GREATEST COMEBACK IN HISTORY

January 3, 1993 - Things looked bleak for the Buffalo Bills in their Wild Card game against the Houston Oilers in Rich Stadium. The Oilers had built a 35-3 with a minute and 41 seconds gone by in the second half. But that set the stage for the greatest comeback of all time in football! Frank Reich, starting in place of injured quarterback Jim Kelly, pulled out the rabbit from his magic hat and performed a miracle.

This game had to be the wildest Wild Card game of them all. It took the miraculous comeback by the Bills and overtime for Bills fans to savor one of the highest points in Buffalo sports history. A total of 75,141 fans turned out for the game and many of them began to leave at halftime. Even more joined the mass exodus when Houston scored early in the second half. But when the Bills started their fabled comeback, many of those who left tried in vain to return, only to be stopped by ticket takers.

The Bills won the game on a Steve Christie field goal from 32 yards out with 3 minutes gone by in the overtime. That ended the wildest of games with Buffalo winning 41-38. But that was almost anti-climatic compared to the fabulous COMEBACK. To overcome the huge odds stacked against the Bills and to keep on chipping away at the Houston lead was incredible indeed.

Jim Kelly was absent from this game, having been injured during the last regular season game between the same two teams. Running back Thurman Thomas didn't play for almost the entire comeback, as he was also injured. Linebacker Cornelius Bennet also missed the whole game. And then there were those 32 points the Bills had to make up in less than a half. A betting man would have bet big time against the Bills at that point. And he would have lost his shirt!

In the first half, the Bills defense yielded 284 yards in a weak effort. They also allowed 28 points. Bills defensive coordinator Walt Corey had to make immediate alterations to his game plan at halftime and he did. In the first half, the Bills were using 6 defensive backs to counter Warren Moon and the fabulous Houston offense. Corey decided to revert back to the usual 3-4 alignment to see if he could halt the Oiler Express. And it worked.

"This is an attitude game," Corey said after the game. "Sometimes you start playing a game and you're afraid to make things happen or afraid to make a mistake. We didn't do anything the first half. I thought the scheme of the of the dime defense was good, but we didn't make anything happen. We felt we had to take big chances, even if they blew us away, 56-0."

In the first half, Moon had a hey-day against the Bills defense, hitting 19 of 22 passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns.

"Warren came out throwing darts," said Bills linebacker Darryl Talley. "He was a surgeon. He could have been a plastic surgeon today and given nine million face lifts."

Things got even bleaker for the Bills when Reich threw a pass to Keith McKeller and it bounced off his hands and right into those of Bubba McDowell. McDowell returned the pick 58 yards and a score.

The Bills defense stiffened and the Buffalo offense took over with Frank Reich at the controls.

"We were down, 35-3, and that's very touch," Reich said after the game. "Your thought is to take it one play at a time and don't try to force anything. I wasn't thinking in terms of winning. I was just thinking of taking it one play at a time."

Reich strapped on his helmet, determined to make things right. Starting at midfield after a bad Houston kickoff, Reich marched Buffalo down the field to score on ten plays. During the drive, Reich had a 24-yard pass to tight end Pete Metzelarrs, and a 16 yarder to Andre Reed. Kenneth Davis had two important runs, one was a 5 yard burst on 4th and 2 to the Houston 7, and the other was the one yard touchdown run.

Steve Christie proceeded to kick onside and he recovered his own kick. During that possession, Reich threw a 38-yard toss to Don Beebe for a touchdown, making it 35-17. The Bills defense held again and forced a punt, where Buffalo got it at their own 41. Reich then completed an 18-yarder to James Lofton and then another screen pass hit Davis and he rambled 19 yards. Then Reich found Andre Reed open and hooked up with him on a 26-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Oiler lead to only 11 points. And there was still 4:21 remaining in the third quarter. Bills fans who had left early, tried to climb fences to get back in!

Warren Moon knew that he had to stem the tide. Moon, however, had a pass picked off by Henry Jones and he returned it to the Houston 23. This time the Houston defense held firm and the Bills were facing a 4th down and 5 yards to go. Marv Levy, bills head coach, decided to gamble and go for it. Reich found Reed again for a touchdown, and the Bills were down only 35-31!

"I told the other coaches if we hit a fourth, we're going for it if it's anywhere near reasonable distance for the first down." Levy said afterwards. "I didn't know that we'd get a touchdown on the play, but the reasoning was that if we made the field goal, we were still down by eight. That quarter was nearly over and we'd be going into the wind and you'd have to get very close to try a field goal in the fourth quarter."

In the 4th quarter, Houston finally had a successful drive and got down to the Buffalo 14. The Bills defense held on and the Oilers attempted a field goal. However, things went from bad to worse when the holder bobbled the snap and the Bills stopped the attempt.

Davis got the Bills rolling again with a 35-yard run. And then Reich connected with Reed for Reed's third touchdown. It was a 17-yard touchdown pass and the Bills were in front of the Oilers for the first time, 38-35!

Moon was not finished yet, however. He put together a 63-yard drive on 12 plays. But with the clock running down, the Oilers had to call a timeout. Then with only 12 seconds remaining in the game, Del Greco hit on a 26-yard field goal to put the game into sudden death overtime.

The Oilers won the coin toss to start the overtime period and took the opening kickoff. On third and 3 from their own 27, Moon went back to pass. Jeff Wright charged right into Moon's face and to avoid a sack, Moon threw the pass he would forever want back. The ball went right to Nate Odomes of the Bills and he got 2 more yards on the return. To add insult to injury, the Oilers were guilty of a facemask penalty by Haywood Jeffires and 15 yards were tacked on.

"That interception was a classic combination of pass-rush and coverage," Odomes related. "We just played a soft zone trying to bait him into throwing a play like that, and it was very successful. Anytime a cornerback can get the opportunity to look at the football like that, it's a dream come true."

The Bills had the ball on the 20. After a couple of safe runs, the Bills then brought on Steve Christie to attempt the game winner. When Christie's field goal was good, the holder Frank Reich lifted up Christie in celebration. It WAS a dream come true. The fans went ballistic.

This was the second time that Reich had staged a miraculous comeback. He was the quarterback for Maryland when he engineered the greatest comeback in NCAA Division I-A history. With Maryland behind national champion Miami Hurricanes 31-0, Frank Reich replaced starting quarterback Stan Gelbaugh. Reich proceeded to complete 12 of 15 passes in that game for three touchdowns. He also ran for another TD in the huge 42-40 comeback win

"I guess there have been a couple of times," Reich said, "when my wife and I would look at each other and say, ‘Did that really happen?' We just kinda shake our heads in awe of the game." Talking about the Oilers collapse, Reich said, "I wouldn't call it a choke. I'd like to give our team credit. We had to shut them down on every count. I don't look at it like a choke. I look at it as a miracle from God."

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