The Best of One Bills Drive - Oct. 7, 2018

(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: 68,202

Score by Quarters:

                                    1          2        3         4        Final

Tennessee (L, 3-2)       3           3          0          6          12

Buffalo (W, 2-3)          7          0          3          3          13

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Bills – Allen 14-yard run (Hauschka kick)

1 – Titans – Succop 25-yard field goal

2 – Titans – Succop 54-yard field goal

3 – Bills – Hauschka 40-yard field goal

4 – Titans – Succop 39-yard field goal

4 – Titans – Succop 50-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Hauschka 46-yard field goal

Recap: As football games go, this was one that certainly attracted the interest of field-goal kickers and fans of three-pointers everywhere. More importantly, though, it was a peek at the future.

This wasn’t Josh Allen’s first start in a home game; that had come three weeks earlier on September 16, a 30-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. But this was the first time Bills’ fans had the chance to see Josh Allen play like, well, Josh Allen.

After a turnover four plays into the game, the Bills took their time in driving 47 yards for a score. The final 14 came on a run from Allen – a play that would come up frequently in the years to come. Who could have guessed then that he’d become such a dependable scoring threat as a runner and a passer?

A 38-yard punt return by Tennessee’s Nick Williams put the ball on the Buffalo 25, but the Titans didn’t do too much after that. Ryan Succop converted from 25 yards to cut the Bills’ lead to 7-3 shortly before the end of the first quarter.

Buffalo looked to use some trickery in trying to build its lead in calling a fake field goal in the second period. The problem was that only holder Corey Bojorquez appeared to know that the fake was coming, and the play resulted in an ugly incomplete pass. “I misunderstood what the coaches told me,” Bojorquez said later. Shortly before the end of the half, Succop’s 54-yard field goal cut Buffalo’s lead to one at 7-6.

There wasn’t much scoring in the third period either. Shaq Lawson’s tackle of Tennessee running back Dion Lewis caused a turnover, and Hauschka converted a field goal to put the Bills up by four points.

That left a back-and-forth quarter to come. A dropped pass by the Titans’ Nick Williams in the end zone cost Tennessee a touchdown. Succop needed to kick the field goal to cut the Buffalo lead to 10-9 with 10:30 left. The drop proved crucial in the outcome. “That’s all on me, 100 percent, you know? … I’ve got to make that play,” Williams said after the game.

About six minutes later, Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota fumbled the ball out of bounds on a sack as the Bills missed a chance to put the game away. Succop struck from 50 yards to put Tennessee ahead for the first time.

The Bills had about four minutes to come up with a game-winning score. A pass to Ray-Ray McCloud for seven yards put the Bills in reasonable field goal range, and Hauschka kicked a 46-yarder at the gun to win the game.

“He (Hauschka) kicks a 100-yard field goal, I probably think he can make it,” an enthusiastic Jordan Poyer said about his teammate after the game. “He’s the best kicker in the league, hands down. So much confidence from us when he’s out there kicking, no matter where he’s kicking from.”

It was Allen’s first game-winning, fourth-quarter drive in the NFL. It would not be his last. It was also the first win he directed at home.

“I was extremely confident,” Allen said about the final drive. “I actually felt like I was too relaxed. … I wasn’t nervous, wasn’t anxious about anything. Just really saw the plays in front of me.” 

“The look in his eye, he was, in my opinion very in control of the situational football that was going on,” coach Sean McDermott said. “He played what I would consider a smart game for the most part.”

Noteworthy: Allen finished the game 10 of 19 passing for only 82 yards with an interception. He ran four times for 19 yards. … LeSean McCoy picked up 85 yards on 24 carries, and had the longest run of the day at a mere 16 yards. … Bills secondary member Taron Johnson had his first career interception.

Legacy: The Bills failed to capitalize on any momentum on this game. They dropped their next four starts to fall to 2-7 by the beginning of November. Buffalo finished the year 6-10, a step backwards from the 2017 squad that reached the postseason. The loss was costly for the Titans. They dropped two more games immediately after that, and finished out of the playoffs at 9-7.