When you think of the '90's Bills

[imbondz]

Do you think we were a great defensive team first, or great offensive team first? What do you think of first? you can't say both either.

[DraftBoy]

As much as I love Kelly and the K-Gun for me it will always be a defense first team.

[imbondz]

me too. I always think the identity of that team was Bruce Smith/defense.

just wondering what the identity of the Bills are overall from us fans. or if that can even be specific. Like the Ravens are obviously a defensive minded organization first. Colts offensive. Chargers offensive. Steelers defense. etc... I know it can change, but overall...

[Nighthawk]

I don't know, I feel the team was a better offensive team. I always felt that our defense underachieved and never had a good DC to help get the best out of them. Walt Corey was a trainwreck as a DC and was the master of that crappy "bend but don't break" defense.

[trapezeus]

exactly. look at that san fran game, no punts, 1000 yards in total offense.

the k gun blew out teams and kept them in games.

that last year with the bend but don't break only worked because henry jones was an INT machine. bend but don't break relies on the unreliable turnover. when you don't get the turnovers, you get the 2010 bills.

[OpIv37]

I always thought of it as an offensive first team.

Don't get me wrong- Bruce is my favorite player of all time and that D was full of bad- asses like Bruce, Talley and Biscuit. But the D was successful at least partially because the O always scored points and forced teams to pass. The O drove the success of those early 90's teams.

[Novacane]

It was an offensive team first. The Bills never had a dominating defense. They had a dominating defensive player. The offense was always top 5 during the super bowl years. The defense was near the bottom of the league 1 year if I remember right.

[TheBrownBear]

Our great run was established on the defensive side of the ball, but we really hit our stride when the offense caught up to and surpassed the defense.

'86-'90 - Defense
'90 (postseason)-'92 - Offense
'93-'96 - Defense

The real answer, and the one you won't allow us to give, is that those Bills teams actually had great balance. The only real weakness I remember was we never had dangerous punt or kick returners.

[JCBills]

Offense first. Kelly conducted an orchestra on the field.

[Dr. Taylor Zaius]

Offense: Kelly, Thomas, Reed---'nuff said *****:bow:

[mayotm]

I always thought of it as an offensive first team.

Don't get me wrong- Bruce is my favorite player of all time and that D was full of bad- asses like Bruce, Talley and Biscuit. But the D was successful at least partially because the O always scored points and forced teams to pass. The O drove the success of those early 90's teams.Agreed. To an extent, the offense really helped Bruce. The Bills were playing with big leads a lot of the time. This forced teams to abandon the run allowing Bruce to just focus on getting to the QB.

[T-Long]

Kelly and the boys were the real face of this franchise in the 90's. Did the defensive have great players? Absolutely. But if I had to choose one side of the ball, the offense wins hands down.

[GreedoII]

The defense wasn't really ranked high in the stats category. They were great beacuse they were stingy against the run/sacked the qb and created turnovers. They were real good in the red zone as well.

[Philagape]

Why can't one say both? It's just as realistic an option as one or the other. That's just having a debate for the sake of a debate instead of actually talking about that team.

[imbondz]

Why can't one say both? It's just as realistic an option as one or the other. That's just having a debate for the sake of a debate instead of actually talking about that team.

I guess I'm more wondering what the overall identity of the Bills organization is to us fans today. And I think the '90's teams are what established that identity. Just wondering what we think that is.

I think the '90's teams were both to an extent, but for me, it was always the offense that let us down ultimately.

[justasportsfan]

I think offense . IMO, for the most part if you controlled the K-gun the bills were in for a long day. I also thought our D was overrated. They got manhandled by the cowboys OL .

[imbondz]

yeah, you're' right, identity wise it was definitely offense first, but I think I prefer a defensive minded coached team first, then offense.

[OpIv37]

I think we haven't really had an identity since that monster D in '04. Since '05, this team has never been better than slightly above average on either side of the ball, and the other side of the ball was usually far worse.

Gailey is an offensive-minded coach who is starting to develop an offensive identity, but it isn't there yet.

[Jan Reimers]

Offense, most definitely. Our D was smallish and basically got overpowered in the SBs by the bigger, more physical NFC O-lines.

[Spiderweb]

I don't know, I feel the team was a better offensive team. I always felt that our defense underachieved and never had a good DC to help get the best out of them. Walt Corey was a trainwreck as a DC and was the master of that crappy "bend but don't break" defense.

I agree 100%. With the talent on our defense, our D was never very dominating.

Actually, I generally liked our D in 95 and 96 better. Once we got Ted Washington for NT, teams could no longer run on us at will. Wright was simply not a space eating NT. Bruce had outstanding years in 95 & 96. Hansen was playing extremely well, Paup was awesome for a year, and the same for Speilman.

Kelly even had said this defense could have made a difference in the SB's.

[Ingtar33]

Do you think we were a great defensive team first, or great offensive team first? What do you think of first? you can't say both either.


I always thought of it as a fantastic running team with a godly offensive line.

1988 - 7th ranked rushing attack / 15th passing *6th in rushing attempts
1989 - 3rd ranked rushing attack / 8th passing *5th in rushing attempts
1990 - 7th ranked rushing attack / 10th passing *6th in rushing attempts
1991 - 1st ranked rushing attack / 4th passing *5th in rushing attempts
1992 - 1st ranked rushing attack / 8th passing *1st in rushing attempts
1993 - 8th ranked rushing attack / 11th passing *2nd in rushing attempts
1994 - 8th ranked rushing attack / 10th passing *7th in rushing attempts
1995 - 6th ranked rushing attack / 21st passing *1st in rushing attempts
1996 - 8th ranked rushing attack / 17th passing *1st in rushing attempts

-in all but 2 years they ran more then they passed (1991 & 1994), in every single year their rushing offense was higher ranked then the passing offense, they ended up averaging 490 passing attempts a season vs 523 rushing attempts.

[Novacane]

I guess I'm more wondering what the overall identity of the Bills organization is to us fans today. And I think the '90's teams are what established that identity. Just wondering what we think that is.

I think the '90's teams were both to an extent, but for me, it was always the offense that let us down ultimately.



Super Bowl 25 would have been a fairly comfortable win if the defense could have gotten off the field on 3rd down.

[YardRat]

Absolutely the offense. Just try and label any of them as a weak link. The D was good to great (at times) but Wright wasn't that stout of a NT, the safeties were nothing to brag about, and we never seemed to be able to get two solid corners on the field at the same time after Burroughs was injured.