In the sunset season for the concrete cathedral so often overflowed with as many as 80,000 passionate patrons, WIVB News 4 Buffalo is taking a daily look back over 400 games played in the Orchard Park stadium’s 52 years.
Oct. 8
1995 — Bills 29, Jets 10 — Bruce Smith ran circles around a rookie left tackle making his first career start and knocked Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason out of the game in the first quarter of a Rich Stadium rout in front of 79,485. Buffalo’s defense came away with four sacks and four takeaways in limiting New York to 173 yards. Thurman Thomas scored a touchdown and had 133 yards rushing, surpassing 9,000 for his career in his 40th game going over 100 yards. Jim Kelly got roughed up by a Hugh Douglas sack in the first half and completed only nine passes for 98 net yards, highlighted by a TD strike to Bill Brooks that put the Bills up 16-3 before halftime. Andre Reed sustained a hamstring injury in the first quarter that kept him out of the next 10 games and ended his run of seven Pro Bowl seasons. The win was Buffalo’s fourth in a row with a 50-point scoring margin during that stretch.
2007 — Cowboys 25, Bills 24 — A Monday night meltdown that ranks among the most memorable events at The Ralph for all the wrong reasons. Tony Romo turned the ball over six times and threw as many touchdowns to Bills defenders going the other way as he did for the Cowboys, yet still pulled out the victory. In throwback helmets like the ones they will wear this coming Monday night, Buffalo got a 103-yard kick return TD from Terrence McGee for a 24-13 lead in the third quarter, and still led by eight points with less than four minutes to play. A resilient Romo got Dallas in the end zone with 24 seconds left but failed to tie the game when Jabari Greer stripped the ball from Terrell Owens on a 2-point pass. But the Cowboys recovered an onside kick and Nick Folk’s 53-yard field goal at the whistle left the crowd of 71,545 in shock. With Trent Edwards at quarterback, Buffalo’s offense performance (229 yards, 3 for 13 on third downs) wasn’t worthy of a win in the stadium’s first Monday night game in 13 years, but six takeaways and three return touchdowns should have been enough. Buffalo’s former coach Wade Phillips got a measure of redemption seven years after his firing, and the Cowboys moved to 5-0 while the Bills mired at 1-4 in Dick Jauron’s second season.
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.