(EDITOR’S NOTE: A month ago, Chuck Pollock was contacted by Tim Graham of the The Athletic about being a one of a nine-member panel to submit a list of the Top 25 Games in Highmark (Rich, Ralph Wilson) Stadium history. Tim then scored the responses based on the rankings to produce a Top 25. His piece was published earlier this week and once it was in print, Chuck opted to reveal his own list which appears below)
To commemorate the final season at the original Orchard Park stadium, The Athletic convened a panel of nine experts to rank the 25 greatest games played there. “Greatest” was left open to each voter’s interpretation. The Bills did not have to win the game. A total of 62 games received at least one vote.
The Athletic convened a panel of nine experts to rank the 25 greatest games played there. “Greatest” was left open to each voter’s interpretation. The Bills did not have to win the game.
The panelists:
• Budd Bailey spent nearly a quarter-century as a reporter and editor for the Buffalo News. The former WEBR radio host is finishing his 16th book. “One Bills Drive,” co-authored with fellow panelist Greg Tranter, is a rundown of the 50 greatest Bills games in Orchard Park. It is scheduled to be released in October.
• Erik Brady was a Buffalo Evening News paperboy who became a Buffalo Courier-Express sports columnist before joining USA Today as one of the sports department’s founding journalists.
• Jonah Bronstein is a sports reporter for WIVB.com. The former Niagara Gazette sports editor has covered Western New York pros and colleges since 2005, also writing for the Associated Press and Buffalo News.
• Mark Gaughan retired from the Buffalo News in May after 43 years. He was Pro Football Writers of America president and for 12 years served on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee, presenting the cases for — in order — Joe DeLamielleure, James Lofton, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Ralph Wilson and Andre Reed.
• Chris Parker’s voice has filled the airwaves since 1995 as the passionate conscience of the Buffalo sports fan. “Bulldog” started with WBEN 930-AM before switching to WGR 550-AM. For the past 22 years, he and Mike Schopp have co-hosted the afternoon drive shift.
• Chuck Pollock spent over 50 years with the Olean Times Herald, serving as sports editor and producing over 7,000 columns. His first game covering the Bills was the 1973 preseason opener — the first game in Rich Stadium. Over those five decades he covered 496 home games at the stadium: 391 regular-season, 89 preseason and 16 playoff games. The two misses were a preseason meeting with Pittsburgh while covering the Big 30 All-Star Football Game and the Dallas debacle (No. 10) due to an injury suffered in a car accident.
• Greg Tranter is the former president of the Buffalo History Museum’s board of managers. He has written six sports books and is managing editor of the Coffin Corner, the Pro Football Researchers Association’s magazine. Tranter maintains what is considered the largest collection of Bills artifacts.
• John Wawrow has been the Associated Press’ Buffalo bureau sports reporter since 2000. He covered the duration of the drought, an ownership change and several key firings before finally covering Bills home playoff games.
• Lisa Wilson is The Athletic’s editorial director for talent and development and its former managing editor for the NFL. She spent nearly two decades at the Buffalo News, seven as executive sports editor. She became the first Black woman president of the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2020.
Chuck Pollock’s Top 25:
1. The Comeback, ‘Nuf said.
2. 1990 AFC Championship Game, this 51-3 domination of the Raiders bought the Bills their first Super Bowl ticket.
3. 1991 AFC Championship Game, Bills 10, Broncos 7 with linebacker Carlton Bailey supplying the winning points via a short pick-six from a roughed up John Elway.
4. 1991, Bills 52, Steelers 34. The highest-scoring game in stadium history. Jim Kelly threw a franchise-record six touchdown passes, four to Don Beebe.
5.1993 playoffs, Bills 29, Raiders 23. What made this game special was it being the coldest in Bills’ history with a wind-chill of minus-32.
6.The low in coach Gregg Williams career. Buffalo had already let Chad Morton score on a 98-yard kickoff return in the first half. Then, after the Bills rallied to tie the game in the closing seconds of regulation, Morton went 96 yards for his second TD kickoff return, this one in overtime, to give the Jets a 37-31 victory.
7. In the 2007 season opener, Bills tight end Kevin Everett suffered a scary neck injury on the initial kickoff. The team and sellout crowd was left numb at the severity of the injury and Buffalo lost 15-14 on a last-second field goal.
8. Bills 31, Patriots 0. Before the 2003 season opener, Buffalo president /general manager Tom Donahoe signed popular New England safety Lawyer Milloy and the Bills intercepted Tom Brady four times in a total domination of New England.
9. Pittsburgh 29, Buffalo 24. In a game the Bills desperately needed to make the playoffs, the Steelers rested their starters and still ruined Buffalo’s playoff hopes thanks to Willie Parker’s 102-yard game..
10. Dallas 25, Buffalo 24. In a game the Bills seemed to have in hand, the Cowboys rallied, scoring a touchdown with barely a minute to play, then converted an onside kick that Dallas turned into a 53-yard game-winning field goal as time expired even though Buffalo had six takeaways and three return touchdowns.
11. New England 56, Buffalo 10. A certified embarrassment. Tom Brady threw five touchdown passes … four to Randy Moss … in the first half.
12. Steelers 19, Bills 16 in overtime. Buffalo receiver Stevie Johnson blamed God for letting him drop the potential game-winning TD.
13. Bills 34, Patriots 31 ending a 15-game New England winning streak. Down 21-10, Buffalo intercepted Tom Brady four times and Rian Lindell kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired.
14. Miami 34, Buffalo 31. Rex Ryan’s final game as coach. The Bills rolled up a franchise record 589 yards but the Dolphins won in overtime on a 55-yard field goal and Buffalo entered its 17th straight year without a playoff berth.
15. Bills 27, Colts 24, playoffs. Josh Allen burnishes his Superman image with a diving TD in a game where the Bills were out-gained, out-converted and out-possessed in a turnover-free post-season game.
16. First game played at Rich Stadium. Washington’s Herb Mul-Key returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown but a little-remembered sidebar involved the Redskins’ unpopular running back, Duane Thomas. Bills’ fans showered him with projectiles from behind the bench during the game. An enraged Thomas responded by firing a full Thermos into the stands
17. Bills 56, Dolphins 26. Who says you can’t rest your starters? Buffalo did just that and Isaiah McKenzie scored three consecutive touchdowns.
18. Bills 47, Patriots 17 in a 2021 playoff game. Buffalo scored seven touchdowns on as many possessions.
19. 2022 playoff game, Buffalo 38, Steelers 3. Allen throws for stadium-record 424 yards and four TDs.
20. Vikings 33, Buffalo 30, likely the most dubious regular-season loss in Bills history. Down 17, the Vikings scored three straight touchdowns in the late going, one of those aided by a spectacular catch made by Justin Jefferson. Minnesota got a boost from a goal line fumble by Allen that handed the Vikes a TD.
21. Chiefs 27, Bills 24. After earning a home playoff game against Kansas City, Bills’ kicker Tyler Bass missed a 44-yard field goal that would have tied the game in the last two minutes.
22. Bills 30, Eagles 23. Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham, seemingly trapped in the end zone by a Bruce Smith sack bid, engineered an escape and hit Fred Barnett with a 95-yard touchdown connection, one of the most spectacular plays in stadium history.
23. Nyheim Hines’ two kickoff returns for touchdowns the game after Damar Hamlin’s near-death experience on the field. The timing was extraordinarily perfect given the circumstances.
railing by 26 points in the second quarter of a 1997 game with Todd Collins at quarterback, he rallied the Bills for a 37-35 win over the Colts.
24. Bills 6, Giants 3 in overtime. That 1987 strike game counts as one of the worst in Bills history. A measly crowd of 15,737 turned out to see a gaggle of has-beens and never-wases. The lone exception was strikebreaker Lawrence Taylor, the Giants Hall of Fame linebacker.
He mostly played defense, but, in hopes of getting himself a TD, he also at times lined up at tight end.
The job of defending Taylor on defense fell to Bills’ overmatched center Will Grant who was called for five holding penalties in the first half.
At halftime, coach Marv Levy pulled Grant aside and asked, “Will, what are you doing out there?” To which he responded, “It’s not that bad, coach, I’ve been holding him on every play.”
25. (Honorable Mention): Penguins 2, Sabres 1 in a shootout before 71,217 observers at Rich Stadium on Jan. 1, 2008 in the NHL Winter Classic.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
