section122 Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 In the Bills are not out of it thread and across this board in general I keep running into this comment: The Bills just had to beat the Steelers backups and get in. This much is true. What I can't stand is the routine reference to it being their third stringers and nobodies. While it was the Steelers backups at the time many of those players went on to have great careers for Pittsburgh. Case in point: the no name rb who torched the Bills that day? Fast Willie Parker who before injuries ended his career was a great #1 back for them. Who led their receiving corps? Antwaan Randle-el who was instrumental in a sb win before leaving for greener pastures. Hines Ward and Deuce Staley also saw action in this game. As for defense you know who was on the field because he was a backup? James Harrison who actually scored on a fumble return. Troy Polamalu added a sack. Brett Kiesel, Kendrell Bell, and Ike Taylor all who were instrumental in super bowl runs for the steelers were "backups and nobodies" on this team. Add in the contributions of James Farrior and Larry Foote (yes many starters did play in this game for Pitt) and it was hardly a scrub team. The team those 04 Bills lost too had incredible depth. Many of those "bench" players went on to have great careers in this league, some may even end up in the hall of fame. Lastly, that Steelers team was 14-1 going into that game. They had run over and through the entire NFL with a rookie QB. Big Ben was okay that year but was basically asked to hand off the ball and ride the bus to victories. That team was very very good. So for the love of god can we please put to rest the myth of the Bills blowing it against bums? They had an opportunity against a team that had clinched and blew it but the team they lost to certainly was not comprised of bums. Game Stats Depth Chart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufcomments Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Tommy Maddox beat us. Which to me should not have happened. They didn't need the game and we needed it to get in. At home, everything was set up for us. Still mad about it . We were on a nice winning streak going into that game too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 That drive in the 4th quarter killed us. Almost 9 minutes long but only 46 net yards. No passes. Overall 12 penalties for 108 yards. 3 turnovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcrusho Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Pittsburgh was 15-1 that season though..............so........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMadCap Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Tommy Maddox beat us. Which to me should not have happened. They didn't need the game and we needed it to get in. At home, everything was set up for us. Still mad about it . We were on a nice winning streak going into that game too. Pretty sure it was worse. Brian St. Pierre... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section122 Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 (edited) Tommy Maddox beat us. Which to me should not have happened. They didn't need the game and we needed it to get in. At home, everything was set up for us. Still mad about it . We were on a nice winning streak going into that game too. I agree that they blew it. I just don't agree with the assessment of the steelers talent level. Tommy Maddox went 12-24 for 120 yards 1 td and 2 int. He didn't beat us but a super bowl foundation D and a top flight rb (even though they weren't thought of as that at the time) beat the Bills. As for not needing the game that is almost irrelevant to me. The backups that they played wanted that game. They didn't go in to that game to lay down. They went in with something to prove and unfortunately most of them did. Pretty sure it was worse. Brian St. Pierre... He did get some garbage time but the majority of the game was Maddox. Edited November 20, 2012 by section122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) In the Bills are not out of it thread and across this board in general I keep running into this comment: The Bills just had to beat the Steelers backups and get in. This much is true. What I can't stand is the routine reference to it being their third stringers and nobodies. Game Stats Depth Chart That much is NOT true, and I cannot believe the myth has perpetuated as long as it has.. The Bills needed to win, that much is true. However, entering the day the Jets were a game ahead of the Bills at 10-5, and the Broncos also had a 9-6 record . If the Bills and Broncos won and the Jets lost, Bills/Broncos would get in on tiebreakers. If Jets beat the Rams that day in St. Louis , they were in no matter what at 11-5. Broncos held tiebreaker against Bills I believe, and were in much the same situation as the Bills, playing the Colts who had secure their seed and were playing a majority of backups, including Payton Manning not playing, and they were also at home. Bills and Jets kicked off at 1, Broncos at 4. I was watching both the Bills and Jets game, The Rams also needed to win to get into the playoffs. Long story short,back and forth game but Jets Rams went into OT just as the Bills game ended, securing a playoff spot for the Jets. Off went the starters for the Jets, they tried a crazy long field goal that missed , giving Rams great field position and they went on to win game. Now, would the Jets still have lost if the Bills won? One can never say. But the prevalent thought that that was a win and your in game is just plain wrong. Edited November 21, 2012 by plenzmd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machine gun kelly Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Remember by that game the O Line for the Bills were people we were taking off the street as we had lost so many to injury. Ross Tucker of the morning drive for the NFL Radio was just talking about it a week ago or so, and he was playing for us at the time. He remembers one guy we put in the line up we just picked off waivers the week before. Besides, we had such an easy schedule that year we would have lost in the first round anyway. Now the loss to the Titans whn we had an imposing defense because son of bum puts in Rob Johnson over Flutie was so stupid. That bothers me as the Titans as you remember went to the SB. Those days of Spielman, Washington, Wiley, etc was fantastic in terms of run and pass defense. We could have stipped the Rams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmur66 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 From what I remember Bledsoe had the worst game ever. So bad I think he cried over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThurmasThoman Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 the way the conference was those days (steelers, colts, patriots,) even if we had gotten in, the odds of us, as a wild card, beating 2 of those 3 teams, is/was next to impossible. i dont understand how losing THAT game keeps people up at night. to me, that game against the steelers was a wildcard game, for all intents and purposes. it was fun anticipating it, it was (somewhat) fun watching it, and i was over the loss in a few hours afterwards. OP is right too--the myth of that game has certainly grown over the years. i remember it as being more of a "nobody circles the wagon like the buffalo bills, winners of 6 straight, but can they shock the world and beat the completely dominant pittsburgh steelers to snatch a wild card?" somehow that's turned into the bills choking away their season against a no-name, 3-12 scrub squad that came into the ralph and shut us down, LIGHTS OUT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSBill Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 7+ years ago, time to move folks . . . Big game at Indianapolis this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Ah yes, lets make more excuses to make ourselves feel better about our embarrassment of a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just in Atlanta Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 We lost to backups. Good ones, OK. Maybe even great. We needed the win to get in. They were not only in but had homefield locked. End of story. No more excuses from this fanbase, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jauronimo Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Tommy Maddox beat us. Which to me should not have happened. They didn't need the game and we needed it to get in. At home, everything was set up for us. Still mad about it . We were on a nice winning streak going into that game too. Tommy Maddox was the starter going into that season before he was injured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeyBomb Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 7+ years ago, time to move folks . . . Big game at Indianapolis this weekend. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLEN1QB Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Thanks I was just getting over it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section122 Posted November 21, 2012 Author Share Posted November 21, 2012 We lost to backups. Good ones, OK. Maybe even great. We needed the win to get in. They were not only in but had homefield locked. End of story. No more excuses from this fanbase, please. Ah yes, lets make more excuses to make ourselves feel better about our embarrassment of a team. ? Mypoint in this thread was to dispel a popular tbd myth. As some have laid out (that actually contributed to the thread) there was much more to it than the Bills choked against 3rd stringers and blew their chance. I don't think it's making excuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djp14150 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 2004 playoff scenarios going into that game: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/12/28/bc.fbp.lgns.playoffberths.r/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Such a sad game. I went up there w/ 3 buddies who were all steelers fans. They all genuinely felt bad for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benderbender Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 As if we need to drag up horrible memories. This thread is bad ju ju for a team needing to win out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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