Comeback or Choke?

Yogi Berra’s (alleged*) line about it not being over til it’s over has been beaten into the ground but it never rang truer on January 3, 1993 at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, New York when the Buffalo Bills staged the most improbable comeback ever witnessed.

The 11-5 Bills and the 10-6 Houston Oilers were getting ready to square off in the AFC Wild Card playoff game. The previous week in the regular season finale in Houston the Oilers whipped the Bills 27-3 so they entered this game with their confidence sky-high. It paid immediate dividends as Houston quarterback Warren Moon fired four touchdown passes leading the Oilers to a commanding 28-3 halftime lead. In the locker room Buffalo head coach Marv Levy read the riot act to his club, but with two of his star players, quarterback Jim Kelly and linebacker Cornelius Bennett, out with injuries it was clear that would take one hell of an out-and-out miracle for the two-time defending AFC champion Bills to pull this one out.

Bills QB Frank Reich, who started for Kelly, said later, “Gale Gilbert [Buffalo’s third-string quarterback] came over to me at halftime and said, ‘You were part of something like this in college. There’s no reason you can’t be part of it in the pros.’” He was referring to Reich’s performance for Maryland in 1984 when he led the Terrapins back from a 31-0 deficit to a stunning 42-40 win over the University of Miami.

In the second half, however, the Bills came out like a thundering herd of turtles and when Oilers safety Bubba McDowell intercepted a Reich pass for a 58-yard touchdown return giving Houston a seemingly insurmountable 35-3 lead the 71,141 fans in attendance began abandoning ship. Minutes later Kenny Davis scored a TD for the Bills and a successful onside kick recovery led to another score and suddenly it was 35-17. Buffalo’s defense got into the act, forcing Houston to punt for the first time and it resulted in an Andre Reed 26-yard touchdown catch. Now the score was 35-24 and the Bills - as well as the fans - were back in the game with time on their side. 

  On the Oilers next possession Buffalo cornerback Henry Jones picked off a pass and Reich found Reed again for an 18-yard score to pull the Bills to within four heading into the final quarter. With 3:08 left Reed snared yet another touchdown pass that put the Bills ahead 38-35, but with 12 seconds remaining Houston’s Al Del Greco kicked a 26-yard field goal to send this unbelievable game into sudden-death overtime. How could it end any other way?

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  Just over two minutes into the extra period Nate Odomes intercepted a Moon pass at the Oiler 37 and his two-yard return coupled with a 15-yard face-mask penalty against Houston landed Buffalo on the Oilers' 20-yard line. The Bills ran two plays then sent Steve Christie in to attempt a 32-yard, game-winning field goal. You could cut the tension with a chainsaw as the players lined up for the snap and when the ball sailed through the uprights sheer bedlam erupted in Rich Stadium as the Bills won 41-38 and th entire city of Buffalo launched a celebration of the greatest comeback in NFL history that would last far into the night. The momentum of this victory would carry the Bills all the way to their 3rd consecutive Super Bowl.

Defensive Coordinator Walt Corey’s adjustment in the second half is credited with the Bills defense being much more aggressive. Corey also gave credit to Marv Levy’s halftime speech. “After ‘Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address’ at halftime I think they got the message.”  Levy tried to put his side of it into perspective when he told reporters, “Well, there was a lot of time left and there was a glimmer of hope, but it’s about the same chance you have of winning the New York Lottery.” Houston Oilers cornerback Cris Dishman had a different perspective: “It was a big choke by us,” he fumed. “Collapse is too nice a word. You guys can call it what you want, but it was a choke job.”


Comeback? Choke? Luck? Divine intervention? Depends on one's point of view, doesn't it?

*- Yogi Berra never said, "It ain't over til it's over." What he actually said was, "You're never out of it until your out of it."