White helmet era not a good one for Bills

[PromoTheRobot]

I started following the Bills seriously in 1966 when I was 8 years old. To me the "White Helmet" years of the Bills were bad times! Season after miserable season, including several one-win campaigns. When Jim Kelly joined the Bills and we switched to the Red helmets, the team was reborn into a consistant contender.

I decided to do a little number-crunching and this is what I came up with:

WHITE HELMET BILLS:
157 wins - 224 losses - 8 ties .414 winning pct.
9 winning seasons - 17 losing seasons - 1 even season
2 AFL titles

RED HELMET BILLS:
165 wins - 122 losses - 0 ties .575 winning pct.
11 winning seasons - 5 losing seasons - 2 even seasons
4 AFC titles

To me the RED HELMET BILLS represent success. The WHITE HELMET BILLS represent futility. The numbers show why.

Don't get me wrong! I think the throwback jerseys look sharp, and uniforms havng noting to do with winning or losing. I just have trouble understanding why a number of fans pine for the old look when it represents such a painful era for the Bills.

PTR

[Jan Reimers]

We won championships in '64 and '65, and just missed going to the first Super Bowl in '66. Don't knock nostalgia unless you were really there - you're remembering only the late '60s and early '70s, when things had gone bad.

[lordofgun]

We won championships in '64 and '65, and just missed going to the first Super Bowl in '66. Don't knock nostalgia unless you were really there - you're remembering only the late '60s and early '70s, when things had gone bad.

Exactly right, Jan.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Which category has the white helmets with stripey? There were some pretty crappy teams in that era.

[THATHURMANATOR]

We won championships in '64 and '65, and just missed going to the first Super Bowl in '66. Don't knock nostalgia unless you were really there - you're remembering only the late '60s and early '70s, when things had gone bad.

I agree!!

The white helmets won Championships!

[don137]

I agree with EE about the stripey.
There actually is three eras. The standing Buffalo with white helmet, the charging Buffalo with the white helmet and then the red helmet. The white helmet with the charging Buffalo was by far the worst of the three eras.

[Earthquake Enyart]

I agree with EE about the stripey.
There actually is three eras. The standing Buffalo with white helmet, the charging Buffalo with the white helmet and then the red helmet. The white helmet with the charging Buffalo was by far the worst of the three eras.

We need a Mr. Beeper to keep Promo the Robot honest.

[alohabillsfan]

I wa kind of fond of the white with blue charging Buffalo with the throwback unis! Anyways it's something to get somewhat excited about with nothing wlso happening.

[pleasesavedrew]

Its not meant to represent the bad teams of the era, its meant to represent the 64 and 65 AFL champs. The last time the Bills went as far they could possibly go.

[BuffaloRanger]

We won championships in '64 and '65, and just missed going to the first Super Bowl in '66. Don't knock nostalgia unless you were really there - you're remembering only the late '60s and early '70s, when things had gone bad.

Yeah, only focus on 3 seasons, disregard the other 16.

White with stripe was the worst for winning % by far.


Anyone remember when the Bills wore a red helmet with with standing Buffalo for one game back in '96, I think?

[Jan Reimers]

Yeah, only focus on 3 seasons, disregard the other 16.

White with stripe was the worst for winning % by far.


Anyone remember when the Bills wore a red helmet with with standing Buffalo for one game back in '96, I think?

Sorry to focus on the positive. I know how it upsets you.

[Philagape]

And of course, it was the helmets that determined whether we won or lost.

[finsrclowns]

I just have trouble understanding why a number of fans pine for the old look when it represents such a painful era for the Bills.

PTR

I dunno I did better with the ladies after my hair starting falling out but I still pine for my old look.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

And of course, it was the helmets that determined whether we won or lost.

Yeah. I love the reason that then-Bills coach Kay Stephenson gave to the media for switching to the red helmets: because "all of the teams in our division wear white helmets, as a result, sometimes our quarterbacks have a hard time picking out our receivers".

I will never forget him saying that as long as I live! Of course, it couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that the Bills' QBs at the time were horrid--only slightly worse than he had been when he played for the Bills--could it? Somehow, J.Kemp, D.Lamonica and J.Ferguson didn't have a problem picking out their receivers when they were playing QB for the Bills..... It strikes me that having guys like T.Flores, E.Rutkowski, M.Briscoe, J.Harris, D.Shaw, G.Marangi, D.Darraugh, J.Dufek and, of course, the immortal K.Stephenson as the Bills' starting QBs during that era may have had a lot more to do with the team's abysmal record than their white helmets!

[The_Philster]

Anyone remember when the Bills wore a red helmet with with standing Buffalo for one game back in '96, I think?

No...cause I had season tickets for the first time that year and we never wore anything like that in 96...but we did wear that in a game or two in 94...when everyone was wearing throwbacks of a sort...75th Aniversary of the league...we wore it against the Broncos in the last MNF game in Buffalo