Best Bills Games Ever (Top Five)

[hondo in seattle]

I'm old enough to remember a lot of great games, but not so old that I had the privilege of seeing the AFL Championships.  But I did get to see the Dolphins decade long streak end, OJ break 2,000 yards, and lots of other fun moments.  My Top Five includes two games from this past season:

 

1.  The Comeback.  Coming back from 35-3 without Kelly was unlikely.  Even more unlikely when you recall what the Oilers did to us in the regular season.

 

2.  The Perfect Game.  So fun to watch this happen to Belichick and the Pats after all the suffering they caused us.

 

3.  The No Punt Game.  The two best offenses went toe-to-toe in a game that surpassed the pre-game hype.

 

4.  51-3.  It's always fun to see your team score a lot, but more fun when it convinces you that your team is peaking at just the right time for the Super Bowl.

 

5.  13 Seconds.  This would rank higher if we could rewrite the ending.  

[BarleyNY]

Thank you for only including one loss in their list 

[oldmanfan]

From the perspective of one who sat in the Rockpile as a 4 year old for the first game in 1960:

 

1.  AFL championship game 1964.  The Stratton hit.

2.  The comeback game against the Oilers.

3.  AFL championship game 1965

4.  Season opener 1980 finally squished the Fish.

5 (tie):  First AFC championship 51-3 against the Raiders; 1974 Monday Night season opener against the Raiders.

[hondo in seattle]

31 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

Thank you for only including one loss in their list 

 

I debated even including that one.  

 

In many ways, I'm an All-American boy.  I dislike movies with sad endings.  And I hate those French movies that don't seem to have any ending at all.  I like big, happy Hollywood endings with the good guys dramatically vanquishing their foes.  

 

But that Chiefs game was just too exciting - and had such amazing performances - that I couldn't ignore it.  

[SinceThe70s]

 

Top 3 are the only times I've been to Orchard Park:

 

September 24, 2017: Bills 26 Broncos 16

November 12, 2000: Bills 20 Bears 3

November 15, 1998: Bills 13 Patriots 10

 

December 31, 2017: Bills 22 Dolphins 16 and Bengals 31 Ravens 27 

January 3, 1993: Bills 41 Oilers 38

 

[Big Turk]

How does the Bills winning their only championships in 1964 and 1965 not rank on this list? 

[GreggTX]

It's been 61 years that the Bills have been a team and then previously in the All-American Football Conference (1946 - 1949). Only 2 times in those 66 seasons have the Buffalo Bills walked off the field as the last team standing. Those games were the 1964 and 1965 AFL Championship games. As far as I'm concerned, no other games belong in the same discussion of 'best game ever'. In the 1965 title game, the Bills were on the road in Balboa Stadium in San Diego to play the Chargers whose offense boasted the presence of 3 future Hall of Fame talents in QB John Hadl, WR Lance Alworth and HB Keith Lincoln of "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" fame. Chargers Head Coach Sid Gillman was and still is revered and deservedly so. He was an inovator whose philosophy was to "stretch the field" which changed the game forever. The Bills defense was incredible that day. The final score was 23-0. The previous year they beat the Chargers 20-7 for their first title.

 

There's no contest. The comeback and those others the OP mentioned were great games, but they don't hold a candle to back-to-back championships by a combined 43-7 margin. Not even close. Last. Team. Standing. That's what it's all about.

Edited April 10, 2022 by GreggTX

[billsfan1959]

9 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

How does the Bills winning their only championships in 1964 and 1965 not rank on this list? 

 

He pretty much told you. It was his list of favorite games and he wasn't old enough to have seen the AFL championship games

[BarleyNY]

35 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I debated even including that one.  

 

In many ways, I'm an All-American boy.  I dislike movies with sad endings.  And I hate those French movies that don't seem to have any ending at all.  I like big, happy Hollywood endings with the good guys dramatically vanquishing their foes.  

 

But that Chiefs game was just too exciting - and had such amazing performances - that I couldn't ignore it.  

That’s funny. I’m totally the opposite with movies.  I don't like the “good guys win because they’re the good guys” (usually with the main good guys not really sacrificing anything of substance or growing personally) movies.  Too much like Disney for grown ups to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not reading Hemingway every day either, but I like stuff that feels real.  Or I’ll take a good, goofy comedy that isn’t selling itself as anything more than that.

Still, results count.  KC was a phenomenal game.  Ditto SB25.  Objectively both were some of the best Bills games ever.  But Ls don’t make my personal list of “Best” Bills games.

 

16 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

How does the Bills winning their only championships in 1964 and 1965 not rank on this list? 

Yup.  I wasn’t alive yet, but I agree. Championships are at the top.  

[GunnerBill]

57 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

In many ways, I'm an All-American boy.  I dislike movies with sad endings.  And I hate those French movies that don't seem to have any ending at all.  I like big, happy Hollywood endings with the good guys dramatically vanquishing their foes.  

 

Ugh. So American. Hate it. 

 

My top 5:

 

1. 13 seconds. Best game of NFL football I have ever watched. Period. Hated the outcome but just unbelievable football. 

2. The Aaron Rodgers safety game. Bills Beat Packers at home in 2014. Felt like the first time in a long time we beat a properly legitimate team in a game with some meaning down the stretch of a season.

3. The perfect playoff game. Bashing the Pats.

4. 2020 Wild Card win v Colts. The first Bills playoff win I had seen.

5. 2017 Wild Card defeat v Jacksonville. Might seem like an odd choice. Awful spectacle. Loss. Tyrod running around not throwing the ball. But after 15 years as a fan I was finally seeing the Bills play in the post-season. That will remain a pretty cool moment for me. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by GunnerBill

[Big Turk]

20 minutes ago, GreggTX said:

It's been 61 years that the Bills have been a team and then previously in the All-American Football Conference (1946 - 1949). Only 2 times in those 66 seasons have the Buffalo Bills walked off the field as the last team standing. Those games were the 1964 and 1965 AFL Championship games. As far as I'm concerned, no other games belong in the same discussion of 'best game ever'. In the 1965 title game, the Bills were on the road in Balboa Stadium in San Diego to play the Chargers whose offense boasted the presence of 3 future Hall of Fame talents in QB John Hadl, WR Lance Alworth and HB Keith Lincoln of "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" fame. Chargers Head Coach Sid Gillman was and still is revered and deservedly so. He was an inovator whose philosophy was to "stretch the field" which changed the game forever. The Bills defense was incredible that day. The final score was 23-0. The previous year they beat the Chargers 20-7 for their first title.

 

There's no contest. The comeback and those others the OP mentioned were great games, but they don't hold a candle to back-to-back championships by a combined 43-7 margin. Not even close. Last. Team. Standing. That's what it's all about.

 

Hahahaha, they pulled a "Rocky" in Balboa stadium and came out the victors?  Did they yell "Addddddddddrieennnnneeee!! We did it!!!" when they walked off? 🤣

Edited April 10, 2022 by Big Turk

[RobbRiddick]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I debated even including that one.  

 

In many ways, I'm an All-American boy.  I dislike movies with sad endings.  And I hate those French movies that don't seem to have any ending at all.  I like big, happy Hollywood endings with the good guys dramatically vanquishing their foes.  

 

But that Chiefs game was just too exciting - and had such amazing performances - that I couldn't ignore it.  

 

 

The 13 seconds game is a bit different in that it was the game that finally woke the last remaining doubters to Josh's greatness. It was a strange experience during the days after that game. Usually I would have stayed away from sports shows because I wouldn't want to hear them fluffing Mahomes but even in defeat most of the talk was about how amazing Allen was and is. 

 

I've watched the highlights many times but I always switch off after the final Bills TD.

[Solomon Grundy]

Where’s the 2 Dolphins games where Kelly dived in to score the winning TD and the Thurman Thomas game?

[Draconator]

Should probably make this a poll and have about 15 games or so to choose from.

[without a drought]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

How does the Bills winning their only championships in 1964 and 1965 not rank on this list? 

Because most people here are too young to care, they only know the NFL.

 

Wouldn't it have been easier to make your own list, no one here is trying to make the definitive list.

[Rigotz]

This was my favorite game ever:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/230907002

 

Important to remember the storyline.

2002 the Bills had a great offense led by Drew Bledsoe

2003 the Bills kept the same offense, minus Peerless Price, and loaded up on Defense -- Spikes, Milloy, Fletcher, Posey, Sam Adams, Pat Williams, Winfield, Clements.

 

Absolutely demolished the Patriots 31-0.

Sam Adams had a pick 6 at 6'4'' 340lbs.

We were on the cover of Sports Illustrated the next week.

It looked like the 90's Bills were finally back.

 

We know the rest of the story... Josh Reed didn't step up to fill Price's shoes, the O-Line got destroyed and Bledsoe was a statue that couldn't escape the rush.

 

But for that one day, it felt like we were back.

[dwight in philly]

3 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

From the perspective of one who sat in the Rockpile as a 4 year old for the first game in 1960:

 

1.  AFL championship game 1964.  The Stratton hit.

2.  The comeback game against the Oilers.

3.  AFL championship game 1965

4.  Season opener 1980 finally squished the Fish.

5 (tie):  First AFC championship 51-3 against the Raiders; 1974 Monday Night season opener against the Raiders.

I was 8 at the rockpile in 60.. tough to narrow to 5.. but  not in any particular order..1)-AFL 1964 Stratton hit game.. 2)Monday night 1974 Raider game.. Rashad TD.. 3)Houston comeback game obviously, .. 4)Charlie Ferguson catching a TD from Kemp in 1963 with 28 seconds left to beat the PATS .. 5)will put a loss in there that hurts as much as the 13 seconds.. 1981 Bills v Chargers.. playoff game.. Chas Romes  drops a sure interception that seals it.. instead Fouts hits Ron Smith for the TD. Had the Bills won.. they would have hosted the Raiders in the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.. 

[K D]

I would put 51-3 in 2nd place as that was the most fun Bills game ever and led to our first super bowl appearance. The perfect game was only a wild card game, nobody will remember it except Bills fans and it didn't end well the following week. If it was on the way to us going to the super bowl that would be different. I would put the no punt game last as that was just regular season.

[Bills Fan in MD]

2 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

I would put 51-3 in 2nd place as that was the most fun Bills game ever and led to our first super bowl appearance. The perfect game was only a wild card game, nobody will remember it except Bills fans and it didn't end well the following week. If it was on the way to us going to the super bowl that would be different. I would put the no punt game last as that was just regular season.

I was in the end zone that day and and probably hugged more random strangers during that three hours than I have in the 32 years since then combined.

[Big Turk]

2 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

I would put 51-3 in 2nd place as that was the most fun Bills game ever and led to our first super bowl appearance. The perfect game was only a wild card game, nobody will remember it except Bills fans and it didn't end well the following week. If it was on the way to us going to the super bowl that would be different. I would put the no punt game last as that was just regular season.

 

Pretty sure a lot of people will remember it since it's the only one in NFL history.