I watched the Music City Miracle game in full last night on the NFL Network for the first time in 20 years. It changed my opinion on the game.

[ThurmasThoman]

Like most Bills fans my age, I've spent the last 2 decades convinced that Buffalo had a Lombardi trophy ripped from their hands that day, with a terrible call on what was clearly a forward lateral. I vividly remember watching that game and being absolutely devastated when they lost--I was 15 at the time, and it was right up there with Jim Kelly's retirement following the Jacksonville loss as my most disappointing sports moment. Re-watching the game in it's entirety last night didn't necessarily change my view on the throwback, but it put the entire contest in a better context. Here are my thoughts from it (in no particular order  )

 

1) The Tennessee Titans were a VERY GOOD football team.

Somehow, 15 year old me didn't understand this at the time. (In fact, it makes me wonder how many posters on here may be 15 years old and also missing this point about last week's Patriots game, but I digress) The Titans went into that game 13-3, which as they stated during the broadcast was the best record for a wildcard team in history. This was also a point in NFL history when the conferences only had 3 divisions, so the division winner ahead of the Titans, the Jaguars, were even better at 14-2. Buffalo has had only two 13 win seasons in their history, and both times made the Super Bowl--the Titans obviously made the Super Bowl that season. The Titans had young talent all over the field: Air McNair at QB, Eddie George at RB, "the Freak" Jeavon Kearse on D. They had stars, they had a great regular season, and they were a yard away from winning the Super Bowl. What's more, this season marked their arrival as a franchise, and they entered a period of dominance for the next 5 years where they would have campaigns of 11, 12, and 13 wins again, making it as far as the conference championship game. Buffalo, on the other hand, went from this loss to one of the longest runs of futility in NFL history, missing the playoffs for 18 straight seasons.

 

2) The Buffalo Bills were a team in complete disarray.

This was the death of their "dynasty", or at least their years of being a contender, and the self destruction was on complete display. Maybe because those guys were my heroes I was oblivious to it at the time. Maybe the lack of social media/24 hour news cycles didn't catastrophize their collapse as it surely would today. Whatever the case, that Bills team had issues, from top to bottom. As we learned years later, it was Ralph who insisted Johnson get the start over Flutie. Knowing that, it was interesting to hear the response of Wade Phillips when asked by Solomon Wilcox at halftime if he would bench Johnson for Flutie: quote "he said something to me that I can't repeat on TV, but it wasn't very nice." That's not a response you hear from McDermott very often, right? Then there was Andre Reed, who had apparently posted on his website a few days earlier that he felt disrespected and wanted to go to a team that appreciated him. Playing with that hanging over his head would be one thing, but he also wasn't on speaking terms with Flutie, who he said had changed as a man over the course of the previous year. Hmmm... I had never heard that--but it puts the benching into a new context.

 

3) Bruce Smith was the best player on the field, he's the all time sack leader, and the best Bill of all time

I wish I was old enough to appreciate that man's career. Seeing highlights of the greats doesn't do them justice, you need to see them on every play dominate a game. And boy, that's what Bruce did. A pure physical freak. At one point spun around the O lineman and got pressure on McNair with a move that would be replayed 10 times today, but was just a typical play for him in that game. Maybe younger me took it for granted that he was a Bill, or didn't realize how good he was compared to the rest of the league, or hadn't watched enough football yet to appreciate it, or all of the above, but wow. If the rest of his career looked like that (and I'd be willing to bet it was better), you could make a case that he's one of the 10 best players to ever play professional football. Am I crazy for saying that?

 

4) The Buffalo Bills were sloppy that day, the Titans were disciplined. 

The Titans didn't commit their first penalty until well into the second half, the Bills were jumping off sides with reckless abandon from the opening gun. This isn't a conspiracy theory either, in that the refs weren't calling it both ways. No, the Bills had 2, 3, maybe 4 defensive linemen literally jumping off sides anticipating snap counts. At one point Bruce ran across the LOS, made no attempt to get back and negated an Eddie George fumble. There was an egregious holding call ON THE DEFENSE of a field goal attempt that the Titans missed going into the half--they then made the retry. Obviously, every defender was out of position on the Homerun Throwback. Hey, I can say with confidence from posting here: If a McDermott team showed up to a playoff game like this---it would be a long offseason on here.

 

5) The Titans were a better team, and played a much (much) better game.

First: Rob Johnson was terrible. Absolutely, unequivocally awful. I don't know what his final stats were and it doesn't matter. He didn't throw a single pass with zip, with touch, or with accuracy. He didn't move the ball all day. Both touchdowns were the results of the ground game and field position. Were people open? I have no idea. But it was, maybe, the worst performance from a Bills QB that I have ever seen. Second: McNair didn't do much better, but their ground game was significantly better than ours. They were picking up big chunks with ease. Yes, their drives stalled (often), but they had bursts and "the momentum" for almost the entire game. They didn't protect the football well, and turned it over a bunch (some negated by Bills penalties), but they moved the chains and scored the ball all day. Many here hang on to the notion that that Bills defense was elite--Super Bowl worthy, even, but the Titans D outclassed us that day. 

 

6) The Universe righted itself with that Homerun Throwback--it was almost cosmically right. Not a pox on our house, but fair just dues for the Titans.

There's no other way to put it. I don't mean to sound like I believe in Atlantis, but that Homerun Throwback almost had to happen. When the greatest comeback ever took place, Buffalo was the better team than the Oilers, and how would we have felt if they nailed a field goal in overtime to beat us? Terrible right? The same could be said if Christies "game winner" bounced the Titans from the playoffs that year. They were the better team. They played better all day. They dominated us. They deserved to win for all of the above reasons, and that was their season to make the Super Bowl. We can dissect the rest of the conference for the rest of our lives: would the Bills have beaten the Colts the next weekend? The Jaguars? Even the Rams in the Super Bowl? What I finally came to the realization of last night is: it doesn't matter, because they DIDN'T beat the Titans, and didn't deserve to! The Titans were the better team, and beat the Bills all day long up and down the field. Somehow, someway, the Bills took the lead, for about 6 seconds of game time, and then lost it in historic fashion again--but they never should have had the lead to begin with, really. 

 

 

So there it is. Sorry if I need to hand in my fan card after this, but I have to admit, it's nice to make peace with that loss. Watching it again, after 20 years of accumulated football knowledge, makes me see it the way the rest of the NFL has seen it. A great play for the Titans in the context of their Super Bowl run. As a Bills fan, I've always viewed it as emblematic of the curse on our franchise, and a day when we were robbed of what may have been a championship season. But it's not that. We were simply a dysfunctional wild card team that got outcoached and outplayed on the road, and lost to a better team in heartbreaking fashion. Oh well. Life goes on.

[HOUSE]

Nice work Johnny, I can't watch that game anymore, gives me Lupus

[Seasons1992]

#5. You’ve forgotten the 6-3 game. Rob Johnson was Elway compared to that turd.

[fansince88]

I was 29 and still had all my hair. My wife was pregnant for the daughter I walked down the isle a couple months ago. I have put this waaaaay behind me and refuse to ever relive that week again.

Edited October 6, 2019 by fansince88

[Stank_Nasty]

I watched it for all of 3 minutes. Saw the freak come around the edge and strip sack in little Johnson on 2nd drive. Shouted a bunch of jibberish at the tv about certain qb decisions and changed the damn channel. Screw that noise. 

 

I will say that those bills all whites with the red caps might be my all time favorite uni. Very sharp! 

Edited October 6, 2019 by Stank_Nasty

[mannc]

12 minutes ago, JohnnyGold said:

Like most Bills fans my age, I've spent the last 2 decades convinced that Buffalo had a Lombardi trophy ripped from their hands that day, with a terrible call on what was clearly a forward lateral. I vividly remember watching that game and being absolutely devastated when they lost--I was 15 at the time, and it was right up there with Jim Kelly's retirement following the Jacksonville loss as my most disappointing sports moment. Re-watching the game in it's entirety last night didn't necessarily change my view on the throwback, but it put the entire contest in a better context. Here are my thoughts from it (in no particular order  )

 

1) The Tennessee Titans were a VERY GOOD football team.

Somehow, 15 year old me didn't understand this at the time. (In fact, it makes me wonder how many posters on here may be 15 years old and also missing this point about last week's Patriots game, but I digress) The Titans went into that game 13-3, which as they stated during the broadcast was the best record for a wildcard team in history. This was also a point in NFL history when the conferences only had 3 divisions, so the division winner ahead of the Titans, the Jaguars, were even better at 14-2. Buffalo has had only two 13 win seasons in their history, and both times made the Super Bowl--the Titans obviously made the Super Bowl that season. The Titans had young talent all over the field: Air McNair at QB, Eddie George at RB, "the Freak" Jeavon Kearse on D. They had stars, they had a great regular season, and they were a yard away from winning the Super Bowl. What's more, this season marked their arrival as a franchise, and they entered a period of dominance for the next 5 years where they would have campaigns of 11, 12, and 13 wins again, making it as far as the conference championship game. Buffalo, on the other hand, went from this loss to one of the longest runs of futility in NFL history, missing the playoffs for 18 straight seasons.

 

2) The Buffalo Bills were a team in complete disarray.

This was the death of their "dynasty", or at least their years of being a contender, and the self destruction was on complete display. Maybe because those guys were my heroes I was oblivious to it at the time. Maybe the lack of social media/24 hour news cycles didn't catastrophize their collapse as it surely would today. Whatever the case, that Bills team had issues, from top to bottom. As we learned years later, it was Ralph who insisted Johnson get the start over Flutie. Knowing that, it was interesting to hear the response of Wade Phillips when asked by Solomon Wilcox at halftime if he would bench Johnson for Flutie: quote "he said something to me that I can't repeat on TV, but it wasn't very nice." That's not a response you hear from McDermott very often, right? Then there was Andre Reed, who had apparently posted on his website a few days earlier that he felt disrespected and wanted to go to a team that appreciated him. Playing with that hanging over his head would be one thing, but he also wasn't on speaking terms with Flutie, who he said had changed as a man over the course of the previous year. Hmmm... I had never heard that--but it puts the benching into a new context.

 

3) Bruce Smith was the best player on the field, he's the all time sack leader, and the best Bill of all time

I wish I was old enough to appreciate that man's career. Seeing highlights of the greats doesn't do them justice, you need to see them on every play dominate a game. And boy, that's what Bruce did. A pure physical freak. At one point spun around the O lineman and got pressure on McNair with a move that would be replayed 10 times today, but was just a typical play for him in that game. Maybe younger me took it for granted that he was a Bill, or didn't realize how good he was compared to the rest of the league, or hadn't watched enough football yet to appreciate it, or all of the above, but wow. If the rest of his career looked like that (and I'd be willing to bet it was better), you could make a case that he's one of the 10 best players to ever play professional football. Am I crazy for saying that?

 

4) The Buffalo Bills were sloppy that day, the Titans were disciplined. 

The Titans didn't commit their first penalty until well into the second half, the Bills were jumping off sides with reckless abandon from the opening gun. This isn't a conspiracy theory either, in that the refs weren't calling it both ways. No, the Bills had 2, 3, maybe 4 defensive linemen literally jumping off sides anticipating snap counts. At one point Bruce ran across the LOS, made no attempt to get back and negated an Eddie George fumble. There was an egregious holding call ON THE DEFENSE of a field goal attempt that the Titans missed going into the half--they then made the retry. Obviously, every defender was out of position on the Homerun Throwback. Hey, I can say with confidence from posting here: If a McDermott team showed up to a playoff game like this---it would be a long offseason on here.

 

5) The Titans were a better team, and played a much (much) better game.

First: Rob Johnson was terrible. Absolutely, unequivocally awful. I don't know what his final stats were and it doesn't matter. He didn't throw a single pass with zip, with touch, or with accuracy. He didn't move the ball all day. Both touchdowns were the results of the ground game and field position. Were people open? I have no idea. But it was, maybe, the worst performance from a Bills QB that I have ever seen. Second: McNair didn't do much better, but their ground game was significantly better than ours. They were picking up big chunks with ease. Yes, their drives stalled (often), but they had bursts and "the momentum" for almost the entire game. They didn't protect the football well, and turned it over a bunch (some negated by Bills penalties), but they moved the chains and scored the ball all day. Many here hang on to the notion that that Bills defense was elite--Super Bowl worthy, even, but the Titans D outclassed us that day. 

 

6) The Universe righted itself with that Homerun Throwback--it was almost cosmically right. Not a pox on our house, but fair just dues for the Titans.

There's no other way to put it. I don't mean to sound like I believe in Atlantis, but that Homerun Throwback almost had to happen. When the greatest comeback ever took place, Buffalo was the better team than the Oilers, and how would we have felt if they nailed a field goal in overtime to beat us? Terrible right? The same could be said if Christies "game winner" bounced the Titans from the playoffs that year. They were the better team. They played better all day. They dominated us. They deserved to win for all of the above reasons, and that was their season to make the Super Bowl. We can dissect the rest of the conference for the rest of our lives: would the Bills have beaten the Colts the next weekend? The Jaguars? Even the Rams in the Super Bowl? What I finally came to the realization of last night is: it doesn't matter, because they DIDN'T beat the Titans, and didn't deserve to! The Titans were the better team, and beat the Bills all day long up and down the field. Somehow, someway, the Bills took the lead, for about 6 seconds of game time, and then lost it in historic fashion again--but they never should have had the lead to begin with, really. 

 

 

So there it is. Sorry if I need to hand in my fan card after this, but I have to admit, it's nice to make peace with that loss. Watching it again, after 20 years of accumulated football knowledge, makes me see it the way the rest of the NFL has seen it. A great play for the Titans in the context of their Super Bowl run. As a Bills fan, I've always viewed it as emblematic of the curse on our franchise, and a day when we were robbed of what may have been a championship season. But it's not that. We were simply a dysfunctional wild card team that got outcoached and outplayed on the road, and lost to a better team in heartbreaking fashion. Oh well. Life goes on.

It’s been 20 years since I watched the game, but I just read your write up.  I had totally forgotten that the Bills were blown out that day.  

 

Give me break...

[Helpmenow]

Sitting at blind melons in pacific beach with bills fans. Told my buddy it’s not over and then the rest is history 

[4merper4mer]

Flutie sucked.  10 trillion words to skate around that fact will never change it.

[Seasons1992]

Brian Brohm would

like a word....

[Stank_Nasty]

1 minute ago, 4merper4mer said:

Flutie sucked.  10 trillion words to skate around that fact will never change it.

You’re right. It was a much better decision to put the most sacked qb(per dropback) of all time in there against Jevon kearse. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Ah the wall of text to justify Bills masochism

 

Get over it, breh.

 

[Dopey]

Rob Johnson took us on the " game winning" drive but...

That team definitely could have reached the SB.

[colin]

I remember we sucked for the first long while but put it together some late, am I off?

 

I haven't rewatched that game in a while, but watching some playoff games from late 90s to early 2ks a few years ago reminded me of two things:

 

1 players on good teams executed better back then (with the exception of dbs who for some reason are all just better now toy eye, but it could be impacted by item 2 below).  I think it was because they'd stay on the same teams w the same coaches for longer, and did more and harder practicing.  Not saying they were all better athletes, just better individual execution.

 

2 teams played so simple and coaches seemed to push matchups vs higher level sophisticated team ball stuff today.  Play action, blitzes, etc.  All of that seemed to result in much bigger results when done vs today.  It was more about Willie's and Joe's than xs and os back then imo.  I think coverage concepts and disguising happened less, and prolly dbs are better athletes now too.  Before Dion the word always was if a cb could catch he'd be a wr, but now I don't think that's the case.

 

I think the Tampa 2 d, robbing the big play, really accelerated the change.  Total team stuff seemed to be dominating and then everyone had to adjust.  Before that the west. Coast O would make a d look silly, getting a team in base d and just making easy plays for the o.

 

This also reminded me of how much I dislike the pats for just being smarter than other teams.

[DBilz2500]

18 minutes ago, JohnnyGold said:

Like most Bills fans my age, I've spent the last 2 decades convinced that Buffalo had a Lombardi trophy ripped from their hands that day, with a terrible call on what was clearly a forward lateral. I vividly remember watching that game and being absolutely devastated when they lost--I was 15 at the time, and it was right up there with Jim Kelly's retirement following the Jacksonville loss as my most disappointing sports moment. Re-watching the game in it's entirety last night didn't necessarily change my view on the throwback, but it put the entire contest in a better context. Here are my thoughts from it (in no particular order  )

 

1) The Tennessee Titans were a VERY GOOD football team.

Somehow, 15 year old me didn't understand this at the time. (In fact, it makes me wonder how many posters on here may be 15 years old and also missing this point about last week's Patriots game, but I digress) The Titans went into that game 13-3, which as they stated during the broadcast was the best record for a wildcard team in history. This was also a point in NFL history when the conferences only had 3 divisions, so the division winner ahead of the Titans, the Jaguars, were even better at 14-2. Buffalo has had only two 13 win seasons in their history, and both times made the Super Bowl--the Titans obviously made the Super Bowl that season. The Titans had young talent all over the field: Air McNair at QB, Eddie George at RB, "the Freak" Jeavon Kearse on D. They had stars, they had a great regular season, and they were a yard away from winning the Super Bowl. What's more, this season marked their arrival as a franchise, and they entered a period of dominance for the next 5 years where they would have campaigns of 11, 12, and 13 wins again, making it as far as the conference championship game. Buffalo, on the other hand, went from this loss to one of the longest runs of futility in NFL history, missing the playoffs for 18 straight seasons.

 

2) The Buffalo Bills were a team in complete disarray.

This was the death of their "dynasty", or at least their years of being a contender, and the self destruction was on complete display. Maybe because those guys were my heroes I was oblivious to it at the time. Maybe the lack of social media/24 hour news cycles didn't catastrophize their collapse as it surely would today. Whatever the case, that Bills team had issues, from top to bottom. As we learned years later, it was Ralph who insisted Johnson get the start over Flutie. Knowing that, it was interesting to hear the response of Wade Phillips when asked by Solomon Wilcox at halftime if he would bench Johnson for Flutie: quote "he said something to me that I can't repeat on TV, but it wasn't very nice." That's not a response you hear from McDermott very often, right? Then there was Andre Reed, who had apparently posted on his website a few days earlier that he felt disrespected and wanted to go to a team that appreciated him. Playing with that hanging over his head would be one thing, but he also wasn't on speaking terms with Flutie, who he said had changed as a man over the course of the previous year. Hmmm... I had never heard that--but it puts the benching into a new context.

 

3) Bruce Smith was the best player on the field, he's the all time sack leader, and the best Bill of all time

I wish I was old enough to appreciate that man's career. Seeing highlights of the greats doesn't do them justice, you need to see them on every play dominate a game. And boy, that's what Bruce did. A pure physical freak. At one point spun around the O lineman and got pressure on McNair with a move that would be replayed 10 times today, but was just a typical play for him in that game. Maybe younger me took it for granted that he was a Bill, or didn't realize how good he was compared to the rest of the league, or hadn't watched enough football yet to appreciate it, or all of the above, but wow. If the rest of his career looked like that (and I'd be willing to bet it was better), you could make a case that he's one of the 10 best players to ever play professional football. Am I crazy for saying that?

 

4) The Buffalo Bills were sloppy that day, the Titans were disciplined. 

The Titans didn't commit their first penalty until well into the second half, the Bills were jumping off sides with reckless abandon from the opening gun. This isn't a conspiracy theory either, in that the refs weren't calling it both ways. No, the Bills had 2, 3, maybe 4 defensive linemen literally jumping off sides anticipating snap counts. At one point Bruce ran across the LOS, made no attempt to get back and negated an Eddie George fumble. There was an egregious holding call ON THE DEFENSE of a field goal attempt that the Titans missed going into the half--they then made the retry. Obviously, every defender was out of position on the Homerun Throwback. Hey, I can say with confidence from posting here: If a McDermott team showed up to a playoff game like this---it would be a long offseason on here.

 

5) The Titans were a better team, and played a much (much) better game.

First: Rob Johnson was terrible. Absolutely, unequivocally awful. I don't know what his final stats were and it doesn't matter. He didn't throw a single pass with zip, with touch, or with accuracy. He didn't move the ball all day. Both touchdowns were the results of the ground game and field position. Were people open? I have no idea. But it was, maybe, the worst performance from a Bills QB that I have ever seen. Second: McNair didn't do much better, but their ground game was significantly better than ours. They were picking up big chunks with ease. Yes, their drives stalled (often), but they had bursts and "the momentum" for almost the entire game. They didn't protect the football well, and turned it over a bunch (some negated by Bills penalties), but they moved the chains and scored the ball all day. Many here hang on to the notion that that Bills defense was elite--Super Bowl worthy, even, but the Titans D outclassed us that day. 

 

6) The Universe righted itself with that Homerun Throwback--it was almost cosmically right. Not a pox on our house, but fair just dues for the Titans.

There's no other way to put it. I don't mean to sound like I believe in Atlantis, but that Homerun Throwback almost had to happen. When the greatest comeback ever took place, Buffalo was the better team than the Oilers, and how would we have felt if they nailed a field goal in overtime to beat us? Terrible right? The same could be said if Christies "game winner" bounced the Titans from the playoffs that year. They were the better team. They played better all day. They dominated us. They deserved to win for all of the above reasons, and that was their season to make the Super Bowl. We can dissect the rest of the conference for the rest of our lives: would the Bills have beaten the Colts the next weekend? The Jaguars? Even the Rams in the Super Bowl? What I finally came to the realization of last night is: it doesn't matter, because they DIDN'T beat the Titans, and didn't deserve to! The Titans were the better team, and beat the Bills all day long up and down the field. Somehow, someway, the Bills took the lead, for about 6 seconds of game time, and then lost it in historic fashion again--but they never should have had the lead to begin with, really. 

 

 

So there it is. Sorry if I need to hand in my fan card after this, but I have to admit, it's nice to make peace with that loss. Watching it again, after 20 years of accumulated football knowledge, makes me see it the way the rest of the NFL has seen it. A great play for the Titans in the context of their Super Bowl run. As a Bills fan, I've always viewed it as emblematic of the curse on our franchise, and a day when we were robbed of what may have been a championship season. But it's not that. We were simply a dysfunctional wild card team that got outcoached and outplayed on the road, and lost to a better team in heartbreaking fashion. Oh well. Life goes on.

I was 15 as well at the time. Me and my younger brother were both watching the game in my parents little office/tv room. The titans were certainly the better team all game and as much as I hate to admit it they did deserve the win. The only caveat I take from that infamous play is I was surprised that a flag wasn’t thrown for a forward lateral, being as close as it was, and then when they did the review there wouldn’t have been enough evidence to overturn the play. Replay was so new at the time though so who knows what would’ve happened anyway. Great write up though and it definitely hit on most of my opinions of that game. Let’s get the win today though! 

[4merper4mer]

5 minutes ago, Stank_Nasty said:

You’re right. It was a much better decision to put the most sacked qb(per dropback) of all time in there against Jevon kearse. 

They could have started Steve Urkel and Flutie still sucked.

[ThurmasThoman]

12 minutes ago, mannc said:

It’s been 20 years since I watched the game, but I just read your write up.  I had totally forgotten that the Bills were blown out that day.  

 

Give me break...

You should watch it again if you get the chance.

I had raw emotions about it too, like you, until last night.

The Bills played absolutely terrible. Their D kept them in it, but they lost to a better team that day. 

13 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Flutie sucked.  10 trillion words to skate around that fact will never change it.

 

I have no hot take on Flutie vs Johnson. I have no new opinion on that from watching the game last night. I think Flutie could have played better than Johnson, because it's hard to imagine anyone playing worse, but he also might have thrown a pick 6 that put the game out of reach early. Either way, Flutie couldn't QB the team to a higher seed, a division title, or a playoff win the season before, so it's hard to imagine he would have beaten the Titans that afternoon.

13 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

Ah the wall of text to justify Bills masochism

 

Get over it, breh.

 

TBH Joe, the entire point of that wall of text was to say that I am over it now.

[JESSEFEFFER]

I do not want to research or rewatch it but 3 things you failed to mention that are part of my thinking.

1)  The Bills had a makeshift OL.  Maybe 3 spots with a different starter?  It was a gritty road performance by an underdog in a tough situation.

2)  RJ did not shine under those conditions but the final drive was a big moment for him up until he lost his shoe.

3)  Wade panicked at the end.  It was 1st down when he sent Christie out there !!!!!  What coach does that and leaves time on the clock?

 

Credit to your 35 year old self for challenging what your 15 year old self thought.  It's a great exercise but my 57 year old self is not ready to rethink that game yet.

Edited October 6, 2019 by JESSEFEFFER

[dhg]

It was an illegal forward lateral. Who was the better team that day doesn't matter. The better teams on any given day don't always win. The Titans were gifted a win from the head ref. He had to go to the sideline and review it in front of all the fans. He wasn't getting out of that place with his life if he reversed it. 

[ThurmasThoman]

15 minutes ago, colin said:

I remember we sucked for the first long while but put it together some late, am I off?

 

I haven't rewatched that game in a while, but watching some playoff games from late 90s to early 2ks a few years ago reminded me of two things:

 

1 players on good teams executed better back then (with the exception of dbs who for some reason are all just better now toy eye, but it could be impacted by item 2 below).  I think it was because they'd stay on the same teams w the same coaches for longer, and did more and harder practicing.  Not saying they were all better athletes, just better individual execution.

 

2 teams played so simple and coaches seemed to push matchups vs higher level sophisticated team ball stuff today.  Play action, blitzes, etc.  All of that seemed to result in much bigger results when done vs today.  It was more about Willie's and Joe's than xs and os back then imo.  I think coverage concepts and disguising happened less, and prolly dbs are better athletes now too.  Before Dion the word always was if a cb could catch he'd be a wr, but now I don't think that's the case.

 

I think the Tampa 2 d, robbing the big play, really accelerated the change.  Total team stuff seemed to be dominating and then everyone had to adjust.  Before that the west. Coast O would make a d look silly, getting a team in base d and just making easy plays for the o.

 

This also reminded me of how much I dislike the pats for just being smarter than other teams.

 

I think the biggest change in the game has been the advent of specialized coaching from a young age.

Want to be a kicker? There's a camp for that, for toddlers no doubt.
Want to be a QB? There's a camp for that, and you better be willing to move around the country to find the right middle school.

The game 20 years ago just had such a "team" feel to it--like the players knew where each other would be on the field at all times, because they practiced together so much more, rotated through positions as a kid, and had a better feel for the game playing out on the field. Your LB may have been a DE and a TE at one point. Now, LBs are LBs from age 6 on.

On one Eddie George fumble, Kurt Schulz puts his helmet on the ball and a LB scooped it up seemlessly. On a McNair pick, Schulz batted it and a CB picked it so fluidly it looked like a basketball move. 

Another element (as a fan) is the lack of HD replays--if a ref made a call, it couldn't be analyzed for 20 minutes from 10 different angles, it just stood. Some calls were bad, some were good. But it seems like the refs were, for lack of a better word, more confident. They just make the call and the game moves on. I hate... hate hate hate... how in today's NFL everything is scrutinized until it's perfect. That "perfect" feel is at odds with such a brutal sport. We'd be better off letting it be rough around the edges and accepting some bad calls from time to time if it brings back that wild west feel, in my opinion.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

The Andy Dalton play somehow appeased a lot of my pain from that game. Once we finally made the playoffs again, it doesn’t hurt as bad. If the Bills won that game, they certainly weren’t going to bench Rob Johnson and we were going nowhere with that loser. So the super bowl thing wasn’t happening.  If Flutie never got benched, it’s a different story.