| November 12, 2004 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 04:22 AM |
As we know by now I am a young (25) Bills fan, but I also have a degree in American History, so I am more in tune with the history of our beloved team. One of the players I have been interested in was Joe Cribbs, the guy that filled the Juice’s shoes. How do you replace such a player of OJ's caliber? Follow him to two different teams. Cribbs wasn’t that great of a player, and isn’t in the Hall Of Fame, but he wasn’t a slouch either. He made some noise while playing for Buffalo. It's such a shame he tried the journeyman route ending his career with the dreaded Dolphins. It's difficult to think of the numbers Gribbs could have had if he stayed put with Buffalo.
OJ was traded for five draft picks, and the last one was used on Cribbs, an Auburn running back. Joe’s record at Auburn of five touchdowns in one game stood for 25 years until Carnell Williams ran for six scores in 2003. His rookie season with the Buffalo Bills couldn’t have gone better he was the favorite choice as AFC Rookie-of-the-Year. Joe finished second in the conference with 1,185 rushing yards and was selected as starter at the Pro Bowl. Buffalo won eleven games and the division title in that season.
His second season followed the same script as Cribbs became the only Bills running back in team history to eclipse 1,000 yards in his first two seasons. He finished with 1,097 yards and 3 TDs. Cribbs was also the key to Buffalo’s offense during his first four seasons. He led the team in rushing each year, and was a three-time Pro Bowler.
Then he did something that he really never recovered from. Nowadays when a player has a contract squabble, they can’t do much about it, other than sit out. Not at that time. He was unhappy with his contact, so Cribbs, signed a personal services deal with Birmingham of the USFL. The Bills attempts to keep him in Buffalo were unsuccessful and Cribbs became a member of the Stallions.
Eventually, Cribbs came back to Buffalo. After buying out his contract with the Stallions, the halfback suited-up for the winless Bills in Hank Bullough’s head coaching debut, a 21-9 win over Indianapolis, in 1985. That win over the Colts was half of the number of wins for that year. During training camp the following season, Cribbs was traded to the 49ers, just like Simpson did.
Currently Cribbs is living in Alabama with his wife, Vernessa; their daughter, Ajai, a junior at the University of Alabama-Huntsville; and two sons, Omar, 15; and Nigel, 9. For the past six years, he has run Joe Cribbs Associates, an advisory company.
| Joe Cribbs by the numbers | Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | TM | G | Att | Yards | Y/A | TD | Rec | Yards | Y/R | TD |
| 1980 | Buf | 16 | 306 | 1185 | 3.9 | 11 | 52 | 415 | 8.0 | 1 |
| 1981 | Buf | 15 | 257 | 1097 | 4.3 | 3 | 40 | 603 | 15.1 | 7 |
| 1982 | Buf | 7 | 134 | 633 | 4.7 | 3 | 13 | 99 | 7.6 | 0 |
| 1983 | Buf | 16 | 263 | 1131 | 4.3 | 3 | 57 | 524 | 9.2 | 7 |
| 1985 | Buf | 10 | 122 | 399 | 3.3 | 1 | 18 | 142 | 7.9 | 0 |
| 1986 | SF | 14 | 152 | 590 | 3.9 | 5 | 35 | 346 | 9.9 | 0 |
| 1987 | SF | 11 | 70 | 300 | 4.3 | 1 | 9 | 70 | 7.8 | 0 |
| 1988 | Ind | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 1988 | Mia | 12 | 5 | 21 | 4.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 102 | 1309 | 5356 | 4.1 | 27 | 224 | 2199 | 9.8 | 15 | |
