Reggie White back in 1993, but remember the Bears bringing in PFHOF Julius Peppers to the division in 2010?

Chicago went from 17th in defense in 2009 to 4th and made it to the NFC Championship Game where they hosted Green Bay. Peppers was an All Pro for the 6th time in his career & 4th in NFL DPOY voting.

They did it again trading for future PFHoF Khalil Mack in 2018 leaping from 10th in defense to 3rd. They had been #1 for most of the season and Mack made his 5th straight Pro Bowl, 3rd All Pro selection, came in 2nd in voting for NFL DPOY (he won it in 2015) and led the Bears to a 12-4 record and first round bye. Mack was Taylor Blitz Defensive Player of the Year a 2nd time and The Chancellor predicted the carnage he would lay in Green Bay that first game on Monday Night. Why??

Well it was the 2nd coming of what happened when the San Francisco 49ers made the surprise move to pick up PFHoF DE Fred Dean at the start of 1981. Rivals within the division were unable to prepare for this terrorist to be dropped in their lap. They were unable to prepare via the draft or free agent personnel and here comes 4 time All Pro Micah Parsons. They were already the NFL’s 5th best defense in 2024. Yikes!

You could even bring up  PFHoF DeMarcus Ware when he joined Von Miller in Denver to win Super Bowl 50. Yet that was in his 2nd season in Denver and not the surprise element of tilting the field in the 1st.  Same can be said of fellow PFHoF DE Jared Allen. In his 2nd season in Minnesota (2009) he was among the league leaders in sacks (14.5) and led his Vikings to the NFC Championship Game featured here in a “Missing Rings” article.

Same can be said of the late Kevin Greene who tilted the field 3 times aiding 3 teams to either the conference championship or Super Bowl in 4 straight seasons. He led the league in sacks (14) in ’94 leading the Steelers to the AFC Championship then Super Bowl XXX the following season. He then joins the Carolina Panthers in ’96 leading the NFL in sacks again (14.5) and was the impetus in making the NFC Championship Game in their 2nd season of existence. He follows that up going to San Francisco as a designated pass rusher and accumulates another 10.5 sacks as they make the ’97 NFC Championship Game.
Fred Dean, Kevin Greene, Charles Haley, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, and DeMarcus Ware are all enshrined in Canton. Von Miller will be there one day and with a few more All Pro selections Micah will be there as well. Just understand more than any other position, a prime pass rusher whether from a Defensive End or Outside Linebacker dramatically increases a team’s success more than any other position.
Starting in that 1981 season when I learned the lesson of the importance of the weak side pass rusher. All of a sudden drafting the Left Tackle became a focal point of the offense and many teams lead rebuilds around selecting one in the 1st round. It’s also when you started to see Left Tackle salaries soar. Do you realize in 2025, 23 of the NFL’s 32 teams have their LT in their top 5 highest paid players? If stopping prime pass rushers carries this type of weight what value do the pass rushers have themselves?
Nothing tilts the field for a team’s immediate fortunes like landing a prime pass rusher. Nothing… franchise QBs or all time great running backs don’t get dealt at their zenith.
Again the lessons learned have brought me as a defensive afecionado to writing about these exploits and spreading this with fellow fans. For me it started with Cedrick Hardman & Fred Dean, both of whom I had the chance to meet.
With Cedrick I used to run into him at The White House in Laguna Beach California early 2000s Talked football over many drinks. Same with Fred at the PFHoF hotel in Canton. We’re having a drink at the bar in Canton and I explained the both of them teaching me the lesson of pass rush terrorists and Dean said “Your ass is too young to remember all this zhit” I hit him back… “You know that’s the same muthaphukkin’ thing Cedrick’s ass said.” Great times ….great laughs. I had waited 37 years to shake Dean’s hand and thank him for that lesson.
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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

 

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.

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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!

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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