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Bills Throwback Thursday: Looking to end MNF heartbreak

By Cam Boon

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Welcome to Throwback Thursday! Each week, we’ll preview the upcoming week’s game by taking a look back (sometimes WAY back) at a game either of relevance to the week, or something that happened to the day. Hope you enjoy, as we throw it back to Sept. 14, 2009:

“LEODIS! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? JUST TAKE THE KNEE! JUST TAKE THE KNEE!” That was about 95% of the Bills fans on Monday, September 14, 2009 when the Bills opened their season in New England. The other 5 percent? Well they probably stuck their head into their couch/pillow/significant other’s lap/etc. because they knew what was coming next.

Tom Brady had the ball with two minutes left, down five, at the Bills’ 31 yard line. Piece of cake. On the third play of the drive, Brady found Benjamin Watson for his second TD in as many drives and the Patriots again broke the hearts of Bills fans in Western New York with a 25-24 season-opening victory on Monday Night Football.

McKelvin was backpedaling as he hauled in the kick, and whether his momentum took him across the goal line or he voluntarily did so, he took the ball out of the end zone. This resulted in the turnover and the game-winning Brady-Watson connection.

The Bills looked comfortable late in the fourth, after Trent Edwards and Fred Jackson connected on a 10-yard screen pass for a touchdown, giving the Bills a 24-13 advantage with 5:32 to play in the game.

On the ensuing possession, Brady found Watson for the first time in the game, an 18-yard touchdown pass to cut Buffalo’s lead down to 24-19. After the missed two-point conversion, instead of an onside kick, Bill Belichick decided to let his kicker boot it deep. The rest goes down as one of the more depressing moments over the last 15 seasons.

Six years later, and the teams are back again as the last game of Week 11, and it is Buffalo looking to end their MNF heartbreaks as of late. Not only was there that, but there was also the loss to the Cleveland Browns on a missed field goal by Rian Lindell late.

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Also, who can forget the loss to the Cowboys on the first Monday Night game in Buffalo in close to 15 years?

In case you are wondering, no I am not counting the rescheduled game to Monday night from last year. So with that in mind, the Bills have not won a game on Monday Night Football in this millennium.

To their credit, they have not gotten blown out in these games either. The combined margin of the last three Monday Night affairs is four points, with two 25-24 decisions and one by a final tally of 29-27.

The Bills have also played the Patriots twice in the final game of the week, with both games on the road and both ending with losses; the 2009 affair and a matchup in 1995 when the Pats outlasted the Bills 27-14.

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