Buffalo Bills This Day In History: Jan 31st
By Dennis Amo
Sep 21, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills fans celebrate a touchdown by the Bills during the game against the San Diego Chargers at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Chargers beat the Bills 22-10. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
The last day of the month, the 31st, the Buffalo Bills were in action 23 years ago, this date. They were having one heck of a January as well, it started out with a wild card win, the infamous greatest comeback in NFL history, which is still the greatest comeback in NFL history to this day. It was a win over the Houston Oilers where the Buffalo Bills came back to win 41-38.
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They advanced on to the divisional round to face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bills went on to win that game as well 24-3. The Conference Championship was up next against division rival Miami Dolphins. The Bills were able to squish the fish that day as well 29-10, which brought them to January 31st, Super Bowl Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
This was the Buffalo Bills 3rd straight appearance in the Super Bowl and the first one against the Dallas Cowboys, they would go on to meet up again the next year.
Buffalo came in hoping for their first Super Bowl victory, losing the prior two to the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins.
The Buffalo Bills had an 11-5 regular season record entering the game and the Dallas Cowboys had a 13-3 record entering the game.
The game was played at the Rose Bowl Stadium. The Dallas Cowboys were favorites to win this game as the Vegas odds had them at -6.5 points at the start of the game.
Thurman Thomas opened up the scoring in the Super Bowl with a 2 yard rushing touchdown. The Cowboys answered right back and completed a 23 yard pass to Jay Novacek to tie the score at 7-7. Jimmie Jones went on to recover a fumble and returned it 2 yards for a touchdown for the Cowboys to go up 14-7.
Steve Christie opened up the scoring in the 2nd quarter for the Bills with a 21 yard field goal. Michael Irving added 2 more touchdowns for the Cowboys with a 19 and 18 yard reception respectively.
Lin Elliott added a field goal for the Cowboys in the 3rd quarter for the Cowboys to take a 31-10 lead. The Buffalo Bills answered back with a Don Beebe touchdown reception from 40 yards out.
The 4th quarter started with the Cowboys up 31-17. The rest of the scoring was provided by the Cowboys with three touchdowns, 1 of them a pass to Alvin Harper for a 45 yard touchdown, am Emmitt Smith rush from 10 yards out and a Ken Norton fumble recovery/return for 9 yards. The Dallas Cowboys finished off with a 52-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Jim Kelly went 4-7 for 82 yards and 2 interceptions. Frank Reich went 18 of 31 for 194 yards 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
Thurman Thomas had 11 rushes for 19 yards with a touchdown and Kenneth Davis had 15 rushes for 86 yards.
The Buffalo Bills defense was able to come away with 1 sack and 3 fumble recoveries.