(01-15-2024, 04:49 PM)Nepa Wrote: I cannot root for the Bills to be in the Super Bowl. Win today, yes, because its against the Steelers. But as a long-time fan, i remember too vividly what the Bills did to the Bengals in 1989 with their  whining to the league to change the rules at the last minute before the AFC championship game. I think that change is what cost the Bengals a Super Bowl. For the Bills to get a Super Bowl before the Bengals is just intolerable to me for that reason.

To refresh, Sam Wyche made a brilliant change to the Bengals offense to make sure the defense didn't get to substitute their defensive packages: the no-huddle. No longer could a team substitute speedy nickelbacks for slow linebackers as the down and yardage called for. When they got Boomer Esiason they ran it to perfection. If the defense tried to substitute, Boomer would catch them with too many players on the field. If the defense got tired, tough luck. The Bengals lead the league in scoring, finished with the 1st place AFC record, and were virtually unstoppable. 

I remember like it was yesterday when the Bills, right before the AFC championship, complained the Bengals had an unfair advantage running their no-huddle. They said they would have a Buffalo player go down as if injured "after every play" so they could substitute. The Seahawks had done it earlier, and it was embarrassing for the Seahawks and the game, to see a player fake an injury, and then be back in a play later. Again and again and again. Now the Bills said they were going to do it in the championship game.

TWO HOURS before the AFC championship, the league office told the Bengals they couldn't run the no-huddle and if they did the no-huddle they would be penalized 15-yards every time they did. Not penalize the Bills for faking injuries, but penalize the Bengals.

The Bengals won that game against the Bills , but the lack of having that offense for the Super Bowl might well have cost them a Super Bowl.

It was insane. It's like complaining about Philadelphia tush push and telling them it would no longer be allowed in the championship game and Super Bowl.

So, let the Bills win today, because it's Pittsburgh, and I'll also never get over having Palmer's leg shredded in what looked like another Super Bowl year. But after today, a pox on the Bills.

(01-15-2024, 05:12 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Same. I couldn't care less about the Browns though lol 

I don't like the Eagles much either. But the Lions and the Bills fans have had it tough similar to us.

(01-15-2024, 12:46 AM)jj22 Wrote: Nacua is a star.

(01-15-2024, 05:28 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Makes me wonder what McVay could do with a QB/WR combo like Burrow and Chase.

(01-15-2024, 05:18 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Thank you for this. I didn't know this happened and I agree. And why would the NFL ban the no-huddle on the Bengals when it was allowed prior? It was within the rules so there shouldn't have been a problem. This bugs the shit out of me. Not for the Bills, but for the NFL. All the Bills were doing is trying to find a way within the rules to stop the no-huddle, so I would be pissed at them. Be mad at the NFL because that's blatant cheating on the NFL's part.

(01-15-2024, 05:28 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Makes me wonder what McVay could do with a QB/WR combo like Burrow and Chase.

(01-15-2024, 04:49 PM)Nepa Wrote: I cannot root for the Bills to be in the Super Bowl. Win today, yes, because its against the Steelers. But as a long-time fan, i remember too vividly what the Bills did to the Bengals in 1989 with their  whining to the league to change the rules at the last minute before the AFC championship game. I think that change is what cost the Bengals a Super Bowl. For the Bills to get a Super Bowl before the Bengals is just intolerable to me for that reason.

To refresh, Sam Wyche made a brilliant change to the Bengals offense to make sure the defense didn't get to substitute their defensive packages: the no-huddle. No longer could a team substitute speedy nickelbacks for slow linebackers as the down and yardage called for. When they got Boomer Esiason they ran it to perfection. If the defense tried to substitute, Boomer would catch them with too many players on the field. If the defense got tired, tough luck. The Bengals lead the league in scoring, finished with the 1st place AFC record, and were virtually unstoppable. 

I remember like it was yesterday when the Bills, right before the AFC championship, complained the Bengals had an unfair advantage running their no-huddle. They said they would have a Buffalo player go down as if injured "after every play" so they could substitute. The Seahawks had done it earlier, and it was embarrassing for the Seahawks and the game, to see a player fake an injury, and then be back in a play later. Again and again and again. Now the Bills said they were going to do it in the championship game.

TWO HOURS before the AFC championship, the league office told the Bengals they couldn't run the no-huddle and if they did the no-huddle they would be penalized 15-yards every time they did. Not penalize the Bills for faking injuries, but penalize the Bengals.

The Bengals won that game against the Bills , but the lack of having that offense for the Super Bowl might well have cost them a Super Bowl.

It was insane. It's like complaining about Philadelphia tush push and telling them it would no longer be allowed in the championship game and Super Bowl.

So, let the Bills win today, because it's Pittsburgh, and I'll also never get over having Palmer's leg shredded in what looked like another Super Bowl year. But after today, a pox on the Bills.

(01-15-2024, 05:18 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Thank you for this. I didn't know this happened and I agree. And why would the NFL ban the no-huddle on the Bengals when it was allowed prior? It was within the rules so there shouldn't have been a problem. This bugs the shit out of me. Not for the Bills, but for the NFL. All the Bills were doing is trying to find a way within the rules to stop the no-huddle, so I would be pissed at them. Be mad at the NFL because that's blatant cheating on the NFL's part.

(01-15-2024, 05:18 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Thank you for this. I didn't know this happened and I agree. And why would the NFL ban the no-huddle on the Bengals when it was allowed prior? It was within the rules so there shouldn't have been a problem. This bugs the shit out of me. Not for the Bills, but for the NFL. All the Bills were doing is trying to find a way within the rules to stop the no-huddle, so I would be pissed at them. Be mad at the NFL because that's blatant cheating on the NFL's part.

(01-17-2024, 04:38 PM)Wyche Wrote: ....and here's where Sam threatened to tell on them, pissing off Las Vegas.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/9785450/sam-wyche-nfl-tried-stop-no-huddle-1980s

(01-17-2024, 04:22 PM)Wyche Wrote: Well, to Nepas point, after complaining about it, they came back the next season running Wyche's offense and called it the K-gun. They wound up getting all of the accolades for it, and like the West Coast Offense, Cincinnati became a footnote in the development of both styles even though they innovated them.

(01-15-2024, 05:04 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: Bengals
Browns
Bills
Lions

Definitely some rough periods for the fans! I'd be good with the Bills or Lions winning it all. Please no to the 49'ers, Chiefs, or Ravens.

(01-17-2024, 06:02 PM)BengalYankee Wrote: Meh, Lions and Browns were NFL Champions. 

(01-14-2024, 09:23 PM)NotBigzo Wrote: I took refuge with the Cowboys (my girlfriend's team) expecting at least a playoff room.

Watching this meltdown made me realize how good I have it.

(01-17-2024, 04:51 PM)Nepa Wrote: Thank you. That is new information to me, and was not reported, to my knowledge, during the actual game.  It's so weird hearing this full report. I did go "sports silent" for about a month immediately after the Super Bowl loss, it was so devastating, and living in northeastern Pennsylvania it was easy to avoid discussion of the Bengals. Apparently I had only part of the story.
For all I understood, the league had told the Bengals not to use the no-huddle and my memory is the Bengals didn't use the no-huddle in that championship game.  All the talk was the league's announcement two hours before the game and the news (this was 1989; before social media, twitter, LOL) didn't have this information about Wyche making a threat regarding getting gamblers upset and the league pulling back.  I did some searching and other written accounts seem to say the same thing, that the Bengals didn't use the no-huddle. And Levy said he might have done the Bengals a favor by having the Bengals play the game without "all that jazzed-up stuff." The Bengals played without the no-huddle and just steamrolled the Bills.

I'm also pretty sure the Bengals didn't use the no-huddle in the Super Bowl, although San Francisco also didn't substitute  much on defense, but stayed with their base defense all game. It does seem, as your article and other articles pointed out, the Bengals were not restricted from the no-huddle in the Super Bowl, which was my faulty memory. I do know Wyche was very upset about Buffalo's effort to stop the no-huddle. As he said, "We'll remember that forever. Every time we play Buffalo." But apparently the 49ers didn't give the Bengals any advantage to use the no-huddle because they just didn't substitute defensively.

Anyway, thank you Wyche's Warrior for clearing up an over three-decade faulty take. It's so weird to find this additional information you share, like a Mandela effect. I guess with the name Wyche's Warrior, and the image you post, your the right person to know that history.

(01-17-2024, 07:31 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I could edit my post to be more truthful: Screw them all. Bengals or bust!

(01-18-2024, 02:53 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: To be fair, 1957 was a while ago and the Lions have had the worst team for years in the NFL. I still find them to have it almost as bad as us and
the Bills both of which have never won the entire thing.

(01-18-2024, 03:08 PM)BengalYankee Wrote: What about Lions fans who witnessed their 1957 NFL Championship, but died in 1958-1965???

They died knowing that they won the entire thing!!!!