1999 Buffalo Bills season

1999 Buffalo Bills season
Head Coach	Wade Phillips
Home Field	Ralph Wilson Stadium
Results
Record	11–5
Place	2nd AFC East
Playoff Finish	Lost Wild Card Match
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1998	2000

The 1999 Buffalo Bills season was the 40th season for the team in the National Football League. It would be the final season that long time Bills members Bruce Smith, Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas were on the same team together. All three were released at the end of the season due to salary cap reasons. The Buffalo Bills finished in second place in the AFC East and finished the National Football League's 1999 season with a record of 11 wins and 5 losses. The Bills qualified for the postseason for the seventh time in the decade.

As of the 2010 season, this was the last season that Buffalo qualified for the playoffs.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1999 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	23	Antoine Winfield	Defensive Back	Ohio State
2	53	Peerless Price	Wide Receiver	Tennessee
3	86	Shawn Bryson	Fullback	Tennessee
4	119	Keith Newman	Outside Linebacker	North Carolina
4	122	Bobby Collins	Tight End	North Alabama
5	156	Jay Foreman	Inside Linebacker	Nebraska
6	194	Armon Hatcher	Safety	Oregon State
7	230	Sheldon Jackson	Tight End	Nebraska
7	248	Bryce Fisher	Defensive End	Air Force

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 12, 1999	at Indianapolis Colts	L 31–14	56,238
2	September 19, 1999	New York Jets	W 17–3	68,839
3	September 26, 1999	Philadelphia Eagles	W 26–0	70,872
4	October 4, 1999	at Miami Dolphins	W 23–18	74,073
5	October 10, 1999	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 24–21	71,038
6	October 17, 1999	Oakland Raiders	L 20–14	71,113
7	October 24, 1999	at Seattle Seahawks	L 26–16	66,301
8	October 31, 1999	at Baltimore Ravens	W 13–10	68,673
9	November 7, 1999	at Washington Redskins	W 34–17	78,721
10	November 14, 1999	Miami Dolphins	W 23–3	72,810
11	November 21, 1999	at New York Jets	L 17–7	79,285
12	November 28, 1999	New England Patriots	W 17–7	72,111
13	Bye
14	December 12, 1999	New York Giants	L 19–17	72,527
15	December 19, 1999	at Arizona Cardinals	W 31–21	64,337
16	December 26, 1999	at New England Patriots	W 13–10	55,014
17	January 2, 2000	Indianapolis Colts	W 31–6	61,959

Standings

AFC East
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Indianapolis Colts	13	3	0	.813	423	333
Buffalo Bills	11	5	0	.688	320	229
Miami Dolphins	9	7	0	.563	326	336
New York Jets	8	8	0	.500	308	309
New England Patriots	8	8	0	.500	299	284

Roster

Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks  7 Doug Flutie  10 Alex Van Pelt  11 Rob Johnson Running Backs 34 Thurman Thomas RB 38 Shawn Bryson RB Wide Receivers 80 Eric Moulds 81 Peerless Price 83 Andre Reed Tight Ends 84 Bobby Collins		Offensive Linemen 60 Jerry Ostroski G 70 John Fina T 77 Robert Hicks T 79 Ruben Brown G Defensive Linemen 78 Bruce Smith DE 90 Phil Hansen DE		Linebackers 52 John Holecek LB 56 Sam Cowart LB Defensive Backs 20 Henry Jones S 27 Ken Irvin CB 29 Keion Carpenter S Special Teams  2 Steve Christie K

Playoffs

AFC Wild Card

Tennessee Titans 22, Buffalo Bills 16 1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 0 7 9 16 Titans 0 12 0 10 22 at Adelphia Coliseum, Nashville, Tennessee Date: January 8, 2000 Game time: 12:30 pm EST/11:30 am CST Game weather: 58 °F (14 °C), cloudy Game attendance: 66,672 Referee: Phil Luckett TV announcers (ABC): Mike Patrick (play-by-play), Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire (color commentators), and Solomon Wilcots (sideline reporter)

Music City Miracle

Main article: Music City Miracle

The Music City Miracle is a famous play in the NFL Wild Card Playoffs involving the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills that took place on January 8, 2000 (following the 1999 regular season) at Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville, Tennessee.

Going into the game, Bills coach Wade Phillips created a stir by starting quarterback Rob Johnson, rather than Doug Flutie, who had started 15 games, and who had led the team to the playoffs. Late in the fourth quarter, the stage was set for an exciting finish. Tennessee received the ball with 6:15 remaining. Titans receiver Isaac Byrd's 16-yard punt return and five carries from Eddie George for 17 yards set up a wobbly 36-yard field goal by Del Greco. The Titans took a 15–13 lead with 1:48 to go. On the ensuing drive, with no timeouts remaining, Bills quarterback Johnson led the Bills on a five-play, 37-yard drive to the Titans' 24 yard line. On the last two plays from scrimmage, Johnson played with only one shoe on, as he had lost one and had no time to put it back on, with the clock running out. With only 16 seconds remaining in the game, Steve Christie, the Bills' kicker, made a 41-yard field goal to put Buffalo in the lead, 16–15.

Moments later, Christie kicked off, and Titans player Lorenzo Neal received. Neal handed the ball off to Titans tight end Frank Wycheck, who then lateraled the ball across the field to another Titans player, Kevin Dyson, who then ran down the sidelines for a 75-yard touchdown. The play was named Home Run Throwback by the Titans and was developed by Special Teams Coordinator Alan Lowry.

• Official review

Per the instant replay rules, the play was reviewed by referee Phil Luckett since it was uncertain if the ball had been a forward pass, which is illegal on a kickoff return. However, the call on the field was upheld as a touchdown, and the Titans won the game 22–16. After the game, however, many Bills players and fans continued to insist that it was indeed an illegal forward pass.

• Aftermath

The victory, in front of a franchise-record crowd at Adelphia Coliseum, allowed the Tennessee franchise to advance to the divisional round of the AFC playoffs for the first time since 1993. Subsequent victories over the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars sent the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV to face the St. Louis Rams, where they lost by a touchdown.

It could be said that the game served as revenge for the Titans/Oilers franchise for The Comeback, where the Bills came back from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers, 41–38, in overtime. For the Bills, it led to the firing after 13 seasons of special teams coach Bruce DeHaven. One year later, Phillips was fired (partly due to his failure to lead the Bills past the first round of the playoffs during his tenure) and replaced by Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. It was added to the list of infamous moments in Buffalo sports history, joining Wide Right and No Goal.

References

• Bills on Pro Football Reference
• Bills on jt-sw.com
• Bills Stats on jt-sw.com