Butler helping Bills ease into new era
Posted: Tuesday November 03, 1998 09:04 AM
This week's first unsung hero is unassuming Buffalo Bills general
manager John Butler, who is managing a team in transition. Gone are the
Super Bowl teams of the early '90s, whose aging stars are near the end of
their careers.
Unlike Marino, Young and Elway, Bills quarterback Jim Kelly retired two
years ago, leaving a big void. The retirement of Marv Levy, who led the
Bills to four Super Bowls, left another void.
Since an 0-3 start, the Bills are 5-0 and tied for the AFC East lead. Why
honor Butler over coach Wade Phillips or an assistant coach? Because he had
the courage and brains to hire Doug Flutie. A lot of
coaches and GMs have been fired for not winning over the past eight years
while Flutie was up in Canada winning and trying to get back to the NFL.
Wide receiver Henry Ellard made a solid return to the NFL on Sunday,
catching three passes for 52 yards in the Patriots' win over Indianapolis.
I looked to sign Ellard in 1993 when he was 32 and wondered if he was too
old. He went to the Redskins and proceeded to catch 214 passes and 17 TDs
over the next four years. Now he's 37, did not go to camp in '98 and was
coaching a high school football team. He gets a phone call from New England
and with three days' practice, he catches three passes. His lifetime
average yards per catch for 807 receptions is 16.9 -- on Sunday, he
averaged 17.3.
In one of the biggest games of the year on the road at Kansas City, Jets
linebacker Dwayne
Gordon had a key interception for a touchdown and led the team with six
tackles in the Jets' victory over the Chiefs.
Gordon had a career-high 64 tackles last season, his first with the Jets,
starting in eight games. In four previous seasons, he had just three starts
adn 40 tackles. This season, he's continued to play well, with 22 tackles
and four starts.
After watching Packers tailback Travis Jervey play this
preseason, I was looking for a week to acknowledge him -- he's a hero in
Green Bay. In probably the biggest game of the year for Green Bay he
delivered. The Packers have not been able to run the ball all year and
that's no secret, but Jervey rushed 17 times for 95 yards and a touchdown.
His yardage has improved in each of the last five games, from 0 to 55 to 69
to 72 to Sunday's total of 95. He's averaging 4.0 yards a carry, which is
enough to take some defensive pressure off Brett Favre.
Bills tight end Jay
Riemersma doubled his season total with two touchdowns in the Bills'
victory over Miami. Both receptions came when the Bills were behind by
seven points -- he kept tying the game until Doug Flutie won it for the
Bills. The former Michigan quarterback had only two touchdowns entering
this season, but he has four now in '98, second only to Shannon Sharpe among NFL
tight ends.
Finally, give credit to two young defensive tackles -- in Arizona, Rashod Swinger replaced
the injured Eric Swann,
and in Washington, Doug Brown replaced the injured Dana Stubblefield. Both
players come from relative obscurity -- Swinger was a 1997 free agent out
of Rutgers who had two tackles and an assist in his first NFL start, while
Brown was a free agent and rugby player from Canada who had a tackle in the
Redskins' first win of the year.
Pat Kirwan brings 12 years of NFL front office, coaching and scouting
experience to CNNSI.com and will offer up a new batch of unsung heroes
every Tuesday throughout the 1998 season.
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