Bills/Cardinals: Opponent History

by sireric on Oct 1, 2008 7:00 AM EDT in Blog Series

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Buffalo Bills (4-0) at Arizona Cardinals (2-2)
Sunday, October 5, 2008 - 4:15 PM EDT

I noted last week that a Bills/Rams game was rare; apparently, it's rarer that the Bills take on the Arizona Cardinals. In fact, the Bills and (St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona) Cardinals have only met eight times since their original meeting in 1971. The Bills are averaging over 27 points per game and hold a 4-1 edge in their last 5 meetings.

September 9, 1984: St. Louis Cardinals 37, Buffalo Bills 7
This was not a good game for the Bills; of course, the 1984 season wasn't very good overall. The Bills rushed for only 54 yards total as a team, turned the ball over 3 times and allowed 4 sacks. The Cardinals on the other hand ran for 221 yards including 2 Ottis Anderson scores, and Neil Lomax tossed for 2 more. The lone Bills highlight was a 22 yard TD pass and catch from Joe Ferguson to Preston Dennard. The Cards finished that year 9-7 but missed the playoffs. The Bills had a miserable year, going 2-14.

September 21, 1986: Buffalo Bills 17, St. Louis Cardinals 10
A complete turnaround from their previous meeting. The Bills ran for 122 yards and 2 scores, one by Ricky Moore and one by Greg Bell. The Cards only ran for 94 yards this time and the Bills sacked Neil Lomax 4 times and forced a turnover. The lone Cards highlight was a 19 yard hook-up between Lomax and Vai Sikahema (easily one of the greatest names in football history). Both the Bills and Cardinals finished the '86 season 4-12.

November 11, 1990: Buffalo Bills 45, Phoenix Cardinals 14
A dominating win for the Bills included 206 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, one by Jaime Mueller and one by Kenneth Davis, and 4 Jim Kelly touchdown passes, one each to Keith McKeller, Butch Rolle, Don Beebe, and Steve Tasker. Defensively the Bills sacked Cardinals QB Timm Rosenbach 4 times and forced 4 turnovers. The Bills put the game away with 24 fourth quarter points. The Bills finished the '90 season 13-3 and made their first of 4 Super Bowl appearances; the Cards went 5-11.

December 19, 1999: Buffalo Bills 31, Arizona Cardinals 21
Doug Flutie hit Jay Riemersma to give the Bills a 24-14 lead with 3:01 to play, but the Cards marched right down the field and Jake Plummer hit Rob Moore for a 26 yard TD hook-up to bring the Cards within a field goal of tying it up with 1:49 to play. Henry Jones took the ensuing onside kick 37 yards for a touchdown to seal the win for the Bills. The Bills finished 11-5 and ended their playoff run in Tennessee (I'm pretty sure you know how by now), while the Cards lost their last 4 games of the year and finished 6-10.

October 31, 2004: Buffalo Bills 38, Arizona Cardinals 14
This game had a Tim Euhus sighting! Euhus had 2 catches for 21 yards and a TD. Looking at the stats I have no idea how the Bills won this game, or how they won by 24 points for that matter. The Cards had only 85 passing yards TOTAL, which is putrid, but the Bills had an even worse 81! Both teams finished the game with 128 yards on the ground, but Willis McGahee had 102 by himself to go with 2 scores. Terrence McGee also had an 87-yard kickoff return for a TD.

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Comments

C'mon

I dig up names like Butch Rolle, Preston Dennard, Neil Lomax, and Jamie Mueller and nobody has a comment? You guys are killing me.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Oct 1, 2008 12:27 PM EDT reply actions

You forgot to mention Reuben Gant…

"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England

by Calvert on Oct 1, 2008 9:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Butch Rolle, yay!

For some reason, I remember that 1990 affair. It was played in gale force winds with all the points being scored in one direction (I think). What I remember most is the Cards punter having so much trouble, in fact I believe he had a negative yard punt, or a 1 or 2 yarder, due solely to the wind. I don’t know why I remember any of that since I was 8 years old.

The ’04 game was rather ugly as well. We won that game and scored so many points due mainly to field position. I remember the Cards punter with the single bar facemask being absolutely horrible, routinely giving us the ball in their end. I think Nate Clements (??) had a couple of big punt returns in the 2nd half giving us the ball inside their 20. A dominant ST effort that day really gave us a blowout victory…

by Kurupt on Oct 1, 2008 12:48 PM EDT reply actions

Cards punter with the single bar facemask

Why do I remember Scott Player’s name?

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Oct 1, 2008 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Butch Rolle, Jamie Mueller

Blasts from the past, both very productive “no-name” players from Buffalo’s glory years.

I think Rolle had a string of 10 consecutive catches for TD’s at one point in his career with the Bills. Great secret weapon…

Mueller wasn’t much to get excited about early in his career, but he developed into a nice blocker and receiver (like a poor man’s Tom Rathman of the 49er’s of that era). I will always remember him for the block in which he absolutely flattened a Raiders’ defensive back on a running play. He was turning into a nice check-down option for Jim Kelly before a neck injury effectively ended his playing days.

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Oct 1, 2008 3:45 PM EDT reply actions

On the 1999 game...

So that’s the game with the onside kick return for a touchdown! I was trying to find that play for a while, and for some reason thought it was Eric Moulds that did it. Naturally, I had no success finding a Moulds onside kick return, so I assumed it was either preseason or I was remembering a play from Madden.

Maybe it was the numbers – 20 vs 80 – plus the fact that both were starters not normally returning kicks that year.

by Krenn on Oct 1, 2008 4:56 PM EDT reply actions