25 Years Ago Today The Bills Were Robbed Of SB XXV

[Corp000085]

 

"Fight on, my men," says Sir Andrew Barton,

 

"I am hurt, but I am not slain;

 

I'll lay me down and bleed a while,

 

And then I'll rise and fight again."

 

[sir andrew]

"Fight on, my men," says Sir Andrew Barton, "I am hurt, but I am not slain; I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again."

Why user name is what it is right there.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

A couple of things:

1. I know there was only 8 seconds left, but I believe it was 2nd or 3rd down after the spike - they should have gone for 1 more play - an out route to get another 5-10 yards.
2. Looking at that kick again - in my mind it missed by a foot - seeing it again it almost looks like a shank! Amazing how memories change to protect one's psyche!

[dpberr]

The Music City Miracle was still more painful in my opinion. That day changed the franchise.

 

We lost this Super Bowl but kept annoying the NFL by going back, back and back again.

 

This Super Bowl was a spear. MSM was a trident.

[BRH]

The Music City Miracle was still more painful in my opinion. That day changed the franchise.

 

We lost this Super Bowl but kept annoying the NFL by going back, back and back again.

 

This Super Bowl was a spear. MSM was a trident.

 

Also, we lost the Super Bowl all by ourselves (despite what some here would have us believe). Not so with MSM.

[indiragandhi'sthong]

The Bills weren't robbed. They were their own worst enemy in many ways. Thurman ran all other the Giants in the fist half and they stopped feeding him the rock in the second. Defensively, that team was limited and I always felt like they should've bolstered the D-Line during that run. Jeff Wright played beyond his potential but he still was a liability. Additionally, Walt Corey was a mediocre coordinator, at best. How do you have an innovator like Marchibroda on one side and a dud like Corey to coach the defense. Lastly, I love Marv, but a truly great coach has control of his team and gets them to focus on the biggest game of their lives, not the Tampa nightlife.A stronger coach and we win that game going away.

 

 

[dave mcbride]

The Music City Miracle was still more painful in my opinion. That day changed the franchise.

 

We lost this Super Bowl but kept annoying the NFL by going back, back and back again.

 

This Super Bowl was a spear. MSM was a trident.

Did anyone note the irony of the fact that Manning's backwards lateral was less of a backwards lateral than the Music City Miracle? Wade was the victim on both of these plays!

[machine gun kelly]

Pearl, i appreciate you are such an avid Bills fan. Instead of one play that should not have dictated the game, what about Marv letting his guys go out and party all week?

 

What about Belicheck calling a 3 rush defense just begging us to run, and when we had in my opinion the best RB in the league (yes better than Emmit) who runs for 145 yards on 14 runs, we decide stubbornly to keep throwing the ball losing clock, and playing into their hands.

 

We could have run a ton more, then Belicheck adjusts, defends the run and the fast no huddle works. We lost that game due to poor coaching. Marchibroda and Marv blew it.

 

Were they overall great coaches, yes, but they blew that game. It is over, it's a quarter of a century ago. One decision by a ref in the last part of the game did not lose that game, nor did Norwood. Dumb decisions managing the game lost that game. We squandered our chance. It's over bud.

 

i still think fondly of those years, but have made peace we were not perfect and made mistakes. in the end, Pearl, I'm sure you love this team, but let it go bud.

The Bills weren't robbed. They were their own worst enemy in many ways. Thurman ran all other the Giants in the fist half and they stopped feeding him the rock in the second. Defensively, that team was limited and I always felt like they should've bolstered the D-Line during that run. Jeff Wright played beyond his potential but he still was a liability. Additionally, Walt Corey was a mediocre coordinator, at best. How do you have an innovator like Marchibroda on one side and a dud like Corey to coach the defense. Lastly, I love Marv, but a truly great coach has control of his team and gets them to focus on the biggest game of their lives, not the Tampa nightlife.A stronger coach and we win that game going away.

 

 

Good take. I still contend letting Smerlas go and having Wright was a terrible decision. I know he was getting older, but Smerlas could have still clogged up the middle.

[clearwater cadet]

 

Btw, if you're looking for a real culprit, look no farther than Al Edwards, whose half assed non-block (top of the screen) meant that Thurman got tackled at the 30 in bounds as opposed to getting tackled at the 20 out of bounds. I've said this for years. If you're looking for one individual player costing that team the game, Al Edwards (#85) is your man. If he had blocked the corner there with any real effort, Thurman makes that play EASILY.

 

Giants wanted it more.

The Bills weren't robbed. They were their own worst enemy in many ways. Thurman ran all other the Giants in the fist half and they stopped feeding him the rock in the second. Defensively, that team was limited and I always felt like they should've bolstered the D-Line during that run. Jeff Wright played beyond his potential but he still was a liability. Additionally, Walt Corey was a mediocre coordinator, at best. How do you have an innovator like Marchibroda on one side and a dud like Corey to coach the defense. Lastly, I love Marv, but a truly great coach has control of his team and gets them to focus on the biggest game of their lives, not the Tampa nightlife.A stronger coach and we win that game going away.

 

 

True, Thurman should of have a record day. If the giant adjusted, then they could of gone back to the pass. That Marv being a great baby sitter, but terrible coach.

[Fadingpain]

 

Score 20 -19 Giants leading.

 

:40 time left in the game.

 

Buffalo Bills QB Jim Kelly passes the ball to Buffalo Bills tight end Keith McKeller. McKeller catches the ball at the Giants 40 yard line.

 

The pass is a obvious completion but 10 seconds after McKelller caught the ball the official on the field calls for a review to see if it was a completed pass. You can see in the Youtube video above that the ball was no closer than three inches from the ground.

 

So, why did the official call for a review? Stopping the game.

 

Just before the official called for the review of McKeller's obvious catch the Buffalo Bills are lined up in a pass situation, with the receivers to the outside. The Giants pass defense was not ready for the play.

 

When the play resumed you can hear game television analyst Frank Gifford say "That (review) did give the Giants pass rush a little breather."

 

And because the Giants pass rush was given the gift of a "little breather" when the Bills lined up again they had a run play to Thurman Thomas who picked up 10 yards but still not in Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood's range.

 

Analysis: Had the official not called for a review of McKeller's obvious catch, the Bills would have easily gotten off a pass play against the Giants unprepared pass defense. The Bills receivers were lined up to the outside, ready to go out of bounds stopping the clock when (if) the ball was caught. Then the Bills either could have had Thurman Thomas run the ball or tried for pass again. Then the ball would have been well within the FG range for kicker Scott Norwood. Then spike the ball to bring on Norwood.

 

The Scott Norwood field goal is good.

 

Final score:

 

Buffalo Bills - 22

New York Giants - 20

 

Buffalo Bills - Super Bowl XXV Champions!

 

 

Let it go, man.

 

Let it go.

[RyanC883]

It is things like this that happen to the Bills that make me have ZERO sympathy for another team getting a bad call. NONE.

[MarkAF43]

this thread is something else.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

 

Score 20 -19 Giants leading.

 

:40 time left in the game.

 

Buffalo Bills QB Jim Kelly passes the ball to Buffalo Bills tight end Keith McKeller. McKeller catches the ball at the Giants 40 yard line.

 

The pass is a obvious completion but 10 seconds after McKelller caught the ball the official on the field calls for a review to see if it was a completed pass. You can see in the Youtube video above that the ball was no closer than three inches from the ground.

 

So, why did the official call for a review? Stopping the game.

 

Just before the official called for the review of McKeller's obvious catch the Buffalo Bills are lined up in a pass situation, with the receivers to the outside. The Giants pass defense was not ready for the play.

 

When the play resumed you can hear game television analyst Frank Gifford say "That (review) did give the Giants pass rush a little breather."

 

And because the Giants pass rush was given the gift of a "little breather" when the Bills lined up again they had a run play to Thurman Thomas who picked up 10 yards but still not in Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood's range.

 

Analysis: Had the official not called for a review of McKeller's obvious catch, the Bills would have easily gotten off a pass play against the Giants unprepared pass defense. The Bills receivers were lined up to the outside, ready to go out of bounds stopping the clock when (if) the ball was caught. Then the Bills either could have had Thurman Thomas run the ball or tried for pass again. Then the ball would have been well within the FG range for kicker Scott Norwood. Then spike the ball to bring on Norwood.

 

The Scott Norwood field goal is good.

 

Final score:

 

Buffalo Bills - 22

New York Giants - 20

 

Buffalo Bills - Super Bowl XXV Champions!

 

 

Waiting was absolutely correct. If they stopped the clock at the time of the catch, review and find it good, bills get an unfair advantage lining up before clock restarts.. Refs treated it as if a catch ran clock as if a catch then blew the whistle right before the next snap to make sure. If the find its a drop, they reset the clock.

 

If they didn't call the review, clock would have turned out the same way granted the bills may have faced a different defense without the pause.

 

No shenanigans here. The bills just came up short.

Edited January 27, 2016 by over 20 years of fanhood

[jimmy10]

Still the only Super Bowl decided by one point.

[Talley56]

Reviews and calls that go wrong on obvious calls happen all the time. If we went back through history, we could probably find calls and reviews that went our way or gave us some boost (Don Beebe stepping out of bounds before catching a big TD pass in the comeback game). That review is NOT why we lost. We were the better team for most of the season, we had plenty of opportunities, we lost fair and square.

[Jauronimo]

Syracuse Bills fans are the worst.

[Dorkington]

[MDH]

A more important factor in the loss was at the beginning of that vid. "The Bills have not converted a 3rd down all game." How they were even in a game where they hadn't converted a 3rd down until less than 2 minutes left in the game is a miracle.

 

Look at the clock management of that last drive too. Kelly didn't feed Thomas the ball nearly enough that game but you're going to run the ball with 27 seconds left on the clock and no TOs left? Yeah, not a good idea, particularly when you know your kicker has limited range.

 

Lots of reasons for that loss, the officials looking at that replay was not among the top 20. Who knows what happens on that next play if he doesn't stop it, it's pure speculation. Look at the other plays in that same drive. Kelly has ALL day to throw but can't find anybody and ends up taking off multiple times. To think on that one play he'd finally hit somebody for a big gain is a stretch.

[Gordio]

The Bills weren't robbed. They were their own worst enemy in many ways. Thurman ran all other the Giants in the fist half and they stopped feeding him the rock in the second. Defensively, that team was limited and I always felt like they should've bolstered the D-Line during that run. Jeff Wright played beyond his potential but he still was a liability. Additionally, Walt Corey was a mediocre coordinator, at best. How do you have an innovator like Marchibroda on one side and a dud like Corey to coach the defense. Lastly, I love Marv, but a truly great coach has control of his team and gets them to focus on the biggest game of their lives, not the Tampa nightlife.A stronger coach and we win that game going away.

 

 

 

 

Good take. Marv was a good coach for that team in the fact that he was able to control so many egos but he wasn't a coach that was going to beat you with ingame adjustments. But lets not kid ourselves. The Bills of that era won because on most Sundays they had far superior talent. That team was stacked.

[26CornerBlitz]

A more important factor in the loss was at the beginning of that vid. "The Bills have not converted a 3rd down all game." How they were even in a game where they hadn't converted a 3rd down until less than 2 minutes left in the game is a miracle.

 

Look at the clock management of that last drive too. Kelly didn't feed Thomas the ball nearly enough that game but you're going to run the ball with 27 seconds left on the clock and no TOs left? Yeah, not a good idea, particularly when you know your kicker has limited range.

 

Lots of reasons for that loss, the officials looking at that replay was not among the top 20. Who knows what happens on that next play if he doesn't stop it, it's pure speculation. Look at the other plays in that same drive. Kelly has ALL day to throw but can't find anybody and ends up taking off multiple times. To think on that one play he'd finally hit somebody for a big gain is a stretch.

 

My biggest issue with the Bills' offense all game long. Two DL for much of the game and Thurman only had 15 carries. He was easily the best player on the field that day.