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Music City Miracle
The Music City Miracle is a famous play in the NFL Playoffs involving
the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills that took place on January 8, 2000
(following the 1999 regular season) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Steve Christie, the Bills' kicker, had just kicked a 51-yard field
goal to put Buffalo up 16-15 with only sixteen seconds remaining in
the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Christie kicked off, and Titans
player Lorenzo Neal received. Neal handed the ball off to Titans
tight end Frank Wycheck, who then lateraled the ball across the whole
field to another Titans player, Kevin Dyson, who then ran down the
sidelines for a 75-yard touchdown.
The play was named Home Run Throwback by the Titans and was developed by Special Teams Coordinator Alan Lowry. The Titans ran the play regularly in practices during the regular season, though the practices usually involved Derrick Mason, who was injured and did not play in the game against Buffalo. Dyson, as one of the team's lead wide receivers and Mason's substitute on special teams that day, rarely practiced with the special teams unit and was largely unfamiliar with the layout of the play. Nevertheless, his execution of Lowry's vision was flawless. As per the instant replay rules, the play was reviewed by referee Phil Luckett since it was uncertain if the ball had been a forward pass, which is illegal on a kickoff return. However, the call on the field was upheld as a touchdown, and the Titans won the game 22-16. After the game, however, many Bills players and fans continued to insist that it was indeed an illegal forward pass (earning it the nickname "Home Run Throw Forward" or "Home Run Throwup"). Ironically, the Titans played the Bills in the first game of the 2000 NFL season. Among the signs brought to this game by Bills fans were "Hey Dyson, it was a lateral!" and "No Forward Laterals." The game was later featured as Game of the Week by NFL Films on the NFL Network. NFL Films reviewed the lateral with computer assistance and concluded once and for all that it was indeed a lateral and a legal play. The victory, in front of a franchise-record crowd at Adelphia Coliseum, allowed the Tennessee franchise to advance to the AFC Division Playoffs for the first time since 1993. Subsequent victories over the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars sent the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV to face the St. Louis Rams, where they lost by seven points in what many regard as one of the greatest Super Bowl games ever. It could be said that the game served as revenge for the Titans/Oilers franchise for The Comeback, where the Bills came back from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers, 41-38, in overtime.
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