Super Bowls aside, Thurman Thomas was no loser

By Darrell Laurant | Monday, July 30, 2007 | ( 21 )

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The Buffalo Bills of the early '90s have become a catch phrase, the inevitable comparison to any athletic team known for failing in championship games.

"They're the Buffalo Bills of ...."

There's some truth to that, of course. Led by Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, the Bills played in four straight Super Bowls from 1991-94 -- an accomplishment no NFL team has ever duplicated. But they lost all four, which also sets them apart.

Given that, and the fact that Thomas had subpar performances in three of those four title games, there is a tendency in some quarters to regard the Bills' running back as a loser. Obviously, the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee felt differently, and they had the numbers to back them up.

It's too easy to forget just how good Thurman Thomas was.

A product of Oklahoma State, where he rushed for 4,595 yards and 43 touchdowns in his career, Thomas led the AFC in rushing from 1990-92 and topped the league in total yards from scrimmage for four straight seasons. He went over 2,000 yards from scrimmage in both 1991 and '92. And the Bills obviously benefited.

"People can say what they want about the Buffalo Bills," Thomas said at a recent media teleconference. "We put Buffalo on the map. I'm just happy to be going into the Hall of Fame as a Buffalo Bill."

Thomas finished his career as a Miami Dolphin, but he signed a one-day contract with Buffalo in 2001 so he could retire as a Bill.

And not all of his Super Bowl performances were lackluster. In the first, the 1990 game infamously lost 20-19 to the Giants when kicker Scott Norwood missed a 48-yard field goal, Thomas rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown and would have been the MVP had Norwood's kick remained on line.

A knee injury during his senior year in college scared some teams away from drafting Thomas, and he lasted until Buffalo's pick (its first in the draft) in the second round. He rewarded the Bills with the ability to run inside or outside, soft hands as a pass receiver and the willingness to become one of the better blocking backs in the leagues, especially adept at picking up blitzers intent on doing damage to quarterback Kelly.

"I decided I'd use that (falling through the first round) as a motivational tool in my first year," Thomas said.

The Houston, Texas, native was named to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1990s. His former coach, Marv Levy, now the Bills' general manager, will introduce him at the Aug. 4 ceremony in Canton.

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Comments: 21 | Sign Up View all comments


	No.1 Eclipse	03:14 AM 07/30/2007

	Excellent piece. Thurman was definitely one of the top two or three running backs of the 90s. Dude should have been the MVP of...


	No.2 Jake	04:37 AM 07/30/2007

	Great article! Too many fans wrongly evalute teams by wins and losses. The Bills were the greatest team of the 1990s regardless...


	No.3 Husker fan in Beijing	05:46 AM 07/30/2007

	"They lost four superbowls to inferior teams..."? I could not disagree more. The Giants were arguably not as talented as the...