Most Exciting Bills Game Ever

[bbb]

The second most electric game I ever saw was the first Bills MNF home game against the KC Chiefs in 1973 with Howard Cosell getting all excited over OJ, who had two TDs in the first few minutes and rushed for 157 yards on 39 carries which set an NFL record. The Bills went to 5-2 in the romp and Rich Stadium went bananas.

 

I had been looking forward to that since the day we got tickets for it...........And, then I was sick as a dog that day. I argued and argued, but for some reason my parents didn't think an 11 year old should go to a night football game when they are crazy sick........It turned out they were right. I'm laying in bed with the radio and Rick Azar starts with "What do 80,000 people do on a cold rainy night - go to a football game!"

 

I don't remember the carries per game record. What I do remember is he set a record for being the earliest to ever get to 1000 yards (7 games)

[ThurmasThoman]

This fanbase deserves a winning team so badly its ridiculous... like, it genuinely makes me sad to think that there are guys in their early to mid 20s (and younger!) who have never experienced this team when it's winning.

 

That Pats game, yeah it was special, but that was for 3-0.

 

Not to derail the thread... but remember going into that Jags playoff game in 97... it's hard to believe now, but there was a time when the Bills losing at home in the playoffs was just unheard of.

 

And talking about all these games makes me remember the red end zones. *sigh*

I hope we're good this year.

[Mark Vader]

I picked the 49'ers-Bills no punt game as the most exciting game, because I was at the game. And you have to admit it was an amazing game.

 

But I do admit The Comeback is probably at the top of the list of most exciting Bills game I've ever seen. I could not believe what I was watching in the second half. And I never turned off the television.

 

Other exciting games that no one has mentioned:

 

'90 Vs. Eagles. Bills jump out to a big lead early, Eagles fight back, Randall Cunningham with the improbable TD to Fred Barnett. That was a thriller.

 

'93 @ Cowboys. Matt Darby's INT in the end zone seals the deal.

 

'94 AFC Championship Vs. Chiefs. Bills D KO's Montana, and shuts up the national media who said the Chiefs were going to easily beat the Bills. Come on, you know you got a lot of pleasure out of that one.

 

'96? Vs. Cowboys. Todd Collins fills in for injured Jim Kelly. Thomas Smith picks off Aikman's pass intended for Deion Sanders.

 

'98? Vs. Jaguars. Flutie's naked bootleg TD.

[BuffaloBaumer]

I have a hard time believing there is another choice besides Bills Oilers comeback game but maybe there were not just many people here at that game. There was just something magical about being at that game.....

[Mark Vader]

I have a hard time believing there is another choice besides Bills Oilers comeback game but maybe there were not just many people here at that game. There was just something magical about being at that game.....

There weren't. The game was blacked out, remember?

[thewildrabbit]

Opening day, 1980. The Bills finally ended the Dolphins 20 game strangle-hold, Rich stadium goes ape-**** crazy...the goal posts come down...and 'Talkin' Proud" is born....the other was the 1990 AFC Championship game...51-3 over the Raiders...I wasn't there, but watching at home with about 4 other friends...knowing, for about 2 hours that your sports fantasy was about to come true, was just unreal...

That 1980 Dolphin game for sure. 10 years man, 10 years! The bills hadn't beaten the Dolphins once in the entire decade of the 70's.

 

Plus, the 1988 week 12 Jets game in a unreal downpour that the Bills won in OT 9-6. They won the division title and set an NFL record for first team to win the division in 12 games. They were also 11-1 at that time. The goal posts came down that game, and then went up into the stands, and were being passed around by fans. I still have the poster that says "fan-demonium" with a shot of a fan standing on the goal post, and showing the entire field covered with fans running around, and going mental. I was drenched to the bone that game, and loved every moment of it.

 

That 1990 AFC Championship game was also pretty awesome. i got to the stadium early to put up my "thermal Warfare" painted sheet on the stadium floor wall. 51-3 was just such domination over Al Davis's Raiders.

 

My favorite tho has to be the Bills-Oiler 41-38 OT comeback game in where half the stadium emptied just after the half, 28-3 at the half, and then an a Buffalo INT return for a TD put the game at 35-3. so many fans stood up and walked out after that play. Then almost all had returned by the 4th quarter. I heard fans were climbing those huge fences to get back into the game.

My friends around me kept asking me if I was going to leave, and I said an emphatic no. I wanted to stay and boo them off the field just like I stayed and cheered them on when they won. Needless to say I was cheering like crazy at the end.

Edited July 28, 2014 by FeartheLosing

[Max997]

there is only one answer to this question and that is the comeback

 

Here are a couple honorable mentions though

 

The '91 playoff game vs the Dolphins in the snow that looked like it was going to be a blowout but Marino kept bringing Miami back

The AFC Championship game vs the Raiders just because...Raiders had no chance in that game

The Lawyer Milloy Game with Sam Adams high steppin' down the sidelines with what seemed like the entire team running with him...one of my all time favorite moments by the way

The no punt game was great even without Jerry Rice who got hurt early, how crazy is that

Even though he got hurt the playoff game vs Chiefs with Montana just had a different feel to it

[Chandler#81]

Eh, 51-3, the Comeback and even my 77 second miracle entry weren't exciting games per se, as each contained a full Half of boring or bad Bills play. It's hard to displace No Punt as the most exciting, non-stop action game - but I'll try. '68 Home game vs Broadway Joe & the Jets. We were already down to a late round rookie pick @ QB amid perhaps our most disastrous season ever. Namath lit up the Buffalo sky with 5 TD passes that game, but 3 of them were to us -including a 101 yrd Pick-6 by safety Tommy Janik. NY almost overcame it all, but the Bills outlasted them 37-35. It would be our only victory of the '68 campaign -earning us OJ in the following years' draft.

 

The Jets? They won the Super Bowl that year..

[eball]

To a fan just about every Bills win is "exciting" so it's easy (and understandable) to throw out some big or memorable wins and call one of them the "most exciting" game because of how you felt at the time. Most of those games had pretty long stretches of decidedly un-exciting play, however, punctuated by several amazing moments.

 

What elevates the "no punt" game, in my opinion, is that it was edge-of-your-seat thrills from start to finish between two teams who were expected to perhaps contend for the championship several months later.

 

I never saw a game like that before or since.

[The Big Cat]

Surely somebody has already raised the point that "ever" is entirely relative.

[Kelly the Dog]

To a fan just about every Bills win is "exciting" so it's easy (and understandable) to throw out some big or memorable wins and call one of them the "most exciting" game because of how you felt at the time. Most of those games had pretty long stretches of decidedly un-exciting play, however, punctuated by several amazing moments.

 

What elevates the "no punt" game, in my opinion, is that it was edge-of-your-seat thrills from start to finish between two teams who were expected to perhaps contend for the championship several months later.

 

I never saw a game like that before or since.

True. I guess it depends on what your own personal definition of exciting was. I was at that game myself, and loved it. It was amazing. There was a tremendous amount of offense in that game. And there were a lot of excitement and scoring, etc. But it was also in San Francisco. The fans there suck and are incredibly snobby, IMO, especially in those days. There was nowhere near the electricity in the air and the "excitement" as the MNF game against Dallas. I brought a girl from LA who was a sports reporter to that game and she said she had never seen anything like that anywhere.

 

On the field, both games had dozens of wild plays and scoring plays and great individual moments of football. But the excitement factor, to me, partially because it was a home game in Buffalo, partially because it was MNF and Dallas, and partially because there was such a big build up to that game, made it 10x more exciting to me than the no punt game, which was extraordinary.

[thewildrabbit]

there is only one answer to this question and that is the comeback

 

Here are a couple honorable mentions though

 

The '91 playoff game vs the Dolphins in the snow that looked like it was going to be a blowout but Marino kept bringing Miami back

The AFC Championship game vs the Raiders just because...Raiders had no chance in that game

The Lawyer Milloy Game with Sam Adams high steppin' down the sidelines with what seemed like the entire team running with him...one of my all time favorite moments by the way

The no punt game was great even without Jerry Rice who got hurt early, how crazy is that

Even though he got hurt the playoff game vs Chiefs with Montana just had a different feel to it

I still have a 20 x 30 pic I took of Bruce just after he sacked Montana, Smith over Joe trying to find out if he is ok, as Joe is laying on the ground clutching his face mask with both hands.

 

I can also recall Marty S petitioning the league to get the AFC Championship game moved to a neutral site because the Bills were so dominate back then.

 

Interesting note that Paul Hackett was the Chiefs OC for that game.

[DJasper Probincrux III]

I still have a 20 x 30 pic I took of Bruce just after he sacked Montana, Smith over Joe trying to find out if he is ok, as Joe is laying on the ground clutching his face mask with both hands.

 

I can also recall Marty S petitioning the league to get the AFC Championship game moved to a neutral site because the Bills were so dominate back then.

 

Interesting note that Paul Hackett was the Chiefs OC for that game.

It's funny re-watching those old games. If they were played under the current rules the outcomes would have been SOOOO different.

[Mark Vader]

To a fan just about every Bills win is "exciting" so it's easy (and understandable) to throw out some big or memorable wins and call one of them the "most exciting" game because of how you felt at the time. Most of those games had pretty long stretches of decidedly un-exciting play, however, punctuated by several amazing moments.

 

What elevates the "no punt" game, in my opinion, is that it was edge-of-your-seat thrills from start to finish between two teams who were expected to perhaps contend for the championship several months later.

 

I never saw a game like that before or since.

Exactly. Granted it does help our emotional bias since the Bills won that game, but that was a game for the ages. Seeing two highly competitive teams put on a performance the way they did was awesome.

 

It's because of games like that, that I can not pick the 51-3 game. Yeah it was a great moment in Bills history, but hardly one of the best games ever.

[truth on hold]

I still have a 20 x 30 pic I took of Bruce just after he sacked Montana, Smith over Joe trying to find out if he is ok, as Joe is laying on the ground clutching his face mask with both hands.

 

I can also recall Marty S petitioning the league to get the AFC Championship game moved to a neutral site because the Bills were so dominate back then.

 

Interesting note that Paul Hackett was the Chiefs OC for that game.

Didn't Scotty mock the chop after making a field goal in that game? Imagine, norwood talking smack. Lol

[jethro_tull]

This is a conversation? Comeback Game - period. I was there from 84-96 and that there isn't even a close second. 51-3 over the Raiders would be next but only because of what it meant. The whole second half of that game was a party. Old men wept with joy.

the only reason i say it was not as exciting as the 77 second miracle vs. the broncos is that it seemed like the oilers choked and went into the tank in the third quarter.

in the broncos game the bills were being outplayed against a very good broncos team and to come from behind like they did in such a short amount of time was spectacular

[Rubes]

 

True. I guess it depends on what your own personal definition of exciting was. I was at that game myself, and loved it. It was amazing. There was a tremendous amount of offense in that game. And there were a lot of excitement and scoring, etc. But it was also in San Francisco. The fans there suck and are incredibly snobby, IMO, especially in those days. There was nowhere near the electricity in the air and the "excitement" as the MNF game against Dallas. I brought a girl from LA who was a sports reporter to that game and she said she had never seen anything like that anywhere.

 

On the field, both games had dozens of wild plays and scoring plays and great individual moments of football. But the excitement factor, to me, partially because it was a home game in Buffalo, partially because it was MNF and Dallas, and partially because there was such a big build up to that game, made it 10x more exciting to me than the no punt game, which was extraordinary.

 

Totally with you on that. On top of all that, Dallas was undefeated at the time, and the Bills were struggling underdogs who nobody expected to win. Then they come out and make big play after big play -- two INTs for TDs, a punt return for TD, crazy stuff, the crowd completely delirious, and Dallas taking it all the way to the last seconds. Thrilling, exciting, heartbreaking from start to finish, in front of a national audience. I just don't recall the no punt game coming close to that level of pure, sustained, unexpected excitement.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Rubes

[jethro_tull]

Eh, 51-3, the Comeback and even my 77 second miracle entry weren't exciting games per se, as each contained a full Half of boring or bad Bills play. It's hard to displace No Punt as the most exciting, non-stop action game - but I'll try. '68 Home game vs Broadway Joe & the Jets. We were already down to a late round rookie pick @ QB amid perhaps our most disastrous season ever. Namath lit up the Buffalo sky with 5 TD passes that game, but 3 of them were to us -including a 101 yrd Pick-6 by safety Tommy Janik. NY almost overcame it all, but the Bills outlasted them 37-35. It would be our only victory of the '68 campaign -earning us OJ in the following years' draft.

 

The Jets? They won the Super Bowl that year..

the 77 second miracle was a smash mouth defensive battle in the first half. i really enjoyed seeing the bills be able to play that way. i did not consider it boring.

[jethro_tull]

There was a MNF game in the 80's against the Rams (LA Rams believe it or not) that was very exciting. I recall something about the Bills coming back and forcing OT, then winning in OT?

The Rams were on the come that season and were a contender. JIm Everett was the rams QB. Great game!

[Marv Levy]

Mine was the No Punt game vs the 49ers. Sept 13, 1992. Jimbo and Steve Young combine for over 1000 yards offense. Amazing game. 34-31 Bills in SF.

 

http://espn.go.com/classic/s/moment010913-no-punt-game.html