The Best of One Bills Drive - Oct. 3, 1993

(Greg D. Tranter and Budd Bailey have written a book about the history of the football stadium in Orchard Park called "One Bills Drive." It has been published by Reedy Press (https://reedypress.com/shop/one-bills-drive-the-buffalo-bills-greatest-home-games/). The books covers the top 50 games played in the stadium's history from 1973 until January 2025. However, there are several other games that qualified as thrilling - but they couldn't crack the top 50. Those contests deserve to be remembered too, so we'll offer them in this space a couple of times per week during the season.)

Attendance: 79,283

Score by Quarters:

                                             1       2       3       4          Final

N.Y. Giants (L, 3-1)            0       14       0       0           14

Buffalo (W, 3-1)                   10     0        0       7           17

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Bills – Christie 24-yard field goal

1 – Bills – Jones 85-yard interception return (Christie kick)

2 – Giants – Simms 5-yard pass to Calloway (Treadwell kick)

2 – Giants – Simms 3-yard touchdown pass to Jackson (Treadwell kick)

4 – Bills – Kelly 8-yard touchdown pass to Metzelaars (Christie kick)

Recap:

If the Bills had been a rock band in 1993, they would have called the opening part of their schedule “REVENGE TOUR ’93” - preferably with dark, Gothic lettering.

Buffalo had dropped three straight Super Bowls in three years, and the schedule-maker must have been laughing when he matched the Bills against all three of those teams – the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins - within the first seven weeks of the 1993 season. Since all three opponents came from the NFC East, this was the first time since the championship games that Buffalo lined up against those teams.

The Tour opened on September 12 in Dallas, who had defeated the Bills for the NFL championship the previous January. Henry Jones was one of the few Buffalo players to say beforehand that this game had a little extra meaning. “It means a lot to me,” the defensive back said. “They kicked our butts last year, and we want to come back and look good against them. We want to prove ourselves as a better football team than what we showed in the Super Bowl.”

The Bills did that, winning by a score of 13-10. But a week later Buffalo dropped a 22-13 decision to the visiting Miami Dolphins for its first loss of the season. While the Giants’ appearance in Rich Stadium was interesting, the identity of the opponent took a firm back seat to the need to bounce back from that loss.

The Bills scored first against a rugged New York defense. Thomas gained 39 yards on six carries with a 22-yard completion from Kelly to Beebe mixed in to set up a Steve Christie field goal.

New York responded with its own effective drive until the Giants reached the Bills’ 22-yard line. Phil Simms’ intended pass to tight end Howard Cross was slightly overthrown and intercepted by Jones at the 15-yard line. He raced down the left sideline 85 yards for the touchdown and a 10-0 lead for Buffalo. It was Jones’ third interception return for a touchdown on TNT Sunday night games.

“It was a short-yardage play and they decided to throw the ball,” Jones said. “We had good coverage on the play and he (Simms) threw the ball a little too high. Fortunately, I picked it off and there was a convoy down the sideline. I like playing at night. I think it goes back to my high school days. We always played games on Friday nights. All I can say is I’ve been fortunate on those night games.”  

The Giants rebounded in the second quarter. New York took advantage of a Chris Mohr’s short punt from his end zone that put the ball on the Bills’ 33-yard line. Simms directed an efficient offense, and soon he passed to Chris Calloway for a touchdown.

The Giants’ defense then forced an errant pass from Kelly that was picked off by cornerback Greg Jackson. The Giants methodically moved down the field to score a touchdown with only 18 seconds left before halftime. The Giants went to the break with a 14-10 lead. Buffalo had been held to only five first downs and 97 yards of total offense.

The third quarter was defined by missed opportunities for Buffalo. Bills linebacker Darryl Talley forced a fumble on the Giants’ first possession of the quarter, but Buffalo did not capitalize. Later in the period Bills’ linebacker Marvcus Patton intercepted Simms, setting Buffalo up at the Giants’ 48-yard line. But Kenneth Davis gave the ball back when he fumbled at the New York 24-yard line.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Bills finally created a needed opportunity, when cornerback Nate Odomes picked off Simms’ pass at the Buffalo 27-yard line. This time Kelly slowly but surely moved the team down for a touchdown, as a pass to Pete Metzelaars gave the Bills a 17-14 lead with 2:27 left.

“We had a play called, I don’t remember what it was, but when I saw them coming up (to blitz). I started the audible (to a pass to Thomas), but the play I had called was better against two people coming up the middle, so I knew if they had the middle open, the play to Pete would work,” Kelly said. Regarding the winning drive the Bills’ quarterback commented, “It was real simple. We didn’t drop the football, we didn’t have any penalties, we didn’t make any mistakes. All night we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Sure it was frustrating.”

Buffalo’s defense stymied New York and sacked Simms on fourth down with 1:15 left to clinch the victory. Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor said, “To let a team like Buffalo hang around like we did in the second half, bad things are going to happen. You look at that game and there’s no way we should have lost. We controlled both sides of the football.” 

It wasn’t a masterpiece, but the Bills figured out a way to win the game. A veteran of that loss to the Giants in the 1991 Super Bowl had an extra reason to celebrate.

“We’ve beaten two of the teams that beat us in the Super Bowl now, and we’ve got another one to go,” nose tackle Jeff Wright said. “It’s not sweet revenge, but it feels pretty good.”

Noteworthy: The Bills offense was held to 251 yards and only 178 yards prior to the winning touchdown drive. … Buffalo rushed for 139 yards against a defense that had given up an average of 64 yards a game during the first three weeks. … Thomas carried 26 times for 122 yards. … Kelly passed for only 142 yards on 14 of 25 and was sacked five times for 30 lost yards. … The Bills defense forced four turnovers including three Simms interceptions. Rodney Hampton, who had been averaging 114 rushing yards per game, was held to 86 yards on 30 carries, only a 2.7 per carry average. … The Giants controlled time of possession maintaining the ball for 34:16. … Andre Reed’s first reception against the Giants pushed him over 7,500 receiving yards for his career, 37^th on the NFL all-time list. He also passed Lance Alworth in career catches with 544, for 23^rd all-time. Bills’ nose tackle Jeff Wright recorded his 26^th career sack, passing Fred Smerlas for sixth all-time in Buffalo history.

Legacy: The Bills completed the trifecta, of defeating the three teams that previously had beaten them in the Super Bowl, when later in the season they defeated the Redskins 24-10. Buffalo rode this victory to a five-game winning streak, hit a tough patch, losing three of four, but then won two more in a row, setting up an opportunity against the Jets on December 26 to win the AFC East for the fifth time in six years.