Music City Miracle
The Music City Miracle is a famous play in the NFL Wild Card Playoffs involving the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills that took place on January 8, 2000 (following the 1999 regular season) at Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville, Tennessee.
Game details
The Titans played strong in the first half, and took a 12-0 lead into halftime. By the end of the third quarter, Buffalo reduced the lead to 12-7. With 11:08 remaining in the game, Buffalo took their first lead after their second touchdown. A two-point conversion failed, and the Bills led 13-12.
Late in the fourth quarter, the stage was set for an exciting finish. Tennessee received the ball with 6:15 remaining. The Titans' drive was capped off with a wobbly 35-yard field goal by Al Del Greco. The Titans took the lead 15-13 with 1:48 to go. On the ensuing drive, with zero timeouts remaining, Bills quarterback Rob Johnson led the Bills on a five-play, 37-yard drive to the Titans' 24 yard line. On the last two plays from scrimmage, Johnson played with only one shoe on, as he had lost one and had no time to put it back on, with the clock running out. With only 16 seconds remaining in the game, Steve Christie, the Bills' kicker, made a 41-yard field goal to put Buffalo in the lead 16-15.
Moments later, Christie kicked off, and Titans player Lorenzo Neal received. Neal handed the ball off to Titans tight end Frank Wycheck, who then lateraled the ball across the field to another Titans player, Kevin Dyson, who then ran down the sidelines for a 75-yard touchdown.
The play was named Home Run Throwback by the Titans and was developed by Special Teams Coordinator Alan Lowry. The Titans ran the play regularly in practices during the regular season, though the practices usually involved Derrick Mason, who was injured and did not play in the game against Buffalo. Dyson, as one of the team's lead wide receivers and Mason's substitute on special teams that day, rarely practiced with the special teams unit and was largely unfamiliar with the layout of the play. Nevertheless, his execution of Lowry's vision was flawless.
Official review
Per the instant replay rules, the play was reviewed by referee Phil Luckett since it was uncertain if the ball had been a forward pass, which is illegal on a kickoff return. However, the call on the field was upheld as a touchdown, and the Titans won the game 22-16. After the game, however, many Bills players and fans continued to insist that it was indeed an illegal forward pass (earning it the nickname "Home Run Throw Forward" or "Home Run Throwup"). The Titans played the Bills in the first game of the 2000 NFL season. Among the signs brought to this game by Bills fans were "Hey Dyson, it was a lateral!" and "No Forward Laterals."
Aftermath
The game was later featured as Game of the Week by NFL Films on the NFL Network. NFL Films reviewed the lateral with computer assistance and concluded once and for all that it was indeed a lateral and a legal play.
The victory, in front of a franchise-record crowd at Adelphia Coliseum, allowed the Tennessee franchise to advance to the AFC Division Playoffs for the first time since 1993. Subsequent victories over the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars sent the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV to face the St. Louis Rams, where they lost by seven points. That game featured another legendary, if not successful, play: The Tackle.
It could be said that the game served as revenge for the Titans/Oilers franchise for The Comeback, where the Bills came back from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers, 41-38, in overtime.
It was added to the list of infamous moments in Buffalo sports history, joining Wide Right and "No Goal"
Radio call
The radio call of this play by Mike Keith and Pat Ryan on the Tennessee Titans Radio Network instantly became legendary across the network's listening area.
This is the transcript of the call:
Keith: "Do the Titans have a miracle left in them in what has been a magical season to this point? If they do, they need it now. Christie kicks it high and short. Gonna be fielded by Lorenzo Neal at the 25; he dishes it back to Wycheck; he throws it across the field to Dyson..."
Ryan: "He's got somethin'..."
Keith: "30, 40..."
Ryan: "He's got somethin'..."
Keith: "50, 40.."
Ryan: "He's got it! He's got it!"
Keith (voice volume increasing): "30, 20.."
Ryan: "He's got it!"
Keith: "10, 5, endzone...touchdown, Titans! There are no flags on the field! It's a miracle! Tennessee has pulled a miracle! A miracle for the Titans!"
Ryan: "Frank Wycheck threw another pass."
Keith: "Three seconds remaining on the clock!"
But then a question of whether or not Wycheck's lateral to Dyson was actually a lateral arose. Luckett reviewed the play, and once Luckett had decided that the call would stand, Keith said this.
Keith: "Here comes Luckett, with the call of the new millennium."
When he announced his ruling, Keith and Ryan had another historic exchange.
Luckett: "After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands. It was a lateral..."
Keith: "We did it!"
Ryan: "Yes! Titans win!" (This drowned out Luckett saying, "Touchdown.")
Keith: "Three seconds to go, and Tennessee is on the verge of a miracle finish!"
Ryan: "Wow, what a game!"