Post by Lithfan on Dec 27, 2015 8:48:35 GMT -5
December 27, 1981
For the first time in 12 years, the New York Jets would get to play in a playoff game, hosting the Buffalo Bills in a wild card game. And I had to be at my fucking sister’s wedding.
Suffering through a decade of futility, the Jets finally put together a winning team. For the first time in over a decade, my team is in the playoffs, and my sister picks this date for her wedding. What a fucking bitch -- and not just because of the date of her wedding, but I digress. The wedding lasted longer than the Jets playoff hopes. As did the marriage, but not by much.
As the ceremony ended and the cocktail hour began, the Bills kicked off to the Jets. Bruce Harper took the kickoff, returned it to the Jets 25 where he got hit by Ervin Parker. The ball came loose and it was scooped up by Charles Romes who took it 26 yards for a TD and a 7-0 lead on the opening play. If the game started badly for the Jets, it would only get worse.
Charles Romes celebrates his fumble return for a touchdown on the game's opening kickoff.
Pat Leahy would miss a 52-yard field goal and the Bills would go 66 yards in just three plays to extend the lead. QB Joe Ferguson hit Frank Lewis for 14 yards, and after a two yard Joe Cribbs run, Ferguson would hit Lewis again, this time for 50 yards and a TD. Lewis would finish the game with 7 catches for 158 yards and 2 TDs. Ferguson finished with a 17-34-268 line with 2 TDs and 4 Ints as the Bills allowed the Jets back into the game in the second half.
The Bills got 2nd quarter interceptions from Rufus Bess and Phil Villapiano which they converted into 10 more points, and the Jets trailed by 24 early in the 2nd quarter.
“Sure we were stunned by the touchdown on the opening play,” said WR Wesley Walker. “But we really kept our composure after that. Even when it was 17-0 we felt we weren’t in that bad of shape. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves. But when Villapiano made that interception, I figured it was all over.”
But the Jets, led by Richard Todd, mounted a comeback after the slow start. Todd was 28-50 for 377 yards and two TDs. Like Ferguson, he also threw 4 interceptions. He connected on his first TD pass, a 30-yarder to Mickey Shuler in the 2nd. The Jets closed the half with a Leahy FG to cut the lead to 24-10.
Richard Todd completed 16 of 25 passes for 223 yards in the last 10:33 of the game, but threw a costly interception in the final seconds.
The Jets got two more TDs in the 4th quarter, a 30-yard toss from Todd to Bobby Jones and a 1 yard Kevin Long run, to close the gap to 31-27 with inside of 4 minutes left. After forcing a Buffalo punt, the Jets got the ball back at their own 20 with 2:36 to go. Todd connected on passes of 29 yards to Shuler, 13 to Jones and 26 to Derrick Gaffney to get to the 14 yard line with 14 seconds remaining. Todd’s next pass was intended for Derrick Gaffney at the two yard line, but Bills DB Bill Simpson beat Gaffney to the ball for a game clinching interception.
“What Todd does best is roll one way while all the receivers roll the other,” Simpson would say of his game ending pick. “I had the back (Scott Dierking) on the play but I had him checked good. Then I saw Gaffney float across into my area and I said to myself he’s the one. I just broke for him and beat him to the ball. I guessed wrong a lot of times, but that time I was lucky. I guessed right.”
Todd took that blame for the final play, “It was a bad read by me”, he said. “I should have thrown the ball out of bounds. I didn’t see him -- not until I threw the ball.”
The Jets lost, and I missed the whole fucking game. Had to wait another year before seeing my team in the playoffs -- at least they won a couple of playoff games the following year. As for my sister, the marriage didn't last. He ex is now a successful well known judge in South Florida. Instead she remarried several years later to the biggest deadbeat, loser leach in the world. My brother-in-law has not worked a day in the last 15 years. Karma - she got what she deserved for making me miss the Jets.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette & Lewiston Daily Sun
For the first time in 12 years, the New York Jets would get to play in a playoff game, hosting the Buffalo Bills in a wild card game. And I had to be at my fucking sister’s wedding.
Suffering through a decade of futility, the Jets finally put together a winning team. For the first time in over a decade, my team is in the playoffs, and my sister picks this date for her wedding. What a fucking bitch -- and not just because of the date of her wedding, but I digress. The wedding lasted longer than the Jets playoff hopes. As did the marriage, but not by much.
As the ceremony ended and the cocktail hour began, the Bills kicked off to the Jets. Bruce Harper took the kickoff, returned it to the Jets 25 where he got hit by Ervin Parker. The ball came loose and it was scooped up by Charles Romes who took it 26 yards for a TD and a 7-0 lead on the opening play. If the game started badly for the Jets, it would only get worse.
Charles Romes celebrates his fumble return for a touchdown on the game's opening kickoff.
Pat Leahy would miss a 52-yard field goal and the Bills would go 66 yards in just three plays to extend the lead. QB Joe Ferguson hit Frank Lewis for 14 yards, and after a two yard Joe Cribbs run, Ferguson would hit Lewis again, this time for 50 yards and a TD. Lewis would finish the game with 7 catches for 158 yards and 2 TDs. Ferguson finished with a 17-34-268 line with 2 TDs and 4 Ints as the Bills allowed the Jets back into the game in the second half.
The Bills got 2nd quarter interceptions from Rufus Bess and Phil Villapiano which they converted into 10 more points, and the Jets trailed by 24 early in the 2nd quarter.
“Sure we were stunned by the touchdown on the opening play,” said WR Wesley Walker. “But we really kept our composure after that. Even when it was 17-0 we felt we weren’t in that bad of shape. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves. But when Villapiano made that interception, I figured it was all over.”
But the Jets, led by Richard Todd, mounted a comeback after the slow start. Todd was 28-50 for 377 yards and two TDs. Like Ferguson, he also threw 4 interceptions. He connected on his first TD pass, a 30-yarder to Mickey Shuler in the 2nd. The Jets closed the half with a Leahy FG to cut the lead to 24-10.
Richard Todd completed 16 of 25 passes for 223 yards in the last 10:33 of the game, but threw a costly interception in the final seconds.
The Jets got two more TDs in the 4th quarter, a 30-yard toss from Todd to Bobby Jones and a 1 yard Kevin Long run, to close the gap to 31-27 with inside of 4 minutes left. After forcing a Buffalo punt, the Jets got the ball back at their own 20 with 2:36 to go. Todd connected on passes of 29 yards to Shuler, 13 to Jones and 26 to Derrick Gaffney to get to the 14 yard line with 14 seconds remaining. Todd’s next pass was intended for Derrick Gaffney at the two yard line, but Bills DB Bill Simpson beat Gaffney to the ball for a game clinching interception.
“What Todd does best is roll one way while all the receivers roll the other,” Simpson would say of his game ending pick. “I had the back (Scott Dierking) on the play but I had him checked good. Then I saw Gaffney float across into my area and I said to myself he’s the one. I just broke for him and beat him to the ball. I guessed wrong a lot of times, but that time I was lucky. I guessed right.”
Todd took that blame for the final play, “It was a bad read by me”, he said. “I should have thrown the ball out of bounds. I didn’t see him -- not until I threw the ball.”
The Jets lost, and I missed the whole fucking game. Had to wait another year before seeing my team in the playoffs -- at least they won a couple of playoff games the following year. As for my sister, the marriage didn't last. He ex is now a successful well known judge in South Florida. Instead she remarried several years later to the biggest deadbeat, loser leach in the world. My brother-in-law has not worked a day in the last 15 years. Karma - she got what she deserved for making me miss the Jets.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette & Lewiston Daily Sun
