What Buffalo Bill was on the Sports Illustrated September 1991 cover released 33 years ago?

The 'bickering Bills', showcased in SI's NFL Preview preseason magazine, were seeking to overcome their first Super Bowl loss

Aug 2, 2014; Canton, OH, USA; Buffalo Bills hall of fame members pose with the bust of Andre Reed at the 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement at Fawcett Stadium. From left: Thurman Thomas and Jim Kelly and Reed and Marv Levy and Bruce Smith and James Lofton and Billy Shaw. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

"Lean, Mean Sack Machine" was the title of this long form expose, from Sports Illustrated's Rick Telander, on the 1991 Buffalo Bills and their goal to ride Bruce Smith back to another Superbowl.

Orchard Park, NY, USA; FILE PHOTO; Bruce Smith of the Buffalo Bills in action during the 1991 Season at Rich Stadium. / RVR Photos-Imagn Images

Hanging in my basement pic.twitter.com/nBmQGhyq9t

— Donnie Staszczyk (@SuprRook) September 2, 2024

Jan 22, 1991; Tampa, FL; Buffalo Bills defensive end Bruce Smith (78) addresses the press during media day for Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. / Darr Beiser-Imagn Images

Marv recounted that after the 1990 season ending Super Bowl loss, Coach Levy's mother provided him with an insprirational poem, which lives in Bills Mafia imfamy.

Dec 8, 1991; Los Angeles, CA, USA: FILE PHOTO; Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy reacts on the sidelines / Long Photography-Imagn Images

"Regarding resilience, in the regular season 12 teams make the playoffs, 20 teams don’t. 11 teams then lose their last game. After a Super Bowl loss, have a period of mourning, recognize the good, make a plan, and work on the plan. After a Super Bowl loss, when some folks told us they didn’t want us to go back to the Superbowl, we said thank you for sharing, but we are glad that they’re not on my team. After losing our first Superbowl my mother consoled me by giving me this poem:
Fight on, my men,” Sir Andrew Said
“A little I’m hurt but not yet slain.
“I’ll just lie down and bleed a while,
“And then I’ll rise and Fight again.
Leadership is the ability to get people to believe in themselves. To not follow you, but to join you, and to believe in you. Bill Polian was not the best general manager in professional football. He was the best of all time. He used to say “It is amazing what you can accomplish if nobody cares about the credit.”

- Marv Levy

The 1990 season had ended in a soul crushing defeat on a missed 'wide right' field goal vs the N.Y. Giants in Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium.

This iconic sack for a safety of Giants QB Jeff Hostetler in the endzone was pure Bruce Smith.

Jan 27, 1991; Tampa, FL, USA; FILE PHOTO; New York Giants quarterback #15 Jeff Hostetler is pursued by Buffalo Bills defensive end Bruce Smith (78) during Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. / RVR Photos-Imagn Images

RVR Photos-Imagn Images

RVR Photos-Imagn Images

RVR Photos-Imagn Images

Jan 27, 1991; Tampa, FL, USA; FILE PHOTO; Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly (12) carries the ball against the New York Giants during Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. The Giants defeated the Bills 19-20. / Imagn Images

They came within two points—missing a 48-yard field goal attempt in the last eight seconds—of beating the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV last January. If the Bills had won, we would be talking about them as the team of the '90s instead of questioning whether they can stick together long enough to make another run at the championship. But the Bickering Bills of 1989 seem dead—all the feuding and finger-pointing over tough losses has ceased—and the Boisterous Bills have arrived.

Recently Smith guaranteed a group of sportswriters that the Bills would win the Super Bowl this year—a statement that might have created havoc on the team in the past, but not now. "A lot of players feel the same way," says Thurman Thomas, the Bills' All-Pro running back. "I do. We probably have more talent than anybody in the league."

- Rick Telander, Sports Illustrated

1990's Bruce Smith was full of 'bad things'...'bad things mannnn'.

The New York Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills 20 19 in Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on January 27, 1991, / Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK

But as we know, the 'never say die' Bills would bleed a little, regroup and rise to fight again for their second consecutive AFC Conference crown.

Giants head coach Bill Parcells gets doused with Gatorade with linebackers Lawrence Taylor, left, and Carl Banks, right, after the 20-19 win over the Bills in Superbowl XXV in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 27, 1991 / Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY, USA TODAY via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Game ticket from Super Bowl XXVI between the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills played on January 26, 1992 at the Metrodome. / Garrett Reid-Imagn Images