We all know by now that former Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley is among 14 players that will be joining the College Football Hall of Fame, as announced Monday. One of the most decorated leaders in Buffalo franchise history, Talley’s accomplishments at West Virginia in college from 1979-82 made his selection well-deserved.
Though not talked about much, Talley isn’t the only former Bill who will be joining college’s most elite players. Former fullback Bill Enyart was also elected to the Hall on Monday. A first-team All-American at Oregon State in 1968 and two-time All-Conference selection, Enyart ran for then-school records of 1,304 yards, 293 carries and 17 touchdowns as a senior.
Enyart was a second-round (27th overall) selection by Buffalo in the 1969 NFL draft. He played two seasons for the Bills; rushing for 387 yards and a touchdown on 105 carries, and catching 54 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns.
From time to time I get the opportunity to talk some football… and life with former Buffalo Bills great Darryl Talley. One of the topics that came up during our last chat, for obvious reasons, was his feelings towards how the media treated him when he played, and vice versa.
As I’ve come to expect with him, Talley was brutally straightforward. He recalled early in his career when he wasn’t playing his best football and neither was his team. In years two and three of his career, the Bills went 2-14 in consecutive seasons and his Buffalo career was close to being in limbo.
Talley remembered a year-end evaluation during that time when Buffalo News columnist Jerry Sullivan pretty much ripped him a new one. He categorized Talley as a mediocre player. Talley divulged he was visibly stung by the unsympathetic label, but rather than take it out on the columnist that scorned him, he embedded Sullivan’s callous words into his mind as motivation.
In 1989, Don Henley, former lead singer of the classic rock band The Eagles, penned a classic that now more than ever seems precise in describing the Buffalo Bills. Scattered in his hit song “Heart of the Matter”, Henley scribed a lyric every Bills fan seeking to comprehend what happened this past Sunday subconsciously uttered inside their head.
“The more I know, the less I understand, all the things I thought I knew, I’m learning them again.”
Before Sunday’s 38-14 drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings, we thought we were at least beginning to establish these 2010 Bills. In spite of the porous record, which fell to 2-10 after Sunday, this appeared to be a team willing and able to go blow-for-blow with any team in the league… anytime and at any place.
The National Football League announced its 25 semifinalists for the 2011 Hall of Fame class and as all Buffalo Bills fans expected, Andre Reed is on the list.
Unfortunately a pair of Bills’ greats hoping to make the list were excluded. Special team’s great Steve Tasker and linebacker Darryl Talley failed to make the cut down to the final 25.
Cornelius Bennett, Kent Hull and Fred Smerlas were the other Bills among the 114 preliminary nominees who didn’t make it down to the 25 semi-finalists.
Reed narrowly missed entry to the Hall last year, making it all the way to the final 10 before the list was cut down to the five enshrines. This is the fifth consecutive year Reed is among the final 25 up for consideration.
(We’re counting down our list of the best 20 Buffalo Bills draft picks of all-time. Take note- this is not a rundown of the best 20 players. Where the player was drafted is often a major factor in determining his value and ranking. Today is No. 9 our list, Darryl Talley)
When the annals of football history are someday written, the Buffalo Bills’ teams during a six-year period from 1988-93 will go down as one of the elite, if not most talked about teams of any era— ever.
The narcissists will recount one thing and one thing only; the four consecutive Super Bowl losses. Four straight years the Bills were on cusp of winning the biggest game of their collective lives, and four straight times they lost, caught bad breaks, choked, beat themselves, etc. However you want to write it is irrelevant. They’ll record it whatever way they prefer, and they’ll never tell the whole story. Just the sour endings.
In the short-lived time since Buffalo Sports Daily has been launched, former Buffalo Bills great Darryl Talley has become our “go to” guy. He was the first prominent athlete we conducted a one-on-one interview with. In part, it’s because we consider him worthy of being in the NFL Hall of Fame conversation, and ensured more people would feel the same, as evidenced by our Jerry Noworyta’s brilliant Requiem for a Talley video.
So in the wake of the Dick Jauron firing bombshell this week, I thought it was only fitting to contact Talley and get his thoughts and insight. As stated in my previous interview with him, Talley is one of, if not the most underrated player to ever put on a Buffalo uniform. The franchise’s all-time leading tackler spent a dozen years in the organization as a player, and to this day has a heavy heart watching the Bills suffer defeats on Sundays.
When it came to consistency, toughness and leadership, few if any Bills did it better than Darryl Talley. At Buffalo Sports Daily, we’ve made it our mission to spread the word to fans and Hall of Fame voters that the team’s all-time leading tackler is deserving of Hall of Fame consideration.
While Talley is an underdog to get enshrined, it’s ridiculous to not at least include him in serious conversation. He never missed a game in his 12 seasons with the Bills, and to a man; Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly and all the former greats have said it— Talley was the heart and soul of those dominant AFC Championship teams.
Check out this video created by our resident videographer Jerry Noworyta. For anyone who remembers this era, it’s sure to send chills down your spine. Do you think the current edition of the Bills could use a little of this?
When the annals of football history are someday written, the Buffalo Bills’ teams during a six-year period from 1988-93 will go down as one of the elite, if not most talked about teams of any era— ever.
The narcissists will recount one thing and one thing only; the four consecutive Super Bowl losses. Four straight years the Bills were on cusp of winning the biggest game of their collective lives, and four straight times they lost, caught bad breaks, choked, beat themselves, etc. However you want to write it is irrelevant. They’ll record it whatever way they prefer, and they’ll never tell the whole story. Just the sour endings.
We all know by now that former Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley is among 14 players that will be joining the College Football Hall of Fame, as announced Monday. One of the most decorated leaders in Buffalo franchise history, Talley’s accomplishments at West Virginia in college from 1979-82 made his selection well-deserved.
From time to time I get the opportunity to talk some football… and life with former Buffalo Bills great Darryl Talley. One of the topics that came up during our last chat, for obvious reasons, was his feelings towards how the media treated him when he played, and vice versa.
In 1989, Don Henley, former lead singer of the classic rock band The Eagles, penned a classic that now more than ever seems precise in describing the Buffalo Bills. Scattered in his hit song “Heart of the Matter”, Henley scribed a lyric every Bills fan seeking to comprehend what happened this past Sunday subconsciously uttered inside their head.
(We’re counting down our list of the best 20 Buffalo Bills draft picks of all-time. Take note- this is not a rundown of the best 20 players. Where the player was drafted is often a major factor in determining his value and ranking. Today is No. 9 our list, Darryl Talley)
In the short-lived time since Buffalo Sports Daily has been launched, former Buffalo Bills great Darryl Talley has become our “go to” guy. He was the first prominent athlete we conducted a 
When the annals of football history are someday written, the Buffalo Bills’ teams during a six-year period from 1988-93 will go down as one of the elite, if not most talked about teams of any era— ever.
