C.A.: 1991 Score Frank Reich

(I've been out of the loop as the covid booster sent me for a loop. Outside of two naps and going to bed at 11:15 p.m. yesterday -- very unusual for this night owl -- I thought I was doing OK. Then I realized I have more than a day's worth of blog posts that I had ignored! It was worse than I thought! I have some catching up to do. But first it's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 311th in a series):

 

I hope you don't mind the semi-rare detour into football this post, but the Buffalo Bills are trying to do something they haven't achieved in more than 30 years.

If the Bills beat the Jets on Sunday, they will win the AFC East in back-to-back seasons. They haven't done that since they won four straight AFC East championships from 1988-91. That was back when I was covering the team!

I am aware that was a long time ago, but it takes certain moments for it to hit you smack in the beak.

For example, every time I see Frank Reich on the sidelines of an Indianapolis Colts game, it throws me. I still think of him chiefly as the Bills' backup quarterback 30 years ago, and the man at the helm in the biggest playoff comeback in NFL history.

Reich is now known primarily as the Indianapolis Colts' head coach and has been since 2018. That's weird.

Just about all of the Bills players that I covered back then are in their late 50s or early 60s. A couple of them are younger than me by a year or two. Four of them have passed away. Bills fans just lost defensive end/linebacker Mark Pike, known for his special teams play, last month at age 57. Starting center Kent Hull died 10 years ago (!!) at age 50.

Bills quarterback Jim Kelly and linebacker Darryl Talley have gone through very well-known health struggles.

While I will root for Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Devin Singletary, Dawson Knox, Micah Hyde and the rest tomorrow and through the playoffs, the Bills team from 1988-91 is the only team that has my true devotion.

That team is like the mid-to-late 1970s Dodgers team for me. I remember players and plays more distinctly for that team than I do others. And the Bills from back then are extra special because I was able to walk on the field where they walked, walk through the locker room and the Bills Stadium hallways, dine in the press box and watch the game there, all while barely having an idea what I was doing as I was fresh out of college trying to figure out my job.

The post-career struggles of NFL players are well-documented. Since I don't live in Buffalo anymore, I don't hear a lot about those old athletes. Some, like Pete Metzelaars, Steve Tasker, James Lofton, Mark Kelso and Ray Bentley have remained public figures. Don Beebe's son plays for the Vikings. Others, I have no idea.

 

Hope they're doing well. And rooting on the Bills tomorrow.