1993 bills oilers game

We'll never know. The interception was overturned on a roughing-the-passer penalty against Buffalo. Then, the Oilers happened. Answering the Astros' key offseason questions. Inside the mindset of Caserio, the GM chosen to fix the Texans. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos.

Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos. Data Provided By. All rights reserved. Prev Game Next Game. Unless Buffalo decided to go to a two-high shell and present a favorable run look, that is.

In which case, Moon would check to a run play. That should not come as a surprise. At least now that we know that one of the biggest factors in deciding whether a run play will be successful is the number of defenders in the box.

One of those successful runs came on a fourth-and-2 conversion that kept the opening drive alive. In that situation, you might expect a team to put more blockers in the game and try to pick up the first down on the ground.

Not our Oilers. Gilbride stuck with his four-receiver set and called a pass. When Buffalo kept two safeties deep — the Shoot made you defend every inch of the field in every situation — and clogged the interior gaps with a four-man line, Moon checked to an outside zone run. Buffalo should have gotten Houston off the field multiple times during the drive and that near-success might have convinced the coaching staff to stick with its initial defensive game plan but it was clear that adjustments were needed.

With Kelly out injured, the Bills understandably leaned on Thurman Thomas early and put an extra running back out on the field to help in the run game. After two modest gains on the ground, Buffalo went to its three-receiver set and would stick with it for most of the game. Reich mostly operated out of the gun. The Bills kept the drive alive after Reich found tight end Pete Metzelars for an yard gain. With a new set of downs, Buffalo started to mix up its early-down play-calling. Just kidding … the Bills went with another run-run-pass sequence, which we now know is a deathwish for an offensive drive.

Though they gave up points, the Oilers defense had to be encouraged after the opening drive. Everything else pretty much stayed the same, with the Bills remaining in dime personnel. Buffalo attempted to play more man coverage, but that just made those draw plays even more successful and gave Houston more matchups to exploit. When Houston would pass against those man looks, Jones, typically a strong safety, and Hicks, who rarely saw the field on defense, were the targets for Moon.

Jones got beat for a big gain on a corner route by Givens. The Bills defense had no answer for whatever the Oilers decided to do on offense.

If Buffalo was going to stand a chance, it needed its offense to put up points and do so in a hurry. The Bills offense returned to the field in 12 personnel and, once again, called runs on both first and second down.

The first one went for three yards; the second went for one. Buffalo had run three series of downs to that point and had gone run-run-pass on all three. On third down, the Bills came to their senses and brought a third receiver, Beebe, onto the field. The Bills stuck with their initial game plan and nothing changed. After two draw plays gave the Oilers a fresh set of downs, Moon found Givens deep over the middle. Once again, Hicks had been beaten.

The next play, he was called for defensive holding. And, finally, the Oilers victimized Hicks again for a deep touchdown pass to Givens. At this point, the Bills had no choice but to give up on the dime experiment. Reich had attempted only four passes up until that point.

The Bills called a conservative play-action pass that targeted a tight end in the flat. They followed that up with two consecutive runs to grind out a first down. Buffalo seemed content to chip away at the lead four yards at a time. A miracle play on 3rd-and would extend the drive two plays later but it eventually fizzled out when Reich threw into coverage on fourth down. They scrapped the dime defense and brought two more linebackers on the field. It did not last long — at least on this drive.

Moon hit an out-breaking route against a bailing corner. Another first down completion scared Buffalo back into its dime defense, which worked initially, forcing Houston into third-and-8 at the Buffalo In this particular case, the Bills had Odomes pressed up on the X-receiver Jeffires, giving him the green light to go deep.

After freezing the corner with a slick release, Jeffires slows down a bit to provide Moon with a window between the corner and safety playing the deep half. In this NFL Films clip from the season, you can hear Moon telling Jeffires to settle down on the sideline against a two-high zone look.

The Bills ran into the locker room to a chorus of boos. Or, from the other point of view, how Houston had built such a big lead. The Oilers had been just the right amount of aggressive — on both sides of the ball.

He accused them of playing timid. That was not what Darryl Talley needed to hear. Talley, as tough and emotional a leader as ever played in Buffalo, was his typically volatile self at halftime, bouncing from man to man like a madman, exhorting his teammates to keep battling. He was ranting and raving, saying we were going to kick their ass in the second half, all this macho, gusto stuff. He was high-fiving, slapping everybody. Pike laughed at the memory. It was constant.

When it was over, his defensive teammates asked him what they should do. He said safety Mark Kelso agreed they should go back to their base defense. They had played six defensive backs in the first half, but Moon had shredded them. Gale Gilbert, the backup quarterback that day, quietly reminded Reich that he had led the greatest comeback in the history of Division 1A college football, leading Maryland out of a hole against Miami in Reich told his teammates they simply had to go one play at a time.

Then the Bills ran out for the second half. Reich says he has often joked that that interception turned the game around. It was the key to the game. The Oilers, who had blown a playoff game to the Broncos the year before, let up at that point.

Maybe it was because they had beaten the Bills badly the week before. Or perhaps they took their cue from all the Bills fans who streamed out of the stadium. Bill Polian, who was on his way out as general manager, remembers the fans leaving the stadium, some after bidding him a harsh farewell. It was outside. Toward the end of the first half, a group of guys in front of us started saying some derogatory things. It was sort of funny, actually. It was about that time that the fates began to turn.

Some felt there was divine intervention that day. There was a gusty wind, and a light rain later in the day. Still, everyone involved with that team felt it was their resilient character, their strong competitive bond, that pulled them through. We had a lot of pride. They did a lot more than that, scoring 28 unanswered points in an astonishing third-quarter run after the McDowell interception TD. It is still hard to fathom in retrospect, that it went from to in just Reich hit tight end Pete Metzelaars with a yard pass that sailed through the hands of linebacker Eddie Robinson yes, the future Bill.

Davis, who was spectacular in relief of Thomas, picked up a crucial first down on fourth and 2. Davis scored the first TD on a sweep around left end. That made it The fans began to stir.

The Oilers were a bit slower. They were unprepared as the Bills recovered an onside kick. Polian had predicted the onside kick from his booth. He told Bob Ferguson, his pro personnel director, that the Bills would win if they recovered it.

Ferguson told him he was crazy. It was around that time that Polian got a call from his security people. There was a rule prohibiting fans from re-entering the stadium. But people were clamoring to get back inside.