The Best of One Bills Drive: Sept. 15, 2013

(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.)

Score by Quarters:

                                       1       2       3       4       Final

Carolina (L, 0-2)             0       7      7        9        23

Buffalo (W, 1-1)              0        3       11     10      24

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

2 – Bills – Carpenter 55-yard field goal

2 – Panthers – Newton 13-yard pass to Olsen (Gano kick)

3 – Bills – Carpenter 20-yard field goal

3 – Panthers – Newton 40-yard pass to Ginn Jr. (Gano kick)

3 – Bills - Jackson 4-yard run (Manuel pass to Woods)

4 – Panthers – Gano 27-yard field goal

4 – Panthers – Gano 25-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Carpenter 48-yard field goal

4 – Panthers – Gano 39-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Manuel 2-yard pass to Johnson (Carpenter kick)

Recap: The Buffalo Bills had a pair of new faces in their most visible positions at the start of 2013.

At quarterback, the team presented EJ Manuel as the starter on opening day. He had been the team’s first-round draft choice (16^th overall) in a major surprise. Some teams thought the Florida State standout was a fifth-round talent at best. Obviously, the Bills’ scouts disagreed. Manuel’s head coach was Doug Marrone, who had spent four seasons as the coach at Syracuse University. He had replaced Chan Gailey in Buffalo.

The two didn’t have much time to adjust to life in the NFL, as the Bills opened the season against their now-traditional nemesis, New England. Sure enough, the Patriots beat the Bills on a field goal with five seconds to play.

Welcome to Buffalo, fellows. Maybe the next game, against Carolina, will be better.

After a scoreless opening period, Dan Carpenter scored the first points of the game with a 55-yard field goal. It wasn’t the longest of his career – that distinction belongs to a 60-yarder in 2010 when he played for Miami – but it was still impressive. Carolina bounced back on a touchdown catch by future TV analyst Greg Olsen.

In the second half, Carpenter’s field goal moved the Bills within a point, but Cam Newton’s second touchdown pass put Carolina up by eight points. Buffalo erased that deficit within three minutes. Fred Jackson ran for a touchdown, and Manuel passed for a two-point conversation.

The teams’ kickers combined for four field goals in the fourth quarter, three by Graham Gano of Carolina to take the lead. But the Panthers still had the ball in the red zone twice in the fourth quarter, and didn’t come up with any touchdowns. They were missed opportunities they’d come to regret.

“It’s tough because we know we need (touchdowns),” fullback Mike Tolbert said. “The defense has been balling out, playing their (butts) off all game. It’s our turn. We couldn’t put it in the box.”

Still, the Panthers had a 23-17 lead with 1:38 left, and the Bills and their rookie quarterback were staring at an 0-2 start. Manuel might have felt responsible for that deficit, since he had thrown an interception and fumbled the ball away in the team’s previous two possessions.

However, Buffalo answered that challenge, moving swiftly down the field on an 80-yard drive despite having no timeouts left. The rookie used short passes to move the ball along. 

“He made the plays to keep the chains moving, keep the team moving, keep us alive,” defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. “That’s what he brings. He can do both things, and it’s tough to defend.”

With only six seconds left, Manuel hit a wide-open Stevie Johnson in the end zone with a short pass for the tying touchdown. Then Carpenter added the winning extra point in a 24-23 decision.

The late touchdown was shattering to the Panthers. “This isn’t about learning hard lessons,” wide receiver Steve Smith said. “This is like going to the dentist and getting several teeth pulled without any anesthesia, laughing gas, nothing.”

When the game ended, Manuel grabbed the game ball and ran off the field into the tunnel to the locker room. There he was greeted by a former Bill who knew something about comebacks: Jim Kelly. The Hall of Famer gave Manuel a hug and said simply, “Good job.”

“I can’t even tell you how it felt,” Manuel said about the game-winning play. “I think I started crying right then. I’m not an emotional guy. But I’m going to enjoy these types of things.”

It was an emotional time for Marrone as well, but for a different reason. Marrone’s good friend, Onondaga Community College athletic director Rob Edson, had died the day before the game.

“I know that Rob was watching, and I can’t stop thinking about that,” Marrone said. “He’d always come in after the games and kind of cheer me up and pick me up and keep things in perspective.”

And when Manuel’s football day was finally done, he could get around to celebrating the birthday of his father, who was at the game. The quarterback now had something to give him: that gameball.

“I didn’t have a gift,” he said. “My dad’s not big on gifts, anyway. I know he’ll definitely want to take this home.”

Noteworthy: Manuel finished 29 of 37 for 296 yards. He was the fifth rookie since 1960 to lead a team to a fourth-quarter comeback in his first or second NFL game. … Mario Williams finished with 4.5 sacks to set a team record. … C.J. Spiller of the Bills ran for 103 yards. … Josh Thomas and Charles Godfrey, members of Carolina’s secondary, left the game early because of injuries. … Kelly and some other stars were honored at a halftime ceremony. Eighteen Wall of Famers (or their families) received blue sport coats as a symbol of their contribution. “Every time I walk into the stadium, I look up at the names and realize how privileged you are not only to be up on the wall, but to be associated with all the guys on that wall,” Kelly said.

Legacy: Marrone and Company finished 6-10 that season, matching the same record that Gailey and the Bills had in 2012.

Manuel spent four seasons on the Bills’ roster, but he never started more than 10 games – his number as a rookie – in any one season. EJ was a backup at Oakland in 2017, and then retired. Eventually he became a broadcaster.

The win over Carolina was more impressive than everyone thought. The Panthers had a 12-4 season, winning the NFC South title.