The Comeback
Buffalo's 1992 Season and the Road to Pasadena
On January 3, 1993, Buffalo's football team trailed Houston 35-3 in a playoff game at home, with the backup quarterback on the field and thousands of fans already walking to the parking lot. They won in overtime, 41-38.
That afternoon is the heart of 1992, but it isn't the whole year. A safety scored twice in a shutout. Nobody punted in San Francisco. The backup running back ran for 181 yards. A new kicker replaced the most famous one in town and made five field goals in the conference title game. Then the team headed to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for a third straight trip to the big game.
The Comeback tells the 1992 season game by game, from forty points on opening day to a fog-bound Saturday against Denver and a snowy December loss to the Jets, with a chapter on the backup quarterback who had done this once before, in college.
Every game chapter has the score, the crowd, the weather and the story, a full-page chart drawn from the box score, and Ray's Take, a few lines of opinion from a lifelong fan from Buffalo's Old First Ward. At the back you'll find fifty bar-trivia questions (four quarters and an overtime) and a complete stats appendix.
A warm, funny, fact-checked holiday gift for anyone who stayed until the end, or who still wishes they had.
