Everyone knows the implications of a potential AFC Western Division title being on the line this week when the Denver Broncos host Buffalo at INVESCO Field at Mile High, but this won’t be first time the Broncos and Bills have had the potential for big time excitement.
In the first year for the two original American Football League teams (1960), the Broncos hosted Buffalo on November 27 at old Bears Stadium.
The Bills built up a 17-7 halftime lead and it started snowing hard
Attendance at the start of the game was just 7,785 and when the snow started flying most fans decided they had had enough and headed for the exits.
By the start of the third quarter the field had became covered with snow and Buffalo extended its advantage to 38-7 with just 4:39 left in the period.
Then the Broncos rallied for the greatest and perhaps most improbable rally in franchise history.
Denver scored 31 points in the final 19:39 to make the final a 38-38 tie, as Frank Tripucka connected with wide receiver Lionel Taylor for touchdowns of 20, 24 and 35 yards, the latter coming on a literal one handed, on the run catch by Taylor.
The astonishing comeback was completed with Gene Mingo connected on a 19-yard field goal for the tying points with just four seconds and almost no fans remaining.
The Broncos and Bills hooked up for another bizarre but true contest on November 24, 1968.
In that one, the Bills had every quarterback injured and actually moved one of their starting wide receivers, Ed Rutkowski over to quarterback, where he started and played the entire game.
He played a fine game for the Bills, completing 17 of 38 (pretty good for a wide receiver) passes for 161 yards and rushing five times for 48.
But as crazy as that seems, it was not even close to the story of the game.
Denver was hanging on to a 31-29 lead and the Broncos were running out the clock with under a minute to play.
Then the impossible happened, and the greatest player to that point in Denver history, All-AFL running back Floyd Little, fumbled the ball and Buffalo recover and advanced the fumble to the Denver 10.
Wasting no time, the Bills sent in the field goal unit and took a 32-31 lead with 30 seconds to play.
Meanwhile, on the Denver sideline, fiery Broncos head coach Lou Saban had a vitriolic explosion of temper at Little, during which he verbally fired him and banished the great back to the locker room.
Buffalo kicked off and the Broncos returned it to their own 31.
At that point, you had to be there to see it, as I was, and it still seemed unbelievable.
The Broncos headed out to their offensive huddle when Little came bursting out of the locker room and running seventy yards across the middle of the field, from the south end zone locker room location to the north 20 where his team was huddled up.
The players were wondering what was going on as their captain raced into the huddle while Saban was screaming for him to get off the field.
But Little would not leave, and eventually persuaded wide receiver Mike Haffner to run off the field, giving Denver 11 players in the huddle and saddling Haffner with a classic tongue lashing by Saban, who was beyond rage at this point.
Meanwhile, not even mentioned was the fact that due to injuries of its own Denver had Marlin Briscoe at quarterback for the balance of the season, making the Broncos the first modern era team to play a black man at quarterback.
At the time nothing special was made of it, but history would note the moment.
Little implored Briscoe to “Just throw it as far as you can, and I’ll be there,” as the captain was passionate about both his team’s victory and personal redemption.
On first and 10 from the 31 Briscoe threw deep and 59 yards later Little leaped and came down with the catch to give Denver a first down with 10 seconds left.
For good measure, Buffalo had a face mask penalty that moved the ball to the 10, where Bobby Howfield kicked the game winning 12-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining.
And of course, Little stayed on through 1975, a captain every year and one of the greatest players in franchise history, surviving an on-the-field firing by his coach and saving the game within the last minute of play.
So as we prepare for this Sunday’s game against the Bills that is such a big one, that’s a quick reminder that in the National Football League anything can happen, and you never know how history will be made.
Tags: Buffalo Bills
Ooh, now I get to be first. This will be short ‘n sweet.
Those are awesome moments in this franchise’s history. And that second story about the big comeback win from Little just goes to show how much of a leader he was. And I actually got to meet Gene Mingo 2 years ago at the KC-Denver game in Denver - awesome guy.
I think after this last game we had, this team realizes even more now how much is at stake for the rest of our future this season. I fully expect them to show up, play hard, play smart and WIN!! They know its expected of them now and they have no choice but to do their jobs and get us that division title. I know they can pull it off and whoever around here that is going to the game - MAKE IT LOUD!!!!
Have faith…
GO BRONCOS!!!!!
To Mr. Goodman and Mr. Shanahan,
The Broncos have 9 defensive linemen, 8 linebackers, 5 corners, and 4 safeties. Lets take Champ and DJ out of the mix. The rest can not be only average NFL players, can they?
They do a great job of offensive drafting and FA, but on the defensive side they come up way short. Is it talent evaluation? Has to be. Moss, Thomas, and Crowder came in 2007 draft and have shown nothing. BUT Ryan Harris also was in that class, had back surgery last year and is being recognized for Pro-Bowl this year, humm.
Lets look at 2006; Cutler, Scheffler, Dumervil, Hixon, Marshall, Kuper, and Eslinger. Dumervil comes in as a ‘doing OK’.
2005 was Williams (was doing very good), Paymah, Foxworth, and Myers (starter with Houston). Not to stellar huh?
Even 2008 has many contibuters on the offensive side (6) but only one, Barrett, on the defensive side. Not sure of Williams and Powell yet.
My point is that IMO we need a defensive player evaluator.
dlmyers i would have to disagree with what u said about the defense. first of all yes our offense is amazing cuz of our draft picks and free agency. but our defense is getting there, theyre really young and improving. and it really doesnt help hiring a different defensive coordinator every year who comes up with different defensive schemes and switching everyone around n what not. but look at the young players we got:
-marcus thomas is doing very well since he starts and plays most of the game
-dumervil is pretty much our lone pass rusher since he gets to the qb the most out of everyone on our defense
-wesley woodyard is amazing, he even played safety last game to help with the rush defense and did very well
-spencer larsen is amazing, starting at fullback AND mike lb vs the falcons, and did a great job filling in for nate webster
-josh bell is filling in for champ, who no one can replace. but for a rookie free agent covering #1 receivers, i think hes doing well and will improve
-jarvis moss is stepping up, but tim crowder is always hurt so nothing we can do about that
but my point is, we are improving. we are so young, but we will get better and i promise u we will be a better defensive team next year as long as we keep the players above and dont fire another defensive coordinator for like the 4th year in a row. but drafting a few top defensive players wouldnt help either… i.e. free safety or defensive ends. but either way, im already excited about the next few years and watching our young players grow into a really solid team
xlilmixedup33x is right our defense is young and may not be doing great right now but they are developing and will get better as they play. i dont think we need a new defensive coordinator or eveluator or whatever we just need our defense to play with some attitude. When i was watching the cleveland game i couldnt help but notice our defense was out there just playing with no heart. Then the second half came and i noticed Dre Bly was getting tired of playing like that and allowing the Browns to do whatever they wanted. Bly started playing with some heart and he started hitting Braylon Edwards a little harder each time he touched the ball and the rest of our defense started to follow his lead. When our defense got fired up so did our offense and the browns werent playing to win anymore they were playing not to lose. When Cutler hooked up wiht Royal on the 93 yrd TD pass thats when our the whole team decided they were going to come out of there with a win and they did. It all starts with uor veteran defenders making plays and the rooks will follow their lead. We have the right defense they just need to play with some heart.
I forgot to mention Dre Bly causing the fumble by stripping Kellen Winslow. A great play by a veteran defender ( just to add to my point)
We dont need a new D line or Safeties there steppin up what we need is a solid Defensive Leader i mean yea we got Champ but hes not verbal we need some1 at the Mike LB to step up and be the leader they tried with DJ but hes to good at the outside now what we need is a vetrin LB or Nate Jamie to develop into Captains of our D
honestly i would really like to see nate webster improve alot for next year and become a really good lb. he is very vocal and very energetic. he brings so much hype like a ray lewis no joke, look at how crazy he gets on the field lol. dude is friggin crazy and i’ve always liked him and his play, i really hope we keep him even tho i got a feeling we wont after this year =(
There have been some great games between these two teams over the years. John “The Duke” Elway and Jim “Machine Gun” Kelly had some great shootouts back in the ’80’s & early ’90’s. Also a great defensive battle in an AFC championship game in ‘92 or ‘93 up in Orchard Park NY. Last years “tora tora” last second field goal to open the season was an exciting game!
We obviously have more at stake in this game, as the Bills have been knocked out of contention for the playoffs. They will try to play the spoiler.
Hope the kid from Santa Claus Indiana can deliver an early Christmas present for all in Bronco Country !!!
GO BRONCOS !!!!!!!!!!!!
i am so tired of hearing ….weve done good againstthis team…weve done good against that team….the only thing that matters is how we do against this team..this week…wouda..couda…shouda means squat.. you either win..or lose. as we have seen, any team can win on any day..in this NFL,stats dont matter only w’s and L’s ,and nothing is gauranteed.
BEAT THE BILLS!!! the kid from santa claus, indiana will pull out a win and off we go to the playoffs
Although the previous matchups in this series have no bearing on the outcome of this game, it’s still fun to hear about what has transpired between the Broncos and Bills. I’m not feeling too creative, like everyone else has said, may the rocket-armed signal caller from Santa Claus, Ind. deliver an early Christmas present to we deserving Broncos fans.
I agree with most of you guys evaluating our defensive talent. Lots of good points. I really wish Barrett was on the team all year but I think he is a future star. Did you guys see (or hear) that hit last week? There are many things wrong with this D right now but I think we could use the talent we have a little better. We have a lot of speed LBs. I think we should blitz more often with guys like Woodyard, Webster, Williams and Winborn. Haggan is just a run stopper. Let our DBs play tight and jam the WRs. If Losman starts, we need to rock his world with the blitz! Lets bring some rocky mountain thunder!! Go Broncos!
I was at the last 2 Bronco games in Buffalo… in ‘06 they blew em out, and last yr Denver won with that great Cutler comeback in 4th qtr, leaving legendary Jason Elam to run on to the field to kick the game winner with no time remaining. I frequently watch that ending on youtube… “I dont think they can get it off.. 3…2..1.. it’s up… GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!… Holy Toledo!”
Go Cutler, you da man. Prediction Denver 32-Buffalo 14.
P.S. F*&% You Rivers, no Pro-bowl ya loser!!!
Well its time for us to punch our ticket!! were gonna be home its gonna be cold this is what football is all about I think we will come out and jump on them early and put it away before half time. prediction: Broncos 31-10
Best Broncos-Bills game was last years season opener.
I attended the game with a family member who loves the Bills. I took flak the whole game from him and many other Bills fans. It was all worth it when Elam hit the game winning field goal as time expired.
Go Broncos, forget about the Chargers/Bucs game and put it to the Bills and get into the playoffs through the front door
All I want for Christmas is a SUPER BOWL ring.
All I want for Christmas is a SUPER BOWL ring, F*#$ you Chargers.
Fireeeeeeeeeeeeee Shanahan
MEDIOCRITY , MEDIOCRITY, MEDIOCRITY, AND MEDIOCRITY
WIN IN SAN DIEGO NEXT WEEK?
ARE YOU CRAZY?
Inconsistency and mediocrity were the characteristic of Denver in 2008. and Shanahan does not have the balls to take them another super bowl
Bills and Broncos have had some great games…………………and yesterday wasn’t one of the them.
Jim,
We need the best linebacker in the game.
His name is Curry,
DRAFT HIM !!!!
I WANT ALEX GIBBS ! ! !
I’m not sure where else to put this but it seems like this blog is read by those who do want the opinion of the fans so here goes.
Please let the Broncos have a night prime time home game, that is the NFL even wants us to have one. It was absolutely ridiculous to play 4 games on national TV in 2008 all on the road. I don’t want to hear the poppycock reasoning that fans complained because of their work schedules. This is football. Don’t buy the tickets if you are going to whine. Denver as a city needs to be showcased on a national level as many times as it can get and the fans deserve the special experience of a game in their own backyard shown to the nation.
If the Broncos don’t open the 2009 season at home I will need an actual explanation. 4 years opening on the road is enough. Give the fans an opening day experience, they deserve it.
Wear the orange jerseys every year. The team looks better in the orange and it gives the Broncos an identity they sorely miss. There are at minimum 10 other NFL teams that wear dark blue but only a couple with orange. This is the color that is our identity and the fans want to continue to see it. I would actually prefer the orange to be the regular color and the blue to be a special occasion color.
Finally, don’t raise season ticket prices until the team can reach the playoffs or even have a winning season. That shouldn’t be too much to ask for.