I’m always one the first to express dismay when people see a performance by a player or a team and immediately you hear the cries that it was the best ever.
In today’s sports world everything that happens has to be rated.
Perspective is rarely taken into consideration.
The first time I saw an NFL game was November, 1951.
That’s right. That’s 70 years ago.
So I’ve been watching and for most of those years, broadcasting the sport that long.
So, I try to use perspective when I witness a dramatic and thrilling contest, and not go overboard.
But it was difficult for me last Sunday when I saw a game that provoked me to tell myself that it might have been one of the most exciting finishes I’ve ever seen.
It was just a regular season game, week 10 of the NFL schedule.
Not a Super Bowl, not a playoff encounter, not even a late-season battle that would determine the fate of one or both of the teams.
It was just a game.
Before I go on, there is a disclaimer.
I don’t determine the excitement of any game by how clean it is played.
How mistake-free it is.
I merely go by instinct.
How a game keeps me on the edge of my seat.
Turnovers, in my view, add to a game’s excitement.
They are part of the game. They don’t mean the play is sloppy.
To me, it’s all about the circumstances and the timing.
By now you ask, what contest lasts Sunday am I talking about?
It was the Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, NY.
The home of the Bills.
Nothing crucial was at stake.
But it did bring together two of the best teams in the league.
By the way, there were six turnovers.
It certainly didn’t get my attention with the third quarter running out and the
Bills in front, 27-10.
A late Vikings touchdown cut the Buffalo lead to 10 after three, so there was still nothing special to talk about.
For most of the fourth quarter, nothing spectacular occurred to set up the incredible drama that would ensue.
But a Minnesota touchdown on a short run with just under five minutes remaining started to make things interesting. But a missed extra-point meant the Vikings would still need a touchdown to win. A game-tying goal was no longer in play.
A four-point deficit with four and a half minutes to go, and the Bills having the ball was not a promising picture for the Vikes.
The Bills uncharacteristically failed to use the clock to their advantage, keeping the ball for only one minute.
They never ran the ball, had one completion for no gain, two incompletions and a false start penalty and surrendered possession to the visiting Vikings with just under three-and-a-half minutes remaining.
But the Minnesota offense went sour, and with two Buffalo sacks, the Vikings faced a fourth down and 18 yards to go on the Viking 27 at the two minute warning.
This is where the unlikely heart-pounding events took over.
It was really Hail Mary time for Viking QB Kirk Cousins who needed a miracle just to keep his team alive.
I was jolted into really focusing on the game when one of the best receivers in the game, Justin Jefferson leaped to make a one-handed catch above his head with a defender on his back, for a 32-yard gain and a first down just inside Buffalo territory.
It was one of the most spectacular catches you’ll ever see, and considering it kept the visitors breathing made it stand out even more.
Another completion and a 15-yard roughness penalty on the Bills brought the ball to the 16.
Remember, the Vikings still needed a touchdown, and the closer you get to your opponent’s goal line the tougher it gets to score a TD.
Soon, it was first and goal for the Vikes at the Bills’ 3.
A 3-yard loss, and incompletion, a short pass, and a Buffalo off side penalty placed the ball at the one-yard line, with fourth down coming up.
There was less than a minute to play.
With the game on the line, Cousins was stopped on a quarterback sneak and the Bills held. They stopped the Vikings valiant comeback attempt at the goal line and took over with 50 seconds on the clock.
The Bills players and their fans were finally able to exhale and were joyous and relieved. Now it was only a matter of time.
The Vikings bench was despondent. Having come oh, so close, staging an heroic rally, particularly on 4th and 18, only to see them not finish the task at the one-yard-line.
But the Bills were faced with a task of their own that was not a routine, run-out-the-clock exercise we all have seen so often.
They had to snap the ball from inside the one-yard-line.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen had to run a play, no room to give himself up and allow the clock to run.
They had to push forward to pick up yardage no matter how small.
But Allen and his center lost the ball in the exchange and the Vikings’ Eric Kendricks fell on the ball in the end zone for the touchdown the Vikings needed.
They had taken over the lead in the most improbable of ways, and I was telling myself I had never, ever, seen those two plays executed in back-to-back fashion.
Particularly with the result on the line.
But there was more.
The Bills were getting the ball back with 49 seconds on the clock.
Still enough time to get a field goal to send the game into overtime, and especially with Josh Allen at the helm.
To no one’s surprise, Allen led the Bills deep into Minnesota territory and a game-tying field goal with 5 seconds left, sent this thriller into OT.
However, the was a play that replay officials failed to view that would have become the headline this week had the result of the game been different.
During the Bills’ game-tying drive, a 29-yard pass from Allen to Gabe Davis would have been reversed to incomplete had the officials who decide reviewable plays during the last 2 minutes were given a chance to see it.
It was a diving play toward the sidelines by Davis who did not maintain possession after the catch. The play was called a completed catch and the game went on.
It why the league has replay officials, and why coaches are not permitted to challenge.
No pun intended, but the officials dropped the ball at a critical time of the game.
So, the thriller went into overtime, the Vikings received the kick, and took a 33-30 lead on a field goal.
The Bills then had an opportunity to extend the game with a 3-pointer, or win outright with a touchdown.
Josh Allen, who was questionable to play with an elbow injury got the Bills down to the Vikings 20 with a first down.
A Buffalo victory was in their sights, certainly a tying field goal at worst.
But Allen fired a pass right into the hands of veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson for an interception, and the Minnesota Vikings had their victory.
No one is talking about the Vikings despite an 8-1 record with their one loss coming at the hands of the 8-0 Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s been a wonderful year for the team that has a five-game lead over the pre-season favorite Packers.
They have flourished with their much-maligned quarterback Kirk Cousins, who has done everything but win in the playoffs. He has a lot of company.
This might be their year.
For the Bills, they lost their division lead to the Miami Dolphins, who have been the unquestioned surprise of the AFC.
Well quarterbacked by Tua Tagovailoa, and well coached by first-year Mike McDaniel.
The season is filled with storied comebacks, see-saw drama and memorable battles. Every season has them.
But in searching my memory, I cannot recall a game where a situation seemed so certain, only to discover, in an instant, that it wasn’t.
I don’t remember a game that had me sitting, with my mouth open, when it ended.
I realize all of this is so subjective.
But I know how I feel.
For sheer improbability, excitement, and shocking moments all rolled into one,
Vikings-Bills, Week 10, 2022 has moved to the top of my list.