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Most clutch play in Buffalo Bills history


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10 hours ago, 4merper4mer said:

Shirley you guys can't be serious.  Two pages and no mention of Ferguson to Leaks in 1980?  Clear cut winner IMO.

hmm..you talking about the reception in the streak breaker? Still dont know how that ball fit in there.  Rosie also had one of the most "unclutch" plays the next year with the fumble vs Tampa that doomed our season that year..And that's when Tampa was the "Cleveland" of the NFL.

8 hours ago, Golden Goat said:

 

The Bills picked Brady off a career-high 4 times that game, and Wilfork melted down at the end to draw a personal foul and seal the win for us. Honorable mention to Drayton Florence for putting us ahead with his pick-6 just seconds after Freddie tied the game in the 4th.

 

 

 

I dont remember the Wilfork, oe spikes penalty..lille help?

(edit) did some research, and now I remember the Wilfork penalty..we were seated around the other 40..saw the flag and being Bills fans just assumed someone had moved or lined up wrong, pure joy when the PF agaisnt Wilfork was annonced. Man, how did i forget that!!!!..I may be wrong but maybe without that first down do the Pats have a chance to get the ball back?

 

 

 

 

The one thing that is annoying me a bit the last couple of weeks on this board is the narrative that Freddie intentionally did not score on the last drive. He absolutely did everything he could to get into the end zone, and celebrated like crazy when it was initially ruled a TD. Freddie is one of my all time favorite Bills, but that narrative is just wrong.

 

Same as the Pittsburgh" win and your in" game. Was not win and your win..was win and Jets lose to Rams. Jets game was pretty far behind the Bills game for some reason..and Jets were winning that game when Bills score went final..and Jets pulled all their starters and then lost in OT.

Edited by plenzmd1
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12 hours ago, The_Dude said:

Ironically it could be argued that it was a Scott Norwood kick. 

 

He was a big part of what got the Bills to SBXXV. Several clutch kicks along the way.

 

He's the popular scapegoat for that game, but you can easily point to several other players/plays that were as much to blame for the loss.

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18 hours ago, mileena said:

I was listening to SiriusXM the other day. Since Dwight Clark died, they were having a segment on each team's most clutch play ever. Of course, they talked about San Francisco's Montana to Clark "Catch" in the 1981 NFC Championship Game as being clutch. And the Pittsburgh Steelers "Immaculate Reception". Both plays clearly started the Super Bowl dynasties for each team. Without them, there never would have been those dynasties.

 

So I nominate these two plays as Buffalo's most clutch play ever:

 

1. 1989: Jim Kelly's TD run with 2 seconds left at Miami, with the Bills behind 24-20.

 

Video:

http://www.buffalobills.com/video/videos/Van-Miller-Moments-1989-Victory-over-Miami/033457c7-302e-4b49-9792-dacf51d0f62e

 

I watched that game live on NBC and the network did not show Buffalo's extra point to make it 27-24. Everyone thought the game was over with the Bills ahead 26-24 with no time left, and NBC stopped coverage and went to the next show.  But the refs made the teams come back on the field for the extra point I read in a news article the enxt day. I remember being furious at this. I was screaming at the TV they still had to kick the extra point, but no one listened to me.

 

This play set up the Bills to become great during the 90's.

 

2. In 1981, two consecutive catches by backup RB Roland Hooks from Joe Ferguson at home to beat New England 20-17. The game was blacked out, depsite the Bills being in the midst of a playoff run, so our family gathered around the radio to listen to Van Miller's play-by-play.

 

The Bills were 6-5 and had just suffered two consecutive losses, and now they had to face the 2-9 Patriots at the Rich. Wih 35 seconds left and Buffalo at its on 27 down 17-13, Ferguson hit Roland Hooks for a spectacular 37-yard circus catch. Then, with no timeouts, the Bills ran up to the line (I don't think spiking the ball to stop the clock had been invented yet). With 12 seconds left at the Patriots 36, Feguson hit Hooks again with a Hail Mary catch to give the Bills the win.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJNNLuwNMw

 

[Note: NFL has it wrong above: Roland Hooks was NOT a WR!!]

 

These plays propelled the Bills to a 10-6 record that year and to the wild card, where we crushed the Jets and then narrowly lost in the divsional round to the Bengals. The next season, Sports Illustrated, in a written article (there was no online back in those days), predicted the Bills would win the SB in 1982. I remember, as a kid then, being so excited. The Bills did go onto an NFL-best 2-0 record in 1982 and were on their way to a SB victory had it not been for the ensuing 8-week long strike and killed the Bills chances. After the strike, the Bills were not the same team, and lost 5 of 7 games to finish 4-5 and out of the playoffs. To make matters worse, our main rival, the Miami Dolphins, went onto the SB that year; and our other main rival, the Jets, made it to the AFC Championship game. I was devasted. Many years of Buffalo misery ensued before the arrival of Jim Kelly gave us hope.

Two excellent choices.

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8 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

 

Im the one who called in and the comeback game doesn’t fit for the theme of that show b/c it was a single play that had a name for the play.  I stated Fandemonium as Van Miller was the first to ever make that statement when Smerlas blocked that kick from the Jets which propelled us to the first AFC East title occurred bringing us to 10 of 12years of playoff wins or at least appearances.

 

i was the third person on that goal post when it was knocked down and thrown over the roof.  It was nuts and only stayed up there for maybe 10 seconds as someone tried to climb over me to get up there.  It was absolutely insane and so much fun in my early college career.

We were in the upper deck and it took us awhile to get on the field.

It was a wet day and I thought it would be cool to run and dive in a puddle and slide( like  I’d seen players do) on the field.

My stomach hit and it was like Superglue. I face planted hard.....???. Then we helped carry the pole that went up into the stands.

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20 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

Steve Christie hitting the field goal against Houston.in the comeback game 

 

This has to be it, to be considered, the game must be significant .... this was: a playoff game, the drama of the comeback, and this is the crowning moment--I remember it like it was yesterday.

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4 hours ago, thebandit27 said:

 

It was Brandon Spikes that took the ridiculous PF penalty that cost NE a chance to tie after a FG.

 

http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2011/09/26/wilforks-dirty-play-costs-pats/ 

 

4 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

(edit) did some research, and now I remember the Wilfork penalty..we were seated around the other 40..saw the flag and being Bills fans just assumed someone had moved or lined up wrong, pure joy when the PF agaisnt Wilfork was annonced. Man, how did i forget that!!!!..I may be wrong but maybe without that first down do the Pats have a chance to get the ball back?

 

You're not wrong! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Check the link above. I agree with you on Freddie. He was absolutely trying to score.

 

 

Edited by Golden Goat
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21 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

Steve Christie hitting the field goal against Houston.in the comeback game 

How about Marv Levy going for it on fourth down when they were down (I think) 35-24 in that game.

3 hours ago, Idandria said:

JP Losman to Lee Evans to beat the Texans on the road.. last play of the game. So awesome. 

Really dude?  And it was definitely Peerless Price.

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19 hours ago, stevewin said:

In my life I think this might have been my saddest most devastating Bills moment.  Most people would say wide right, but that just caused me numbness.  This play caused real pain - almost physical pain.  I can still remember screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! and the pain - the pain - just lingering.   I used to keep a picture from SI of the ball bouncing off Harmon's hands in my home gym as motivation to get me angry when I would lift.

Just watched the video again for the first time since watching this live I think.

 

For some reason, I had the play switched to the other sideline in my mind's eye!  I thought it was in the right corner of the end zone, not the left.

 

That play was super painful for any Bills fan watching at the time.


I'm sure a lot here are too young to remember that play.

 

 

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Mark Ingram’s 14 yard gain on 3rd and 13 during the 10 minute drive to open the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl 25. Ingram broke about 5 tackles on the play. Other than the missed FG (which definately wasn't clutch) that is the single most important play that kept the Bills from winning a SB. It was cas clutch as it gets for Ingram.

 

Granted, Im assuming the OP meant clutch FOR the Bills, but that was the single most clutch play in Bills history.

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20 hours ago, stevewin said:

In my life I think this might have been my saddest most devastating Bills moment.  Most people would say wide right, but that just caused me numbness.  This play caused real pain - almost physical pain.  I can still remember screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! and the pain - the pain - just lingering.   I used to keep a picture from SI of the ball bouncing off Harmon's hands in my home gym as motivation to get me angry when I would lift.

 

Gotta disagree here, it was Wide Right. The stakes were the highest possible; make it and win the Super Bowl miss it and lose. Getting demolished by Dallas their first super bowl would be second. Music city third, then the drop.

 

 

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On 6/8/2018 at 4:11 PM, mileena said:

I was listening to SiriusXM the other day. Since Dwight Clark died, they were having a segment on each team's most clutch play ever. Of course, they talked about San Francisco's Montana to Clark "Catch" in the 1981 NFC Championship Game as being clutch. And the Pittsburgh Steelers "Immaculate Reception". Both plays clearly started the Super Bowl dynasties for each team. Without them, there never would have been those dynasties.

 

So I nominate these two plays as Buffalo's most clutch play ever:

 

1. 1989: Jim Kelly's TD run with 2 seconds left at Miami, with the Bills behind 24-20.

 

Video:

http://www.buffalobills.com/video/videos/Van-Miller-Moments-1989-Victory-over-Miami/033457c7-302e-4b49-9792-dacf51d0f62e

 

I watched that game live on NBC and the network did not show Buffalo's extra point to make it 27-24. Everyone thought the game was over with the Bills ahead 26-24 with no time left, and NBC stopped coverage and went to the next show.  But the refs made the teams come back on the field for the extra point I read in a news article the enxt day. I remember being furious at this. I was screaming at the TV they still had to kick the extra point, but no one listened to me.

 

This play set up the Bills to become great during the 90's.

 

2. In 1981, two consecutive catches by backup RB Roland Hooks from Joe Ferguson at home to beat New England 20-17. The game was blacked out, depsite the Bills being in the midst of a playoff run, so our family gathered around the radio to listen to Van Miller's play-by-play.

 

The Bills were 6-5 and had just suffered two consecutive losses, and now they had to face the 2-9 Patriots at the Rich. Wih 35 seconds left and Buffalo at its on 27 down 17-13, Ferguson hit Roland Hooks for a spectacular 37-yard circus catch. Then, with no timeouts, the Bills ran up to the line (I don't think spiking the ball to stop the clock had been invented yet). With 12 seconds left at the Patriots 36, Feguson hit Hooks again with a Hail Mary catch to give the Bills the win.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJNNLuwNMw

 

[Note: NFL has it wrong above: Roland Hooks was NOT a WR!!]

 

These plays propelled the Bills to a 10-6 record that year and to the wild card, where we crushed the Jets and then narrowly lost in the divsional round to the Bengals. The next season, Sports Illustrated, in a written article (there was no online back in those days), predicted the Bills would win the SB in 1982. I remember, as a kid then, being so excited. The Bills did go onto an NFL-best 2-0 record in 1982 and were on their way to a SB victory had it not been for the ensuing 8-week long strike and killed the Bills chances. After the strike, the Bills were not the same team, and lost 5 of 7 games to finish 4-5 and out of the playoffs. To make matters worse, our main rival, the Miami Dolphins, went onto the SB that year; and our other main rival, the Jets, made it to the AFC Championship game. I was devasted. Many years of Buffalo misery ensued before the arrival of Jim Kelly gave us hope.

 

My Dad took me to that Patriots game. 

 

We we were in the parking lot when he caught that Hail Mary.

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20 hours ago, KD in CA said:

 

Didn’t they lose to the Chargers the week after the Jets win?

 

And speaking of that Jets game, how about Bill Simpson’s pick to snuff out the Jets comeback as a candidate for most clutch play?

 

But I also remember the SI prediction.  They had Bills beating Atlanta in the SB if I remember correctly.

 

They went to Cincy after the Jets win and lost. They lost to the Chargers the year before, in 1980, when Fergy was playing on a bad ankle. Both the Bills and Chargers finisehd 11-5 that year and the Bills beat them in Week 5, but had to go to  San Diego to play them in the playoffs.

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