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If the Bills were as good as what people said, they would have never had to put Norwood on the field for a 47 yarder
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00:21Hi, I'm Brian Kenney and welcome to ESPN Classics Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame, a series that
00:27takes a fresh look at sports figures remembered largely for their mistakes, controversial
00:31moments or questionable decisions. In 1991, the Giants met the Bills in Super Bowl XXV.
00:37Down to New York 20-19, Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal with four
00:43seconds left. And in that instant, entered the National Memory Bank as the man responsible
00:48for Buffalo losing its first of four consecutive Super Bowls. Now, before we take up the defense
00:53of Norwood, let's look at the evidence against him.
01:00The Bills, while they had some success in the AFL years in the 1960s, always seemed on the
01:06edge of things, but never putting it over the top.
01:09For more than three decades, died in the wool Bills fans have been saying, maybe next year.
01:14Our day is coming, and we're going to hang in there with each other, hold on to each other,
01:18embrace each other. There's a better day ahead.
01:20Along came Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith, and they just kind of ignited
01:25that whole city.
01:26Kelly to throw, and it is caught for a touchdown!
01:29This team had this dynamic offense. They played very solid defense, and their special teams
01:37were great.
01:38Oh, what! A touchdown, and it will return!
01:42You roll out Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reid, Cornelius, Bennett, we'd
01:47walk out of the tunnel, we're going to win, and we'd look across the field, and they knew
01:51it too.
01:52In 1990, the Bills' offense was rolling, generating 27 points a game, tops in the NFL.
01:58Their 13-3 record was the best in the AFC.
02:02Home run ball, hits on target for James Watson, and he goes in!
02:07Our offense was so talented, we had so many people on there that could make a play at any time.
02:13Andre Reid, touchdown!
02:15Thurman Thomas eating him up on that play.
02:19The Bills continued to roll through the playoffs, racking up 95 points in two games, including
02:25a 51-3 blowout of the Raiders for the AFC title.
02:29I remember Howie Long saying, you know, no, I mean, we could handle this.
02:34And when the game began, the Raiders had no clue what was coming at them.
02:39He has a touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown, Buffalo!
02:43I saw Al Davis in the locker room after the game, and he looked as white as a ghost.
02:48No one thought anybody could stop this Bills' offense.
02:51Hey, baby! Are y'all convinced now?
02:53The Buffalo Bills continue to be the overwhelming favorite in Super Bowl XXV.
02:57The betting line started out at five, it's now up to six and a half points.
03:01The Bills...
03:03...big Buffalo tough with 17-13 in December.
03:07It was a pretty classic matchup of two different schools of thought.
03:12You like points, and you like a sort of endless two-man offense, and you like the Buffalo Bills.
03:17It's tipped and it's caught by Lofton!
03:19You wanted defense and sock them in the mouth, and that's what Bill Parcells wanted to play.
03:24Tighten up your shoes, here they come.
03:26The game was about as perfect a Super Bowl game as you could have.
03:31And Donnie Smith takes it into the end zone!
03:34Last W throws, touchdown!
03:37Play nobody ever talks about is that tipped pass to James Lofton.
03:43The Bills have four seconds left, or eight seconds left when Norwell lined up to kick a field goal.
03:51Had that pass not been tipped, James Lofton scores right there, and they have a few more seconds.
03:57So what do they do with those few more seconds?
04:00They probably go down the field and get a closer field goal.
04:11Struggle back and forth.
04:12And Thurman breaking tackles, touchdown Buffalo!
04:17New York, once again, has the lead.
04:21It seemed right that it was going to come down to a final drive.
04:26Trailing by a point, the Bills took over on their own ten with a little more than two minutes remaining.
04:33We had the drive at the end of the game when we needed to have it that put us in
04:37position at least to try to win it.
04:39Thurman Thomas out to the 40, a first down.
04:42We just felt like, hey, let's get it in the field goal range.
04:47Scott Norwood has been kicking field goals for us in the last couple of years.
04:51All my job was to get inside the 30-yard line, because Scott told me, there's no doubt, you know,
04:57I can make it.
04:58I'm good for 50.
05:00Thurman Thomas takes it to the 30.
05:02Scott Norwood told me before that game, he hoped it came down to his kick.
05:07And we had a headline that said Norwood hopes it's up to him.
05:11They have to send him in here, they can't take a chance and run another play.
05:15I was hoping direly to be able to get in there and try to kick a game winner.
05:24No good!
05:26Wide right!
05:27Usually his ball goes right to left like a golf shot, and it didn't hook.
05:33The rest was his shot.
05:34The players were like, oh, God, you know, they were just almost in tears at that point.
05:39How much emotion can you stand?
05:42It was just devastating.
05:44I've never been around a locker room that was more broken-hearted after that kick went wide.
05:51There's no guarantees.
05:53You know, what I do, I did the best I could.
05:56Bottom line is when the game's on the line, missed it wide, and the Buffalo Bills lost.
06:00You can blame Scott Norwood for missing that kick because that was his only job.
06:04To make field goals in that exact moment.
06:06That's why you have a kicker on the team.
06:08There's a lot of people out there that, you know, want to grab Scott Norwood by his throat.
06:13Bunch of our offensive linemen.
06:15Scott Norwood came up to me at the Washington National Reagan Airport and said,
06:19Mr. Russell, I want to introduce myself.
06:21I'm Scott Norwood.
06:21I said, Scott, I know who you are.
06:23I think about you every night.
06:28You've just seen why Scott Norwood has become the butt of countless jokes.
06:32I thought he would have to introduce himself from somebody to somebody in Buffalo.
06:39But, you know, or from Buffalo.
06:44But the game should have never come down to a kick if the Bills were as good as people said
06:49they were.
06:54But before we count-
06:57For the Bills, here are a few points in his favor.
07:00We call them the best of the rest.
07:04Matt Barr.
07:05Matt Barr.
07:06Who did?
07:06Who did?
07:06From earlier.
07:08He actually scored a field goal on that drive.
07:10James Lofton got that deep touch-
07:12That deep pass.
07:14Had they scored a touchdown there, they would have been up.
07:18So, you know.
07:22And the Giants would have to rely on Matt Barr to tie the game.
07:28Making fives in the Giants' 15-13 win over San Francisco in the NFC Championship game.
07:34He kicked two more in the Super Bowl, including the game winner.
07:38But from the start of the contest, Barr showed another dimension to his talent.
07:43Barr's just taken up at the 13-yard line.
07:46You don't want to give up six points on the opening kickoff.
07:50How embarrassing.
07:52Tackled by Barr.
07:54We had two returns where Matt made the tackle.
07:59If they have any other kicker in the league, they get blown out in that Super Bowl.
08:03Now that it's over, I can kind of tip my hat to them.
08:05But at that time, I want to kick him in the garage.
08:11Our other best of the rest.
08:13Buffalo overconfidence.
08:15After their demolition of the Raiders, the Bills may have set their sights more on the prize than the opponent.
08:21They were-
08:22Nothing.
08:23Every team gets overconfident.
08:25These are pro athletes.
08:27These are some of the biggest egos on earth.
08:32They deserve to have an ego if you blow out a team 51-3.
08:37After a Hall of Famer, a future Hall of Famer says they were going to stop you.
08:47Partying during the week.
08:49Champagne and going to hotels and, you know, partying and drinking and whatnot.
08:53Most of this week, we have seen quite a few members of the Buffalo Bills enjoying the Tampa nightlife.
08:58I sensed that maybe their focus wasn't what it should be before Super Bowl.
09:05I remember going to media day and talking to Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith.
09:10They were talking like this was going to be the start of their dynasty.
09:14Yeah, we're greedy.
09:15Greed is good.
09:15We're greedy, yeah.
09:16There's arrogance, cogumence, and confidence.
09:20We were all free.
09:21We just didn't feel like we'd be stopped.
09:25When we return to the top five reasons you can't blame Scott Norwood for the Bills losing Super Bowl 25,
09:31we'll see how this O.J. squeezed Buffalo.
09:35Norwood, an old man beat your Buffalo Bills.
09:39That's why you shouldn't be blamed.
09:47Otis O.J. Anderson, the oldest running back in the NFL, was ready to perform on the game's biggest stage.
09:54Going into the game, we knew who O.J. Anderson was, but I don't think we were 100% concerned
10:00with him beating us running the football.
10:03In 1990, Anderson shared the rushing duty with rookie Rodney Hampton.
10:07But when Hampton went down with a season-ending injury in the playoffs, the 225-pound veteran carried the load
10:14in the Super Bowl.
10:14Otis was the perfect back for that game.
10:18He was a power back in a power game, and he came through with the tough yardage that they needed.
10:24Now that's the kind of movement that a lot of people weren't sure that Otis Anderson still was capable of
10:29at this age.
10:30He punished people.
10:32I mean, patented Otis Anderson, he punished people.
10:36Anderson's fire within flared to the surface during a Giants drive in the third quarter.
10:4034 years old, baggy pants, breaks to the left.
10:44Anderson in the Buffalo Territory!
10:47And then he sees the defensive back.
10:49I kind of wind up the old forearm haymaker, and I had bad intention.
10:54Look at Otis Anderson, throw the uppercut.
10:57It's like one of them Escalades hitting a Volkswagen.
11:00The side's gonna always win that battle.
11:02Anderson's 21 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown earned him MVP honors.
11:07No will.
11:09I am the primary reason why you shouldn't be blamed.
11:14An old man beat your Buffalo Bills.
11:18What?
11:21Jeff Hostetler.
11:23The Giants' backup quarterback took command after Bill Simms was knocked out for the season by the Bills in mid
11:29-December.
11:29At that time, I was like, who is he?
11:33And it's like, Jeff Hostetler.
11:34I'm like, sweet, I don't know him.
11:36You know?
11:38He can't be that good.
11:39Under the gutsy Hostetler, the Giants went 4-0, including two playoff wins on their way to the Super Bowl
11:45in Tampa.
11:46I haven't gotten any respect from anything else.
11:50So what's new?
11:51Against the Bills, Hostetler completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown.
11:59And while moving the chains, he survived some ferocious hits.
12:04I can remember one play in particular where Leon Seals just engulfed him.
12:08And you're like, there's no way he's gonna get up.
12:11Leon Seals really decked him.
12:13It felt like maybe I was a couple inches thick.
12:16I couldn't breathe.
12:17I was trying to get the gasp of air.
12:20And he came over to the sideline.
12:21And Ronnie Barnes broke over.
12:23I don't know if you ever smelt those ammonia salts.
12:25But you can only...
12:26From here, you can't take it.
12:28And he took one up and put it right under Hostetler's nose and told him to take a deep breath.
12:32Hostetler went...
12:34And nothing happened.
12:35They were telling me to breathe deep and I was breathing real deep.
12:38And I remember their faces.
12:41I was like, oh my God, if he didn't feel that, he's not in his right mind.
12:45Throughout the intense shelling, Hostetler took care of the football.
12:48In the second quarter with the Giants trailing 10-3, after tripping over Anderson...
12:55280 pounds of the all-time sack leader on his lean right arm.
13:01He should have fumbled the ball up, coughed it up, Bills touchdown, game over.
13:07All he got was his safety.
13:10On his foot, he showed poise and tenacity as he kept the football and the game in his grasp.
13:18He, Zach for the safety, Bruce Smith.
13:2295 times over 100, he's fumbled.
13:25Bruce Smith latched out at his hand, tried to shake the ball free.
13:29He's got Hostetler's wrist.
13:31I felt a big old hand on my wrist and did everything I could to bring the ball back in.
13:36Look at him pull the ball into his chest.
13:39Had that play turned out to be a touchdown, that would have been a 17-3 Buffalo lead.
13:44No team in Super Bowl history has ever lost a game in which it led by 14 or more points.
13:50It was probably the best...
13:53It's who the Falcons.
13:59Oh man.
14:01...safety in Super Bowl history.
14:05When we return, we'll continue our countdown of the top five reasons you can't blame Scott Norwood for the Bills
14:10losing Super Bowl 25.
14:12Here's a hint.
14:14Giant football.
14:16Giant football.
14:17It still shows me that we only had the ball 19 minutes.
14:27Buffalo's defense.
14:29The unit led by pro bowlers Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, Darryl Talley, and Shane Conlon tired as the Giants controlled
14:35the ball for a Super Bowl record 40 minutes and 33 seconds.
14:40If you want to put a blame on this game, put it on the Bills defense.
14:44The other team shoves it down your throat for 40 minutes with the running back who's like 100 years old.
14:49Make a stop on third down and get your offense on the field.
14:53With a 12-3 lead, Buffalo's defense gave up an 87-yard drive at the end of the first half.
15:00Touchdown!
15:01Stephen Baker!
15:02After the Giants received the kickoff to start the second half, Buffalo's star-studded defense couldn't halt their grinding progress
15:10downfield.
15:11A Super Bowl record 9 minutes 29 seconds elapsed.
15:15Perhaps the most demoralizing play came on a third and 13 at the Bills 32.
15:21John Stetler throwing, caught by Ingram, he has to get to the 19 for a first down, and he does!
15:29He catches that patch, you think, oh no way he's getting the first down.
15:32Then he breaks one tackle, he ducks under another guy, sidesteps another guy, gets hit by another guy, spins, lunges,
15:39and gets the first down.
15:40You can see the physical exhaustion from our guys who were trying to make those tackles.
15:46You could look at them after that nine-minute drive and know that their defense was done.
15:52Touchdown Anderson!
15:54The most telling measure of the ineffectiveness of the defense was the fact that the halftime entertainment got more airtime
16:01than Buffalo's offense.
16:03The new kids on the block!
16:06The new kids on the block in their halftime show.
16:09Buffalo was out there more than Jim and Thurman in the third quarter.
16:12There was a period of time, probably over an hour, hour and a half, that we weren't even on the
16:16field.
16:18Buffalo's defense let the Giants convert nine of 16 third downs.
16:22And after the Bills took a 19-17 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter,
16:26they allowed New York to march 74 yards in 13 plays to set up Matt Barr's go-ahead field goal.
16:34Collectively, that front seven was inept in that game.
16:38They just got man-held by the giant offensive line.
16:41That's really where their blame should be.
16:43I had opportunities to make plays that I didn't make.
16:47And everybody to a man has to look at themselves and say,
16:50Hey, I didn't make the play at that time.
16:52So guess what?
16:54Hello, this is on me.
16:57Have we begun to change your mind yet?
16:59If not, take a look at reason number two.
17:01.
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17:47.
18:06.
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18:49The Bills converting eight on third down and scoring three times in 11 possessions.
18:54The game played out just as Belichick and head coach Bill Parcells had written the script.
18:59The full philosophy going into was to keep the clock moving, keep the ball out of their hands.
19:04If you look at each time we snap the ball, it's one or two seconds before we snap the ball.
19:12Trailing by a point with less than three minutes left in the game, the Bills stopped Jeff Hostetler on third
19:17down.
19:18Then moving, paralysis set in on Buffalo's sideline.
19:22The Bills play right into their hands by not calling a quick timeout.
19:26They let the clock tick and tick and tick.
19:29Thirteen seconds tick off before the Bills call a timeout.
19:32A lot of blame's got to be shared by the Bills coaching staff for letting those valuable seconds tick away.
19:37If there wasn't such indecision about that, maybe they'd get another play or two off and get that ball closer
19:43for Norway.
19:46When we return to the top five reasons you can't blame Scott Norwood for the Bills losing Super Bowl XXV,
19:51we present our top reason.
19:54The pressure of the season ending kicked by Anna Ben-Terry like it was on Scott Norwood.
20:0147 yards on grass?
20:04That is no sure thing.
20:06In fact, from 1986 to 1990, NFL kickers had missed more than half their attempts on grass from 47 yards.
20:16When you're talking about a 47-yard field goal on grass to win the Super Bowl,
20:19you're not talking about something that's very easy to do.
20:22Grass has ruts in it.
20:24There'll be slight ripples through the field.
20:27The field is never as pristine and flat as what artificial turf would be.
20:33On a grass field with the Super Bowl in the balance,
20:37where you're either going to win or lose the game,
20:40that adds yet another measure of tremendous pressure.
20:44Only three Super Bowls have been won in the final second by field goals.
20:48Each broke a tie.
20:51You go back to Jim O'Brien making the kick for the Colts against the Cowboys.
20:54If he misses it, the game goes into overtime.
20:57Adam Benetieri, for all his greatness, he never was in a Scott Norwood moment.
21:02Because in a Norwood moment, you don't have the safety net of overtime.
21:06No kickers probably felt the pressure of a kick of that magnitude.
21:12In his six years as a pro, Norwood, whose home field was AstroTurf,
21:16had connected on 87% of his kicks from inside the 40.
21:21Scott was an awesome kicker just to be able to play into the conditions he played in,
21:26just trying to make 25, 30-yard field goals in the wind up in Buffalo.
21:30That's it.
21:32Kick is good, and the Bills are champions of the AFC East.
21:36He was extremely accurate at, let's say, 35 yards and in.
21:41The longer it was, he lost his accuracy.
21:45Scott Norwood had the shortest average made field goal in the AFC.
21:51And what that means is that if you average all the makes that he had,
21:55he basically had the weakest leg.
21:57On grass fields in his career, one for five in 40 yards plus.
22:04Norwood's lone three-pointer on grass beyond 40 was from the 41.
22:09Norwood had missed a 42-yard attempt in a game at Cleveland to grass field in November of 1990.
22:16That one never had a chance.
22:18Prior to that, he hadn't even attempted a field goal of 40 or more yards on a grass field since
22:251988.
22:26That is no good.
22:28Man, he missed that first field goal by two goalposts.
22:34He could have put a goalpost right next to that goalpost, and he still would have missed it.
22:40It was not something that he had a history of success in.
22:43Scott Norwood didn't have confidence that you need to have to attempt a field goal like that.
22:49You need to feel like you've done it before many, many times.
22:53Bill Buckner had fielded some ground balls behind first base in his career,
22:58and Bill Mazeroski had hit some home runs.
23:01Scott Norwood had never kicked a field goal this long on a grass field.
23:05He was trying something that he had never done before under perhaps the most pressure that you can ever have
23:11in all the sports.
23:12You can't blame him for asking him to do something that he had never done before.
23:22I haven't heard the guy.
23:24He's got to be the only Giants player to play in Super Bowl 25 and 35.
23:41Yeah!
23:45Cut!
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