When I started making analogies between the 90’s era Bills and our current team, I wasn’t sure where it would lead. The more I dive into it, some of the similarities are cool. And just a little freaky. At the end of the last post I made the point that the 1986 and 2010 Bills were both 4-12. They were also both teams that suffered several heartbreaking losses but showed promise in some developing talent. New head coaches brought better direction and focus. While there’s no guarantees of what’s to come and the 1986 club had a sure-fire franchise QB, the parallels are still there.
Which brings us to 1987. One of the big non-Bills specific storylines going into this season was the labor unrest and the looming players’ strike. This will very likely be a post all of its own (probably the next part), since the story of the picketing players, scabs, and the issues surrounding all of it are pretty darned interesting. I think everyone can tell where I’m going with this parallel thing. What pray tell is happening as we speak? A lockout. Well, almost the end of a lockout now actually. The issues are definitely different – unfettered free agency back in the day vs revenue sharing & rookie wage scale today. But just specter of lost games haunted fans many years ago, history repeated itself so very recently. While it appears a resolution is imminent and no games will be lost (thank God!), the fans, owners, & players were clearly dealing with similar emotions in both eras. So can we expect a 7-9 season this year, which would be the closest equivalent to 1987 team’s record? If so, you heard it here first. And that would be some nice progress in the here in now.
Before we move forward with not only the strike, but what happened to the Bills on the field along with my recollections of the season in future posts, let’s look at some key offseason moves for our team. This segment will be regular feature for each season as with the final year in review. Good way to set the stage. My comments in bold after certain entries to follow.
January 13 – Walt Corey hired as defensive coordinator.
(Mr. Bend, Don’t Break. I’m not saying Corey was a bad DC, but I do remember being pleased when he was let go in 1995 and Wade Phillips replaced him. Our D was good but a little aggression would have pushed them further.)
January 16 – Ted Marchibroda hired as passing game coordinator and QB coach & Bruce Dehaven as special teams coach.
(Two important coaches in the Super Bowl years and two of the names Steve Tasker fondly remembered when we talked after the uniform launch. Both elevated their charges – Marchibroda would become offensive coordinator and develop the no-huddle offense that took the league by storm and Dehaven spearheaded Marv’s focus on special teams and had one of the better units year in and year out.)
March 11 – Safety Steve Freeman traded to Minnesota for “past considerations”. Truth be told, Bills just gave him away as a favor to Steve as he wasn’t in their future plans.
April 27 – Draft day. Here’s a rundown:
1st round – Bills trade #3 pick to Houston for #8 slot and 2nd round choice (36). Bills wanted Shane Conlan & still got him at #8. Bills then trade #36 & 4th rounder to Tampa Bay for #29 to select cornerback Nate Odomes.
2nd round – Roland Mitchell, DB (33)
3rd round – David Brandon, LB (60) and Jamie Mueller, FB (78)
4th round – Leon Seals, DE (109)
7th round – Kelly Porter, RB (121)
8th round – Bruce Mesner, NT (209)
9th round – Keith McKeller, TE (227)
11th round – Howard Ballard, T (283)
12th round – Joe McGrail, NT (311)
Note – Indianapolis picks Cornelius Bennett at #2 overall (much more on this later).
(Another excellent Bill Polian draft. A few thoughts on the key players to follow.)
Conlan – Shane was not a flashy superstar like Bruce Smith and Cornelius Bennett, but he was a tackling machine. He’s one of those local boys done good, right here for his favorite team a la Pat Kaleta and Tim Kennedy. The Frewsburg native was Defensive Rookie of the Year after 1987 and consistently led the team in tackles, including 114 his rookie year (which was 33 more than his nearest teammate). He also made the Pro Bowl from 1988 to 1990. On a personal level, my sister-in-law adored him as her favorite player, and he was always an easy guy to cheer for, a hard worker, lunch pail kind of guy. He was one of us. Shane did have injury issues, more so after he left the Bills via free agency to the Rams. His last season with our team he only had 82 tackles and I do remember my family complaining about his effectiveness that year. But I’d take him on the Bills now in a second.
Since being drafted out of Penn State himself, Poz has suffered from comparisons to Conlan. Shane is clearly the far superior player and has enjoyed much more success. But they do have one thing in common besides their college of choice. Both are tackling demons who don’t make a lot of big impact plays – with talent around him, Shane had many more tackles for losses than Paul but still only had 7 sacks and 5 interceptions for his career. He was a run stopper true and true. But a very, very good one.
Nate Odomes – The fun thing in doing this series is players I kind of forgot about. Nate Odomes for example. I knew he was a good corner, but didn’t realize (or forgot) that he was one of the best shutdown DB’s in the league. Nate made the Pro Bowl twice, in 1992 & 1993. Seriously, the Pro Bowl in those days must have seemed like a Bills exhibition game! If you’re looking for one significant play in his Bills’ career, a google search will give you a clue. Type in “Nate Odomes Warren Moon.” Nate made the pivotal incerception that led to Steve Christie’s winning FG in “The Comeback” vs Houston.
Like Conlan, Odomes started right off the bat his rookie year across from Derrick Burroughs. Flashforwarding ahead, the 1993 season, his last with the team, was perhaps his best when he recorded 9 interceptions, 2nd best in Bills history. Odomes left the Bills for the Seahawks after that year but had a disastrous knee injury in a charity basketball game prior to playing a down with Seattle and missed the entire season. He hurt the same knee the following training camp and never actually played a down for the Hawks! He ended his career with an injury-shortened final year with Atlanta. But with our Bills, he was a stud. Arguably, this pick is even better than the Conlan one and kudos to Polian for trading around to get him. One enduring image I have of Nate is him celebrating after a big play, his hands in the air, fingers pointed to the heavens.
Keith McKeller – McKeller formed a nice 1-2 punch at TE with Pete Metzelaars and played his whole 7 year career with the Bills. A former college basketball star that had great hands and was a big target (6-6), McKeller’s best seasons were 1990 & 1991 when he had 78 catches, 898 yards & 8 TD’s combined. Terrific value pick in 9th round.
Howard Ballard – “The House”. At 6’6, 325 pounds, the man was a physical speciman. Yet another Pro Bowl nominee for the Bills’ contingent, in 1992 & 1993. Ballard excelled at RT to make quite the bookends in protection with Will Wolford on the other side. If McKeller was a bargain in the 9th round, Ballard was grand larceny in 11. Despite all these good things, it’s one bad moment that comes up with The House in the forefront of my recollections. In the height of the “Bickering Bills” madness, in one of the key moments, Jim Kelly called out his offensive line, specifically Ballard, for a separated shoulder he suffered after a sack in a week 5 loss to the Colts. It blew up from there. We’ll revisit this when we get to the 1989 season.
Ballard left the Bills to sign a lucrative free agent contract w/Seattle (what’s with the Seahawks and our players?). He played 5 years with Seattle but also had kneed problems that ended his career (weird).
2 other draftees that had a role in this era were Jamie Mueller and Leon Seals. Mueller was a serviceable FB for 4 years and Seals, “Dr. Sack”, was mostly a reserve D lineman. As Joe mentioned in his nicknames post, Seals didn’t exactly live up to his moniker in the pro game with only 14.5 sacks. In 1989 & 1990, though, he had 4 sacks each season and held up admirably in place of Bruce Smith the 1st 4 games of 1988 when Bruce was suspended for drug-use.
Back to the chronology:
April 30 – Bills release Lucius Sanford after 10 year career with the team.
May 11 – John Butler hired as Bills’ new director of player personnel and college scouting. Chuck Lester hired as defensive assistant.
(Vital move re: Butler as he was not only an excellent talent evaluator but the next GM of the organization after Polian’s firing and later served in the same capacity with San Diego before passing away. Polian put together a superior scouting staff.)
May 15 – As minicamp opens, Howard Ballard announces he will remain in school & use final year of college eligibility.
June 22 – A.J. Smith added to Bills’ scouting department.
The Polian managerial tree continues to sprout. Smith would move on to San Diego with Butler, where he is now Excecutive Vice President and GM. SD has been one of the top teams in the league consistently since he took over there, developing such stars as Phillip Rivers, Antonio Gates, and many others (including current Bills LB Shawne Merriman), who all flourished in that system.
July 13 – CB Charles Romes traded to KC for low 1988 draft choice.
July 22 – Bills sign Odomes & McKeller as well as FA offensive lineman Mitch Frerotte.
July 23 – Training camp opens in Fredonia, the 1st for both Jim Kelly & Marv Levy. Conlan not signed yet.
July 31 – Darryl Talley signs new contract.
August 4 – Bruce reports to camp with body fat % down 7.5.
August 9 – Shane Conlan signs 1.7 million dollar contract for 3 years. No rookie cap needed then!
August 10 – Will Wolford moved from RG to LT. Conlan’s first practice.
(Significant move as it cements Wolford as Kelly’s blind-side protector until end of 1992.)
September 6 – Bills release LB Jim Haslett & offensive lineman Ken Jones. Jerry Butler placed on IR.
(Release of Haslett, Jones, and Butler was the end of an era, many of the last remnants of the solid Chuck Knox teams. Only Fred Smerlas and Joe Devlin remained.)
September 8 – Bills sign 2 linebackers: Scott Radecic & John Kaiser.
If 1986 was the beginning of hope as the QB savior came along, 1987 may have lacked the drama but all of the additions were vital in the rebuild. And the drama would come in the form of a work stoppage and a Halloween blockbuster trade. Things were no longer boring in Bills-land.
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Previous Rebirth Articles:
Part 1: 1986 – Jim Kelly Signs
Part 2: 1986 – Jim Kelly’s First Game
Part 3: 1986 – What Came Before
Part 4: 1986 – Tasker & Levy
Part 5: 1986 – Season in Review
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