by Tony | May 22, 2024 | Games, NFL History
Interestingly enough, in the first iteration of the list of greatest games that we produced with AI, this game was actually at the top of the list–in no small part because of a list of top games produced by Yahoo! Sports shortly after this game–but then we realized we hadn’t really specified that we were looking for a rank ordered list–this game still made the cut, but went Bob Uecker on the list, from the front to the back. Not sure if this one would have made my list, but it definitely was a good game–and has had an impact on league rules, with overtime changes as a result.
Was this Game in the Original List from the Book?
Obviously not, since this game happened 25 years after that book was published.
The Epic 2022 AFC Divisional Round Showdown: Chiefs vs. Bills
The 2022 AFC Divisional Round playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills is widely regarded as one of the most thrilling and unforgettable games in NFL history. Played on January 23, 2022, at Arrowhead Stadium, this showdown featured two of the league’s most dynamic quarterbacks—Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Josh Allen of the Bills. What ensued was a dramatic back-and-forth battle that showcased the very best of professional football and led to a significant rule change in the NFL.
Setting the Stage
The Chiefs and the Bills entered this game with high expectations. The Chiefs, having made it to the Super Bowl in the previous two seasons, were aiming for another championship run. The Bills, on the other hand, were looking to capitalize on their own resurgence and prove they were ready to dethrone the Chiefs. Both teams boasted high-powered offenses and formidable defenses, setting the stage for an epic clash.
First Half: A Taste of What’s to Come
The first half of the game hinted at the fireworks to come, but it was relatively tame compared to what would unfold later. The Chiefs started strong, with Patrick Mahomes leading a masterful opening drive that culminated in a touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill. The Bills responded with a steady drive of their own, ending with a touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Gabriel Davis, who would become a key figure in this game.
The teams traded blows throughout the half, with the Chiefs taking a slight edge into the locker room at halftime. The score stood at 14-14, with both defenses making crucial stops and both offenses showing flashes of brilliance.
Second Half: The Fireworks Begin
The second half is where the game truly began to take on legendary status. Both teams came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders. The Bills struck first, with Josh Allen connecting again with Gabriel Davis for a touchdown, giving the Bills a 21-14 lead. The Chiefs quickly answered back, with Mahomes finding tight end Travis Kelce in the end zone to tie the game once more.
As the third quarter turned into the fourth, the intensity only increased. The Bills took the lead again with a touchdown run by Devin Singletary, but the Chiefs responded with a touchdown pass from Mahomes to Mecole Hardman. The game was tied at 28-28, setting up a nail-biting final few minutes.
The Final Two Minutes: A Frenzy of Scoring
The final two minutes of regulation were among the most chaotic and exhilarating in NFL history. With 1:54 left on the clock, Josh Allen led a spectacular drive, culminating in a touchdown pass to Gabriel Davis—his fourth of the game—putting the Bills ahead 36-33. It seemed like the Bills had secured a victory.
However, Patrick Mahomes had other plans. With just 13 seconds left, Mahomes executed a near-impossible drive, completing crucial passes to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to get the Chiefs into field goal range. Harrison Butker then nailed a 49-yard field goal as time expired, sending the game into overtime at 36-36.
Overtime: A Controversial Conclusion
The overtime period, while short, was packed with drama. The Chiefs won the coin toss, giving Mahomes and the offense the first possession. In a series of precise plays, Mahomes led the Chiefs down the field, culminating in a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce, sealing the 42-36 victory for Kansas City.
The ending was met with mixed emotions. While Chiefs fans celebrated, Bills fans and many others were left frustrated by the NFL’s overtime rules, which allowed the game to end without giving the Bills’ offense a chance to respond. This game’s controversial ending ultimately led to a change in the NFL’s postseason overtime rules, ensuring both teams get a possession unless the first team scores a touchdown.
Key Performances and Records
- Patrick Mahomes: Mahomes was spectacular, throwing for 378 yards and three touchdowns, and rushing for another 69 yards and a touchdown. His ability to stay calm under pressure and execute in critical moments was on full display.
- Josh Allen: Allen was equally impressive, throwing for 329 yards and four touchdowns, all to Gabriel Davis. Allen also led the Bills in rushing with 68 yards, showcasing his dual-threat capability.
- Gabriel Davis: Davis had a career game, setting an NFL playoff record with four touchdown receptions. His clutch catches kept the Bills in the game and highlighted his potential as a rising star.
The Aftermath and Legacy
The 2022 AFC Divisional Round game is remembered not only for its thrilling conclusion but also for its impact on the NFL. The game highlighted the need for changes in the overtime rules, which the NFL implemented in the following offseason. Now, both teams are guaranteed a possession in postseason overtime unless the first team scores a touchdown, a change that many believe will lead to fairer outcomes in future playoff games.
For fans, this game is a reminder of why they love football. It had everything: stellar quarterback play, incredible catches, strategic brilliance, and a heart-stopping finish. The Chiefs and the Bills delivered a performance for the ages, one that will be talked about and analyzed for years to come.
As we look back on this game, it’s clear that it represents the pinnacle of NFL excitement. The 2022 AFC Divisional Round will forever be etched in the memories of football fans, a testament to the unpredictable and thrilling nature of the sport. Whether you’re a Chiefs fan, a Bills fan, or just a lover of football, this game had something for everyone and stands as one of the greatest in NFL history.
by Tony | May 21, 2024 | Games, NFL History
Our List of the 25 Greatest Games in NFL History
Between the two of us, Andy and I have amassed quite a collection of football books over the years–biographies, autobiographies, works of fiction, historical perspectives…even some how at one point a book cobbled together by Drew Rosenhaus (seriously one of the worst books I’ve ever read–I only managed to complete it just to see how bad it was…fortunately I got that one at an outlet discount store).
One book that I had completely forgotten about picking up is a Sports Illustrated Football Classics coffee table style book entitled “Greatest Football Games of All Time,” by Hank Hersch. When I stumbled across the book, I immediately wondered “How many of these games would still make the list today, given that this book was published in 1997?” Well, that might have been my second thought, right after “How do you call it the Greatest Football Games of All Time, but not including any college football games?”.
Given our focus on more historical aspects of the game, I figured it was worth sitting down and coming up with a list…and of course, with my workload, I immediately turned to ChatGPT to help me out–especially because I thought it would be interesting to see how it is able to match up a list with the book, and with what the Zoneblitz audience thinks…
Of course, it isn’t a perfect comparison–I didn’t really give ChatGPT much for parameters beyond “What are the top 25 games in NFL history?” to start, which eventually morphed into a prompt of “Make a ranked list of the 25 greatest games of all-time in NFL history.” And that result is what we’ll reveal here (over time, of course, to hopefully draw out conversation, debate and guesses of what’s next on the list). And as I started to compare to the book…I realized the book’s title wasn’t “The 25 Greatest Football Games of All Time”–just “The Greatest Football Games of All Time.”
And, of course, they broke their list into categories–Big Games, One-Man Games, Comebacks, Nail-Biters, and Fantastic Finishes. Of note–they started the book with the line “More than 10,000 NFL games have been played since the founding of the league in 1920.” Out of curiosity, I looked up how many have been played now–according to ProFootballReference, as of 5/21/2024, there have been 17,665 games played, for what that’s worth.
Their list:
(more…)
by Tony | Jan 16, 2024 | Hall of Fame
**EDIT: This article was originally posted on October 24, 2022. Given the news that Jason Kelce is retiring, we thought it relevant to push back to the top of the page.**
In the interest of keeping some Hall of Fame discussion ongoing and fresh, hopefully I’ll be a bit more proactive about posing these questions when I see/hear them out in the wild. I came across this one over the weekend when working on another football related project:
To be honest, another player I wouldn’t even have thought to ask the question about–obviously I know who he is, and I knew he was decent, but I was surprised when I looked up his profile on Pro-Football-Reference.com to see that he is a four-time First-Team AP All-Pro, and five-time Pro Bowler (interesting as well that two of his All-Pro seasons were not Pro Bowl seasons). He’s playing in his 12th season, and has started/played in every game in nine of those seasons, including the last seven seasons.
Responses were (unsurprisingly) mixed: (more…)
by Tony | Nov 28, 2023 | Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame released it’s list of Semifinalists Tuesday morning, knocking the list down to 25 names for consideration for the final 5 in the Class of 2024. The biggest surprise? Likely that it wasn’t turned into an hour long prime time special for NFL Network </snark>.
The list of semifinalists, straight from ProFootballHallofFame.com:
- Eric Allen, CB – 1988-1994 Philadelphia Eagles, 1995-97 New Orleans Saints, 1998-2001 Oakland Raiders | (Times as a Semifinalist: 4 – 2021-24)
- Jared Allen, DE – 2004-07 Kansas City Chiefs, 2008-2013 Minnesota Vikings, 2014-15 Chicago Bears, 2015 Carolina Panthers | (Times as a Semifinalist: 4 – 2021-24)
- Willie Anderson, T – 1996-2007 Cincinnati Bengals, 2008 Baltimore Ravens | (Times as a Semifinalist: 4 – 2021-24)
- Tiki Barber, RB – 1997-2006 New York Giants | (Times as a Semifinalist: 1 – 2024)
- Anquan Boldin, WR – 2003-09 Arizona Cardinals, 2010-12 Baltimore Ravens, 2013-15 San Francisco 49ers, 2016 Detroit Lions | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2022-24)
- Jahri Evans, G – 2006-2016 New Orleans Saints, 2017 Green Bay Packers | (Times as a Semifinalist: 2 – 2023-24)
- London Fletcher, LB – 1998-2001 St. Louis Rams, 2002-06 Buffalo Bills, 2007-2013 Washington Redskins | (Times as a Semifinalist: 2 – 2023-24)
- Dwight Freeney, DE – 2002-2012 Indianapolis Colts, 2013-14 San Diego Chargers, 2015 Arizona Cardinals, 2016 Atlanta Falcons, 2017 Seattle Seahawks, 2017 Detroit Lions | (Times as a Semifinalist: 2 – 2023-24)
- Antonio Gates, TE – 2003-2018 San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers (First Year Eligible)
- Eddie George, RB – 1996-2003 Houston/Tennessee Oilers/Titans, 2004 Dallas Cowboys (Times as a Semifinalist: 2 – 2022, 2024)
- James Harrison, LB – 2002-2012, 2014-17 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2013 Cincinnati Bengals, 2017 New England Patriots | (Times as a Semifinalist: 2 – 2023-24)
- Rodney Harrison, S – 1994-2002 San Diego Chargers, 2003-08 New England Patriots | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2021, 2023-24)
- Devin Hester, PR/KR/WR – 2006-2013 Chicago Bears, 2014-15 Atlanta Falcons, 2016 Baltimore Ravens | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2022-24)
- Torry Holt, WR – 1999-2008 St. Louis Rams, 2009 Jacksonville Jaguars | (Times as a Semifinalist: 10 – 2015-2024)
- Andre Johnson, WR – 2003-2014 Houston Texans, 2015 Indianapolis Colts, 2016 Tennessee Titans | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2022-24)
- Robert Mathis, DE/LB – 2003-2016 Indianapolis Colts | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2022-24)
- Julius Peppers, DE – 2002-09, 2017-18 Carolina Panthers, 2010-13 Chicago Bears, 2014-15 Green Bay Packers (First Year Eligible)
- Steve Smith Sr., WR – 2001-2013 Carolina Panthers, 2014-16 Baltimore Ravens | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2022-24)
- Fred Taylor, RB – 1998-2008 Jacksonville Jaguars, 2009-2010 New England Patriots | (Times as a Semifinalist: 5 – 2020-24)
- Hines Ward, WR – 1998-2011 Pittsburgh Steelers | (Times as a Semifinalist: 8 – 2017-2024)
- Ricky Watters, RB – 1992-94 San Francisco 49ers, 1995-97 Philadelphia Eagles, 1998-2001 Seattle Seahawks | (Times as a Semifinalist: 4 – 2020, 2022-24)
- Reggie Wayne, WR – 2001-2014 Indianapolis Colts | (Times as a Semifinalist: 5 – 2020-24)
- Vince Wilfork, DT – 2004-2014 New England Patriots, 2015-16 Houston Texans | (Times as a Semifinalist: 3 – 2022-24)
- Patrick Willis, LB – 2007-2014 San Francisco 49ers | (Times as a Semifinalist: 5 – 2020-24)
- Darren Woodson, S – 1992-2003 Dallas Cowboys | (Times as a Semifinalist: 8 – 2015, 2017, 2019-2024)
From that list, 10 more names will be trimmed to get to the list of 15 Modern-Era finalists in early January, who will be considered alongside Coach/Contributor Buddy Parker, and Senior Nominees Randy Gradishar, Steve McMichael and Art Powell. At a meeting before Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas in February, the selection committee will trim that list to 10, and then down to the final five, who will then be given a final Yes/No vote alongside the Coach/Contributor and Senior Nominees. It’s been years since the full slate of Modern-Era nominees didn’t get elected, though, to my recollection.
The finalists from the Class of 2023 to not make the final five included (bold indicates they were in the final 10):
- Jared Allen
- Willie Anderson
- Dwight Freeney
- Devin Hester
- Torry Holt
- Andre Johnson
- Albert Lewis
- Reggie Wayne
- Patrick Willis
- Darren Woodson
With three WR making the final 10 for the Class of 2023 but none making the final five–and only two first year semifinalists joining the list–this may be the year the voters clear up the logjam by getting at least 1-2 in.
Drop your thoughts/predictions in the comments below!
by Tony | Oct 13, 2023 | 50's, By the Numbers
So apparently we started this post over three years ago, not too long after we posted about the best #79 in NFL History–which was at least somewhat special (to at least one of us at ZB) as it was the number that Managing Editor Andy wore in high school. The number 51 was even more special (to me), as it is the number that I wore in high school–that it came up in the random draw we’ve done for numbers so quickly after #79 was pure luck.
So why did we never post it? Much like several of our other posts–in particular The Best #80 in NFL History and The Best #56 in NFL History–there didn’t seem to be much doubt who the best #51 in NFL history was–Dick Butkus. Surprisingly, when we circled back on this after Butkus passed away last week at the age of 80, we were kind of surprised to see that using ProFootballReference.com’s Approximate Value calculator, he wasn’t the “most valuable” #51 in NFL history–although I suspect that is due to career length, overall team quality, and perhaps flaw in their calculation.
Dick Butkus – When you think #51 in the NFL, Butkus is generally who you think about–at least if you’re not old enough to have seen him play (we’re not), you’ve seen him on TV and you’ve seen the highlights–he was voted the most feared tackler of all-time by the NFL Network…in 2009, more than 30 years after he retired. Picked third overall by the Chicago Bears out of Illinois, he was the hometown kid that made his hometown proud–he was a 2x NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 5x first team All-Pro (3x second team), 8x Pro Bowler, on the All-Decade teams of the 1960’s and 1970’s (despite only playing until 1973), the NFL 75th Anniversary Team, the NFL 100th Anniversary Team, was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility (1979)…the accolades go on and on. Would be an absolute shock if someone said he wasn’t the best #51 in NFL history.
Sam Mills – Based on the Approximate Value calculator from PFR, Sam Mills is the best #51 in NFL history. His story is truly inspiring–standing just 5 foot 9 inches tall, he was unable to make the Cleveland Browns (1981) or the Toronto Argonauts (1982) as an undrafted free agent after his Pop Warner coach helped him get a tryout. Browns coach Sam Rutigliano recommended to his friend Carl Peterson, then running the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL that he give Mills a look. Wearing #54, he became the anchor of their defense, helped them win two USFL Championships, and then followed his coach Jim Mora to the New Orleans Saints in 1986, where he donned the #51. He ended up being a 1x first team All-Pro, 2x second team All-Pro, 5x Pro Bowl player for the Saints and Panthers, had his number retired in Carolina, and was elected to both the Saints and Panther Hall of Fames, finishing his career with 1,265 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 11 interceptions, 22 forced fumbles, 23 fumble recoveries, and 4 defensive TDs. Sadly he passed away from cancer in 2005, but was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022.
Takeo Spikes – Coming in second in the Approximate Value list, Spikes played from 1998 to 2012 and is often named to the list of best players to play in the NFL and never appear in a postseason game…although often he isn’t even the best #51 on that list, because Butkus also never played in a playoff game. Drafted 13th overall in 1998, Spikes donned #51 for five different teams–the Bengals, the Bills, the Eagles, the 49ers and the Chargers. He played in 219 games, amassed 1,431 tackles, 29 sacks, 16 forced fumbles, 18 fumble recoveries and 19 interceptions. Great numbers, but not enough that I would put him in the conversation with Butkus.
Randy Cross – Can’t have a number in the 50-79 range without discussing at least one offensive lineman…and Cross is higher on the AV list than Jim Richter by a good margin. Cross was a mainstay on the 49ers 80’s dynasty, starting 180 games at guard and center from 1976-1988, earning 3x first team All-Pro, 1x second team All-Pro, 3x Pro Bowl and winning three Super Bowl championships during his career. As an offensive lineman…that’s about all he gets for accolades.
Other players wearing #51 worth mentioning include LB Ken Norton Jr., James Farrior, Jim Richter & Dominic Raiola. Most notable current players wearing #51 are Cesar Ruiz and David Long, although 3rd overall pick in the 2023 draft Will Anderson of the Houston Texans will likely move up that list quickly.
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