First AFCE Championship question

[QuantumMechanic]

In a few days (December 10) we'll be at the 41st anniversary of NE winning its first AFCE championship ever by beating the Bills 26-24 at Schaefer Stadium.

I was there and it was great, but for others who were there or watching on TV (assuming it wasn't blacked out) I have a question.

So NE was trailing 21-24 when Buffalo had a 4th down deep in its own end. The backed-up BUF punter decided to take an intentional safety rather than risk a blocked punt. So now NE was trailing 23-24. I remember all of that.

NE received the subsequent safety kick and ultimately drove down to the Bills 4 where Posey (playing that year for the injured John Smith) hit a 21 yarder to put NE ahead 26-24 which turned out to be the final score. I remember that kick, too. (And worrying that Posey would blow it.)

What I can't remember is how the NE drive went. Did they get a good return of the safety kick and end up with a relatively short drive for the FG? Or was it a long drive?

 

[maust]

IIRC they got a decent return but the drive that won it was still about half the length of the field with @ a minute and a half left. I too recall sweating Posey's kick since he'd been a bit of an adventure the previous couple of games and already had a miss in that wind. The things I remember most about the last 5 minutes of that one was losing my ish when Cunningham set that sequence of events in motion losing that fumble @ the 3 then worrying about the clock and the wind when the Pats got the ball back and started the drive (again, around midfield I think). It was a tough day to need air yards, stiff wind and a numbing windchill. In today's game a minute and a half is a lot of time but the hurry up wasn't exactly that rushing team's forte and the conditions were far from ideal for throwing the ball.

 

[jmt57]

The only thing I can find is that the Pats began with good field position: the drive started on the 47 yard line. However, I can't find anything anywhere about the drive itself, other than the Cunningham fumble.

 

[maust]

The only thing I can find is that the Pats began with good field position: the drive started on the 47 yard line. However, I can't find anything anywhere about the drive itself, other than the Cunningham fumble.

Sam Bam's fumble happened on the drive before Buffalo took the safety. It was brutal. The Pats had put together one of those remorseless tide coming in type drives that they were just so good at that season and it seemed inevitable they would roll into the end zone. Going by memory but the fumble definitely happened inside the 5 and I want to say it was recovered at either the 2 or 3. Man was I cold. The temp wasn't even that bad but that game was afflicted with the kind of wind chill cold that was as endemic to Schaefer in December as that horrible frozen astroturf, The wind could really make that place miserable sometimes. Every so often it would quarter it's way in there and just scour the joint. It felt almost exactly like that again 10 years later almost to the day in a game against Tampa. One of Champagne Tony's last few home starts. He threw an int and actually got in on the tackle. I didn't think the Cali kid had it in him but was sure he was gonna shatter, lol.

 

[Patjew]

This is a cool thread. I'm glad that old dudes like you are here posting this stuff, for real.

 

[shmessy]

All I remember that year was going to the first ever real NFL playoff game in Schaefer stadium against the Oilers and Dan Pastorini/Earl Campbell. Couldn’t stand the excitement leading up to that game, my first ever in person. And then they laid an egg......

But I do remember that young sub kicker David? Posey winning that game against Buffalo to clinch the division.

 

[Wax Frog]

This is a cool thread. I'm glad that old dudes like you are here posting this stuff, for real.

Sure makes this Dec 85er feel like a newbie in a good way. It's also nice to get the I-was-there perspective on games I missed out on.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I walked to and from that game. Uphill both ways. And I LIKED IT!

 

[DaBronxPats14]

Cool some of you were going to those Playoffs & AFCCG in early days at Gillette. My times were driving up to Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium in 1976 and on and sitting on metal benches and fans were so Hammered by Half Time and fighting, they though they were at a Bruin's Game.

Actually I was at that Bruin Game in 1979 at MSG when McNabb, O'Reilly & Milbury went into stands and beat a fan with his own show. I had a Terry O'Reilly# 24 Jersey back then, Man I'm Old!

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

This was in the cover of the Sports section in the Patriot ledger (Quincy newspaper) 19 years ago yesterday:

 

[Hyped]

This is a cool thread. I'm glad that old dudes like you are here posting this stuff, for real.

Yeah man....in those days my old man was sending me to the fridge for some more beer.....

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

This was in the cover of the Sports section in the Patriot ledger (Quincy newspaper) 19 years ago yesterday:

Amazing!

Still badly seeking that article from 2000 whereby executives unanimously chose the Patriots as the team least likely to win a SB in the next 10 years. Wish I had printed and scanned it when the link was live for many years. Think it was from The Sporting News and about a year ago someone else told me who the writer was (now deceased), but now I can’t remember that either.