© Staff, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Long-time Bills Fans remember the acquisition of Cornelius 'Biscuit' Bennett late in the '87 season.
After six months in which the Colts and Jim Irsay could not sign their '87 first-round draft pick Cornelius Bennett, they engineered a monumental three-team trade on Halloween in which he was traded to the Bills. The LA Rams (the first iteration), Colts, and Bills agreed to a package that would send three first-round picks, three second-round picks, RBs Greg Bell and Owen Gill to the Rams, and Eric Dickerson to the Colts. In addition to Greg Bell, the Bills parted with two of those first-rounders ('88 and '89) and their second-round pick in '89 for the rights to Bennett.
It was during Marv Levy's first full year as the HC and Bill Polian's third year as GM. Despite Biscuit not having a training camp, he made an immediate impact. "Cornelius Bennett came in without any NFL experience or training camp and immediately impacted. "He is everything we heard about him as an athlete," Levy said. "He's got great temperament. He came in and learned a lot of things quickly."
Biscuit played in 8 games his rookie season, starting 7 of them. He had 8.5 sacks, forced 5 fumbles, and had 69 tackles. "His impact was felt both by his presence and what he helped others on our defense do," Levy said. "He's learned much faster than I anticipated, and he has contributed much faster than I thought any rookie could." Marv added, "After Cornelius arrived, people aren't able to run away from Bruce because they'll meet resistance from the other side."
There is little doubt that the acquisition of Biscuit put the Bills over the hump and into the force that was the juggernaut from '88 to '93, in which they won 4 straight AFC Championships. Though they ultimately failed to win the Lombardi, those teams were the best in the Bills' NFL history.
Though the '22 season is only a game old for the Bills and Bills Mafia, Von Miller's impact upon the team in their season debut was palpable. You can see the effect his presence is having. Von had two sacks and three hurries on 25 pass-rushing snaps and a pass rush win rate of 47%. The overall pressures by the Bills' defense were an astounding 27 of 41 passing attempts for a rate of almost 66%. They accomplished this with just a 4-man rush the entire game. They did not blitz Matthew Stafford once.
While it is undoubtedly too early to know if the Bills signing of Von is going to equate to the acquiring of Bennett, Bills Fans are as optimistic as they have been since the glory days of the late '80s/early '90s.
All we can say is, Go Von, and Go Bills!
