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What was the most heart breaking non-playoff game?


duey

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Without the use of hindsight, the worst reg. season game that i remember was the houston game in 1992, right before the comeback game. Had the bills won, we would have clinched the division, and home field throughout (i think... if not home field throughout, then at least the division championship and a bye). It was a sunday night ESPN game. Unfortunately, the bills got DESTROYED, kelly was injured (in what was estimated to be a season ending knee injury), bennett was injured, and someone else was hurt (can't remember). Anyhow, instead of getting a bye, we ended up getting houston the next week. A poll right after that game would have probably been as depressing as after super bowl xxv, as we all knew it was over. Factor in that first half of the comeback game, and you've got about the worst 6 quarters of bills football ever.

 

That miami game wasn't depressing to me though... Even though we were up 21-0, i just KNEW that we'd blow it. Sure, i was angry as hell, but i wasn't depressed...

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Another one was the Drew Bledsoe debut game against the NY Jets at home...

We give that Kickoff return in the beginning of overtime, after giving up one

during the regular season.....Maan....that left me sick in my stomach.....

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  That miami game wasn't depressing to me though...  Even though we were up 21-0, i just KNEW that we'd blow it.  Sure, i was angry as hell, but i wasn't depressed...

719894[/snapback]

 

Agree completely. The fact that we were up 21-0 was what surprised me more than anything. I mean in the first game at home we barely held on to win despite 17 penalties and 6 turnovers - I thought we'd get slaughtered down there.

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Ganesh, you are right! That game might have been one of the most dominant performances by a Bills team in the last 5 years, but the special teams let them down. That was Morton for the Jets right?

719901[/snapback]

 

Yup...Chad Morton....This was also the game where DB showed true leadership....The guy was hurt on his face, but still got it patched up and went

in to play....Just like how STs gave up the kickoff return last year in the

season ending game against the Jets, that was unpardonable...

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I remember a 10-5 loss to the 3-10 Tampa Bay Bucs in week 14 (we were 11-2 I believe) which eventually cost the Bills home-field advantage in 1988.

 

But the worst was this one:

Sunday Dec 7 1975 Bills at dolphins

 

Bills go down 21-0 but close gap to 24-21. Late in 4th, Miami runner fumbles at fish 43 yd line. Bills DE Pat Toomay goes for the ball. Refs blow play dead and flag Toomay for bumping into referee. Don Nottingham runs 56 yards to the 1 on the next play, then Norm Bulaich scores on the next play to knock the Bills out of the playoffs and continue the Bills 0 fer the 70s against the fish.

 

Ralph Wilson looses it post-game and is heavily fined for criticizing the refs.

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With all the posts about the no-punt game, it made me remember another game at the 'Stick...

 

Jim drives the Bills down to the SF goal line in the closing moments of the game.  Darrick Holmes takes the handoff and leaps towards what seems like a sure go-ahead score.  He is met head-on and fumbles.  The ball is then picked up and run back the entire length of the field for a touchdown.

 

What a tough loss that was...and I think it was nationally televised since I was able to see it her in the NYC area.

719762[/snapback]

 

I was at that game. It was the Sunday Night ESPN game. The play was around the end of the third, not at the end of the game.

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Another one was the Drew Bledsoe debut game against the NY Jets at home...

We give that Kickoff return in the beginning of overtime, after giving up one

during the regular season.....Maan....that left me sick in my stomach.....

719895[/snapback]

 

 

thats the game i was gonna mention. i was at that game.

 

drew just led us to the tying TD to E Moulds in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter. the stadium was going nuts, then the kick off return O_O

 

another depressing game was in 2000 vs the colts. RJ played real well we pretty much dominated the colts for 3 quarters, but every time we got into the redzone(a problem the bills still have:angry:) we got a FGs instead of TDS. we gave up the lead, then tied it back up just to see that ass mike vandjerk kick the game winner w/ the time running off the clock.

 

2 games that could have been the difference is us making the playoffs :-(

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With all the posts about the no-punt game, it made me remember another game at the 'Stick...

 

Jim drives the Bills down to the SF goal line in the closing moments of the game.  Darrick Holmes takes the handoff and leaps towards what seems like a sure go-ahead score.  He is met head-on and fumbles.  The ball is then picked up and run back the entire length of the field for a touchdown.

 

What a tough loss that was...and I think it was nationally televised since I was able to see it her in the NYC area.

719762[/snapback]

Internationally televised since I remember that one. I was watching with a mate of mine(49ers fan ;) ).

I've always viewed that that play symbolized the turn around for the Bills. Before that play we were the perenial superbowl appearing, K-Gun awesome, kick ass Bills. After that play we became the downwardly mobile cellar dwellars that we still are today.

 

AAARRGGGHHH....why bring up the BAD memories???? :D

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How 'bout a game where the last second field goal miss meant a disasterous loss?

No, not Wide Right.

I'm talking September 2, 1979 - Last seconds of the home opening game against the hated Dollphags.

They're up 9-7 but Knox's team drives to about the 15.

Knox brings in his kicker - Tom Dempsey.

Yes, THAT Tom Dempsey of the 63 yd NFL all-time record which still stands today.

He missed the kick as time expired.

Nothing special about that game really, except it was probably their best chance of avoiding going "0 for the 70s".

 

Now THAT was depressing.

 

Of course we lost 17-7 later that year AT Dieami to go a perfect 0-20 for the decade.

Where the Hell is that FU smiley when you need it?

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What about the game against NE in about 95 where if we won we would have made the playoffs and Reed fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter to put the nail in the coffin? That one really burned me up...

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As a Bills fan, there are quite a few heartbreaking games to choose from! One that hasn't been mentioned yet is the first 2005 game against New England. It was in New England, with the Patriots coming off a bye, and all psyched over the return of Tedy Bruschi. I had that game penciled in as a loss.

 

But the Bills played better than I expected, and kept it close. They had the ball in New England territory, and Eric Moulds had just caught a key pass for a first down. However, Moulds touched a defender's wrist as he made his cut, so the official called him for offensive pass interference. That brought up 4th and 11. A bad playcall left Holcomb with the choice to throw to the short Parrish in double coverage, or to throw to Moulds and hope he'd break enough tackles to get a first down.

 

The Bills came so close to beating the Patriots in a game other than the Lawyer Milloy bowl. This was the second time an ill-judged pass interference call decided the outcome of a Bills/Patriots game. :D

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Internationally televised since I remember that one.  I was watching with a mate of mine(49ers fan ;) ).

I've always viewed that that play symbolized the turn around for the Bills.  Before that play we were the perenial superbowl appearing, K-Gun awesome, kick ass Bills.  After that play we became the downwardly mobile cellar dwellars that we still are today.

 

AAARRGGGHHH....why bring up the BAD memories???? :D

720064[/snapback]

 

I don't know abut symbolizing the turnaround. I have great memories of '95; winning the division & destroying Miami in the first round.

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Didn't the 1988 season end with a last-minute loss to Indianapolis? I didn't see it, but it was our third loss in four games to end the year, and that was the game that gave the Bengals homefield advantage in the AFC title game. (the mystery facemask call on Bruce; Derrick Burroughs committing the dumbest and most ill-times unsportsmanlike conduct on a 3rd-down in the history of the league -- ah, that's for a playoff depression thread).

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Didn't the 1988 season end with a last-minute loss to Indianapolis? I didn't see it, but it was our third loss in four games to end the year, and that was the game that gave the Bengals homefield advantage in the AFC title game. (the mystery facemask call on Bruce; Derrick Burroughs committing the dumbest and most ill-times unsportsmanlike conduct on a 3rd-down in the history of the league  -- ah, that's for a playoff depression thread).

720139[/snapback]

 

True, but as posted earlier, the game that really gave the Bengals home field that year was the embarrassing 10-5 loss in Tampa a few weeks earlier. Oh, the humanity.

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Buffalo winning against the Bengals last year  :devil:

719775[/snapback]

 

Yeah, I hate it when my team beats a playoff bound team.

 

I loved that game - 8 straight games the Bills have owned the Bungles!

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