Your lowest moment as a fan

[Buftex]

There have been far too many ... I think that collectively the "Jauron Era" was the low spot for me. Totally wasted years that we are still trying to emerge from.

 

+1

 

I haven't read all of the other posts in this thread, so forgive me if this is redundant. I was always the Pollyanna-ish Bills fan forever. Think PTR, who I envy for still keeping that fire burning, in all sincerity.

 

Sure, I always thought "Ralph is cheap", but it never hit me as hard as it did during Jaurons pro-longed reign of terror on the Buffalo sidelines. I was always the "glass half full" guy with this team...but it was December 14th, 2008, when JP Losman infamously, and inexplicably, fumbled one of the precious few Bills victories of the last decade away, against the hated Jets...sure, a win wouldn't have done anything, but, I had long taken the approach of just trying to enjoy my Bills games on Sundays, without letting past failures play into my enjoyment...on another Sunday, earlier, if that play had happened, I would have cursed, felt my face get flush, and, quickly, remind myself that the Bills played "pretty good, and almost won" against a division foe. But not that day...I didn't curse, I seriously, and honestly, just laughed harder than I had in years, and harder than I have laughed since...it was just my natural reaction...all of the sudden, all the losses, boring performances with so little to get excited about, came to the fore...I admit, that is the day I kind of turned a little to the "dark side" in my approach to the Bills. And, it had nothing to do with Losman...always kind of liked him...it was just a feeling of "why do I care so much about this crappy team?" For me, it was the ultimate moment of dark humor.

 

Now, realize, I still love this team, and I enjoy them as much as I possibly can, but, no longer do I put the responsibility on myself to find the good amongst the really bad. I will cheer loud, and hard when they win, be mildly disappointed when they lose, but it isn't going to ruin my weekend anymore. I will enjoy a victory immensely (had a great time Sunday), but if they lose, I just toss it in the pile with all the other disappointing Sundays....now bring on the friggin' Raiders!

Edited September 14, 2011 by Buftex

[Charles Romes]

That patriots game in 98 cost a home playoff game and then the refs stuck it to us again at Miami in the playoffs just to remind us who is boss.

[billsfan in n.h]

monday nite game against dallass.almost started crying and the same for the pats monday nite game

[Mark Vader]

easy

 

losing to the steelers backups when a win put us in the playoffs

 

that one hurt more than the superbowls

The Super Bowl losses hurt in many ways, especially the re-match with Dallas. But the Bills were a damn good team so it was great to see them in the big game for those four straight years.

 

The Music City Forward Lateral, to me was more painful than the Super Bowl losses, and the toughest time for me ever as a Bills fan. Forget about starting Johnson over Flutie, while I did not agree with the call, Johnson was able to carry the day. The most difficult part of that game was because it was a forward lateral, and the referee's were too cowardly to make the right call. Then I remember that following Monday when WCW's Monday Nitro was in Buffalo and Jeff Jarrett came out wearing a Frank Wycheck jersey.

 

Finally, 2004, Mike Mularkey picking the worst time to have his worst game as a coach. The Steelers backups ending the Bills "running of the table" to get into the playoffs. Rian Lindell missing a 29 yard FG in that game, I remember saying on this board that he should have been cut after that. What's even worse, is that the Jets would lose to the Rams that same day, which is what the Bills also needed to get into the playoffs.

 

I am quite surprised that no one has mentioned the 1989 playoff game winning drop by Ronnie Harmon against Cleveland. That was a tough pill to swallow.

[Repulsif]

Of course 1st in mind is the last Superbowl, middle of 3rd quarter.

I felt so despressed and alone at that (+6 timezone) in the middle of the dark night ; but I kept hope for the following year, hoping a return for 5th Superbowl and win it.

That's why I hate the Cowboys more than any other team.

 

 

Then the Buffalo Jacksonville wildcard (at Buffalo, last Kelly game ?). end of era.

Then the Buffalo Miami at Miami (the 240 moulds yards, and I remember Reed throwing his helmet, get nearly ejected, missing the TD and finally loosing the game.

Then the Music city thing. I'm sure without that it was a new Superbowl appearance (after though, perhaps it was a bad thing for a good thing, we might have been torched by the Rams)

Then the monday night game vs Dallas ; Since the Superbowl I alawys look for a revenge and that one emrerged SB memories and that hurted a lot.

 

then in no particular order

Just give it to them

Divisionnal Buffalo @ Pittsburgh (Bruce smith not playing)

last season game vs Pittsburgh in dunno-year

The 31-0 pats 2-0 year from game 3 when everyone expected us to go to the Superbowl that year.

The 5-1 year from game 7.

 

Recently : The Drop.

[HalftimeAdjustment]

From a football standpoint - wide right... the MCM was close to that, and so was Flutie at Miami. The Dallas MNF game was definitely something that made me realize the team would find a way to lose (and boy did they ever).

 

From a non-football perspective - watching Kevin Everett taken off the field, paralyzed. I felt vaguely ill all day after that.

[Mr_Blizzard]

Wow; so many to choose from over the last 15 years.

 

I'd say the Superbowl XXV loss was the worst, because I literally lost sleep over that one. But more recently, the loss at home against Pittsburg at the end of the 2004 season was pretty bad. All we had to do was win that game, and we were in the playoffs. We couldn't get the Steelers 3rd team players off the field. It was disgusting...

 

[stony]

monday nite game against dallass.almost started crying and the same for the pats monday nite game

 

I agree. I could probably think of 5 worse if given the moment, but I remember coming home from college to watch that game w/ my buddies and how f-ed up the ending of that game was. It was a microcosm of being a Bill's fan I suppose. It is the only time I remember being violently upset after a loss, a WTF attitude I have never had before, or since.

[SoulMan]

The Polian firing. We are still paying.

[Mr_Blizzard]

The Polian firing. We are still paying.

 

Amen - That was the blunder of the century!

 

[Georgia Bill]

Music City Miracle hands down.

 

If I see that blank f'ing stare of Wade Phillips one more time on replay I might just kick the god damn tv in.

 

No one can ever make me understand why they started Johnson over Flutie. Never.

 

Tools.

+1

I was so pissed about the change to Johnson at the last minute and the game outcome that I wrote Wade Phillips a rant letter the next day. Never did that before or since.

[TheBrownBear]

Most painful:

Wide Right and Homerun Throwback games.

 

So Ridiculously Billsian you have to laugh:

Dallas Monday-nighter and New England 2009.

 

Most disgusted:

Hiring of Jauron and benching of Flutie

 

Saddest:

December 1994 home loss to the Patriots which eliminated us from the playoffs. Reich led us to a 17-3 lead before it all fell apart and we lost 41-17. You could literally feel in the stadium that the "magic" was gone and that we were coming to the end of an era. I will always look back on that day as the unofficial end of the Kelly/Thomas/Smith/Reed/Levy era.

 

And the day we released Thomas, Smith and Reed. I still can't believe we sent those guys out in such an undignified manner. No wonder we've been cursed for a decade.

[clancynut]

Super Bowl 27 in the Rose Bowl, I was there. After the game I ran into every Cowboys Fan on the face of the earth and they all said the same thing "How bout them Cowboys?". I never really understood what a redneck was until that day.

[Herd of Bills]

First SB loss I think...

[dave mcbride]

It seems no one here remembers the Lou Piccone moment. It was certainly as bad as most of these, although not as bad as the Thurman Thomas fumble at the beginning of the second Cowboys SB, Jimmy Johnson's Flutie Flakes stompathon, or the MCM.

Edited September 15, 2011 by dave mcbride

[Bart]

Given all of the optimism and promising start to the season (let's hope the bad lows are in our rear view) - what was your lowest moment of your history as a Bills fan? I'm 34 years old, grew up a Bills fan in southern Missouri of all places. I was 12 years old, volunteering at a food pantry during the summers, and I had a Jim Kelly/Thurman Thomas shirt I used to wear to that job all the time. I always talked about Bills news and happening with my boss (the director of the place). He knew I was a fan, and oddly enough, he was a displaced western New Yorker and his younger brother worked as a scout for the Bills. My boss calls his brother, asks him if he can get the Bills to do something nice for me - and I end up getting a huge package in the mail with an autographed picture of Jim Kelly - and a bunch of Bills stuff in 1991.

 

Of course, when I was 13, 14, 15, and 16 years old - the Bills lost superbowls. Every single one of them stung like hell. But...I have to say - in 1997 I went to my first Bills game ever. I had moved to Boston right out of high school - and was at the Bills/Pats game in the fall of 1997. The game was a home game in Foxboro for the Pats, and first place in the division was on the line. Jim Kelly had retired, Thurman was still on the team - and there I was, decked out in Bills gear - and Todd Collins gets injured, the Bills get blown out (with Billy Joe Hobert who later admitted he didn't know the playbook) and it was an ugly year. The end of that game was the lowest point for me as a fan (yes, even lower than the Gregg Willams era)

 

For some reason, being there, seeing it live, getting heckled, etc...sucked worse than the home run throwback in January of 2000.

 

Not to be a Debbie downer, but out of curiosity - what was your lowest point?

 

Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings.

[Indy Dave]

Read every post in this thread. As much as reliving those moments sucked, it helps to be reminded that there are others who love our Bills. It's why I have been coming to this forum for about 15 years.

 

I was convinced the winner of the Bills-Titans game was going to the Super Bowl. I was fine with the RJ for Flutie move. Didn't think it mattered much, and truthfully it didn't. RJ put us in a position to win; we just didn't cover a kick, nor did we get the call at the end. RJ haters would have to admit that the kid, despite his many faults and anti-Buffalo persona, played his guts out that day. Anyway, that game crushed me.

 

The several-times-mentioned loss to Cleveland was the day I decided to stop with the Sunday Ticket. I had been a subscriber since DirecTV's inception but I just couldn't take it anymore. Since then, I have been a glass-half-empty guy about this team. It will take a few more efforts like last weekend to turn that completely around, but getting rid of DJ at least made me glass-half-empty rather than glass-thrown-up-against-wall. That guy really, really, really sucked. Really sucked. My lasting image of him was a game against the Patriots. My memory of the play and circumstances might not be completely accurate, but I remember Brady completing a third-and-long to a receiver (Welker?), who clearly didn't have both feet in bounds. But of course the ref saw it different and ruled it a catch somewhere around our 10 or 15-yard line. Brady and Belichick knew they had gotten away with one so they rushed to the line and called a play. Jauron pulled out the challenge flag, held it, held it some more and finally dropped it at his feet. Problem was, he was standing 20 yards down the field and the Pats had snapped the ball so it didn't matter. A few moments later, the Pats were in the end zone. All I could think about was how teams are a reflection of their head coach, and how Bill Cowher (for example) would have sprinted down the sideline, screaming at the refs and slamming the challenge flag to the ground, pissed as hell that he had to use one of his challenges on a call that should have easily been ruled incomplete and spitting in the ref's face while yelling about what a moron he was. But instead we had Jauron, the nerdy, wimpy guy who was afraid to stand up for himself and his team.

[Overseas Bills Fan]

Wide Right. Music city miracle. Kelly's retirement. Reed/Smith/Thomas being released. Donahue being hired. Jauron being hired. 15 straight losses to New England.

 

Those are my darkest moments.

[Maddog69]

I think my lowest point as a Bills fan may have taken place late this afternoon when I first read the post by the idiot who said he'd rather have Fitz than Tom Brady

[Not the real Gale Gilbert]

I'm surprised that more people aren't mentioning the last Super Bowl loss. Bills leading coming into the second half. They insist on those shovel passes that were getting stuffed by the Cowboys, and eventually fumble the lead, and game away. I thought they would finish the job, finally.

 

How about Ronnie Harmon in 1989? Pretty awful.

 

Another low moment came a couple of years ago, when we drafted CJ Spiller. I yelled "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" at the TV, immediately shut it off, and went to the bar to drink. I needed to blow off some steam. Reaffirmed a belief that franchise leadership had no clue.