This date in Bills stadium history: Sept. 20

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.

Sept. 20

1987 — Bills 34, Oilers 30 — Two days before the player strike that would alter the ’87 season, Jim Kelly engineered a fourth quarter comeback for the first time in his NFL career. Leading three touchdown drives in the final nine minutes, Kelly found Ronnie Harman for the winning score with 57 seconds left. Kelly had 293 yards passing, more than double his Houston counterpart Warren Moon (142 yards) but Mike Rozier rushed for 150 yards against a Buffalo defense missing Bruce Smith and Darryl Talley for most of the afternoon after they were ejected for fighting. Attendance at Rich Stadium was 56,534, down closer to 20,000 from the opener.

1992 — Bills 38, Colts 0 — Henry Jones matched an NFL record by returning two interceptions for touchdowns, rookie offensive tackle John Fina caught the only touchdown of his pro career, Bruce Smith had three sacks and knocked Indianapolis quarterback Jack Trudeau out of the game, and the Bills held the Colts to 140 total yards and nine first downs in improving to 3-0 at the start of their third Super Bowl season. The victory was Buffalo’s 17th straight at home against division opponents, a streak that would end two weeks later against the Dolphins. 

1998 — Rams 34, Bills 33 — St. Louis quarterback Tony Banks led an 18-point comeback in the second half and won the game with a 2-yard scoring run with 11 seconds remaining. Rob Johnson threw touchdowns to Andre Reed, Jay Riemersma and Sam Gash before giving away an interception and a fumble during the collapse and getting knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter. That would open the door for Doug Flutie to take command of Buffalo’s offense and turn around the season after an 0-3 start. Antowain Smith had 118 of the Bills’ 215 yards rushing, and Kurt Schulz picked off two passes for the Bills.

2009 — Bills 33, Buccaneers 20 — In the home opener of the Bills’ 50th season, Fred Jackson had 197 total yards, Donte Whitner returned an interception 76 yards for a score, and Terrell Owens caught his first touchdown for the Bills. Never trailing after Lee Evans hauled in a TD from Trent Edwards in the first quarter, the Bills evened their record at 1-1 against a Bucs team making its first trip to Orchard Park for a regular season game. The Bills would however lose the next three games and not get back to .500 before season’s end.

2015 — Patriots 40, Bills 32 — Tom Brady threw for 466 yards, the most ever allowed by Buffalo until Jared Goff had 494 for Detroit in losing effort last season, and the Patriots asserted their dominance over a Bills team that was coming off a strong performance in Rex Ryan’s coaching debut. Tyrod Taylor nearly led the Bills back throwing three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, but his third interception ended the comeback bid. The sellout crowd of 70,858 at Ralph Wilson Stadium failed in its attempt to set Guinness World Record for loudest outdoor gathering before finals began heading for the exits in the third quarter.