What’s your favorite Bills opening day game?

[Another Fan]

I’m sure a thread gets asked annually.  I’ll start

 

 

2014- against the Bears.  Pretty much nobody thought the Bills were going to win before that day.  The Bears were predicted to be really strong at the start of the season.

 

 

The game started 7-0 Bears and I thought it was a nice day out….  I’ll take a walk/jog instead of getting aggravated.

 

 

Very much to my surprise the Bills were up 17-14 when I put the game in again in the second half.

 

Then in overtime that epic run by Freddie where he stif armed than defender Forte to get it to the goal line.

 

Very pleased that day…. Was the first time too the Bills won in Chicago.  

[JP51]

I think the 1980 opener against the Dolphins that ended 0- 70s and the goal posts came down. 

[Old Coot]

Sept 11, 1960: Bills vs NY Titans at the Polo Grounds in NYC. Bills took the field in their Royal Blue and Silver colors.

 

Bills got on the board first with a FG and then proceeded to lose 27-3.

 

But they were OUR Bills!! 

 

Go Buffalo!

 

The next week they opened at home in the Rockpile and lost to the Denver Broncos in their Milk Dud colored uniforms 27-21.

 

Finished the season 5-8-1 and did not qualify for the playoffs. But they were OUR Bills. Go Buffalo!!

[JerseyBills]

Patriots game comes to mind after just signing Lawyer Milloy was it? And destroying them

Edited 4 hours ago by JerseyBills

[Bills!Win!]

Next year’s opener when we have a banner hanging ceremony for winning the Super Bowl 

[Gregg]

For older fans it has to be 1980 and beating the Dolphins 17-7 to end the streak.

[chris heff]

It is definitely beating the Dolphins in 1980.

[corta765]

Top 3 which I have no real order for anymore

 

2014 at Bears

2019 at Jets

2022 at Rams

 

Ironic all were roadies but in my adult post college life those take the cake. 2019 may be my favorite I guess by a smidge because it really did feel like the start of something with Josh and while he was very raw still it was like seeing the foundation start to settle.

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

5 card stud or Texas Hold'em

[First Round Bust]

ahh..the memories...of a lil kid at the ole Rcokpile (War Memorial)..first Bills game evah....Sept 19. 1971...

 

Cowboys 49 at Bills  37...Dennis Shaw thows 4 TD passes and the usual (3) picks

 

OJ 6 with a 6-yard TD run in front me....Marlin the Magiican 100+ yards receiving...at least I saw some legends, mostly on the other side...

 

plus rookiie Tony Greene (Bills safety) smallest NFL player I ever saw..looked like a JV player out there...Bills on the way to a 1-13 record in 1971...sigh..

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197109190buf.htm

[BillsfaninSB]

22 minutes ago, corta765 said:

Top 3 which I have no real order for anymore

 

2014 at Bears

2019 at Jets

2022 at Rams

 

Ironic all were roadies but in my adult post college life those take the cake. 2019 may be my favorite I guess by a smidge because it really did feel like the start of something with Josh and while he was very raw still it was like seeing the foundation start to settle.

Same here regarding 2019.  The jets were so arrogant.  Thought they were going to pound the Bills. 

[The Jokeman]

 

[Royale with Cheese]

It's a tie between Sexy Rexy's first game and the Rams game a few years ago.

 

The Rams game because we came in with hype and dominated the Super Bowl Champs on the road.

 

Sexy Rexy because the Colts were Super Bowl favorites with Luck and we manhandled them.  I think it was 28-0 by the 3rd.

I thought we were for real....especially since the next week we went down to Miami and destroyed them as well.

[Reks Ryan]

I'm going to cheat a little and go with the 2014 home opener.   CJ Spiller returned the 2nd half Kickoff for a TD and the Bill beat Miami 29 -10 to go 2 - 0. 

 

Even more important than the result, was that it was the week the Pegulas closed on the acquisition of the Bills.  After more than a decade of irrelevance on the field an Octogenerian+ owner, poor management, and real fear that the Bills were leaving Buffalo, it was great just to enjoy the game knowing our team wasn't leaving.  The stadium atmosphere was electric.  Although there were alot of questions about the team and coaching staff, it was a great day to squish the fish and be in first place. 

 

 

[Mikie2times]

As evidence we remember the bad more than the good, it took about half a second to remember my least two. The Patriot beat down is a clear #1 for me. I thought that was the start of something special. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Mikie2times

[folz]

It's a tie for me...both against the Dolphins:

 

September 7, 1980. First victory against the Dolphins in 21 games---ending the 0-for-the-seventies vs. the Phins. Dolphins led 7-3 at the start of the fourth, but a pair of Bills' touchdowns (by Roosevelt Leaks and Joe Cribbs) in the 4th gave the Bills a 17-7 lead. Jeff Nixon got his third interception of the day with :36 seconds left to seal the deal. And then the fans stormed the field and tore down the goalposts...carrying them around the stadium.

 

September 10, 1989. Dolphins led 24-13 in the 4th quarter. The Bills came back to score two touchdowns: the first, a TD catch by Flip Jonson; the second TD came on the last play of the game---a two-yard QB keeper that Kelly took to the endzone, diving in between two Dolphins defenders as the game clock expired. And then the  team piled on Kelly in the end zone in celebration. Bills win in Miami 27-24. Although this wasn't their first year together, they didn't have all of the pieces yet, and they ultimately did not reach the Super Bowl that season, that game down in Miami seemed to be the start of it all, imo, for the "90s" Bills and really set the tone for what was to happen over the next 5-7 years. 

 

 

Honorable mentions:

September 7, 2003: Although the season would not turn out the way that first game looked like it might (6-10, no playoffs) and the Pats would get revenge with an exact inverted score of week one in the last game of the season, in the moment, that 31-0 pummeling of the Pats (with newly acquired safety Laywer Malloy) was a lot of fun. Four interceptions of Brady, one being Big Sam's pick-six. Spikes had two INTs, Fletcher had 13 tackles. All just enough for us to get our hopes up for the season...only to be dashed, as only the Bills can do.

 

2011: Another season that looked all so promising after a 4-1/5-2 start to the season, only to again fall apart (losing 8 of their last 9). But, they opened the season on September 11th in Arrowhead with a 41-7 destruction of the Chiefs. Fitz threw four TDs and Freddie Jackson ran for 112 yards.

 

September 1, 1991: (another Dolphins game) Fresh off their first Super Bowl loss, the Bills came back from a 17-7 deficit to beat Marino and the Dolphins 35-31 in Rich Stadium on opening day of the new season. Kelly threw for 381 yards and Thurman Thomas had 268 yards from scrimmage with 2 TDs. Reed added 154 yards receiving and a TD.

[blacklabel]

2003. Slapped the Patriots 31-0. Big Sam Adams with a pick six and Lawyer Milloy signed with the team earlier that week. 

 

Too bad it was a total bummer season. I always found it funny that the Patriots saw fit to return the favor and routed the Bills in the season finale with the same exact 31-0 score. 

[ganesh]

Bills kicking the Patriots ass in a 31-0 rout.  Sam Adam’s rumbling in with a TD. Brady was on his ass most of the game.  It was a real b*** kicking 

[boyst]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

 

this. and i was there.

the year before or after ( i forgot) i was there too...against the jets with two KO returned for TD's.

[Mikie2times]

2 minutes ago, boyst said:

this. and i was there.

the year before or after ( i forgot) i was there too...against the jets with two KO returned for TD's.

That is my vote for worst one in a tie with Ernest Wilford.