On Thursday, November 12, 2015, in the first game in NFL history featuring color rush uniforms, the Buffalo Bills overcame a late rally from the New York Jets to pick up a key road win in the division, securing a 22-17 victory at MetLife Stadium.
Were it not for the historical documentarians employed and dispatched by Old Spice, a NFL advertiser and body scent producer, to cover that game, however, we would not be aware of the true extent of what the Bills overcame to pick up that win. Go figure.
Per the account, which you can enjoy for free today, Jets center Nick Mangold, through the practice of helmet-kissing and deodorant application, conjured a football deity in the Jets' locker room prior to the game, with the Jets' embodiment of team spirit - J.E.T.S., if you will - providing a pre-game speech for the ages. Not even Billy Buffalo, conducting his own pre-game ritual with the use of custom-carved marionettes, could top it, giving the Jets an early advantage.
Billy Buffalo did, however, have a few tricks up his sleeve, tempting the Bills with gadgets and gizmos throughout the course of the game not just to improve their play, but their suspect clock management, as well. The promises worked, as the Bills took a 9-3 lead into the half.
And while Mangold considered conjuring J.E.T.S. as the Jets trailed at halftime - which the document's lone reviewer aptly likens to the climactic moment of Sophie's Choice - he ultimately did not, a decision that perhaps allowed the Bills to build an insurmountable lead after halftime.
The Jets did eventually cut drastically into that lead, but a late interception thrown by Ryan Fitzpatrick sealed their fate. As the final moments of the game ticked off of the clock, however, Mangold learns a valuable lesson about the nature of J.E.T.S. - and an opportunistic bald eagle found himself a tasty snack, as well.
Oh, and the novel also describes Ronald Darby as "a duvet made of muscles," which is genuinely excellent nickname fodder.
If your thirst for Bills football is impossible to slake, make sure you're completely up to date on the full history behind the Bills' 22-17 win over the Jets (the first one, anyway) by picking up Football the Game: A Book today.