1999 Buffalo Bills season

1999 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	AFC East
Playoff finish	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Titans) 16–22[note 1]
Pro Bowlers	FB Sam Gash G Ruben Brown
← 1998 Bills seasons 2000 →

The 1999 Buffalo Bills season was the 30th season for the team in the

teams — were on the same team together. All three were released at the end of the season due to salary cap issues.

The Bills surrendered only 229 points (14.3 points per game), the lowest total in franchise history in a 16-game season, and second-fewest in the league.[note 2] Buffalo's 2,675 passing yards and 4,045 total yards allowed were both the fewest totals in the NFL in 1999.

The Bills finished in second place in the AFC East and finished the National Football League's 1999 season with a record of 11 wins and 5 losses. The Bills qualified for the postseason for the eighth time in the decade. They would lose to the Titans 22–16, in the game called "Music City Miracle".

The team would not make the playoffs again until 2017, where they were defeated by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild-Card round. They also would not have another 10 win season until 2019.

Offseason

NFL draft

1999 Buffalo Bills draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	23	Antoine Winfield *	CB	Ohio St
2	53	Peerless Price *	WR	Tennessee
3	86	Shawn Bryson	RB	Tennessee
4	119	Keith Newman	OLB	North Carolina
4	122	Bobby Collins	TE	North Alabama
5	156	Jay Foreman	ILB	Nebraska
6	194	Armon Hatcher	S	Oregon St
7	230	Lamount Jackson	QB	Kansas
7	248	Bryce Fisher	DE	Air Force
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Undrafted free agents

1999 Undrafted Free Agents of note

Player	Position	College
Tony Akins	Wide Receiver	Northeast Louisiana
Reginald Allen	Wide Receiver	Central Michigan
Bill Kushner	Punter	Boston College

Personnel

Staff

1999 Buffalo Bills staff

Front office President – Ralph Wilson Executive vice-president/general manager – John Butler Vice-president of football operations – Wade Phillips Director of pro personnel – A. J. Smith Director of player personnel – Dwight Adams Head coaches Head coach – Wade Phillips Assistant to the head coach – Max Bowman Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Joe Pendry Quarterbacks – Turk Schonert Running backs – Bishop Harris Receivers – Charlie Joiner Tight ends – Max Bowman Offensive line – Carl Mauck Offensive quality control – Chris Dickson

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Ted Cottrell Defensive line – John Levra Linebackers – Chuck Lester Defensive backs – Bill Bradley Special teams coaches Special teams – Bruce DeHaven Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning coordinator – Rusty Jones

Roster

1999 Buffalo Bills roster

	Quarterbacks  7 Doug Flutie 11 Rob Johnson 10 Alex Van Pelt Running backs 33 Sam Gash FB 31 Lennox Gordon 35 Jonathan Linton 23 Antowain Smith 34 Thurman Thomas Wide receivers 89 Kamil Loud 86 Jeremy McDaniel 80 Eric Moulds 81 Peerless Price 83 Andre Reed 82 Kevin Williams KR/PR Tight ends 84 Bobby Collins 88 Sheldon Jackson 85 Jay Riemersma		Offensive linemen 66 Victor Allotey G 79 Ruben Brown G 63 Bill Conaty C 70 John Fina T 77 Robert Hicks T 74 Jamie Nails G 60 Jerry Ostroski C 72 Joe Panos G 69 Marcus Spriggs T 61 Dusty Zeigler G Defensive linemen 90 Phil Hansen DE 91 Shawn Price DE 78 Bruce Smith DE 92 Ted Washington NT 75 Marcellus Wiley DE 93 Pat Williams NT		Linebackers 96 Dan Brandenburg OLB 56 Sam Cowart ILB 51 Joe Cummings ILB 55 Jay Foreman OLB 52 John Holecek ILB 98 Sean Moran ILB 53 Keith Newman OLB 99 Gabe Northern OLB 58 Marlo Perry ILB 59 Sam Rogers OLB Defensive backs 29 Keion Carpenter FS 25 Donovan Greer CB 20 Henry Jones SS 22 Daryl Porter CB/S 24 Kurt Schulz FS 28 Thomas Smith CB 26 Antoine Winfield Sr. CB Special teams 76 Ethan Albright LS  2 Steve Christie K  9 Chris Mohr P		Reserve lists 38 IRTooltip Injured reserve) 95 Bryce Fisher DE (Reserve/Military) 27 IRTooltip Injured reserve) 21 IRTooltip Injured reserve) Practice squad 39 Raion Hill SS 53 active, 4 inactive, 1 practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 12	at Indianapolis Colts	L 14–31	0–1	56,238
2	September 19	New York Jets	W 17–3	1–1	68,839
3	September 26	Philadelphia Eagles	W 26–0	2–1	70,872
4	October 4	at Miami Dolphins	W 23–18	3–1	74,073
5	October 10	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 24–21	4–1	71,038
6	October 17	Oakland Raiders	L 14–20	4–2	71,113
7	October 24	at Seattle Seahawks	L 16–26	4–3	66,301
8	October 31	at Baltimore Ravens	W 13–10	5–3	68,673
9	November 7	at Washington Redskins	W 34–17	6–3	78,721
10	November 14	Miami Dolphins	W 23–3	7–3	72,810
11	November 21	at New York Jets	L 7–17	7–4	79,285
12	November 28	New England Patriots	W 17–7	8–4	72,111
13	Bye
14	December 12	New York Giants	L 17–19	8–5	72,527
15	December 19	at Arizona Cardinals	W 31–21	9–5	64,337
16	December 26	at New England Patriots	W 13–10 (OT)	10–5	55,014
17	January 2	Indianapolis Colts	W 31–6	11–5	61,959
Note: Intra-divisional games are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 6 8 0 14 • Colts 7 7 7 10 31 Date: September 12 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: indoors (dome) TV announcers (CBS): Ian Eagle, and Mark May

^[1]

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total Jets 0 0 3 0 3 • Bills 0 7 7 3 17 Date: September 19 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 8:20 p.m. Game weather: 62 °F (16.7 °C), wind 5 mph (8.0 km/h) Television network: ESPN

^[2]

Week 3

1 2 3 4 Total Eagles 0 0 0 0 0 • Bills 9 10 7 0 26 Date: September 26 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 60 °F (15.6 °C), wind 7 mph (11 km/h; 6.1 kn) TV announcers (Fox): Curt Menefee and Brian Baldinger

^[3]

Week 4

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 3 10 0 10 23 Dolphins 6 3 0 9 18 Date: October 4 Location: Miami, Florida Game start: 9:00 p.m. Game weather: 82 °F (28 °C), wind 13 mph (21 km/h; 11 kn) Television network: ABC

^[4]

Week 5

1 2 3 4 Total Steelers 7 7 0 7 21 • Bills 7 10 7 0 24 Date: October 10 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 60 °F (16 °C), wind 8 mph (13 km/h; 7.0 kn) Referee: Ed Hochuli TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist, Dan Dierdorf, and Bonnie Bernstein

^[5]

Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 10 3 7 0 20 Bills 7 0 0 7 14 Date: October 17 Location: EST Game weather: 58 °F (14 °C), wind 12 mph (19 km/h; 10 kn) Referee: Johnny Grier TV announcers (CBS): Kevin Harlan, Sam Wyche

^[6]

Week 7

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 3 6 7 16 • Seahawks 13 10 0 3 26 Date: October 24 Location: Seattle, Washington Game start: 1:15 p.m. Game weather: indoors (dome) Referee: Tom White TV announcers (CBS): Greg Gumbel, Phil Simms, and Armen Keteyian

^[7]

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 0 3 0 10 13 Ravens 10 0 0 0 10 Date: October 31 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 59 °F (15 °C), wind 4 mph (6.4 km/h; 3.5 kn)

^[8]

Week 9

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 3 14 14 3 34 Redskins 7 3 0 7 17 Date: November 7 Location: Jack Kent Cooke Stadium , Washington, D.C. Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 55 °F (13 °C), wind 14 mph (23 km/h)

^[9]

Week 10

1 2 3 4 Total Dolphins 0 3 0 0 3 • Bills 9 7 7 0 23 Date: November 14 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 50 °F (10 °C), wind 19 mph (31 km/h; 17 kn)

^[10]

Week 11

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 0 7 0 7 • Jets 0 14 3 0 17 Date: November 21 Location: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 58 °F (14.4 °C), wind 8 mph (13 km/h; 7.0 kn)

^[11]

Week 12

1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 0 0 0 7 7 • Bills 3 7 7 0 17 Date: November 28 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 39 °F (3.9 °C), wind 16 mph (26 km/h; 14 kn)

^[12]

Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total • Giants 3 10 3 3 19 Bills 3 7 0 7 17 Date: December 12 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 30 °F (−1.1 °C), wind 6 mph (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn)

^[13]

Week 15

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 14 0 3 14 31 Cardinals 0 14 0 7 21 Date: December 19 Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona Game start: 6:20 p.m. Game weather: 57 °F (13.9 °C), wind 4 mph (6.4 km/h; 3.5 kn) Referee: Johnny Grier TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Paul Maguire, and Solomon Wilcots

^[14]

Week 16

1 2 3 4 OT Total • Bills 3 0 0 7 3 13 Patriots 0 3 0 7 0 10 Date: December 26 Location: Foxboro, Massachusetts Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 29 °F (−1.7 °C), wind 18 mph (29 km/h; 16 kn)

^[15]

Week 17

1 2 3 4 Total Colts 3 3 0 0 6 • Bills 7 14 0 10 31 Date: January 2 Location: EST Game weather: 44 °F (6.7 °C), wind 14 mph (23 km/h; 12 kn) Referee: Bob McElwee TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist, Dan Dierdorf, and Bonnie Bernstein

^[16]

Standings

AFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(2) Indianapolis Colts	13	3	0	.813	423	333	L1
(5) Buffalo Bills	11	5	0	.688	320	229	W3
(6) Miami Dolphins	9	7	0	.563	326	336	L2
New York Jets	8	8	0	.500	308	309	W4
New England Patriots	8	8	0	.500	299	284	W1

Playoffs

AFC Wild Card

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 0 0 16 16 • Titans 0 12 0 10 22 Date: January 8 Location: EST Game attendance: 66,672 Game weather: Cloudy, 58 °F or 14.4 °C Referee: Phil Luckett TV announcers (ABC): Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Paul Maguire, and Solomon Wilcots

The Music City Miracle is a famous play in the

.

Going into the game,

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.

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.

Aftermath

The victory, in front of a franchise-record crowd at

.

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. For the Bills, it led to the firing after 13 seasons of special teams coach Bruce DeHaven. One year later, Phillips was fired (partly due to his failure to lead the Bills past the first round of the playoffs during his tenure) and replaced by Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. It was added to the list of infamous moments in Buffalo sports history, joining Wide Right and No Goal.

Buffalo would go on to miss the playoffs for seventeen seasons following the Music City Miracle, finally snapping its drought in 2017. Then the Bill lost in the Wild Card round to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and again to the Houston Texans in 2019, before finally ending the streak of playoff losses to AFC South opponents against yet another AFC South opponent, the Indianapolis Colts, in 2020.

Notes

References

External links

• 1999 Buffalo Bills at Pro-Football-Reference.com