‘You couldn’t tell me winning a Super Bowl would feel any nicer’

[ticatfan]

I miss playing in the CFL, no doubt about it. Boy, it was a lot of fun. People in America have no clue what goes on up there, or about the quality of football we had. That’s what made the experience for me. Most of the guys were NFL-caliber talent, but were undersized or just didn’t fit the mold in one way or another.



My CFL career started in 1990, with the BC Lions, and I didn’t know what to expect. But I could tell I was going to be viewed as a backup in the NFL, and you only have so many years to play this game, and I wanted to play. So I figured I’d give the CFL a whirl. When I first went up to Canada, I thought I’d put in two years up there and then try to get back to the NFL. But I enjoyed it so much, I wound up making a career out of it.



The game in Canada was more exciting, more explosive, more wide open. It was what the NFL is now becoming. We were going no huddle, over the ball, from the time I got up there. No-back sets, six wide receivers, throwing the ball all over the field. There is a 20-second clock between plays rather than 40. It just creates a pace that the NFL is now realizing to be more exciting—and actually more effective. The NFL is turning into a no-huddle, up-tempo, fast-paced, throw-the-football type of game now. The CFL has been that for the past 30 years.



By the time I finished up in the CFL, I was basically my own offensive coordinator, calling all the plays on the field. We had our playbook, but I had my ideas from watching film during the week of game-planning and seeing things on the field. My whole theory at quarterback was to keep my receivers from having to think too much. Let them just be full speed and go. Rather than making them read everything on the fly and then adjusting, I would give them a route and they would just run it. I told them, “I’ll deal with the pressure, I’ll deal with the hot reads, I’ll build something in where I’ll get rid of the ball quickly.” More....
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/06/24/cfl-doug-flutie-grey-cup-canadian-football-league

[WagonCircler]

No one cares.

You can post another 100,000,000 of these CFL stories and no one will care.

Rec league football with uglier uniforms.

[Bill Cody]

great article. No doubt Doug Flutie was a genius on the football field. He was ahead of his time.

[Ginger Vitis]

Interesting Doug claims he made more money in the CFL than the NFL... One year he didn't get paid at all and had to sue and another year the Stampeders owner didnt pay him until 5 months after the season ended

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19960517&id=_a1JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qw4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1633,473044&hl=en

[ticatfan]

Interesting Doug claims he made more money in the CFL than the NFL... One year he didn't get paid at all and had to sue and another year the Stampeders owner didnt pay him until 5 months after the season ended

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19960517&id=_a1JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qw4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1633,473044&hl=enHe was referring to the hrs, I think.

[MikeInRoch]

Why are we talking about a crappy ex-QB who played in a crappy league?

[ticatfan]

Why are we talking about a crappy ex-QB who played in a crappy league?You mean the 35 yr old CFL QB that went to buffalo and would have won a super bowl if your management were not idiots? Ya that is the one, we are talking about.

- - - Updated - - -


No one cares.

You can post another 100,000,000 of these CFL stories and no one will care.

Rec league football with uglier uniforms.Thank god for super bowl commercials.

[WagonCircler]

You mean the 35 yr old CFL QB that went to buffalo and would have won a super bowl if your management were not idiots? Ya that is the one, we are talking about.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank god for super bowl commercials.

Dry your tears. I'll buy you a Grey Cup commercial. How much does it cost to snail mail a looney to Canada?

[ticatfan]

Boo Hoo.

[MikeInRoch]

You mean the 35 yr old CFL QB that went to buffalo and would have won a super bowl if your management were not idiots? Ya that is the one, we are talking about.

The player you describe does not exist. The only 35 year old CFL QB who went to Buffalo was the most overrated Bill of all time, and would POSSIBLY have been carried to the Super Bowl by a very good defense before getting squashed by the Rams. He also was a huge cancer in the locker room.

[DynaPaul]

But what does Rob Johnson think?

[ticatfan]

The player you describe does not exist. The only 35 year old CFL QB who went to Buffalo was the most overrated Bill of all time, and would POSSIBLY have been carried to the Super Bowl by a very good defense before getting squashed by the Rams. He also was a huge cancer in the locker room.A RJ fan. That is even worse. lol But I guess having a winning QB is so foreign to you.

[MikeInRoch]

"Thinking Flutie was a cancer and highly over-rated" is not the same as "being an RJ fan". I am not in any way an RJ fan.

[ticatfan]

Flutie won where ever he went, except in buffalo where he would have if he was not pulled. It is very simple. And the cancer thing was not flutie, it was RJ and the owner. Even super bowl winning defensive coordinator Wade Philips even said so. So I will take his word over yours any day anytime.

[MikeInRoch]

Flutie won where ever he went, except in buffalo where he would have if he was not pulled. It is very simple. And the cancer thing was not flutie, it was RJ and the owner. Even super bowl winning defensive coordinator Wade Philips even said so. So I will take his word over yours any day anytime.

Yes, everywhere he went.

Except the Bears, Patriots, Bills, Chargers, and Patriots again. Take those out and he won everywhere.

Show me the quote where Wade Phillips said Rob Johnson was a cancer.

[ticatfan]

Yes, everywhere he went.

Except the Bears, Patriots, Bills, Chargers, and Patriots again. Take those out and he won everywhere.

Show me the quote where Wade Phillips said Rob Johnson was a cancer.I meant keeping flutie in, they would have won. Buffalo broke his streak. Ever wonder why buffalo never wins? Stupid people running the team. Your new owner I would bet would have kept him in. But then he did hire Ryan. Anyways we have all been thru this many years ago.

[MikeInRoch]

His streak of not succeeding with the Bears and Patriots? No, I'd say they kept that going pretty well.

[ticatfan]

He won in college, the CFL and would have in the NFL, except for a dumb decision.

[Mr. Pink]

Flutie would have never found his way back to the NFL if not for the CFL. He wasn't liked in Chicago by the locker room, and players resented he was brought in, in 1986. Then resented him and Ditka even further for allowing him to start in the playoffs. A game they lost to the Redskins. The Skins dared Flutie to pass in that game, and he was abysmal. Players on that team blamed him and Ditka for that loss thinking Steve Fuller should have started instead. Hall of Famer Richard Dent even has stated, to this day, that Ditka and Flutie are the reason that Bears team only won the one Superbowl. Jim McMahon nicknamed him Bambi.

He was then jettisoned out of town because of this to New England. Things didn't go any better there and he was jettisoned out of the league completely.

I love this fairy tale people love to tell about Flutie and how he was awesome and that he should have won a championship in the NFL. Or whatever other mumbo jumbo people come up with. Truth is the guy started 2 NFL playoff games in his career. He lost both of them. He went a combined 32 of 67 for 494 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs in those 2 games. He was sacked 4 times and fumbled 3 times.

We won't even mention the fact that that 1986 Bears team was even better than that 1998 Bills team either.

[Bill Cody]

Flutie would have never found his way back to the NFL if not for the CFL. He wasn't liked in Chicago by the locker room, and players resented he was brought in, in 1986. Then resented him and Ditka even further for allowing him to start in the playoffs. A game they lost to the Redskins. The Skins dared Flutie to pass in that game, and he was abysmal. Players on that team blamed him and Ditka for that loss thinking Steve Fuller should have started instead. Hall of Famer Richard Dent even has stated, to this day, that Ditka and Flutie are the reason that Bears team only won the one Superbowl. Jim McMahon nicknamed him Bambi.

He was then jettisoned out of town because of this to New England. Things didn't go any better there and he was jettisoned out of the league completely.

I love this fairy tale people love to tell about Flutie and how he was awesome and that he should have won a championship in the NFL. Or whatever other mumbo jumbo people come up with. Truth is the guy started 2 NFL playoff games in his career. He lost both of them. He went a combined 32 of 67 for 494 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs in those 2 games. He was sacked 4 times and fumbled 3 times.

We won't even mention the fact that that 1986 Bears team was even better than that 1998 Bills team either.

Jim McMahon was the reason Flutie was not accepted on the Bears. McMahon didn't like his popularity, the fact that he was a Heisman winner, in short he was jealous of Doug and he caused others to follow which he could do. But let's be clear. Doug was a talented player. But he was short. You simply were not going to run a standard pro offense with him and make it work. He needed an offense that was tailored to his strengths and minimized his weaknesses. That's what he had in Canada. The NFL is playing a lot closer to that now. But in his stops in the NFL he was put in very traditional offense, lot of running, play action, throw from the pocket. That wasn't a good fit. If he played in an offense like Mike Shanahan ran in Oakland and Denver, moving the pocket, rollouts in both directions he would have been great. Obviously you're not a fan but that's my opinion. Never understood the nastiness towards Doug by Bills fans. He's one of the few bright spots in the last 20 years here.

[Albany,n.y.]

At the time, many of us felt he was ******ing the progress of the team & Rob Johnson. Looking back now, it's easy to say Flutie was the better QB & Johnson shouldn't have started any games over Flutie, but it wasn't that simple then because Butler & Wade had convinced us RJ was the real deal and one injury wasn't enough to convince us otherwise. When the injury count kept growing, it became obvious that RJ didn't belong on the field.
At my worst, I used to half-jokingly yell "Satan" every time Flutie went into the game.

[WagonCircler]

I won a flag football league championship it the 80s. This is as significant as the CFL. (But we had less nauseating uniforms--and better attendance).

[Mr. Pink]

Jim McMahon was the reason Flutie was not accepted on the Bears. McMahon didn't like his popularity, the fact that he was a Heisman winner, in short he was jealous of Doug and he caused others to follow which he could do. But let's be clear. Doug was a talented player. But he was short. You simply were not going to run a standard pro offense with him and make it work. He needed an offense that was tailored to his strengths and minimized his weaknesses. That's what he had in Canada. The NFL is playing a lot closer to that now. But in his stops in the NFL he was put in very traditional offense, lot of running, play action, throw from the pocket. That wasn't a good fit. If he played in an offense like Mike Shanahan ran in Oakland and Denver, moving the pocket, rollouts in both directions he would have been great. Obviously you're not a fan but that's my opinion. Never understood the nastiness towards Doug by Bills fans. He's one of the few bright spots in the last 20 years here.

Players in that locker room were PO'd that Ditka gave the starting job in the playoffs to Flutie instead of Fuller. Players in that locker room were PO'd that Dougie was even brought in when they had Fuller and Tomczak already. Fuller and Tomczak were both liked and respected.

He walked in to a situation where he had a very slim margin for error and not a good chance to win over the locker room. Going out in that playoff game against the Skins and laying a complete egg cemented he was never gonna fit in that locker room and would never be part of that team.

Especially since Fuller lead the Bears to a victory over the Skins 2 years prior in the playoffs.

That doesn't even mention how Dougie gave himself some ill will league wide among the players after that 86 season as he became a scab player on the 87 Pats.

[YardRat]

If the ****ing officials had made the right call in Tennessee, Johnson/Flutie wouldn't be being debated to this day. I'm not an RJ OR Flutie fanboy by any means, but the bottom line is the Bills were winning when Johnson went to the sideline.

[Mace]

The thing about Flutie in his later years, I remember reading it, then noticing it was obvious, his first year in our offense where he could play his game was dynamic, then teams watched the film and had their defenses start throwing up their arms so he couldn't see well down field. That would make him run, and they planned for it. You can see a diff from his first year with the Bills to the next.

Besides the bad stuff he brought to a locker room, remember reading so often how he divided teams lobbying for himself, he only always had a great temporary effect.

That doesn't take away from that temporary effect whatever though, and he brought a flash of magic while it lasted at a time the team desperately needed it.

Flutie or Rob ? Well, Rob was adequate enough to win the game, no idea what would have happened with Flutie. Rob sure wasn't much after that, Flutie wasn't either. Over his career his stats say he was middlin.

When it worked, it worked. I don't mind not being overly aggravated or excited looking back at him here. It was what it was when it was. Awesome fun sometimes, then sometimes not. Pretty typical if you're a long term Bills fan.

[stuckincincy]

But what does Rob Johnson think?

:limpclap:

[Bill Cody]

If the ****ing officials had made the right call in Tennessee, Johnson/Flutie wouldn't be being debated to this day. I'm not an RJ OR Flutie fanboy by any means, but the bottom line is the Bills were winning when Johnson went to the sideline.

Oh please. Johnson was terrible in that game, completed like 11 passes. If we won it would have been because the D played lights out. RJ sucked. We win that game by 2 TD's if Flutie plays.

[ticatfan]

How many times did RJ get sacked that game?

[YardRat]

Oh please. Johnson was terrible in that game, completed like 11 passes. If we won it would have been because the D played lights out. RJ sucked.

True. It was one of those games where the offense struggled for the entire game, but RJ and that side of the ball played well enough, for one important drive, to put the team in FG range and tke the lead.


We win that game by 2 TD's if Flutie plays.

Well, first of all that's entirely speculation, and secondly...Oh please...Tennessee was 13-3 that season with a pretty good defense themselves, playing at home.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Well, first of all that's entirely speculation, and secondly...Oh please...Tennessee was 13-3 that season with a pretty good defense themselves, playing at home.

Agreed. It was the same Tennessee team that held the "Greatest Show on Turf" to 16 points for 58 minutes and came within a yard of sending the Super Bowl to OT.

[Bill Cody]

True. It was one of those games where the offense struggled for the entire game, but

Sorry no buts. You don't get to blow all game and then say we were unlucky to lose. One drive for a FG doesn't absolve him from responsibility for the loss. If we had won it would have been tremendous but RJ still would have sucked.


Well, first of all that's entirely speculation, and secondly...Oh please...Tennessee was 13-3 that season with a pretty good defense themselves, playing at home.

True we don't get to play it over again. Just my opinion.

[YardRat]

Sorry no buts. You don't get to blow all game and then say we were unlucky to lose. One drive for a FG doesn't absolve him from responsibility for the loss. If we had won it would have been tremendous but RJ still would have sucked.


I didn't say we were unlucky, I said the ref's blew the call. Also, 'no buts' include '(But) We win that game by two TD's if Flutie plays'.

Say all you want about the 'bigger picture' of the game (any game) in it's entirety...it's all speculation. Competition is an exercise in moments, and the 'fact' is the Bills were ahead on the scoreboard the moment RJ went to the sidelines with the lead.

[Bill Cody]

I didn't say we were unlucky, I said the ref's blew the call. Also, 'no buts' include '(But) We win that game by two TD's if Flutie plays'.

Say all you want about the 'bigger picture' of the game (any game) in it's entirety...it's all speculation. Competition is an exercise in moments, and the 'fact' is the Bills were ahead on the scoreboard the moment RJ went to the sidelines with the lead.

lol

[ticatfan]

And where is RJ now, who is he playing with?

[Mr. Pink]

Oh please. Johnson was terrible in that game, completed like 11 passes. If we won it would have been because the D played lights out. RJ sucked. We win that game by 2 TD's if Flutie plays.

You mean like how they won that playoff game in 1998 where Dougie started?

The one where he fumbled on 1st and goal at the 5 with 17 seconds left in the game? The one where he was intercepted at the 1 with 24 seconds left in the 1st half?

Funny, Rob Johnson walked off the field with the lead the next year and the special teams blew it...Flutie walked off in 1998 as the goat.

But you're right, the Bills beat the Titans by 2 TDs with Flutie. I see the logical connection.

[DynaPaul]

If we genetically spliced DF and RJ together we'd have a hell of a QB but separated and on their own neither one were the answer. End of story.

[Bill Cody]

You mean like how they won that playoff game in 1998 where Dougie started?

The one where he fumbled on 1st and goal at the 5 with 17 seconds left in the game? The one where he was intercepted at the 1 with 24 seconds left in the 1st half?

Funny, Rob Johnson walked off the field with the lead the next year and the special teams blew it...Flutie walked off in 1998 as the goat.

But you're right, the Bills beat the Titans by 2 TDs with Flutie. I see the logical connection.

IMO RJ wouldn't have even gotten us into the playoffs in the first place. He was a bum with zero pocket presence and never accomplished anything in the NFL. In the Titans game he completed 11 passes, that's a joke.

It would awesome to be able to ***** about a Bills QB's performance in the playoffs. It hasn't happened since Doug led us there and it's been a long long time.

[BillsOwnAll]

You can tell its offseason. The bamboons are argueing about nothing again

[Bill Cody]

You can tell its offseason. The bamboons are argueing about nothing again

Sorry did we pull you away from your spelling bee?

[YardRat]

lol...cookies for Cody...

http://www.beantownbaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/soft-frosted-sugar-cookies-4.jpg