What is the worst play in Bills history?

[Coach Tuesday]

The worst play in Bills’ history didn’t happen in a Bills game.  It was Mo Lewis’s hit on Bledsoe.

 

/thread 

[chongli]

42 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

The worst play in Bills’ history didn’t happen in a Bills game.  It was Mo Lewis’s hit on Bledsoe.

 

/thread 

 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

20 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

It was a good discussion on WGR and boy, we've had a lot.

 

To me, it's the JP Losman fumble against the Jets.  

 

BTW...preseason counts too.  I forgot who the back up QB was but who got sacked and threw the ball backwards.

 

 

I think we were talking about this a few weeks ago in the context of “worst coaching decisions.” Jauron was an idiot for calling this. It was technically an astute idea. But you have to know your team. Run the clock!!! 
 

As for worst plays, is there a franchise that has more to choose from than the Bills? 

[without a drought]

Doug Marrone Bills punting from the 32 yard line.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 hours ago, chongli said:

 

 

😄

Coach: "Where are we?"

Bledsoe: "Foxborough."

Coach: "Who am I?"

Bledsoe: "You're the coach."

Coach: "Who are you?"

Bledsoe: "I'm Batman!"

Coach: "Call Brady."

Bledsoe: "His name is 'Robin'!"

*
And now you know...........the rest of the story....

Edited May 29, 2021 by Ridgewaycynic2013
Occasional rework of material does improve things...

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

This doesn’t qualify as the “worst”— but does anyone remember the game against the Pats in like 2002ish time frame? It was a tight game, and the Bills forced a key fumble. But the Patriots receiver, who fumbled and had his bell rung, was lying out of bounds and I think his leg was like touching another player who recovered the ball, and so it was deemed that the ball was out of bounds. It was a horrible and bizarre call. I think the receiver may have been David Givens. 

[dwight in philly]

Not sure if it was covered, and seeing all the previous ones mentioned , in my mind, this is in the top 5.. Chas Romes not picking off Fouts in the SD playoff game in 80-81.. season.. he does, Bills win, host the Raiders, beat the Raiders, then the Eagles in the Super Bowl.. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by dwight in philly

[Billy Claude]

49 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

As for worst plays, is there a franchise that has more to choose from than the Bills? 

 

The Jets would definitely give the Bills a run for the money. The butt fumble has its own Wikipedia page.

Edited May 29, 2021 by Billy Claude

[chongli]

27 minutes ago, Billy Claude said:

 

The Jets would definitely give the Bills a run for the money. The butt fumble has its own Wikipedia page.

 

And Cleveland! They didn't name it the "Mistake on the Lake" for nothing! And they have their own "Fumble" Wikpedia page too:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fumble

[Albany,n.y.]

Mine is actually a series of plays.  Jim Kelly threw a pass out of the endzone into the stands & was called for intentional grounding.  I have never seen any other QB called for grounding throwing the ball out of the endzone before or after that game.  Later on Kelly threw a pick 6 & the Dolphins won the game 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1996-10-14-1996288081-story.html

 

But Kelly went back to pass, looked right, found no one open and then noticed Miami defensive lineman Tim Bowen bearing down on him. A veteran quarterback overthrows his covered tight ends on the right side, but inexplicably Kelly opted to throw to no one on the left side. The referee penalized the Bills for intentional grounding: 10 yards and a loss of down.

Kelly, who is playing in the final year of his contract and looking for Marino-like money (a $3 million raise), threw the ball away in the correct manner on second down. He tripped while trying to hand off to Thomas on third down, resulting in only a 2-yard gain. And on fourth-and-goal from the 10, he threw the ball to Terrell Buckley.

Unfortunately, Buckley plays for the Dolphins.

A week ago Johnson fired safety Gene Atkins for not making plays in the secondary, but Buckley took the interception and returned it 91 yards for a touchdown to give Johnson his biggest victory with the Dolphins.

 

[Freddie's Dead]

23 hours ago, WhoTom said:

A couple of years ago, someone let a kickoff roll into the endzone and didn't bother to pick it up and take a knee. Instead, the opposing team (Jets, I think?) fell on it for a TD.

 

 

That was "TD Mike" (ironically, it was a Jest TD that time), and spurred yet another rule change ('cause we screw the Bills at least once, then change the rule).  Now as soon as the kick hits the EZ unreceived, it's an automatic touchback.

Edited May 29, 2021 by Freddie's Dead

[Freddie's Dead]

22 hours ago, CA OC Bills Fan said:

How about double reverse and Andre Reed passes?

 

You beat me to it.  An obscure play in a relatively meaningless game in the 1997 season, but I was there, so I remember it well.  Todd Collins, who was given the starting job even though vastly inferior to AVP (Wade sucked at picking starting QB's, remember Billie Joe Neckbert, and of course, Scrub Johnson?), put the Bills in a 0-20 hole against the Broncos. 

 

In comes AVP, bringing the Bills all the way back to tie the game at 20-20, sending it into overtime.  Dan Henning then makes, arguably the worst play call in Bills history, a double-reverse option pass call to Andre Reed from our own 32 yard line.  The play design was idiotic, having Andre run left, throwing against his body.  He's sacked, fumbles, AVP recovers for a 20-yard loss.  2nd and 30, we can't get the first down, punt, and Elway carves us up and Elam kicks a chip shot FG to win the game.

 

Complete waste of a heroic effort by AVP, who continued to be crapped on by the Bills coaching staffs for years after this.  The only QB better than AVP in those years was Doug Flutie, but they continued to sit AVP behind garbage like Neckbert and Collins.  AVP was a fat Chad Pennington, smart as *****, with a sub-NFL arm.  But Henning was too stupid to build an offense around that.  Still pisses me off.

[Nextmanup]

22 hours ago, Greg S said:

Wide right. Nothing else is close.

If you think about this for a while with an emphasis on objectivity, I think this HAS to be the only answer.

 

Easily the worst single play in franchise history.

[Freddie's Dead]

22 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Most misunderstood play in Bills history.   Tuel did exactly what he was supposed to do on that play, and Stevie did not.  

 

Tuel's job on that play was to see if his receiver got inside leverage off the line of scrimmage.   If he did, Tuel was supposed to throw to a spot.  

 

Stevie's job was to break over the middle from the slot, so that the slot corner would follow him out of the space where the ball was going to be thrown.  Stevie made one of his incredible separation moves off the line of scrimmage, so much so that the slot corner stumbled, leaving Stevie free to run into the end zone.  However, after the stumble, the defender was standing right where the pass was going.   Tuel didn't see the slot corner, because the QB is looking at the receiver, not at the place that he's going to lead the receiver to.   The play was designed to assure that that zone would be empty - Stevie's move left someone in the zone.   Yes, Stevie was wide open, but Tuel's first read was whether the receiver got the inside leverage - once he saw the inside leverage, Tuel didn't and wasn't supposed to look for Stevie.

 

It's much like Russell Wilson's interception in the Super Bowl against the Patriots.   Wilson saw the formation, saw his receiver get the inside leverage and threw it.  That was his job.  Wilson wasn't supposed to look to see if the defender was jumping the route; he didn't have time to look.  Tuel didn't have time, either.  It wasn't his job to look.  

 

This play effectively ended Jeff Tuel's NFL career.  I remember when he threw a dime in the Cleveland game after EJ was injured, a perfect 40 yard rainbow, right into TJumptomakeacatch Graham's hands and TJ just dropped it.  If TJ makes that catch, we win that Cleveland game.

[Freddie's Dead]

21 hours ago, TheBrownBear said:

Haven't read through the entire thread, but these would be at the top of my list:

 

- Inability to tackle Stephen Baker (or was it Ingram?) on third down in Super Bowl XXV.

 

Ingram.  No less than 7 Bills had a shot at him.  Darryl Talley had him wrapped and blew the tackle.  That play broke our back.  That and Andre's drop on 3rd and 1.

21 hours ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

 

Matt Simms

 

 

 

full play

 

Oh God, forgot this one.  GOOD POST!!

20 hours ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Lonnie Johnson getting completely blown up on the fake punt has to get some kind of honorable mention.  Guess we need to define worst play, but this was up there with the dumbest.  

 

The Wile E Coyote, always a good choice!

[Freddie's Dead]

11 hours ago, Houston's #1 Bills Fan said:

I went through the whole thread and didn't see these two listed:

 

1. Pick 6 by JJ Watt on EJ Manual. Absolutely hated that. 

 

 

EJ and Fred were on different pages....

[Freddie's Dead]

On 5/29/2021 at 7:30 AM, chongli said:

May have been mentioned, but the Andre Reed helmet slam for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during a crucial time?

 

In SB XXVI (corrected) against the Redsk....er....WTF's.  The DB's kept cheap-shotting him all game, and he lost it.  We had to settle for a FG.

On 5/29/2021 at 10:01 AM, Coach Tuesday said:

The worst play in Bills’ history didn’t happen in a Bills game.  It was Mo Lewis’s hit on Bledsoe.

 

/thread 

 

*****in' A, Bubba!

Edited May 31, 2021 by Freddie's Dead

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

27 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

EJ and Fred were on different pages....

EJ and his receivers often seemed to be in different Zip codes.

[Freddie's Dead]

In another installment of "Another Bills ***** up that could have ended the Cheats drought", let's harken back to September 10, 2006.  The Bills are up 17-7 at the Razor with about about 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.  The normally conservative Dick Mauron decides to go for the knockout punch on 4th and 1 from the Cheats 7.  After all, we have Willis McGahee, right?  That POS we wasted a 1st round pick on who didn't play for a year and hated Buffalo the whole time he was here, remember him?  "Watchootalkinbout" Willis puts up as much effort as a feather duster and is stopped short.  Of course after that, the Cheats score 12 unanswered while shutting us out to win 19-17.  

 

The coup de grace came after the game, when a reporter asked Willis about the 4th down.  Not kidding, with a straight face, Willis asks back "It was 4th down?"  I'll never forget that.  Dude was so checked out, he had no clue of the importance of that play.  So when you see me gloss him Willis "It was 4th Down?" McGahee, and label him a POS, you'll know why.

11 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

EJ and his receivers often seemed to be in different Zip codes.

 

That's postal code to you 

[Talley56]

There are some obvious ones like wide right, losing the wild card game to Tennessee on the lateral play, Stevie's TD drop against Pitt.  I'll bring up another one that may not have been mentioned:

 

2014 week 16 against Oakland, down only 19-17 with a few minutes to go, 3rd and 22.  The defense proceeds to give up a first down.  Bills lose and are eliminated from the playoffs.  I can't recall if the Bills would have made the playoffs had they won that game but it was still disappointing..  What makes that play so frustrating is that was a legitimately good defense.  Heck, they shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers one week earlier.  Then they give up that crap play on 3rd and 22.  That was a huge let down.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

11 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

That's postal code to you 

Know your audience... I half considered using that term, but figured EJ always played in the US.

[klos63]

1 hour ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

You beat me to it.  An obscure play in a relatively meaningless game in the 1997 season, but I was there, so I remember it well.  Todd Collins, who was given the starting job even though vastly inferior to AVP (Wade sucked at picking starting QB's, remember Billie Joe Neckbert, and of course, Scrub Johnson?), put the Bills in a 0-20 hole against the Broncos. 

 

In comes AVP, bringing the Bills all the way back to tie the game at 20-20, sending it into overtime.  Dan Henning then makes, arguably the worst play call in Bills history, a double-reverse option pass call to Andre Reed from our own 32 yard line.  The play design was idiotic, having Andre run left, throwing against his body.  He's sacked, fumbles, AVP recovers for a 20-yard loss.  2nd and 30, we can't get the first down, punt, and Elway carves us up and Elam kicks a chip shot FG to win the game.

 

Complete waste of a heroic effort by AVP, who continued to be crapped on by the Bills coaching staffs for years after this.  The only QB better than AVP in those years was Doug Flutie, but they continued to sit AVP behind garbage like Neckbert and Collins.  AVP was a fat Chad Pennington, smart as *****, with a sub-NFL arm.  But Henning was too stupid to build an offense around that.  Still pisses me off.

Not only a awful play call but you took the opportunity to insult so many people in this one post. Was that really necessary? Sounds like more of a reflection on you then on them.

[BADOLBILZ]

2 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

You beat me to it.  An obscure play in a relatively meaningless game in the 1997 season, but I was there, so I remember it well.  Todd Collins, who was given the starting job even though vastly inferior to AVP (Wade sucked at picking starting QB's, remember Billie Joe Neckbert, and of course, Scrub Johnson?), put the Bills in a 0-20 hole against the Broncos. 

 

In comes AVP, bringing the Bills all the way back to tie the game at 20-20, sending it into overtime.  Dan Henning then makes, arguably the worst play call in Bills history, a double-reverse option pass call to Andre Reed from our own 32 yard line.  The play design was idiotic, having Andre run left, throwing against his body.  He's sacked, fumbles, AVP recovers for a 20-yard loss.  2nd and 30, we can't get the first down, punt, and Elway carves us up and Elam kicks a chip shot FG to win the game.

 

Complete waste of a heroic effort by AVP, who continued to be crapped on by the Bills coaching staffs for years after this.  The only QB better than AVP in those years was Doug Flutie, but they continued to sit AVP behind garbage like Neckbert and Collins.  AVP was a fat Chad Pennington, smart as *****, with a sub-NFL arm.  But Henning was too stupid to build an offense around that.  Still pisses me off.

 

 

That was the game where Denver got hit with a blizzard on Saturday and much of the team had to be taken to the airport by snowmobile and got into Buffalo very late.

 

The Bills tied the game with a long field goal as regulation expired and I will never forget it because as the ball went thru the uprights,   even in all the noise I could hear the ping of my co-season-ticket-holder's eyeglass lens landing on a hard surface to be lost forever.    He then had to watch Henning's stupidity with one eye.

[Billy Claude]

3 hours ago, chongli said:

 

And Cleveland! They didn't name it the "Mistake on the Lake" for nothing! And they have their own "Fumble" Wikpedia page too:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fumble

 

Definitely, the Browns do have a record about as bad as the Bills and Jets.  You can put down the whole 6-3 Browns Bills game as an embarrassment for both sides.

 

One special feature of the Butt Fumble was it was from a meaningless game between a 6-7 and 10-3 team (albeit Thanksgiving).  The other plays with nicknames such as Wide Right, Home Run Throwback, The Fumble and the Immaculate Reception were all crucial plays that decided playoff games. 

 

The other one other named play that I can think of was the "Just Give It to Them" game between the  Bills and the Patriots though I don't know if anyone but Bills fans would recognize the name while pretty much any NFL fan would recognize Butt-Fumble.

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Billy Claude

[BillsShredder83]

On 5/28/2021 at 2:08 PM, Royale with Cheese said:

It was a good discussion on WGR and boy, we've had a lot.

 

To me, it's the JP Losman fumble against the Jets.  

 

BTW...preseason counts too.  I forgot who the back up QB was but who got sacked and threw the ball backwards.

 

 

S&M is still alive and thriving I see

On 5/28/2021 at 2:16 PM, HOUSE said:

If this qualifies as worse play sign me up lol she was kinda thicc

[Doc Brown]

1 hour ago, Talley56 said:

There are some obvious ones like wide right, losing the wild card game to Tennessee on the lateral play, Stevie's TD drop against Pitt.  I'll bring up another one that may not have been mentioned:

 

2014 week 16 against Oakland, down only 19-17 with a few minutes to go, 3rd and 22.  The defense proceeds to give up a first down.  Bills lose and are eliminated from the playoffs.  I can't recall if the Bills would have made the playoffs had they won that game but it was still disappointing..  What makes that play so frustrating is that was a legitimately good defense.  Heck, they shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers one week earlier.  Then they give up that crap play on 3rd and 22.  That was a huge let down.

That's a good one as I completely forgot about that play pry because we were behind at the time and I was just so sickened we weren't dominating a terrible Raiders team with our playoff lives on the line.  I think it was Andre Holmes who caught it.

 

To me, it was the Bryce Brown fumble through the endzone that will always be buried in my mind as the play that altered the course of the Bills franchise.

[Albany,n.y.]

On 5/28/2021 at 2:52 PM, Shaw66 said:

I was at that game.   The fumble didn't bother me at all.   It was, what, 3-3?    Under two minutes left, Bills are heading toward the open end, with the wind their faces.   So this was going to be the Bills' last possession (unless it goes to overtime, but the game was so miserable, everyone just wanted it to end).   The Bills have only one playmaker - Roscoe Parrish, and returning punts was his best skill.   Roscoe and everyone else in the stadium knew that Roscoe was the best chance the Bills had to score.   Actually, he probably was the ONLY chance the Bills had to score.  So Roscoe took a chance fielding a punt he would ordinarily have let bounce, and he muffed it.  Browns recover gain 15 yards and win it with a field goal.   I never blamed Roscoe for that play.   He did exactly what I wanted him to do - try to catch that ball on the run and take off running.  Didn't work.  

I always stayed to the end of games (unless I had to leave to catch a flight) and at that game I was actually glad Roscoe fumbled so I could start my 4.5 to 5 hour drive home.  I was dreading the thought of overtime at the game I consider the worst NFL game I've ever been at out of the 272 games I've attended.  

 

I have another nominee.  There were multiple sins by the players and coaches

Houston at Bills 11/16/03

Bills were trailing 12-8 at the 2 minute warning, but had advanced to the Texans 31 yard line.  After the 2 minute warning time out, Drew Bledsoe fumbles & Houston recovers.  Bad enough, but it gets worse!  With Houston now in possession & trying to run out the clock, they get called for a penalty.  Now as soon as the penalty is called, London Fletcher is franically waving his arms to decline the penalty.  See, London realized that if the penalty was accepted then Houston, with an additional down, would be able to run out the clock. However, either Gregg or one of his assistants on the sideline told the refs the Bills would accept the penalty.  With the extra down Houston could now hold on to the ball & never give it back to the Bills.  On the final play Andre Johnson took the ball and ran into the endzone as the clock hit 0:00 for a safety.  The Bills accepting the penalty ended any chance at a comeback & the final score was Texans 12 Bills 10.

As we were leaving the stadium, I turned to my friend Petrino & said "Ralph should have fired Gregg as soon as that penalty was accepted"  Unlike the Jets who fired Gregg for losing the Raiders game last season, Ralph let Gregg continue to coach until the season ended.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Albany,n.y.

[WideNine]

21 hours ago, QCity said:

 

No, that is one of the greatest plays in Bills history!

 

 

 

I have looked for that replay - Friggin Lonnie somehow forgets that there is a man deep on that trick play.

 

Saw that play live with some friends and just had to shake my head. If he had just secured that ball and braced himself - he was a bigger dude than Sharper. Why the hell was he looking at the guys behind him?

One in a long series of really bone-headed plays by Lonnie who had some physical tools, but sadly was a bit of a slow-blinker, and that hit probably did not help improve upon the grey matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shaw66]

25 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

I always stayed to the end of games (unless I had to leave to catch a flight) and at that game I was actually glad Roscoe fumbled so I could start my 4.5 to 5 hour drive home.  I was dreading the thought of overtime at the game I consider the worst NFL game I've ever been at out of the 272 games I've attended.  

 

 

 

 

I can't say that I was worrying about the drive home (6.5 hours for me), and I'm nowhere near 272 games attended, but it was the worst NFL game I can remember.   One measure of how bad that game is that just about the best offensive play of the game was a beautiful 30-yard pass to the Browns' tight end, Robert Royal.   He dropped it.  

 

It was also the game when they intended to present Ralph with his Hall of Fame ring at halftime, but the fans already were angry about how bad the team was before the game.   The first half was so bad, the Bills postponed the presentation ceremony our of fear that the booing would be too embarrassing.  

3 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

This play effectively ended Jeff Tuel's NFL career.  

I think this is incorrect.   I mean, it's incorrect to say that he had an NFL career.  

[ccc_billsfollower]

If preseason counts...

 

How about the HOF game against the Titans where the punter hid the ball and ran for a TD?

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Wide right.

 

 

[corta765]

If we’re taking a game of importance Music City Miracle. If your talking pure stupidity McKelvin fumble vs NE or Losman fumble vs the Jets takes the cake for what I’ve seen.

[Freddie's Dead]

3 hours ago, Talley56 said:

There are some obvious ones like wide right, losing the wild card game to Tennessee on the lateral play, Stevie's TD drop against Pitt.  I'll bring up another one that may not have been mentioned:

 

2014 week 16 against Oakland, down only 19-17 with a few minutes to go, 3rd and 22.  The defense proceeds to give up a first down.  Bills lose and are eliminated from the playoffs.  I can't recall if the Bills would have made the playoffs had they won that game but it was still disappointing..  What makes that play so frustrating is that was a legitimately good defense.  Heck, they shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers one week earlier.  Then they give up that crap play on 3rd and 22.  That was a huge let down.

 

That season really ended 2 weeks earlier with Orton's 3rd and puss in Denver, another play that qualifies for this list.

[947]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqwKRF2Xq6w

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by 947

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, corta765 said:

If we’re taking a game of importance Music City Miracle. If your talking pure stupidity McKelvin fumble vs NE or Losman fumble vs the Jets takes the cake for what I’ve seen.

I might be getting the games mixed up but didn’t mckelvin also fumble against Dallas in that Monday Night game? 

[tylerbillsfan33]

I’d say either Wide Right or the Music City Miracle.

Edited May 31, 2021 by tylerbillsfan33

[Rubes]

I haven’t read all of the pages in this thread, but has anyone mentioned this one? Sorry if I missed it.

 

Bills at home against the Pats**** in 2004? Late 4th quarter, Bills down 7 but driving inside their 20. 4th down and 3, Bills decide to call Drew Bledsoe to run a naked ***** bootleg. The worlds slowest QB is asked to run a naked bootleg against the undefeated Pats**** with the game on the line. Sack, fumble, ran back for a touchdown, game over.

 

Horrible call in clutch time, horrible execution. Just an embarrassment all around.

 

[Dan Darragh]

23 hours ago, 1ManRaid said:

 

I guess on that note, how about the 15 yard penalty for patting your teammate on the helmet...

Or the 15 yard penalty for "maliciously spinning the football" (Eric Moulds)

[corta765]

12 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

I might be getting the games mixed up but didn’t mckelvin also fumble against Dallas in that Monday Night game? 

Not sure but wouldn’t be surprise he did it a bunch and it all blends together lol

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

38 minutes ago, corta765 said:

Not sure but wouldn’t be surprise he did it a bunch and it all blends together lol

I don't call him Leodis 'Oops' McKelvin for any small reasons. 😁

*
Thanks to Pete Weber's characterization of Lloyd 'Oops' McClendon for the nickname.