Rian Lindell was extremely accurate because he rarely had to kick a 50+ yard field goal. As far as all time, who would I take? I don't know. I'd say it would be a tie between Christie and Lindell. Lindell was reliable for years. Christie was a breath of fresh air in the early 90's after Scott Norwood missed an easy game winning field goal in Superbowl XXV.
Your list actually looks pretty good, but I have to ask - with your knowledge of the Bills - are you a Bills fan or a Bears fan?
On personal preference, just to put his name out there because I was a fan of his, I'd put Doug Flutie as the number three QB behind Kelly and Ferguson.
After Thurman Thomas and O.J. Simpson at running back, I'd put Cookie Gilchrist, and no one after that.
My wide receiver list would look like this: Andre Reed, Eric Moulds, James Lofton, Stevie Johnson(believe it or not) in the slot, Don Bebee
TE Pete Metzelaars, and Keith McKeller, whom the K-Gun no huddle offense was named after because he was a cornerstone in it. Those are the only two Bills tight ends I like...ever
LT: Jason Peters, Stew Barber, John Fina
LG: Billy Shaw, Ruben Brown, Jim Ritcher, Andy Levitre
C: Kent Hull, Eric Wood
RG: Joe DeLamielleure, no one else needed
RT: Howard "House" Ballard, Joe Devlin, Dick Hudson
LDE: Mario Williams, Phil Hansen
LDT: Kyle Williams, Sam Adams, Marcus Stroud
NT(if 3-4 defense): Fred Smerlas, Ted Washington, Jeff Wright
RDT: Pat Williams, Marcell Dareus, Tom Sestak
RDE: Bruce Smith, Aaron Schobel
LOLB: Cornelius Bennett, Bryce Paup, Takeo Spikes
MLB: Shane Conlan, London Fletcher, Kiko Alonso, Paul Posluszny
ROLB: Mike Stratton, Darryl Talley
LCB: Booker Edgerson, Antoine Winfield
RCB: Nate Clements, Nate Odomes, Butch Byrd
FS: Jairus Byrd, Mark Kelso, George Saimes
SS: Henry Jones, Leonard Smith
K: anybody but Scott Norwood
P: Brian Moorman
KR: Terrence McGee
PR: Roscoe Parrish
HC: Marv Levy
OC: Ted Marchibroda
DC: Jerry Gray
Great list. Really enjoy looking at other fans list and debating the difference
I'm a Bears fan but to be consider myself educated on all teams. I'm a bit of a sports historian. I found it interesting that Rian Lindell was 12-23=52.2% from 50+ while Steve Christie was 13-28=46.4% from 50+ I'd say leg strength is a wash with Lindell being more accurate.
Cookie Gilchrist? Now there is a name from the past. Lets compare him to Joe Cribbs & Fred Jackson
Cookie Gilchrist: 676 carries for 3056 yards and 31 TD's. 78 catches for 875 yards and 4 TD's
Joe Cribbs: 1082 carries for 4445 yards and 21 TD's. 180 catches for 1783 yards and 15 TD's
Fred Jackson: 1193 carries for 5360 yards and 29 TD's. 289 catches for 2400 yards and 7 TD's
Gilchrist wasn't bad but I wouldn't put him ahead of either Cribbs or Jackson.
So you have James Lofton, Stevie Johnson, and Don Beebe instead of Elbert Dubenion, Lee Evans, Bob Chandler? Hmmmm lets take a closer look
Lofton: 151 catches for 2736 yards and 21 TD's
Johnson: 301 catches for 3832 yards and 28 TD's
Beebe: 164 catches for 2537 yards and 18 TD's
Dubenion: 294 catches for 5294 yards and 35 TD's
Evans: 377 catches for 5934 yards and 43 TD's
Chandler: 295 catches for 3999 yards and 34 TD's
Dubenion and Evans seems to be the obvious 3 & 4 receivers with either Chandler or Johnson getting the nod for the last receiver spot. Based on 167 more yards and 6 more TD's I give the slight edge to Chandler
McKeller wasn't a bad TE. If I remember correctly I considered him for the 3rd TE spot. I think it's important for a team to carry 3 tight ends in case one gets injured and the team wants to run a two TE set. In the end I chose Riemersma. But lets take a look at the numbers
McKeller: 124 catches for 1464 yards and 11 TD's
Costa: 102 catches for 1699 yards and 6 TD's (keep in mind he did this in only 4 seasons before switching to RT) At 6'6 & 268 lbs he was a beast at the TE position from 65-68
Riemersma: 204 catches 2304 yards and 20 TD's
Offensive line is very difficult to debate due to the lack of stats. One thin I notice is you have 13 offensive lineman. Seems like a lot to me. Jason Peters, Stew Barber, Billy Shaw, Andy Levitre, Eric Wood, Dick Hudson failed to make my roster while Ken Jones, Will Grant, Reggie McKenzie failed to make your list.
Jason Peters: 31 AV (approximate value)
Stew Barber: 59 AV
Billy Shaw: 68 AV
Andy Levitre: 29 AV
Eric Wood: 29 AV
Dick Hudson: 28 AV
Ken Jones: 61 AV
Will Grant: 47 AV
Reggie McKenzie: 76 AV
Now if taken at face value Billy Shaw is more deserving than Will Grant for a place on this team. Problem is that Shaw is a LG while Will Grant is center So if I added Shaw as my 3rd string LG I'd be left with only Kent Hull at center, So it's not that Shaw is less deserving but rather not a good positional fit.
On to defense.
Defensive line: You have Mario Williams, Sam Adams, Marcus Stroud, Ted Washington, Jeff Wright, Pat Williams, Marcell Dareus while leaving off Jim Dunaway, Ron McDole, Ben Williams so lets compare how these players stack up.
Mario Williams: 29 sacks, 80 tackles, 1 pro bowl, 18 AV
Sam Adams: 13 sacks, 65 tackles, 1 pro bowl, 24 AV
Marcus Stroud: 7.5 sacks, 96 tackles, 21 AV
Ted Washington: 19.5 sacks, 282 tackles, 2 pro bowls, 59 AV
Jeff Wright: 31.5 sacks, 314 tackles, 34 AV
Pat Williams: 13.0 sacks, 258 tackles, 38 AV
Marcell Dareus: 25.5 sacks, 125 tackles, 1 pro bowl, 24 AV
Jim Dunaway: ? sacks, ? tackles, 4 straight pro bowls, 68 AV
Ron McDole: ? sacks, ? tackles, 2 pro bowls, 67 AV
Ben Williams: ? sacks, ? tackles, 1 pro bowl, 67 AV
Unfortunately sacks and tackles weren't kept as stats prior to the 80's so all we have to really go by is the AV number. Dunaway, McDole, and Ben Williams lead in that stat. Ted Washington is worth considering but falls just short IMO
Linebackers you chose Bryce Paup, Takeo Spikes, London Fletcher, Kiko Alonso, Paul Posluszny while leaving off Lucius Sanford and Harry Jacobs. So let us compare
Paup: 33 Sacks, 166 tackles, 33 AV
Spikes: 7 sacks, 185 tackles, 35 AV
Fletcher: 14.5 sacks, 493 tackles, 42 AV
Alonso: 2 sacks, 87 tackles, 10 AV (way premature)
Posluszny: 3 sacks, 295 tackles, 23 AV
Sanford: ? sacks, ? tackles, 49 AV
Jacobs: ? sacks, ? tackles, 49 AV
Alonso was impressive as a rookie and if he keeps at his solid play he could find his way onto the list several years into the future. Fletcher might be deserving as the 3rd string MLB behind Conlan and Jacobs.
Secondary you opted for Booker Edgerson, Antoine Winfield, Nate Clements, Nate Odomes, Jairus Byrd, Mark Kelso, Leonard Smith instead of Terrence McGee, Mario Clark, Charles Romes, Tony Greene, Steve Freeman....so let's take a look
Edgerson: 21 INT, 421 yards, 2 TD's, 46 AV
Winfield: 6 INT, 32 yards, 25 AV (he was better as a Viking)
Clements: 23 INT, 341 yards, 5 TD's, 42 AV
Odomes: 26 INT, 224 yards, 1 TD, 59 AV
Byrd: 22 INT, 409 yards, 2 TD, 32 AV
Kelso: 30 INT, 327 yards, 1 TD, 46 AV
Smith: 8 INT, 121 yards, 1 TD, 26 AV
McGee: 17 INT, 166 yards, 1 TD, 59 AV (lots of value as a kick returner)
Clark: 25 INT, 438, 53 AV
Romes: 28 INT, 493 yards, I TD, 66 AV
Greene: 37 INT, 628 yards, 2 TD, 53 AV
Freeman: 23 INT, 329 yards, 3 TD, 72 AV
By the looks of this Odomes may deserve a spot on the team. But I already have Butch Byrd and Charles Romes at RCB position so Odomes would only be a 3rd stringer. To make room for him I'd have to leave Mario Clark off the team which leaves me with one LCB unless Odomes could be used at LCB. Then the question is Odomes so much more deserving than Clark to warrant and risk a position change.. So that was the challenge faced when putting this team together.