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| The Buffalo Bills celebrate after Joe Ferguson threw a Hail Mary touchdown pass to Roland Hooks in the final seconds of their win against the New England Patriots. |
Such was case in Week 12 of the 1981 NFL season when the Buffalo Bills hosted the New England Patriots in one of the most memorable finishes in the long series history between these two teams.
The Bills entered the game with a 6-5 record but having lost their previous two games as quarterback Joe Ferguson had thrown eight interceptions in the two losses to the Dallas Cowboys and the St. Louis Cardinals.
If the Bills were to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, they needed Ferguson to get back on track and it looked like the Patriots game would provide a great opportunity for Ferguson to accomplish that.
New England entered the game with a dismal 2-9 record as they hoped to end a four-game losing streak with a win over the Bills.
If New England were to win, they would have to do without starting quarterback Steve Grogan, who was out with a sprained left knee and was replaced by Matt Cavanaugh for the Buffalo game.
As the two teams prepared for their meeting in Buffalo, they would have do with the element of the weather as it was 31 degrees with a 18 miles per hour wind that would play in a factor in some of the decision making by both head coaches, Ron Erhardt for the Patriots and Chuck Knox for the Bills.
The Bills got the ball to start the game at their 24-yard-line and would keep it on the ground as they ran 10 straight running plays, picking up 66 yards as running back Joe Cribbs would run for 26 yards on six carries while his backup,Roosevelt Leaks, would run for 40 yards on four carries, all leading to a 28-yard field goal by Nick Mike-Mayer to give Buffalo a 3-0 lead with 9:13 left in the first quarter.
After both teams punted on their ensuing possessions, the Patriots took over at their 45-yard-line when running back Tony Collins dropped an handoff from Cavanaugh which was recovered by Bills cornerback Mario Clark giving Buffalo the football at the New England 40-yard-line.
The Patriots' defense were able to hold to the Bills to a field goal attempt which Mike-Mayer missed from 41 yards out as his kick bounced off the left upright to keep it a 3-0 game.
With the wind at his back, Cavanaugh came out throwing as he would throw two passes to start the drive, with the second pass being completed to Stanley Morgan for a 20-yard gain to the Patriots' 44-yard-line.
On the next play from scrimmage, Cavanaugh threw a backwards pass to fullback Andy Johnson, who then a deep pass to Morgan, who made the catch at the Bills' five-yard-line and then strolled for the touchdown, a 56-yarder to put the Patriots on top 7-3 with 2:15 left in the opening period.
It was the fourth touchdown pass of the season for Johnson, who had played quarterback at the University of Georgia from 1971-73.
The touchdown seemed to turn the momentum in the Patriots' favor as on the first play of the Bills' ensuing possession when free safety Tim Fox knocked the ball loose after a hard hit on Cribbs, leading to a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Roland James at the Buffalo 39-yard-line.
To add injury to insult, Cribbs was knocked out of the game as his bruised ribs had been re-aggravated by the hit from Fox.
The Patriots were only able to drive to the 23-yard-line before calling on John Smith to apparently to attempt a 41-yard field goal, only for New England go into the bag of tricks again as Cavanaugh, who was the holder, threw a pass for tight end Don Hasselbeck(father of former NFL quarterbacks Matt and Tim Hasselbeck)who had was wide open in the end zone.
But Cavanaugh overthrew Hasselbeck resulting in an incompletion and giving the ball back to Buffalo at their 23-yard-line, still down 7-3 as the first quarter came to a close.
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| Stanley Morgan had only three catches but they totaled 141 yards and one of them went for a touchdown. |
Now with the wind at his back, Ferguson could throw the ball, which he did on 3rd & 16 as he found Frank Lewis for 31 yards for a Bills 1st down at their 48-yard-line.
Ferguson would then scramble for 16 yards on 3rd & 6 to give the Bills a 1st down at the Patriots' 32-yard-line which was immediately followed by a 19-yard pass to tight end Mark Brammer for another Bills 1st down at the New England 13-yard-line.
But after the completion to Brammer, the Bills ran the ball three straight times, picking up eight yards and forcing them to settle for another field goal, a 23-yarder which Mike-Mayer made to cut the Patriots' lead to 7-6 with 9:28 left in the second quarter.
However on the first play of the Patriots' ensuing possession, Collins fumbled the ball for the second time in the game after he was hit at the line of scrimmage by Bills linebacker Lucius Sanford, which defensive end Sherman White recovered to give Buffalo the ball at the New England 33-yard-line.
After two incomplete passes, Ferguson would connect with Jerry Butler for 10 yards when disaster nearly struck as Patriots defensive back poked the ball out of Butler's arm, leading to the ball bouncing ten yards before it was recovered by Bills wide receiver Lou Piccone at the 13-yard-line.
Two plays later, Ferguson would find Roland Hooks, who had dropped a touchdown pass on the previous play, at the five-yard-line, who then ran in for the 11-yard touchdown to give the Bills their first lead of the game at 13-7 with 7:20 left in the first half.
The last scoring threat of the first half would come courtesy of the Bills as they drove from their 45-yard-line to the New England 21-yard-line to set up a 38-yard field goal attempt by Mike-Mayer, which sailed wide right as time expired in the first half, keeping the score 13-7 in favor of the Bills as the two teams went into the locker rooms for the halftime break.
The Patriots got the ball to start the second half and just like the Bills did to start the game, kept it on the ground as they ran 11 straight running plays for 41 yards as they drove into the wind to set up a 43-yard field goal by Smith which cut the Buffalo lead to 13-10 with 7:47 remaining in the third quarter.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Patriots got the ball at their 29-yard-line and drove 54 yards in seven plays with the big play being a 30-yard pass from Cavanaugh to Hasselbeck to set up a 35-yard field goal attempt for Smith.
But the kick was blocked by Bills defensive back Rod Kush and was recovered by Robb Riddick at the Buffalo 17-yard-line, preserving the Bills' 13-10 lead late in the third quarter.
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| Roosevelt Leaks(48) filled nicely for the injured Joe Cribbs as he rushed for 92 yards on 19 carries. |
Following the blocked field goal, both teams would punt on their next two possessions as the game went into the fourth quarter with the Bills still in the lead 13-10 with 6:50 with then took over at their 20-yard-line when they put together their best drive of the second half.
Buffalo would drive 50 yards in eight plays before facing a 4th & 6 at the New England 30-yard-line with 2:51 to go in regulation.
Facing a potential 47-yard field goal attempt into the wind, Knox decided to go for the 1st down, but Ferguson's pass for Hooks fell incomplete, giving the Patriots the ball at their 30-yard-line.
On the first play of the drive, Cavanaugh dropped back and threw deep for Morgan, who made the catch around the Buffalo 20-yard-line, then ran toward the end zone before he was tackled by Bills free safety Bill Simpson at the five-yard-line after a 65-yard reception to give New England 1st & goal as the two-minute hit.
When the Patriots' offense come back on to the field for 1st & goal, Cavanaugh faked a handoff to Cunningham and threw a pass for Hasselbeck, who was wide open in the end zone.
This time, the ball was not overthrown as it landed perfectly in the hands of Hasselbeck for the go-ahead touchdown to give New England a 17-13 lead with 1:56 left.
The Bills would begin their ensuing possession at their 20-yard-line but on 3rd & 10, Ferguson would be intercepted by Patriots strong safety Rick Sanford to give New England the ball at the Buffalo 35-yard-line with 1:40 left causing many of the fans at Rich Stadium to leave believing the game was over.
Three straight running plays picked up eight yards to set up a 4th & 2 at the Bills' 27-yard-line with 39 seconds left.
Much like Knox did earlier in the quarter, Erhardt decided forego a field goal attempt and go for the 1st down, only to have Cunningham get stopped for no gain giving the Bills the ball back at their 27-yard-line with 35 seconds and no timeouts.
The Bills needed a miracle to pull out the victory as they had to score a touchdown in order to win the game.
Lined up in the shotgun formation, Ferguson took the snap and fired a deep pass for Hooks, who made a diving catch for 37 yards to put Buffalo at the Patriots' 36-yard-line.
The Bills offense ran up to the line of scrimmage where Ferguson threw the ball out of bounds to stop the clock with 12 seconds to play.
With such little time left on the clock, Knox decided to call for "Big Ben" the Bills Hail Mary play where three wide receivers would line up on the right side and run downfield hoping for the ball to find one of the receivers or a deflection that would be caught be one of the receivers.
Butler, Lewis, and Hooks all lined up on the right side and ran downfield as Ferguson took a shotgun snap, dropped back his about 10 yards, and fired a prayer that he hoped would find Lewis in a crowd of Patriot defenders.
But as the ball came down towards Lewis, Patriots linebacker Mike Hawkins tried to knock the ball down, only to have his deflection land in the hands of Hooks for a shocking 36-yard touchdown to give the Bills a 19-17 lead with five seconds to go and causing most if not the entire Bills team to come off the bench and join Hooks in celebration.
After things calm downed, Mike-Meyer come on to kick the extra point to give Buffalo a 20-17 lead.
Now it was the Patriots who needed a miracle but Mike-Meyer kicked a squib kick that ran out the clock, preserving the 20-17 win for the Bills.
The heartbreaking loss would be a tough pill for the Patriots to swallow as they would lose their remaining four games of the season by a combined 28 points.
After the season, Erhardt was fired as Patriots head coach and replaced by Ron Meyer, who would coach the team for 2 1/2 seasons until he was fired midway through the 1984 season and was replaced by Raymond Berry who in 1985 would lead the Patriots to the Super Bowl.
As for the Bills, their heartstopping win over the Patriots would be the start of a four-game winning streak that allowed Buffalo to grab the final Wild Card spot with a 10-6 record.
The Bills would go on to knock off the New York Jets 31-27 in the AFC Wild Card Game for the team's first playoff win since the 1965 AFL Championship Game.
They would be knocked out in the Divisional Round by the Cincinnati Bengals 28-21, which would be the team's final playoff appearance until 1988.
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