Nov. 22, 1981 – Bills 20, Patriots 17
One of the greatest finishes in Buffalo Bills history, and yours truly was in the parking lot, having left the stadium to beat the traffic thinking the Bills had no chance to beat the New England Patriots.
I know, I know, a really bad look.
The buddy that I went to this game with is someone I grew up with outside Syracuse where I lived for about 12 years, and Tim had never been to a Bills game. He was attending school at the University at Buffalo, and I cajoled my father into letting me use the company season tickets which were supposed to be used for clients, but sometimes wound up in my hands.
Tim was thrilled, so off we went to a place I’d been to many times, but this was a new experience for him.
Most of the day had been frustrating because the Bills looked to be on their way to a third straight loss which would have dropped their record to 6-6 and put them in big trouble in the playoff race. And this loss would have been to the dreadful Patriots who came into Orchard Park with a 2-9 record.
The Bills found themselves down four points with 35 seconds to go and had to start their final possession at their own 27 with no timeouts. Come on, could you blame me for wanting to get out of there?
Tim reluctantly agreed to leave — after all, he was getting a home-cooked Sunday dinner at my house when we got there — and we had barely gotten out of the stadium when, listening on a radio being held by another early departee, Roland Hooks caught a game-winning Hail Mary 36-yard touchdown pass from Joe Ferguson with five seconds left for a 20-17 victory. Tim has never let me forget it even 40-plus years later, nor should he.
Hooks had made an incredible diving catch down the middle for 37 yards to get the winning drive started. “That was the key catch of the day,” said Ferguson. “Without that one, we wouldn’t have had a chance for the last one.”
On the final play — which the Bills nicknamed “Big Ben,” one that had also worked for a touchdown back in a 1979 game I attended against the Jets — Hooks, Jerry Butler and Frank Lewis lined up on the right side of the formation. They all ran to the end zone and Ferguson threw it up for grabs. There were six Patriots defending, and linebacker Mike Hawkins got a hand on the ball, but it caromed right to Hooks who hauled it in.
“Frank Lewis is the jumper in the middle,” said Hooks. “He tries to bat the ball to either me or Jerry Butler. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. All I was thinking was, ‘Don’t drop it.’ I couldn’t believe it, it was like what was going on wasn’t real.”
“Luck is the residue of design,” said coach Chuck Knox. “We had some luck, but a little luck is necessary to be consistent winners in the NFL.”
Turning back toward the stadium and seeing the people at the top of the upper deck going crazy when Hooks scored was certainly a deflating feeling indeed, even though it meant the Bills had won the game. As a reporter covering the Bills, I don’t have the option to leave early so I’ve never missed a fantastic finish since.
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Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills fans who left this 1981 game early always regretted it: Top games in stadium history
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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