Threads from our Frenemies-part 2

[BengalYankee]

(01-17-2023, 11:47 AM)Nepa Wrote: Fair enough. Although I don't get all the board love for Buffalo, as we are competitors, and I doubt we're looking at a friendly competition on Sunday. I do feel sympathy for all their tough losses over the years -- two I think have their own entries in Wikipedia -- and the city Buffalo itself has suffered a lot this year, with a mass shooting and massive snowstorm. And I generally like the fans -- my son attends the Buffalo games and one entire branch of my family are Buffalo fans.

But we are competitors and the last big meeting between the team -- the 1989 AFC championship -- the Buffalo franchise and their coach, Marv Levy, were absolutely horrible to the Bengals. They might well have cost us a Super Bowl. For 2 and 1/2 years the Bengals ran a no-huddle offense. Teams didn't like it -- Seattle, in the AFC at the time, would have one defensive player after another fake an injury so they could make their substitutions. Marv Levy and Buffalo threatened to do the same if the league didn't step in and put a stop to the Bengals no-huddle, which Boomer Esiaison had perfected. 

Buffalo got their way. On game day, less than two hours before the game, the league told the Bengals they could not run their no-huddle. and they declared if Buffalo wanted to fake injuries, that would not be considered a penalty. it was like one hour and 45-minutes before game time. Sam Wyche compared it to a restaurant owner (the Bengals, in this case) being told they had to close their restaurant at 5pm because if they were open they were inviting robberies (Buffalo's threatening to fake injuries).

The Bengals beat Buffalo that year. But who knows if the Bengals would have won the Super  Bowl that year if they could have kept playing the way they had perfected for over two years.

You had to live through it as a Bengals fan to know how unfairly the Bengals had been treated and all because of Buffalo's week-long complaining.

Don't forget the hypocrite Bills then used the No huddle Offense themselves.



Glad the New York Football Giants beat them.