We are now in the deadest of dead periods for Buffalo Sports. The NFL season is over, and the draft is still a month away, the Sabres are not going to the playoffs, and the trade deadline has passed, and all the Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays fans aren’t even paying attention yet. This seems like a great time to examine the top 5 “records” in Buffalo sports history.
5. Bruce Smith’s 200 career sacks
I know a very few of these occurred in Washington, but by far this is a Bills record. This is amazing, when one especially considers that other than Reggie White’s 198, nobody in NFL history has even broken 160. Bruce had over 10 sacks in 13 NFL seasons! Before we hear about the pace of JJ Watt, or Von Miller, people need to understand that being this good for this long is the challenge. It’s one thing to be good as a 27 year old. It’s a whole different matter to be good over the course of 18 seasons. The only thing that works against this stat is that it did not start to be counted or recognized until 1982. Clearly, there are some all-time greats who played prior to this. Nonetheless, Bruce’s (and Reggie White) distance between everyone else is astonishing.
4. Bob McAdoo’s 73-74 and 74-75 Buffalo Braves seasons
I will freely admit that these happened before my time. I have heard stories about how great McAdoo was from older relatives. I also think it’s pretty cool that Buffalo used to have an NBA team, so maybe this is me being nostalgic. In 1973-74, McAdoo averaged 30.6 points and 15.1 rebounds. For reference here is a list of players who have done that since……. NOBODY, not Shaq, Kareem, Duncan, Robinson, Ewing, Olajuwon. His incredible 73-74 season may only be topped by his 74-75 season when he was named NBA MVP. Consider that, the MVP of the entire NBA played in Buffalo. In 74-75, he AVERAGED 34.5 points and 14.1 rebounds. He also shot a healthy 80% from the FT line. If any player today had a 2 season stretch like this, he would have his own shoe.
3. Dominik Hasek’s 1997-1998 season
With Dom, it’s tough to even pick which season was his best. He won 6 Vezina trophies, and 2 Hart trophies. In 1998, he also won the Czech Republic it’s first, and only Olympic gold in ice hockey. It is tempting to pick the following season since that’s the year Brett Hull had his foot in the crease, and the team had its greatest success with him, but his 1997-1998 season look like they have pretend numbers. Dom played in 72 games (most true #1s in today’s NHL play about 60). In those 72 games, he had a save percentage of .932, a GAA of 2.09, and incredibly 13 shutouts. I mean he shit the opponent out once every 5.5 starts! The Sabres teams he was on were not good, but they managed to make the playoffs every year, and even played for a cup. I feel he is overshadowed by Roy and Brodeur due to their longevity, and MUCH better teams. Hasek still remains to this day, the best goalie I have ever seen, and probably the best hockey player not named Gretzky.
2. The “Comeback”
This game gets regular rotation on ESPN Classic, and NFL Network for good reason. There is nothing I’m going to tell you about this game that you don’t already know. Buffalo was down by 32 points at one point, and managed to win 41-38 in OT against the Houston Oilers in the 1993 NFL Playoffs. While it has been mentioned, I actually do think it’s somewhat underappreciated that the Bills did this with their back-up QB. We can go on and on about how Reich wasn’t a typical backup, but in today’s NFL, how many back-ups are you really comfortable with even winning a game, much less coming back from 32 down. This single game really captured the spirit of those Super Bowl Bills. Which brings us to….
1. Four straight Super Bowls
To me, this is like DiMaggio’s 56 game hit streak. That record that will never be broken. This record is astonishing for a few reasons. First of all, it’s crazy to me that they accomplished this while losing all 4. Most men would’ve called it quits at some point and not been able to keep on battling. This team is the lone exception. It’s also crazy to me because the NFL has had some dynasties. The 70’s Steelers, the 80’s Niners, the 90’s Cowboys, and the Patriots of the 2000’s have not been able to match. I mean nobody has ever been to even 3 straight. You could see it this past season with Seattle, they had been to 2 straight and were just worn down by all that extra playing time. There is just so much that can happen in the NFL with the salary cap, and injuries that I just don’t see this getting broken. This team is special, and Buffalo will always hold this team up on the highest pedestal. Think how big even today guys like Jim, Thurman, Bruce, Andre, Biscuit, Talley, Marv, etc are. The recent 30 for 30 really brought into light how much this team is appreciated.
Also receiving votes: 06-07 Sabres start, OJ Simpson 2000 yard season (I kind of feel like this belongs, but c’mon…), French Connection Sabres, Calvin Murphy Niagara University, Bills Playoff droughts, and many others…
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