New Unis in Buffalo: Bills bring back old school look

The Buffalo Bills introduced its new line of uniforms for 2011 at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Friday.

Now, instead of occasionally repping the old school white helmet, Buffalo is back to permanently sporting the look for the first time since 1983. The new jerseys now say 'Buffalo' just below the v-neck on the front of the jersey, and the charging buffalo logo will appear on the back of the jersey just above the (player's) nameplate.

Reebok, the maker of the new jerseys, made them 30-40 percent lighter and they feature two white and red stripes on the sleeves.

I, for one, am a huge fan of the new look for the Bills. A lot of teams, when choosing new uniforms, have gone with a brand new look and got away from tradition. But Buffalo incorporated both old and new to combine for a great-looking uniform for the new decade.

Great job.

Photo credit: AP Photo

Whatifsports.com's Game Rewind of the Day: Houston Oilers get another shot against Bills' in 1992 Wild Card Match-up

To help pass the time, each day I will be taking a game from the past and replaying it using Whatifsports.com's NFL Sim Matchup to generate a new end result.

I will play the game three different times, and share the results of the final, series-clinching game to show everyone the outcome of the matchup. This is obviously just something fun for me to do to pass the long, boring days of spring while still getting my football fix (the AFL and NFL draft in April is not enough to do me justice).

We all know the 1992 AFC Wild Card game between the Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills, in Buffalo, as the greatest comeback in NFL history. Houston, led by Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon (36/50, 371 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs in game), went in to half-time with a 28-3 lead thanks to all four of Moon's passing touchdowns, which went to Haywood Jeffries (2), Webster Slaughter (1) and Curtis Duncan (1).

Coming out in to the third quarter, Houston's defense stepped up as well as defensive back Bubba McDowell picked off Buffalo quarterback Frank Reich and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown. The INT was Reich's only mistake of the game as he then threw three third quarter touchdown passes (two to Andre Reed, one to Don Beebe), and running back Kenneth Davis added a one-yard touchdown run.

Down just four, 35-31, at the end of the third quarter, Buffalo then went on to complete a comeback with Reich's fourth touchdown pass, which just so happened to be Andre Reed's third touchdown catch of the game. Houston managed to tie the game back up at 38, with a field goal from Al Del Greco, but heading in to overtime Buffalo had full possession of the game's momentum.

To cap off the greatest comeback in NFL postseason history, a game in which Buffalo had 35 unanswered points after trailing by 32, Reich set up kicker Steve Christie with a game-ending 32-yard field goal, which he drilled through the uprights.

Here is Moon's shot at redemption.

And he wasted no time taking advantage of this second chance, sending his Oilers to the next round of the playoffs thanks to his 256 yards passing and two touchdowns. Just like the original matchup, the Oilers got off to a quick lead, leading 13-0 lead at the half. Moon's squad scored 13 more points in the second half as they knocked off the Bills 26-7.

On Buffalo's side of things, Frank Reich failed to really get anything going, throwing for just 168 yards and a touchdown on 18 for 32 passing. Kenneth Davis managed 91 yards rushing on 14 attempts, but failed to get in to the end zone, ending Buffalo's playoff run.

This outcome, of course, changes the course of history. After the comeback on that fateful day (January 3, 1993), Buffalo went on to manhandle its AFC counterparts en route to a Super Bowl appearance, defeating Pittsburgh 24-3 and Miami 29-10. The dominance was short-lived, however, as they fell to the NFC Champion Cowboys in the Super Bowl, 52-17.

Because of the change of history, I went on and simulated a Houston/Pittsburgh Divisional matchup, and Moon had another spectacular game with 238 yards and two touchdowns. Lorenzo White's 139 yards rushing paced a 30-13 upset of Pittsburgh.

Next up? Miami.

Yet again Houston came up big, although this wasn't quite as bad. The final score, 23-16, and the fact that Moon threw two INTs shows me that Houston had a little bit of trouble against Miami's defense. But, nonetheless, White ran for another 111 yards and a touchdown as Al Del Greco's three fourth quarter field goals paced the Houston comeback, who are now Super Bowl bound, facing the NFC champion Cowboys.

Much ado about nothing. In the end, the same outcome took place, Dallas had little trouble putting the Oilers away, with a 24-9 victory. It was Emmitt Smith's 124 yards and one touchdown that put the game out of reach in the third quarter. Nice try, Houston, but even on paper you weren't eligible to capture a Super Bowl championship in '92.

(Note on Photos: No copyright infringement intended)

Tough Life: The Story of the 2010 Buffalo Bills

As a crazy week seven Sunday wrapped up yesterday, the Chan Gaily-led Bills remain winless. Buffalo, who fell in overtime to the 5-2 Baltimore Ravens yesterday afternoon, are the last team in the league without a single win.

Carolina captured it's first win against the 1-6 Niners, but despite holding a 24-20 halftime lead over the ball-hawking Ravens, Buffalo gave up the lead in the third quarter and eventually fell to a Billy Cundiff game-winner in OT.

Buffalo's offense had a season-high 506 total yards and played it's best fourth quarter of the season, with 10 points, to tie the game up after Ryan Fitzpatrick led a late scoring drive with :04 remaining. Fitzpatrick's 17-yard touchdown toss to Lee Evans earlier in the quarter put them within three, and Rian Lindell's late 50-yarder sent the game to the fifth period.

Inside the Numbers:

*Buffalo's offense produced 1,255 combined total yards in the first five games of the season, but gained almost half that (506) in yesterday's three points loss.

*As a team, the Bills turned the ball over six times in the previous five games, but almost matched that in yesterday's game, with four turnovers.

*Clearly, Ryan Fitzpatrick didn't have much trouble moving the ball up and down the field, converting 27 first downs, but in his first game of the season, Baltimore's free safety Ed Reed picked Fitzpatrick off twice.

*Buffalo previously had forced just four turnovers before yesterday's matchup, but against Joe Flacco's Ravens, the Bills forced two turnovers, both fumbles.

*Buffalo's head coach, Gailey, is coaching his first NFL team since he spent two seasons (in '98 and '99) with the Dallas Cowboys. The then-47-year old went 18-14 with Dallas. But, now at age 58, Gailey has started his second head coaching stint with an 0-6 record.

*Buffalo's remaining schedule has a combined 33-29 record, including three more interdivsion matchups, which happens to be the final three games of the regular season.

*Buffalo's defense has allowed less than 30 points just one time this season (week one against Miami when they lost 15-10), and has intercepted just one pass from the opposing quarterback.

*Interesting fact: Ryan Fitzpatrick's numbers look pretty solid (63.3 comp %, 969 yards, 11 TDs, 4 INTs, 102 QB rating in four games. And, since letting go of Trent Edwards, who is now a Jacksonville Jaguar, the Bills' quarterback position seems to be a nonfactor when it comes to holes in the franchise.

*Buffalo's passing offense is tied for fourth with 11 TDs through the air, but has only gotten into the end zone on the ground once (Fred Jackson). Only two other teams have ran for just one touchdown this season: Miami and Dallas.

*Buffalo has allowed the second-most rushing yards this season (1,047). Only Denver has allowed more, and they have played one more game than Buffalo this season.

*Other defensive stats: Allowed third-most points (198), 12th-most total yards, tied for second-most passing TDs (14), least amount of INTs (1), third-most rushing TDs (8) and tied for second-least turnovers.

What have we learned? The offense has done all they can to win games, but the defense decides to give up 30 points per game, making it tough to win games. If you want to point fingers in Buffalo, please point it towards the defensive side of the ball. Thank you all.

Photo Credits
C.J. Spiller: AP Photo/Gail Burton
Paul Posluszny: AP Photo/Mike Groll

Take Your Pick: Raiders of the '80s or Bills of the '90s?

Al Davis' Oakland/L.A. Raiders of the 1980s defined the game of football.  Tenacious and fierce on both sides of the ball, the Raiders donned the reputation of the enemy, and may have even been considered 'dirty.'

Marv Levy's Buffalo Bills of the 1990s were basically the polar opposites.  Clean, classy, all-around solid fundamental football players.  With a trio of future Hall of Famers on offense (Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed, who has yet to be inducted), the Bills found themselves in four straight Super Bowls to kick off the decade.

 Davis certainly had one of the league's toughest defenses (finished with top-10 overall defense in five of the 10 seasons in the '80s), but Buffalo had the high-scoring offense to counter that attack (Kelly's Bills finished in the top-10 in scoring offense).

On offense, Buffalo has the better passing attack with the Kelly-Reed combination while Oakland has the better run game with Hall of Famer Marcus Allen coming out of the backfield.  Allen, from '82 (his rookie season) to '89, ran for 7,275 yards and 63 TDs.

Head-to-head outlook


Raiders of the 80s:
 *66-63 (.511 win %) in regular season; 8-3 in postseason (including Super Bowl)
*Five playoff appearances (four straight from 1982-85)
*Four division titles (back-to-back in '82 and '83)
*Two Super Bowl appearance (27-10 win over Philly in 1980, 38-9 win over Washington in 1983)

Bills of the 90s:
*103-57 (.643 win %) in regular season; 10-8 in postseason (including Super Bowl)
*Eight playoff appearances
*Five division titles (four straight from 1990-93)
*Four Super Bowl appearances (all losses)

In my opinion, this is an easy decision.  Despite the theory "offense wins games, defense wins championships."  I'd take Jim Kelly's high-powered offense with Marv Levy roaming the sidelines.  The numbers don't lie.

Yes, the Raiders were able to get it done when it mattered and actually won a pair of championships during that time, but I think getting to four straight Super Bowls is just as tough as winning just one championship.  Consistency wins me over in this debate.  Oakland/L.A. certainly had the swagger that you love to see in a football team, but Buffalo worked together better.

 When you look back at history, you'll notice that these two teams actually met in the AFC Conference Championship in 1990 and, yes, Buffalo spanked the Raiders 51-3.  One would argue that it wasn't a fair match-up (to bring up in this debate, anyways), so to further prove my point I simulated the game (SB winning Raiders of the 1980 season v.s. AFC Champion Bills of the 1990 season) on Whatifsports.com five different times.  Buffalo won four of those five games.  Links to the box scores are below.

http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=3317987&teamfee=-1&theme=-1
http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=3317989&teamfee=-1&theme=-1
http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=3317991&teamfee=-1&theme=-1
http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=3317993&teamfee=-1&theme=-1
http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=3317995&teamfee=-1&theme=-1

At times, Jim Kelly struggled with Oakland's stout defense led by Ted Hendricks and Lester Hayes, but he got it done when it mattered most, falling just a couple of touchdowns shy of sweeping the five-game series.

Well, that just about wraps it up.  Winner: Buffalo Bills.  It's about time they won something, eh?  Because, I mean, many Buffalo fans are most likely wishing they were still in the '90s.  We'll be praying for all you Bills fans.