by Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

We are counting from 99 to 0 to determine who’s the best Buffalo athlete to wear each number.  It’s Buffalo Sports By The Numbers here on Buffalo Sports Page.

We’ll have a new number and athlete every day this summer.  Each story also includes reaction from the Buffalo Sports Page staff, and a way to catch up on numbers you’ve missed.

After every 10 numbers, a Sylvester & Peck On Sports podcast will feature Budd Bailey and the guys reacting to the selection.

#91

Jeff Wright, Bills. The nose tackle had a short career but a significant one. He arrived in 1988 as an eighth-round draft pick from Central Missouri State, and left in 1994. In between, Wright played in four Super Bowls and had 31.5 sacks. After retirement, he went into the cattle business. Others: Manny Lawson, Bills; Ken “Baby” Johnson, Bills.

Paul Peck’s Digit Discussion: Jeff Wright is responsible for one of the biggest plays in Bills history.  In the 1991 AFC Championship Game vs. Denver, as the Bills were trying to get to their second straight Super Bowl, it was tied 0-0 into the third quarter.  That’s when John Elway dropped back to throw a screen.  Wright read the play, tipped the ball, and it ended up in the arms of Carlton Bailey for a touchdown. You can see the play at the 19:40 mark.  It was the only Buffalo touchdown in the game that sent the Bills to Minneapolis for Super Bowl XXVI.  Wright was an undersized nose tackle who used his speed and quickness to be effective.  He’s the right choice for #91.

#92 Dhane Smith

#93:  Pat Williams

#94: Aaron Schobel

#95: Kyle Williams

#96: Leon Seals

#97: Cornelius Bennett

#98: Ron Edwards

#99: Marcell Dareus

Visit the Buffalo Sports By The Numbers section on the homepage of Buffalo Sports Page.

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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