Watching last night’s game (which I can’t talk about yet - the memory is still too painful) they named the Patriots all-star team and had some of the living members appear. And they said that at next week’s home opener, the Bills will be naming their all-start team.
My immediate thought was “will they include O.J. Simpson?” Considered just on the basis of his athletic career there’s no way he would not be considered one of the all-stars of the team. But it’s difficult to consider just his athletic career in isolation without bringing up … other things.
Either way, I’m guessing a personal appearance is out of the question. The orange jumpsuit and handcuffs wouldn’t fit into the overall tone of the event.
One question is how many RBs they name. They could legitimately put Thurman Thomas over OJ if they only “start” one tailback.
Come to think of it, the Super Bowl Bills are probably the “all-starters” at MOST positions. Jim Kelly > Jack Kemp; Andre Reed > any other Bills WR I can think of; Bruce Smith is a surefire starter; etc. I know the Bills won an AFL championship in the 60s, but that was in an era where most of the best players still went to the NFL. But just naming the entire '91 roster isn’t very interesting so I’m sure they’ll mix it up.
Yes, OJ was the greatest RB of his time and of the Bills’ history. Nothing that came after that changes it. It would look spiteful not to mention him at the ceremony, even if he is unavoidably detained elsewhere.
Or maybe they could claim Cookie Gilchrist was just better.
Thurmon Thomas was very good, and a better receiver than OJ, but taking Thomas over OJ as the Bills’ best running back ever IS a cop-out – 4.7 yards per carry is better than 4.2, and 2003 yards rushing in a season is better than 1487.
But it’s a copout that I expect the Bills to avail themselves of.
Just to be completely humorless, the team quality argument cuts both ways; on the one hand, OJ only led his team to the playoffs once; on the other hand, he didn’t have Jim Kelly and Andre Reed distracting defenses from him, and Bruce Smith going after opposing offenses.
I came in here to laugh at the people who thought you could select Thomas over Simpson solely on football grounds, but after looking at their careers more closely you really could pick Thomas for football-only reasons.
They were essentially equally productive as rushers (Thomas edges Simpson by a few hundred career yards). Both won a single MVP award (Simpson won player of the year, which was the same thing, essentially). Thurman made five Pro Bowls and won three rushing titles; Simpson made six, and won four. Simpson’s then-record season is canceled out in my mind (at least) by the fact that Thomas was one of the best pass-catching backs of all time. I guess the difference is that Thomas played on great teams (and was in truth MVP of Super Bowl XXV) and Simpson didn’t.
They really weren’t equally productive as rushers. 4.7 yards per carry makes OJ a top-50 all-timer; 4.2 puts Thomas at #153. And that’s despite OJ being basically the only threat on his team where Thomas always played on good passing teams.
Thomas was able to play full-time for longer (both at the beginning and end of his career), and played 16-game seasons instead of 14, which let him edge OJ on total rushing yards. (It looks from the stats like OJ got hurt in '77 and was never the same). But OJ was obviously a brighter star at his peak - 5 First Team All-Pro selections to Thurman’s 2.
Thomas was a better pass-catcher, which is a point in his favor, and played for better teams, which as far as I’m concerned is a wash. But I don’t think anyone ever thought he was really the best running back in the NFL. It’s sort of like picking Carl Yazstremski as the Red Sox’ all-time best left fielder.
Fair point, I guess, but when you factor receiving yards into the equation Thomas was much more productive than T.O.- and nobody wins an MVP award without at least a few people thinking they’re the best player at their position.
Bolding mine…we haven’t seen much of T.O. yet; he played one game and caught the ball, what, once? O.J. was a football star, but he’s not an all-star. He’s a murderer and a sociopath, and that does matter.
