DVD Transfer 112 (1992 AFC Wild Card Game: Houston Oilers at Buffalo Bills {The Comeback})

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(c)1993 National Football League; NBC Sports-NBC Universal/Comcast and KDLT-Gray Television

DVD Transfer 112 is one of the all-time great NFL games; the 1992 AFC Wild-Card Game (played on January 3, 1993) as the Buffalo Bills, looking to make it to their 3rd straight Super Bowl and hoping for a win this time, hosted the Houston Oilers at Rich Stadium (now New Era Field) in nearby Orchard Park, NY. This game was recorded from KDLT-TV 3, the NBC affiliate in Sioux Falls, SD and starts just before the first touchdown that ends the opening drive.

The Bills started 1992 looking very much like a 3rd Super Bowl trip would be a certainty, starting 4-0 (including a Week 2 34-31 shootout with the San Francisco 49ers remembered as the first game in NFL history in which neither team punted) before dropping their next 2 games to Miami (a 37-10 rout in which the Dolphins intercepted Jim Kelly 4 times; including one that safety Louis Oliver returned for a 103-yard touchdown) and the Raiders before winning 5 straight games. However, after 2 consecutive losses to the Colts and Jets (the latter game an emotional event in that game, the first for the Jets after defensive tackle Dennis Byrd broke his neck following a collision with teammate Scott Mersereau the previous week. The Jets won 24-17 thanks to a game-winning interception return for a touchdown by safety Brian Washington) before righting the ship with wins over Denver and New Orleans.

Meanwhile; the Oilers - seeking to rebound from a 24-23 loss to the Denver Broncos in the previous season's AFC Divisional Playoff game - started by winning 4 of their first 5 games (after losing the opener to the Pittsburgh Steelers). However; the Oilers - who were missing quarterback Warren Moon for much of the season due to injuries - lost 4 of their next 6 games (including the Steelers sweeping them for the first time since 1986) before winning 3 of their next 4 (including a 17-14 comeback win at Cleveland to clinch a wild-card spot)

That set up the first of two meetings between the Oilers and Bills in the space of a week. While the Oilers were locked in as a wild-card; when the Bills arrived at the Astrodome for their Sunday Night Football meeting, Buffalo needed a win to clinch their 5th straight AFC East title as well as a first-round bye (had Buffalo won, they would have finished 12-4 and would have had home-field advantage for the third straight year). However the Oilers ended up trouncing the Bills 27-3 and in the process knocked out starting quarterback Jim Kelly with torn ligaments in his knee (the Bills were already without linebacker Cornelius Bennett while their best defensive player, defensive end Bruce Smith, was playing hurt with bruised ribs); resulting in Buffalo having to settle for a wild-card as the #4 seed while the Miami Dolphins (also 11-5) won the AFC East based on winning the better conference record tie-breaker and giving the Steelers (ALSO 11-5 under new head coach Bill Cowher; who took the helm after longtime coach Chuck Noll retired) the #1 seed.

In a game that was a rare playoff game not to sell out (thus meaning per NFL television rules; Buffalo NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV 2 could not air the game, as the blackout rules - suspended since 2015 - meant that the station in the home market of where the game was played could not show the game if it did not sell out 72 hours in advance); the Bills - with one of the better career backups in NFL history at the helm in Frank Reich - hosted the Oilers. Houston opened the action with an 80-yard, nearly 10-minute drive ending with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Warren Moon to Haywood Jeffires (that touchdown being the first play on the tape this came from). Buffalo - aided by a 33-yard kick return by backup running back Kenneth Davis - drove to Houston's 18; after which Steve Christie (who replaced Scott Norwood as the Bills' kicker at the start of the season) hit a 36-yard field goal to cut the Houston lead to 7-3 at the end of the first quarter. The 2nd quarter saw the Oilers run a nearly-identical drive that ended with a 7-yard Moon touchdown pass to Webster Slaughter. After forcing a Buffalo three-and-out, the Oilers got another score on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Moon to Curtis Duncan. After the Bills went for it on 4th down unsuccessfully; the Oilers closed the first half with Moon finding Jeffires for another touchdown, this time from 27 yards out to give the Oilers a 28-3 halftime lead (in the first half; Warren Moon completed 19 of 22 passes for 218 yards and 4 touchdowns).

It appeared that things were going from bad to worse for the Bills on the opening drive of the 2nd half, as a pass from Reich bounced off the hands of tight end Keith McKeller into those of Houston strong safety Bubba McDowell, who returned the pick 58 yards for what - by all appearances - should have been a clinching touchdown and a 35-3 Oilers lead (Oilers radio play-by-play broadcaster Tom Franklin would gain a bit of notoriety with a clip that often appears in NFL Films retrospectives when he said "The lights are on at Rich Stadium, they've been on since this morning, you could pretty much turn them out on the Bills right now."). Additionally; during the drive Buffalo lost starting running back Thurman Thomas to a hip injury.

However; the Bills were about to embark on what's still the biggest comeback in NFL history. Things began modestly enough when the Bills (receiving great field position after Oilers kicker Al Del Greco's kickoff was caught by the swirling winds and fielded at midfield); resulting in a drive (aided when a pass by Reich to another Bills tight end, Pete Metzelaars, went right through rookie Houston linebacker Eddie Robinson's hands) ending when Kenneth Davis (replacing Thomas) ran for a 1-yard touchdown to cut the Oiler lead to 35-10. An ensuing (and according to Bills head coach Marv Levy, unintentional) onside kick was recovered by kicker Christie; and after 4 plays Reich found Don Beebe for a 38-yard touchdown pass (one of two controversial plays in this game, as one of Beebe's feet was partly out of bounds - which should have nullified the catch. However, the official on the spot, head linesman Terry Gierke, missed the call and since the NFL had dropped instant replay that season due to lengthy delays, the call stood; though the blown call was noted by NBC color commentator Todd Christensen and on ESPN's "NFL PrimeTime" that night) that cut the Bills' deficit to 35-17 (around this time; fans who had left Rich Stadium as the Oilers raced to a big lead began returning despite tickets not permitting re-entry, with stadium security trying in vain to keep the gate-crashers from returning before they ultimately gave up).

After the Bills forced the Oilers to punt for the first time; Reich completed 3 passes on the drive, the last a 26-yard touchdown to Andre Reed to cut Houston's lead to 35-24. Then, Warren Moon - much like Reich at the start of the 3rd quarter - was victimized by a bad bounce when a pass bounced off Slaughter's hands into those of Bills strong safety Henry Jones; with Jones (tied for the NFL interception lead with 8) returning the ball to Houston's 23. On 4th and 5; the Bills decided to go for it, with the call paying off handsomely with Reich finding Reed for an 18-yard touchdown pass that cut Houston's lead to 35-31. Disaster nearly struck again for the Oilers when linebacker Darryl Talley stripped Moon of the ball (the Oilers recovered but were forced to punt, with punter Greg Montgomery's kick only going 24 yards).

After the Oilers held Buffalo as the 4th quarter began; Houston's run-and-shoot offense finally started showing signs of life for the first time in the 2nd half, and - aided by a roughing the passer penalty on Bruce Smith that wiped out an interception by Bills linebacker Carlton Bailey - reached Buffalo's 14-yard line; only for Montgomery - holding for a field goal attempt by Del Greco - to fumble the snap; which was recovered by Talley (Talley ran 70 yards but was ruled down at the spot of the recovery, Buffalo's 26). The Bills - aided by a 35-yard run by Davis on a 3rd and 4 - then took their first lead of the game when Reich found Reed for his third straight touchdown, this time from 17 yards out, as Buffalo moved ahead 38-35 with just over 3 minutes left. The Oilers then raced downfield (including an 18-yard completion to Slaughter on 4th and 4) before settling for a 26-yard game-tying field goal by Al Del Greco as regulation ended (in an NFL's Greatest Games retrospective; an annoyed Haywood Jeffires called the three plays {a handoff, incompletion and a run by Moon} between Slaughter's catch and the field goal as some of the most conservative plays he had ever seen called).

Houston won the overtime coin toss; but on the 3rd play of overtime, Moon's 50th pass of the game was stolen by Bills cornerback Nate Odomes (this marked the game's other major controversy, as Darryl Talley got away with defensive holding when Talley mauled receiver Ernest Givins {"from Louisville"; as ESPN's Tom Jackson [a fellow Louisville alum] liked to say whenever anyone from that school made a big play}; who was the intended target). The Bills elected to set up Steve Christie on their possession, with Christie hitting the game-winning field goal from 32 yards out to make the final score Bills 41, Oilers 38.

Calling the action for NBC was their #3 crew of Charlie Jones and Todd Christensen; with former Buffalo Bills great and NFL Live! co-host O.J. Simpson reporting from the sidelines. Holding the fort in New York was NFL Live! host Bob Costas and "News and Notes" contributor Will McDonough alongside guest contributor Boomer Esiason (who was getting ready to leave the Cincinnati Bengals after 9 seasons; it appears that NBC was auditioning to fill a slot on the pregame show, as the following week would see Mike Ditka - who had just been fired by the Chicago Bears - join the NBC crew); along with interviews of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach (and NFL Coach of the Year) Bill Cowher (whose Steelers the Bills would face the following Saturday) and Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula (hosting the San Diego Chargers the following Sunday).

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National Football League; NBC Sports-NBCUniversal/Comcast; KDLT-Gray Television

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