3 Yr Anniversary of “The Leap” 9/23/18

[NoHuddleKelly12]

9/23/18. I’ll never forget it. My youngest born that day (lamp disclaimer), and, oh yeah, Josh Allen did this:

 

and a little bit of this:

 

 

And of course lotsa this:

 

A few points to ponder—the Bills entered this game as 16.5 dogs…one of Josh’s 1st real road starts after taking over for Peterman…Bills with not a prayer of winning this game per the pundits…example here:

 

“The Buffalo Bills are simply an awful football team right now and there’s no getting around it. I doubt anything changes with their quarterback situation on the road against one of the best, most aggressive defenses in the league. Cousins is also starting to get comfortable with his new offense, so the Vikings are quickly becoming a confident, balanced football team. The Minnesota Vikings are 7-1-1 ATS in their last nine games as a double-digit favorite. The Buffalo Bills have covered just two of their last seven games as a double-digit underdog. Everybody knows I’m not the chalk guy and try my best to avoid monster numbers whenever I can. I honestly wouldn’t touch this game, but if forced to pick, I’m more confident in a Vikings’ blowout than I am in the Bills hanging around. The Bills have shown us little to nothing two games into the season and are playing the best team they’ve faced yet.”
https://sportschatplace.com/nfl-picks/2018/09/23/buffalo-bills-at-minnesota-vikings-9-23-18-nfl-pick-odds-and-prediction/
 

And yet, the impossible happened. 
 

Game highlights here, worth the extra click into YouTube…Njoy a blast from the past and consider how fortunate we really are to have Josh Allen as our QB today. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by NoHuddleKelly12

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

9/23/18. I’ll never forget it. My youngest born that day (lamp disclaimer), and, oh yeah, Josh Allen did this:

 

and a little bit of this:

 

 

And of course lotsa this:

 

A few points to ponder—the Bills entered this game as 16.5 dogs…one of Josh’s 1st real road starts after taking over for Peterman…Bills with not a prayer of winning this game per the pundits…example here:

 

“The Buffalo Bills are simply an awful football team right now and there’s no getting around it. I doubt anything changes with their quarterback situation on the road against one of the best, most aggressive defenses in the league. Cousins is also starting to get comfortable with his new offense, so the Vikings are quickly becoming a confident, balanced football team. The Minnesota Vikings are 7-1-1 ATS in their last nine games as a double-digit favorite. The Buffalo Bills have covered just two of their last seven games as a double-digit underdog. Everybody knows I’m not the chalk guy and try my best to avoid monster numbers whenever I can. I honestly wouldn’t touch this game, but if forced to pick, I’m more confident in a Vikings’ blowout than I am in the Bills hanging around. The Bills have shown us little to nothing two games into the season and are playing the best team they’ve faced yet.”
https://sportschatplace.com/nfl-picks/2018/09/23/buffalo-bills-at-minnesota-vikings-9-23-18-nfl-pick-odds-and-prediction/
 

And yet, the impossible happened. 
 

Game highlights here, worth the extra click into YouTube…Njoy a blast from the past and consider how fortunate we really are to have Josh Allen as our QB today. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing this! I have little

memory of this game beyond the leap.
 

Watching the highlights, you can see the flashed from Josh Allen. I am mostly amazed at how “lean” we were at the skill positions. Chris Ivory, Rae Rae, Croom, Kelvin Benjamin, Andre Holmes. None of those guys were more than replacement level players. 

[Talley56]

9/23/2001 was the day Brady's career officially began: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200109230nwe.htm.

 

Nice to know that, now, 9/23 is also the date Allen's career officially began.

 

Edit: for the record, I know Allen started the prior week and even played some in week 1 but the leap is where his career really began.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Talley56

[Jauronimo]

What a game. I was flying back into Houston after attending a wedding and expected to see us down by 3 scores by the time I got to the bar.  Instead I walk in and its 17 to nothing.  I don't think I could have been more surprised unless maybe I was a Vikings fan.

[patzen]

Thanks for the reminder. I loved this game.

 

I remember that the public was convinced we were complete garbage because not only did we look pretty terrible through two weeks but Vontae Davis also retired at halftime of the game before so people believed that McDermott had lost the locker room. And then we ended up reverse covering that monstrous spread. 

 

Another notable aspect of this game is that Adam Thielen got over 100 yards due to the Bills allowing a ton of garbage time yards. This is notable because Thielen would go on to tie the NFL record that year for most consecutive games with 100+ yards receiving and he wouldn't have tied the record if not for those yards in garbage time.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

5 minutes ago, patzen said:

Thanks for the reminder. I loved this game.

 

I remember that the public was convinced we were complete garbage because not only did we look pretty terrible through two weeks but Vontae Davis also retired at halftime of the game before so people believed that McDermott had lost the locker room. And then we ended up reverse covering that monstrous spread. 

 

Another notable aspect of this game is that Adam Thielen got over 100 yards due to the Bills allowing a ton of garbage time yards. This is notable because Thielen would go on to tie the NFL record that year for most consecutive games with 100+ yards receiving and he wouldn't have tied the record if not for those yards in garbage time.

Great additional point re Vontae’s halftime surrender flag the week prior—definitely a low point for us around here…made this out of nowhere crushing of the mighty Vikes that much sweeter! Side note: was the Vontae game the same one McD took over play calling duties for Leslie at halftime also? 

Edited September 23, 2021 by NoHuddleKelly12

[iccrewman112]

Wasn’t there also a thread about someone from this board putting a HUGE wager down on the Vikings as well. Trying to search and find the thread to link?

1 minute ago, iccrewman112 said:

Wasn’t there also a thread about someone from this board putting a HUGE wager down on the Vikings as well. Trying to search and find the thread to link?

the aforementioned thread…

 

 

[prissythecat]

5 hours ago, iccrewman112 said:

Wasn’t there also a thread about someone from this board putting a HUGE wager down on the Vikings as well. Trying to search and find the thread to link?

the aforementioned thread…

 

 

 

Paging @JohnNord.     He can provide some commentary on this particular yarn and what really happened lol.

[WhoTom]

That was the moment when my attitude about Josh went from "It might be" to "It could be."

The Thanksgiving victory in Dallas was the "It IS!" moment.

 

 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

That was the moment when my attitude about Josh went from "It might be" to "It could be."

The Thanksgiving victory in Dallas was the "It IS!" moment.

 

 

I hear that. You’ll have to take my word for it that right after this Minnie showing out, I ordered my first Allen jersey—I was sold.  Granted, there were still plenty of bumps to come, especially with that atrocious talent around him (this was the take your lumps Whaley dead cap

$$ season) but the signs were hopeful!

[MiltonWaddams]

I was there. My father-in-law and I had decided that Minnesota would be our away game. He had been there years ago for a work conference, but I had never visited the state or the city. Incredible people, very welcoming and assuredly not expecting what happened to their team that day. I went into the game expecting to be blown out, so I could not have been more surprised when that went down. The Minnesota fans around us weren’t even mad. They were just in absolute shock. I won’t ever forget that one. Changed the game for the Bills.

[Blainorama5]

One of my favorite games from the Josh Allen era without a doubt!!!!

[BADOLBILZ]

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, WhoTom said:

That was the moment when my attitude about Josh went from "It might be" to "It could be."

The Thanksgiving victory in Dallas was the "It IS!" moment.

 

 

 

That Thanksgiving game remains my favorite Allen-era game.  What a fun one to watch!

[MJS]

13 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Thanks for sharing this! I have little

memory of this game beyond the leap.
 

Watching the highlights, you can see the flashed from Josh Allen. I am mostly amazed at how “lean” we were at the skill positions. Chris Ivory, Rae Rae, Croom, Kelvin Benjamin, Andre Holmes. None of those guys were more than replacement level players. 

Still one of Allen's best games and it happened his rookie year. In fact, there are a couple of games from his rookie year that were great, including the week 17 game vs Miami.

 

Anyone who thought that last year was just out of nowhere hadn't been paying attention. Allen has flashed in every game he has ever played (some more than others).

[WotAGuy]

I was at this game and it was surreal. Never expected the domination by the Bills. We were guests of one of the Vikings players, and had spent Saturday with him watching college football. We were supposed to meet him outside the locker room after the game. Obviously, he didn’t want to see anyone, especially a Bills fan after that beat down. Allen’s TD dive was right in front of me. Really beautiful stadium in Minny.  Found Kenny before the game too!  All in all, a great day. 

[Tony P]

That game! 2 week road trip back to Minnie/Wisc (we used to live in Minnie and my wife is from WI.). NFL scheduled the Bills back-2-back at Vikings and at Packers so we just had to do both games.

 

Having lived there for 27 years, I knew a lot of Vikings fans who were extremely confident about their chances that day. Our seats were waaayyy up there and had a bunch of younger MN fans sitting behind us who enjoyed giving us crap all pre-game. They left their seats at halftime and never came back. 

 

As others have posted, that game was first time I really thought that JA might finally be the guy. Fantastic post-game party with the Bills Backers of MSP, Kenny, Pancho and the whole crew.

 

Then on to Lambeau with my wife's Wisconsin family. Great experience at Lambeau! Very knowledgeable fans who had no problem poking some good-natured jabs at us. That game was a complete disaster. By early in the second quarter, people around us were asking how the Bills beat the Vikings the week before. My simple answer was: "because the Vikings suck". I received zero disagreement.  

 

As bad as they were in GB, nothing could ruin the feeling of the Bills going into the Vikes new building and kicking the snot out of them. 

 

 

 

 

[Jauronimo]

That is sugar high Josh right there.  Up 17-0, in the first quarter, and he puts his body on the line to pick up a first down like hes going for the end zone with no time on the clock to win the super bowl.  Hes a magnificent bastard.  

[SoCal Deek]

I was there. Incredible new stadium. The Minnesota fans were very nice and very SURE they were going to blow the Bills out that day, and then Kirk Cousins spent the entire afternoon dumping the ball off to WRs no more than 3 feet from the line of scrimmage and the boo-birds came out in full force.

Edited September 23, 2021 by SoCal Deek

[Forward Progress]

Thanks for posting.  I agree with you that "The Leap" was the first defining moment where Allen won over his teammates and the fan base.  In that moment, and many more that have followed, he showed that he is a true competitor who cares about nothing more than winning.

 

After watching multiple versions of Bills QB's throw checkdowns on 3rd downs setting up hundreds of punts, it has been energizing to see Allen play to win the game.  Even when the outcome isn't what we want, it's clear that he plays for first downs and touchdowns.

 

What a great time it is to be a Bills fan!!