A disgusted nation watched through parted fingers last Thursday night while the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos set football back several years.
Neither team scored a touchdown despite high-profile quarterbacks, one an offseason darling and the other a former MVP. After three field goals apiece, the abomination insisted upon overtime, when Indianapolis won on yet another kick.
The drudgery brought to mind a time when strategies revolved around such tedious concepts as field position, time of possession and punting in extra territory.
In particular, it was reminiscent of the day a quarterback could complete two passes and still win the game.
But we don’t need to go back to the era of Tuffy Leeman on the muddy Polo Grounds.
This was 2009 in sunny Orchard Park, NY
Thirteen years ago this week, the Cleveland Browns kicked a late field goal to defeat the Buffalo Bills 6-3. And it was way worse than even the score suggests.
“It was set up to be a brutal game,” Bills receiver Lee Evans said, “but it turned out to be definitely the worst game I’ve ever played in at any level.”
Weather conditions were tricky, but not otherworldly: sunny and 50 degrees with wind gusting around 25 mph — similar to what the Bills faced Sunday while hanging 38 points on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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