Best Moments In Buffalo Bills History: Honorable Mentions

by MattRichWarren on Jun 7, 2011 1:00 PM EDT in Buffalo Bills History

This summer we'll be counting down the 25 best and 25 worst moments in Buffalo Bills history. Last time we gave you the worst moment honorable mentions. Now, we have the best moments that didn't crack the top 25 in no particular order.

Bills defeat Patriots 31-0 in 2003
The game seems so much more meaningful now since the Bills haven't defeated the Patriots since this point in time. After signing Lawyer Milloy the week prior, Buffalo came out on fire to start the season and thumped their divisional rivals. Sam Adams returned an interception 37 yards for a rumbling touchdown, and Travis Henry punched two in while the defense intercepted Tom Brady four times and sacked him twice. That Patriots team went on to win their second Super Bowl in three seasons, but Buffalo finished 6-10 - which leaves this cool event out of the Top 25.

Arthur Moats ends Brett Favre's consecutive starts streak
Favre started 297 straight games from 1992 to 2010. Then he crossed the Moats. Bills rookie Moats laid the smack down on Favre, ending the streak in 2010. It's on the list for the magnitude of the streak, not so much the hit or the fact that Moats hurt someone.

Signing Bryce Paup as a free agent
Buffalo signed Paup from the Green Bay Packers in the spring of 1995. Paup went on to become the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 1995 after recording 17.5 sacks. Paup spent three seasons in Buffalo, making the Pro Bowl each year and accumulating 33 sacks.

Marv Levy hired as head coach
Bill Polian and Levy worked hand in hand to build the Super Bowl Bills. That run wouldn't have been possible had Polian never pulled the trigger on the then-sub-.500 coach. Levy won 112 games as head coach of the Bills, and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

Comeback against the Colts in 1997
Another Bills comeback will be very high on this list. A second, much smaller comeback took place in 1997 when the Bills fell behind divisional rival Indianapolis 26-0 in the second quarter. Todd Collins led a masterful comeback that saw the team score four second-half touchdowns and defeat the Colts 37-35. Former Bill Jay Riemersma called the game "one of his fondest memories" as a member of the Bills. If only the Bills weren't 6-10 that season, this game may have made the list.

Terrence McGee returns a kickoff and interception for scores
In 2005, McGee became the first man in NFL history to return a kickoff and interception for a touchdown in the same game. It helped the 4-10 Bills knock off the 11-3 Cincinnati Bengals.

Thurman Thomas wins the fourth straight AFC Championship
Buffalo beat the Kansas City Chiefs to head to their fourth straight Super Bowl in January of 1994. The biggest reason Buffalo was heading back was the Thurmanator, who had 186 rushing yards and three scores while adding another 22 receiving yards. The Bills won 30-13 over Joe Montana's Chiefs.

Darryl Talley's awesome Spiderman sleeves
This is probably the second most talked about fashion statement in team history. (Thurman Thomas' lost helmet is a head above the rest.) Talley rocked the Spidey sleeves in the cold weather of Buffalo while he roamed the sidelines until 1995. I asked Talley if he wanted to comment and he had this to say: "While I appreciate the acknowledgement, I'd rather be remembered for my contribution on the field." Don't worry, Darryl. I think a few of your games will be on the list.

Remember folks, these are just the honorable mentions. We have 25 even better events coming your way soon.

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moats is up there he is the one who finally got farve to retire

MY 2011 ADOPTED BILLS OFFENSE ROSCOE PARRISH DEFENSE DONTE WHITNER IF HE DECIDES TO COME BACK

by Gpluehri on Jun 7, 2011 1:11 PM EDT reply actions

As soon as I saw Moats's mention on that, I was happy on the inside.

This next 25 must be fantastic.

My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased

by BD34 on Jun 7, 2011 7:28 PM EDT up reply actions

(Thurman Thomas' lost helmet is a head above the rest.)

HA!!!

by The Adam Bomb on Jun 7, 2011 1:44 PM EDT reply actions

Do you like puns? I do.

You can't have CHANGE without CHAN.
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by MattRichWarren on Jun 7, 2011 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I enjoy a good pun.

This one was well placed.

by The Adam Bomb on Jun 7, 2011 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Interested to see a top 25

without some of these on the list…

by buffalosportsfan on Jun 7, 2011 1:56 PM EDT reply actions

I agree, I think the Marv Levy signing should be in the Top 25… this will be interesting indeed.

by T Gresh on Jun 7, 2011 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Definitely Marv signing (as coach) belongs in Top 25 IMHO

I remember listening to Marv provide color commentary on the radio for Bills games before he became our coach and thinking, OBD needs to go after him!!!! He was SO good at dissecting our team and the game in general when he was in the booth and he was coming off a pretty good stint with the Chiefs. Our best coach ever with Chuck Knox a close second…

by AlwaysaBillinPhilly on Jun 7, 2011 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions

was it really though? I mean, in retrospect, obviously one of the best things to ever happen to this organization. No doubt about that whatsoever. But at the moment in time which it happened, was it really that groundbreaking? I was really young so I don’t really remember it all that well.

by The Adam Bomb on Jun 7, 2011 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow!!

I didnt realize Bryce Paup had 17.5 sacks that year in won Defensive Player of the year award…Where the hell was I when this was happening? 1995 puts me at 12yrs old…….geez what can fan am I??

by doctork44 on Jun 7, 2011 3:26 PM EDT reply actions

I got his jersey that Christmas. It was awesome.

You can't have CHANGE without CHAN.
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by MattRichWarren on Jun 7, 2011 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Paup Star

Sure, they didn’t bring home a Lombardi Trophy from the four trips to the Super Bowl, but the Bills did notch a win during the 1995 NFL free-agency period when they signed Bryce Paup.

After playing for five seasons in Green Bay, a team that had gone to the previous two playoffs as an NFC Wild Card team, the linebacker’s last game wearing a Packers helmet was in the 1994 Pro Bowl.

“They [the Bills] had what I thought was still a great nucleus that had made four Super Bowl runs,” Paup said. “The offense was still together, and they were trying to improve their defense and had just signed [linemen] Ted Washington and Jim Jeffcoat. They still had Bruce Smith and Cornelius Bennett and the rest of the group, so I figured with the style of defense they played and how they treated the players and everything that that would be a good fit for me.”

Initially, though, the fit was not so comfortable. Paup was replacing 12-year veteran and a team leader Darryl Talley, who had been released by Buffalo. “When I got to the first minicamp, Bruce Smith and Cornelius Bennett were wearing Talley’s number. That kind of made me a little apprehensive. I don’t know, I guess there was a feeling of maybe intrusion. Like they wished they would have kept Talley because he was a good player and had been there forever, and he was a friend. They’d been in a bunch of battles with him, so I can understand that. But after that, for the most part, the team definitely received me well. I was treated fine. Those things eventually wear out, and you move on with life. That’s just the fact of the NFL now – people move on.”

During that first season, Paup moved to among the top echelon of the league’s linebackers. On September 17 the Bills hosted Indianapolis in the third game of the young season and won, 20-14. Paup sacked Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh three times, had 14 tackles, and forced two fumbles, earning the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award for the first of two times. He was later selected as November’s AFC Player of the Month. And with a career-high and league-leading 17.5 sacks to go along with 126 tackles, he was named as the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“We were playing the Jets in New York [on November 19, a 28-26 victory], and Bruce Smith said something to me at the end of the game: ‘I’ll help you become Defensive Player of the Year.’ Until he said that, that never even crossed my mind,” said Paup. “I was just hoping to make it back to the Pro Bowl. Those kinds of awards were, to me, saved for a Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, Reggie White, people like that. I just remember being kind of baffled by that statement because I’d never seen myself in that light before. It was just something totally unexpected.”

Excerpt from "Then Levy Said to Kelly…"

by Jim Gehman on Jun 7, 2011 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

????

LB Ray Bentley was one who painted his face, who was his partner on the Bills? The 2 of them looked like Kiss fans…

"There’s a difference between a good manager and a great one. The good one will tell you there’s more than one way to skin a cat. A great manager will convince the cat it’s necessary. Sparky had the cats carrying the knives to him."

-- Johnny Bench

by Goose22 on Jun 7, 2011 3:54 PM EDT reply actions

The late Mitch Frerotte?

I’m pretty sure he did the face paint too….

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Jun 7, 2011 3:58 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

They looked like a tag team from WWF

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

by HurricaneJay on Jun 7, 2011 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

you mean WWE

by The Adam Bomb on Jun 7, 2011 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions

not back then it wasnt…i dont think, maybe, ahhhh, whatever! :)

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

by HurricaneJay on Jun 8, 2011 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions

The Bills won 30-13 over Joe Montana's Chiefs............

I dunno about the upcoming list.
But this was one of my personal favorite Bills games of all time.

"There is not a loser in this room." Marv Levy.

by SERGEANT MAJOR THOR on Jun 7, 2011 5:32 PM EDT reply actions

It's mentioned above

Follow Me here: http://twitter.com/Michael_Necci

by Michael_Necci on Jun 7, 2011 10:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I know that.
Its in my top ten Bills moments and didn’t make the future top 25 which has not yet been posted.

"There is not a loser in this room." Marv Levy.

by SERGEANT MAJOR THOR on Jun 7, 2011 10:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I miss watching McGee on the KR

I don’t think he could do it now anyways… But in his prime, he was great at setting up blocks and hitting the hole. Always a threat.

Lets Go Buff a lo!!!

by bflo on Jun 7, 2011 5:49 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

The Saints KR might have been a Top 5 return all time

Had not Mark Campbell tripped him up at the 3.

GO BLUE!!!

by Kumario! on Jun 7, 2011 7:27 PM EDT up reply actions

That play was amazing. End of the 1st half right?

Lets Go Buff a lo!!!

by bflo on Jun 7, 2011 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Anyone have a link for it? I couldn’t find it.

"Slowly all the roles we act out become our identity. And in the end we are what we pretend to be." - Jerry Cantrell.

by stetzwebs on Jun 7, 2011 11:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Here ya go

In the Best Moment section. I still don’t know why he didn’t just fumble it purposely or try to lateral it instead of just face planting at the 3 yard line….

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Jun 8, 2011 1:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Disgusting to fathom that we haven't beaten the Patriots since 2003

Then the fathom is a reality nightmare and continues to haunt us each year. If this team is ever going to turn the corner it starts with:

1) beating the Patriots
2) beating the Patriots twice (and start a little of a streak on the positive side)
3) winning the AFC East (surest way to the playoffs)

by dabillsr1 on Jun 7, 2011 11:09 PM EDT reply actions

Other great moments...

1990- FB Jamie Mueller catching the winning 30 yard TD pass from Kelly as time expired against the Jets~Bills win 30-27.

1990-Bills score 20 points in about minute with Biscuit returning a block FG 80 yds for aTD then Leonard Smith immediately intercepts a Elway pass, returns it 30+ yards for a TD and finally Bills add another quick TD on a 2 yd run by Kenneth Davis as Bills win 29-28.

1984-in a horrible 2-12 season the heavily favored Cowboys came to town to face the 0-11 Bills. Greg Bell starts the game off with an 85 yard rushing TD as the Bills dominate the Cowboys in a 14-3 win. Bell rushes for over 200 yards and scores both TD’s.

1980-Bills return to the playoffs after 5-years. They lose to the Chargers on a late TD pass from Dan Fouts to WR Ron Smith. The Bills led most of the game and QB Joe Ferguson played on a badly sprained ankle.

1974-Bills return to the playoffs after a 7 year drought but lose to the Steelers in the first round.

I could go on and on but I won’t….

-- Johnny Bench

by Goose22 on Jun 8, 2011 8:10 AM EDT reply actions

Ferguson’s ankle wasn’t sprained. It was badly broken after a hit two weeks earlier in a game against the Patriots. He toughed it out getting an essential win in a very muddy Candlestick Park the next week against rookie QB Joe Montana’s 49ers simply to get in the playoffs and hung tough against a considerably superior Chargers team before falling late in the game on a defensive lapse. Ferguson’s games against San Francisco and San Diego were two of the guttiest performances I’ve ever seen from a quarterback.

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

by Calvert on Jun 8, 2011 9:59 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs