What if the Buffalo Bills Had Made the Playoffs in 2004?

For each franchise in the NFL there comes a defining moment, a defining game which every NFL fan can identify, whether they’re a fan of the team or not.

For the New York Giants it was David Tyree’s miraculous catch in the super bowl which was the beginning of the end of New England’s pursuit of perfection. Everyone remembers the “Miracle at the Meadowlands,” for the Philadelphia Eagles. Surely Adam Vinatieri will always live in glory for his clutch kick in the snow to beat the Raiders in the “Tuck Rule” game. No one will ever forget about the Seattle Seahawks throwing the ball on the one yard line to lose Super Bowl XLIX.

The Buffalo Bills are one of the most historically important franchises in the NFL. It’s a shame that no one seems to remember their two championships in the 60’s or the fact that Ralph Wilson was a critical part in the AFL-NFL merger. To most NFL fans the franchise has become the team that went to four straight Super Bowls (an NFL record,) but never sealed the deal. Or the team that lost the Music City Miracle on a “lateral” that was never decisively pitched backward.

The two plays or games that stick out in the minds of older generations of Bills fans are the Music City Miracle and Scott Norwood’s infamous “Wide-Right.” Those will sting the fanbase for decades to come and will unfairly label the franchise as one that has notoriously underachieved.

I’m writing for a new generation of Bills fans. I’m writing for those of us who can’t remember Flutie Flakes; for those of us who have only been alive for, or can only remember the Bills’ last 15 years of undeniable mediocrity. For this generation there is one burning memory of disappointment: Week 17 of the 2004 season.

January 2nd, 2005.

On that fateful afternoon the Buffalo Bills had the opportunity they had wanted since the turn of the century. Win and you’re in the playoffs. It was that simple.

It was the perfect storm. Buffalo was the hottest team in football. The squad had begun the year a miserable 0-4 and had further struggles as the team found themselves at 3-6 after week 10. That didn’t discourage the Bills, however, who began to play as if they had nothing to lose. In truth, they didn’t. Every game was a playoff game in a packed AFC. The Bills rallied off six consecutive wins scoring at a clip of 38 points per game.

Heading into Week 17 the Bills had a lock on the six seed in the AFC. All that was standing in their way was the one seed Steelers, who had already clinched home field advantage and a first round bye. Pittsburgh seemed content in resting rookie Ben Roethlisberger and stars Jerome Bettis and Kendrell Bell as the game had no impact on their foreseeable future.

Playing against the Steelers’ backups and third stringers the Bills found themselves down 19-17 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Then-QB Drew Bledsoe took a snap from the shotgun with about 14 and ½ minutes remaining. The result?

A sack. A fumble. A touchdown for Pittsburgh. The score was now 26-17 and that was essentially the end of Buffalo’s season.The final tally was 29-24 as a late comeback attempt for Buffalo fell short after an onside kick was recovered by Ike Taylor with less than 90 seconds on the game clock. Western New York was done Billieving for 2004-2005. The Ralph was quiet aside from the few terrible towels scattered around the stadium. No one could comprehend that the Bills just lost to Pittsburgh’s backups.

We’re faced with so many “what ifs” brought upon by the defeat that was bestowed upon Buffalo that afternoon. What if they had won that game?

The Bills would have had a tough road to travel had they won that football game. They would’ve been the six seed instead of Denver and would have had to go on the road to Indianapolis to face Peyton Manning in his prime and a solid Colts team. This would have been an intriguing matchup, but it’s feasible to say Buffalo could have won that game. Nobody wants to play a wild card team that enters the playoffs on a seven game win streak. Nobody.

Should the Bills have advanced, they would’ve faced the Pittsburgh Steelers. Again, it’s easy to say the season would have come to an end here. It’s hard to envision the 2004 Buffalo Bills beating a 1 seed on the road when they couldn’t beat their backups at home. It’s safe to say Buffalo would have met their demise in that divisional round against Pittsburgh or the following week in Foxboro (as the Patriots would go on to win the Super Bowl), but what would that have done for the team?

Let us begin by looking at the obvious. The Bills currently wouldn’t be amidst a 15 year playoff drought. Instead the longest drought in the NFL could belong to Cleveland and Oakland who each have missed the playoffs for 12 consecutive seasons.

Drew Bledsoe? No way he gets cut if he leads the Bills to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. He’d likely stay in Buffalo for the next two seasons prior to his eventual retirement following the 2006-2007 season. Dallas would have gone in a completely different direction at quarterback.

It’s possible that the team would have signed Drew Brees, who was coming off of a shoulder injury but is a high-profile QB. We all know that Jerry Jones likes spending money. The other option is that Dallas drafts a quarterback in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. Dallas had two first round selections; one of which came from Buffalo in the trade that the Bills made to move up in 2004 to select J.P. Losman.

This potentially would have prevented New Orleans from getting Brees and they might have ended up with Matt Hasselbeck instead. Hasselbeck ended up staying in Seattle, however, and would lead them to a Super Bowl appearance in the 2005-2006 season.

With Hasselbeck in New Orleans, Seattle wouldn’t have gone to a Super Bowl in 2006, New Orleans wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl in 2009 without Brees, and Tony Romo might never have been given an opportunity to play in 2006 when Bledsoe became sporadic. Romo’s pro bowl career may never have been fulfilled and Bledsoe would have retired a Bill.

As for J.P. Losman? There’s two possible outcomes.

Option A)

Losman develops for another year or two while Bledsoe finishes his career. Losman has a solid career and doesn’t earn the “bust” label that is bestowed up him after his career fails miserably.

Option B)

The Bills jump ship with Losman entirely. After Bledsoe retires in 2007, they draft a quarterback and start anew. Losman bounces around the league as a backup or potential starter and he fulfills his bust destiny after all.

The Bills first round selection in 2005 wouldn’t be affected at all by making the playoffs in 2004. They had already packaged it for Losman, as previously mentioned. However, the Bills would’ve fallen in the 2005 second round.

Denver would’ve picked ahead of Buffalo in the second round.That season, Denver had two positional needs to address: cornerback and wide receiver. They ended up drafting Darrent Williams after Buffalo had taken the best receiver available- Roscoe Parrish.

Parrish would have been a perfect fit in Denver’s offensive scheme at the time. It stands to reason that had Denver picked before Buffalo, the Broncos would have selected the elusive Parrish rather than Darrent Williams. Then Buffalo probably would have selected the next best available receiver. You might have heard of him, he’s just a guy named Vincent Jackson.

We know now how each guy’s career panned out. Parrish is out of the league and Jackson is still a viable receiving option who is a huge red zone threat. It’s safe to say the Bills would have made out better selecting a couple spots after and taking Jackson.

The Bills offense then would have Bledsoe, Willis McGahee, Lee Evans, Vincent Jackson and Peerless Price as staples to lead the team. That would have been a pretty lethal combination of weapons for at least two seasons leading forward. Nothing is certain, but the Bills would have had a much better chance of making the playoffs in 2005 and 2006 with that core in place.

Instead, J.P. Losman led the team to 11 wins in the next two seasons before making a quick exit from the league in 2008.

And to think, all of the disaster and heartbreak that has plagued the Buffalo Bills fanbase over the past 15 years might have been avoided if the Bills had beaten the Steelers’ backups in one damn game in 2004.

Curtis Henry @curtishenry24

Co-Owner of Between the 20’s

Link to: Bills Fanatics FB Group