During the month of June, the Sports Events Guide NFL department will be compiling a Mount Rushmore for all 32 NFL franchises. Only current and former players for each team are eligible. Today, the Buffalo Bills are the focus.
Certainly that group from the early 1990s who won the AFC title four consecutive seasons (a feat that has never been achieved either before or after) will figure prominently. However, it’s also hard to ignore the era of the mid-1960s when the Bills won two consecutive AFL titles and so we will be exploring that period as well.
Given that only four can make the cut, there will certainly be a few glaring omissions. That will be particularly evident amongst the players from the Super Bowl era. As such, I will list a few who deserve honorable mention in closing with some quick facts about them.
Having said all that, let us now take a look at the four most important players in Buffalo Bills history.
Buffalo Bills Mount Rushmore
Jack Kemp
Kemp joined the Bills in 1962 and is arguably one of two bona fide franchise quarterbacks in the team’s history (I think you know the other). The California native, who had previously played in San Diego for the Chargers, wasn’t exactly thrilled with the move at first given the obvious contrast in weather. Three years after being acquired, he would lead Buffalo to a 12-2 regular season record with a dual-threat style of play that saw him finish among the AFL’s best in rushing yards per attempt and touchdowns on the ground.
Despite his ability as a running quarterback, his passing proficiency was not to be underestimated. In the 1964 season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, Kemp threw for three touchdown passes in the first quarter en route to a 34-17 win. No other quarterback would accomplish that feat for 47 more years when Aaron Rodgers did so in the 2011 season opener for the Green Bay Packers – a 42-34 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo (affectionately known as the “Rock Pile”) would play host to the 1964 AFL Championship Game where the Bills would host the Chargers. With a 13-7 lead in the fourth quarter, Kemp would run the ball in from a yard out, sealing a 20-7 win and the franchise’s first championship.
One year later, the two teams would meet again for the title – this time in San Diego. Kemp opened the scoring with a touchdown pass and the Bills would never look back, shutting the Chargers out 23-0 to ensure second consecutive AFL title against Kemp’s former team. He would be named the game’s Most Valuable Player afterwards.
Kemp’s leadership presence on the last team to win a major sports championship for the city of Buffalo makes him a no-brainer for this list. That title drought remains among the longest for any city in North America and will be entering its 50th year in 2015.
After his professional football career, Kemp would enter politics. He represented Western New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971-1989. George H.W. Bush would appoint him to his cabinet upon winning the 1988 Presidential election where he would serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 1996, he was Bob Dole’s running mate on the Republican ticket that would eventually lose to Bill Clinton.
Kemp passed away in 2009 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year by Barack Obama.
Bruce Smith
This was honestly the toughest of the four members of the Buffalo Bills Mount Rushmore. I could have easily selected one of two wide receivers from that famed era of the early 1990s. Both Andre Reed and James Lofton are worthy candidates to appear here, but instead I’m going for undoubtedly the greatest defensive player in the history of the franchise and one of the all-time NFL greats at defensive end.
Smith was drafted first overall by the Bills in 1985 after a successful college career at Virginia Tech. He would immediately become one of the most feared defensive linemen in the league and among the league leaders at getting to the quarterback. His presence on a defensive front seven that included a loaded linebacking corps consisting of Cornelius Bennett, Darryl Talley and Shane Conlan spearheaded their multi-year Super Bowl run.
In 1990, Smith finished the regular season with 19 sacks which was three short of the record at the time. During Super Bowl XXV later that year, he became only the fifth player in the history of the big game to force a safety with his second quarter end zone sack of New York Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler.
When Smith retired in 2003, he finished his career with 200 sacks, the most in NFL history. He appeared in 11 Pro Bowls, received 11 Defensive Player of the Year awards from various publications and was named to the NFL 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Teams. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009 along with long-time Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.
Thurman Thomas
“Thermal” Thurman would complete the ground game component necessary for the Bills dominance of the AFC throughout the early 1990s. Drafted in the second round out of Oklahoma State in 1988 (a school that would produce Barry Sanders one year later), Thomas would have an immediate impact.
In just his second season in the league (1989) he would rush for 1,244 yards while adding six touchdowns. He would eclipse the 1,000 yard mark in each of the next seven seasons. In doing so, he became the third player in NFL history at the time (Walter Payton and Marcus Allen being the others) to have eight consecutive years with over 1,000 yards (Marshall Faulk, LaDanian Tomlinson and Tiki Barber have since joined the club).
Though a Super Bowl ring would prove elusive, Thomas remains one of the best players in league history from the standpoint of postseason production. He’s ranked second all-time in playoff touchdowns (21) and all-purpose yardage (2,124) while ranking third in playoff rushing yards (1,442). His 190 all-purpose yards and one touchdown in Super Bowl XXV was clearly the best individual performance of the game and many pundits thought he was deserving of game MVP despite the Bills being unable to come out victorious.
Thomas would make five consecutive Pro Bowls (1989-1993), was the 1991 NFL Most Valuable Player as well as 1992 Offensive Player of the Year, and finished as the Bills all-time leading rusher with 11,938 yards on the ground. Though he wasn’t a first ballot Hall of Famer, missing in his first year of eligibility in 2006, he would get enshrined in Canton, OH one year later.
If you want to gorge yourself on Thurman Thomas touchdown runs, check out these clips here and here!
Jim Kelly
It doesn’t get more slam-dunk than this. The era in which Kelly lined up behind center is by far the most successful in the history of the franchise. When you consider that the Bills have only been to the playoffs twice in the 19 years since he retired, that fact becomes even more evident. It also highlights how essential it is to having a competent quarterback if you want to win in the NFL. It could be argued it’s a piece of the puzzle that has been missing in Buffalo for roughly two decades now.
Much like Kemp, Kelly was initially reticent to play in Buffalo after getting drafted 14th overall out of Miami (FL). His first two seasons were spent with the Houston Gamblers of the fledgling USFL where he won MVP his rookie year. After the league folded, he returned to Buffalo and in time would grow to love the Western New York community and become perhaps its most beloved figure.
Kelly ran a high-tempo, no-huddle offense for the Bills that would become known as the K-Gun (named after tight end Keith McKellar, not Kelly himself as some people might be led to believe). In similarity to Oregon’s vaunted spread option in today’s college football, it was notorious for creating communication breakdowns among opposing defenses, not to mention wearing them down physically.
When all was set and done on his career, Kelly would finish as the Bills all-time leader in wins (101), pass completions (2,874), touchdowns (237) and total passing yards (35,467). His four Super Bowl appearances remain tied for third in NFL history with greats such as Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana. In 2002, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot.
More recently, Kelly was in the news after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. His courageous battle which included surgery to attempt to remove it followed by a recurrence which required chemotherapy galvanized all of Western New York as well as NFL fans the nation and world over who flooded the Kelly family with their thoughts and prayers.
He was declared cancer-free in November of 2014 and in one of the truly emotional moments in the history of the NFL Draft, was given a rousing standing ovation by fans of all NFL teams in attendance before he announced the Bills first pick.
Honorable Mention
Joe DeLamielleure – right guard on the famed ‘Electric Company’ offensive line of the mid-1970s.
Andre Reed – finished his career as the franchise’s all-time leader in receiving yards with 13,095.
James Lofton – played only four seasons with the Bills but his 14,004 total receiving yards throughout his career is ninth-best all time.
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