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. 10
1999 — Bills 24, Steelers 21 — Doug Flutie accounted for 300 yards of offense and threw three touchdown passes in leading Buffalo to a fourth straight victory before a crowd of 71,038. Eric Moulds had 122 yards receiving and hauled in a 49-yard touchdown strike from Flutie. Tight end Jay Riemersma and fullback Sam Gash scored the other TDs, and Jonathan Linton led Buffalo’s backs with 60 yards from scrimmage, with hard runs to kill the clock and close out the victory. The Bills defense allowed only 255 yards and held Jerome Bettis to 24 yards on 13 carries. Linebacker Sam Rogers had an interception.
2010 — Jaguars 36, Bills 26 — Attendance at Ralph Wilson Stadium was 58,304 for a game in which the Bills kept it close most of the way but could not avoid dropped to 0-5 for the first time in 25 seasons. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans on the opening drive and connected with Stevie Johnson for the first of two touchdowns to tie the score at 20 with 6:56 left in the third quarter. David Garrard led the Jags on a TD drive to take the lead and pulled away with three field goals while the Bills struggled to move the ball and failed on fourth on down twice in the fourth quarter.
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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.