Super Bowl XXV revisited

By Steve (editors note, final paper turned in as Senior Thesis)

In covering such a hugely important and popular event as the Super Bowl, especially in Buffalo, where the love of the Buffalo Bills can rival nearly any city/sports team in the country, one must also get a grasp of the times. A rust belt city moving into the decade of the 1990’s with steel plants closing, a gradual slow down in manufacturing and a rebirth of more southern cities, old areas like Buffalo were on the decline. People used sports as an escape mechanism to forget the troubles and tribulations on Sunday afternoons to watch their beloved Buffalo Bills. Furthermore, with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on August 2, 1990 and the eventual invasion of Iraq with Operation Desert Storm on January 17, 1991 by the United States and a strong coalition, the sports world was beginning to take a back seat to more pressing issues of the time.
A mere 10 days after the initial fighting began; the Super Bowl was played on January 27, 1991 between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants. According to published reports, there was much speculation as to whether the game should be played or not. Then President, George H.W. Bush was quoted as saying, "I am not going to be held a captive in the White House by Saddam Hussein of Iraq. We're going about our business, and the world goes on."

Furthermore, extensive searches upon entering the stadium were performed for safety reasons. Planes and blimps, traditionally flown over major sporting events for television and advertising were also banned from hovering over Tampa Stadium. These practices mirrored that of large events following the September 11th 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.


Jackie Walker
WIVB-TV Channel 4 CBS Buffalo (telephone interview)

I am the only news reporter who covered all four Super Bowls. Each one of them had a very different feel. The first one happened while the Golf War was happening and so security all of a sudden for this event was very tight and very high. A lot of people were very nervous, so you had that back drop against the very first Super Bowl for Bills fans.--


Ed Kilgore
WGRZ-TV Channel 2 NBC Buffalo

The atmosphere in Tampa was exciting, with thousands of Bills fans there all week milling about. Because the gulf war was still going on, there was also a very patriotic feeling at the time, and Bills and Giants fans seemed to be much more civil to each other than might have been the case under normal circumstances. --


The road to Super Bowl XXV in Tampa Florida started out quickly for Buffalo with the much celebrated rivalry with the Miami Dolphins. On January 12, 1991 the Dolphins visited then Rich Stadium in a match up between future hall of fame coaches and quarterbacks. Buffalo’s own Marv Levy and Jim Kelly defeated Don Shula, Dan Marino, and the Miami Dolphins 44 to 34 on a blistering cold Buffalo Saturday in January. The decisive victory for the Bills was only the first step in attempting to achieve their ultimate goal. As Dan Herbeck of the Buffalo News wrote, “It was an important win before a national television audience, but when it was over, ballplayers and fans seemed to take it in stride. The post-game celebration in Rich Stadium was upbeat but peaceful.”
The March towards Tampa continued on when the Los Angeles Raiders visited Rich Stadium on January 20, 1991. Not only did the Bills win, they annihilated their opponent 51-3 setting 18 different records while compiling 502 yards of offense. The sheer destruction at the hands of the Buffalo Bills led many fans to believe this was there year. The Bills were performing at such an amazing clip, the city and their fans went nuts for the Bills and were more confident then seemingly at any other time in their history. By defeating the L.A. Raiders, the Bills earned their first ever trip to the Super Bowl.
The lead up to the Super Bowl, and the frenzy of excitement can only be compared to the Buffalo Sabres and their most recent run towards the Stanley Cup in early 2007. The fan frenzy, the merchandise, and a back seat to nearly any other news story was the norm during this time.




Ed Kilgore
WGRZ-TV Channel 2 NBC Buffalo

The Bills were 6-7 point favorites, and certainly all of us felt the Giants could win the game. Nobody I know of thought they didn't have a chance; they were good. Most of us did feel the Bills had the better team and should win, but it obviously didn't happen.
Sure there was a huge buildup in Buffalo, although I was in Tampa all week, but back home there were rallies and signs in stores and pennants on cars and many visible signs of the Bills going to their first Super Bowl.
The players and coaches said all the usual things they say at such games. They respected their opponent, they were very happy to be here, etc. There were no "media controversies" that week at all.--

Jackie Walker
WIVB-TV Channel 4 CBS Buffalo (telephone interview)

We had hundreds of people just get in their car and drive to Tampa with out tickets with out hotel rooms. Fans were so excited they were in the Super Bowl and many Buffalonians realized they had to be a part of it.
My job was to go and to cover the fans and so here I was in Tampa interviewing fans who were actually sleeping in their cars, they had no place to go and little money; but they wanted to be apart of the entire experience and the excitement of the Bills First Super Bowl appearance.--

Jerry Sullivan
Buffalo News Sports Columnist

Super Bowl XXV was the first one I ever covered. It was my second year in Buffalo as a sports columnist and a great thrill. I felt the overwhelming sense of the community seeing its dream realized by having the Bills get to the big game. That was the overriding story of the week, that Buffalo was in the game and the town was enjoying
its time in the national spotlight. I actually think the players got too caught up in that and it cost them in the end.
The question going in was how the Giants could possibly stop the No Huddle, which had scored 95 points in two playoff games to that point. No one figured that Bill
Parcells would find a way, but at that point few of us knew much about an assistant coach named Bill Belichick. I told my buddy at the New York Daily News that it wouldn't be close. We had a bet. He also bet that O.J. Anderson, the Giants running back, would run for 100 yards. As I recall, it became the last 100 yard game of Anderson's career.
I wrote a big feature on Jim Kelly for the day of the game. It recounted his arrival in Buffalo and the hope that he engendered in town and how he had finally lived up to his advance billing by getting Buffalo to the big game.--

Mark Gaughan
Buffalo News Sports Reporter

I covered Super Bowl XXV (and the other Bills Super Bowls) for the Buffalo News. The lead story from the Buffalo perspective was the Bills' no-huddle offense and its’ juggernaut like status, coming off a 51-3 rout in the AFC championship game, the Bills were poised to win their first Super Bowl. The Bills were 7 point favorites and seemingly had all the momentum.
The key questions entering the game were: Could the Giants defense stop the Bills' offense, and could the Bills' run defense keep the Giants from controlling the clock? In addition, the first war in Iraq had just started, so that was the big national news story at the time.
Being a seven point favorite (a sizeable margin for a Championship game on a neutral field) the question was whether anyone realistically believed the Giants could pull off the upset. Leading up to the game, the majority of experts were picking the Bills but a significant number of people were picking the Giants, too.
That was the height of Bills fever. Bills merchandise was selling at record levels. If you went to the mall, it seemed every other person had Bills clothing on. I was in Tampa the week before the game but there were rallies and celebrations back in Western New York.. There was also great confidence the Bills were going to win especially in Buffalo.
It's worth noting that The Buffalo News did an interview with Scott Norwood on the day before the game - Saturday - in which he said he had been dreaming, during the week of the big game, of making the winning kick and looked forward to the chance to do it. --

Paul Peck
WIVB-TV CBS Channel 4 Buffalo Sports Producer

I covered all four Bills Super Bowls for WIVB-TV. At the time, my role was as the sports producer, so I coordinated all the station's coverage, the week leading up to the game, the main event, and the post game devastation.
The lead story for Super Bowl XXV was obviously the Bills getting there for the first time. In some ways, and in hindsight, getting there was almost more important than winning. It was such a relief/pride feeling from Buffalo fans that they had finally made it to the Super Bowl.--


Being a small to moderately sized U.S. market, the Buffalo media as a whole had limitations as to what each outlet could afford in covering Super Bowl XXV. Being arguably the largest single event to cover in Buffalo sports history and the first Super Bowl to be covered with the Bills as a participant, there were struggles along the way.
Despite a few snafus, there was a significant contingent of Buffalo media personnel that swarmed to Tampa. Everyone seemed to take pride in covering the game and attempted to pull out all the stops in depicting an accurate portrayal of the biggest game in Bills history.
Furthermore, the Bills media wasn’t alone in flocking to Tampa, Florida for the big game. Hundreds upon thousands of die hard Bills fans arrived in the Sunshine State via automobile, train, air plane, and any way possible. It was reported that the Buffalo Bills received 12,000 tickets to disperse among those who were willing and able to attend this monumental event.

Howard Simon
WGR Sports Radio Host

At the time of the Buffalo Bills first Super Bowl appearance I was working for a station in Niagara Falls and it didn't have enough money to get to any road games and especially a major event like the Super Bowl. Thus, I was stuck in Buffalo to report on the big game.--

Jackie Walker
WIVB-TV Channel 4 CBS Buffalo (telephone interview)

During the game itself I was not in the stadium because, and this was a nagging problem, that it being our first experience in such a huge event, the sports guys when they applied for press passes, didn't apply for enough for me and my photographer. The News people and I were kept outside the stadium.
I actually watched the game projected on the side of the Sears building across the street from the stadium where there was a shopping mall. There were so many people who didn't have tickets, hundreds of Bills fans watched the game projected on the side of a building across the street from where the event was actually taking place! --

Paul Peck
WIVB-TV CBS Channel 4 Buffalo Sports Producer

Channel 4 covered the game with our sports director Van Miller, our sports reporter Brian Blessing, myself as the sports producer, two news reporters/anchors, a news producer and four camera crews. We did live reports in every newscast, a nightly "Super Bowl Tonight" show at 11:30 each night, and a one hour "Touchdown Tampa" preview show Saturday night before the game.
There were a lot of Bills fans there in Tampa, and the news crews focused their coverage on them. We in sports focused on the players, who seemed very confident of a win. Maybe the players were too confident, as we would later learn.--


Ed Kilgore
WGRZ-TV Channel 2 NBC Buffalo

Our station, Channel 2, interviewed players and coaches and fans on a daily basis and put together sports and news packages several times daily and presented them with "live" satellite shows 3-4 times a day. We also did specials and an extra Jim Kelly Show from Tampa, among other things.
In regards to the actual game coverage, we did a live one hour special before the game outside the stadium, and then live post game shows from the Bills locker room after the game. --

Mark Gaughan
Buffalo News Sports Reporter

The Buffalo News sent about 20 reporters and photographers to Tampa to cover the game, which at the time was on par with what major metropolitan newspapers with a team involved were doing.
It was a normal Super Bowl week from a reporter's standpoint, with designated times each day in which the media had access to players and/or coaches. The teams are made available for an hour Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Selected players are also made available Monday night for 30 minutes. The head coaches - no players - do a press conference on Friday with no access to players or coaches on Saturday, the day before the game. My job on game day was to write a sidebar and notebook from the Bills' locker room.
In Tampa, there was a large contingent of Bills fans but the ticket allotment to participating teams is coordinated by the league. On game day, I recall the crowd in the stadium being slightly larger in favor of the Giants, which is no surprise since New York is such a bigger market. --

Jerry Sullivan
Buffalo News Sports Columnist

The Buffalo News sent 17 people to cover the game that week, which was an incredible amount for us. We had someone covering the social aspect. We had people writing about Tampa. I remember the first Gulf War was going on, so security was a story, too. It was a big deal in Buffalo at the time. I know there were a lot of Buffalo fans there. I remember one of the local papers had a bunch of guys from Mudd McGrath's tavern jumping into a swimming pool on the front page. --


As for the actual game, it proved to live up to the hype and then some. Being one of the most competitive and entertaining games in the history of the Super Bowl. The score remained close from the opening kick off to the final field goal attempt. Neither team committing even one turnover, the game arguably boiled down to coaching. The Buffalo Bills, led by offensive coordinator Ted Marchibroda and head coach Marv Levy, decided to leave the play calling up to quarterback Jim Kelly throughout the game. The Bills attacked with a highly innovative new offensive technique of the “no-huddle” offense, in which a quick striking fast pace team leaves the defense off balance.
In the end, the New York Giants and head coach Bill Parcells were too experienced. Their game plan worked to perfection, limiting the Bills offense by maintaining possession of the football for a record 40 minutes and 33 seconds.



The game’s outcome, however, would not be determined until a 47 yard field goal was attempted with 8 seconds remaining on the clock.
Buffalo Bills place kicker Scott Norwood was called upon to attempt the longest field goal on natural grass in his career. Unfortunately for Bills fans, the infamous “wide right” field goal was the result, causing near devastation and disbelief throughout Western New York and beyond.

"I hit it solid, but I guess I tried to kick it too hard," Norwood explained. . "I needed more follow-through; I should have brought my hips into it quicker to make the ball draw."


Bucky Gleason
Buffalo News Copy Writer

I did not cover the Bills' first Super Bowl. I was actually working part-time at the News as a copy editor and wrote the headline for that story. If I remember, it was
"Super dreams go wide right." --

Jerry Sullivan
Buffalo News Sports Columnist

After the game, I wrote a column that I'm still proud of. The lead read something like this: "Years from now, people will look back on this game and remember Scott Norwood missing a field goal in the closing seconds. But it was the defense that cost the Bills the game ... ''
Of course, Norwood went down in infamy but he never should have been put in that position. They were clearly the better team and were badly out coached that day. I once wrote that the loss should have been enough to keep Marv Levy out of the Hall of Fame. A few days after the game, I also wrote that giving the offensive play calling to Kelly hurt them in the end. He played right into the Giants' hands by not calling enough runs. --

Mark Gaughan
Buffalo News Sports Reporter

I think Norwood got pretty fair treatment in Buffalo. Most Bills fans - and our columnist, Larry Felser - did not focus as much on Norwood's miss costing the Bills the game so much as the poor play of the Bills defense and its inability to get the Giants off the field.
The Giants held the ball for 40:33. The general reaction was the Bills did not deserve to win the game. Norwood had not made a kick that long on grass all year, so it was not a shock that he missed the kick.
As for the players, and the locker room, it was near devastation. It was a very down locker room. Not a lot of Bills were eager to talk but some did. Darryl Talley stood up and took personal responsibility - he blamed himself for missing tackles.
In my post-game piece, I wrote a story on Jim Kelly after the game based on Kelly's post-game interview. His take, if I recall, was that the offense didn't cash in on its chances to score in the first half. He wasn't blaming Norwood at all.
As for the city of Buffalo and the fans they were as devastated. It's well documented how Norwood was greeted at a rally on the steps of city hall 2 days after the game -- fans shouted "thank you Scott."
To a certain degree, I don't know if die-hard Bills fans will ever get over that loss completely. The Bills did not have the better team the next three trips to the Super Bowl. They arguably had a slightly better team that day and came very close in a game that was overall very well played by both teams. There were no turnovers and only 11 penalties in the game combined. It was a great game. Bills fans don't give that Giants team enough credit. New York executed the exact same game plan against a great, great San Francisco team the week before in the NFC final (SF was two-time defending NFL champs). New York set an NFL record that year for fewest turnovers committed in a 16-game season. That record still stands.
Reflecting back, the Bills never had the best defense in their four Super Bowl trips. Their defenses those four years ranked, in order, 8th, 27th, 12th and 27th. The four teams that beat them had defenses that ranked, in order starting with the Giants, second, third, first and 10th. --

Ed Kilgore
WGRZ-TV Channel 2 NBC Buffalo

As for the missed Norwood kick, I was in the interview area underneath the stadium at that moment, watching on one of the TV monitors. While I personally felt a sinking feeling, I also had a ton of work to do, and didn't really reflect on it until later.
In the locker room, Norwood was one of the first players I talked to, and he was very very quiet, but answered each and every question. The players were very subdued, and I always remember feeling they felt they had the better team and should have won the game, and they realized it was a chance they might not get again.
In the post game coverage, I remember saying these things, but also looking back at the entire season in a positive light. There was bitter disappointment, yet a lot of pride mixed in there too.
Back in Buffalo, some 25,000 turned out for the Bills in the city square and one of the biggest cheers was for Scott Norwood, believe it or not. We covered the entire rally live, right there. --

Jackie Walker
WIVB-TV Channel 4 CBS Buffalo (telephone interview)

The major story then following the game was of course "the kick", Scott Norwood's kick. What happened was when the game was coming to an end, my photographer and I ran over to the stadium so we'd be there when people left the stadium so we could get reaction interviews. And because the kick was right at the end, people were stunned; they walked out of that stadium as if they were in some sort of cloud. It was very difficult for me to get reactions from people because they didn't know what to say. It was as if they had just lost their best friend.
. People also just wanted to get out of there; they didn't want to hang around after what had just occurred. It was like trying to get away from a bad thing that had happened. And again there was the security problem which made it doubly difficult. The following year, when I was getting reaction, people were more up beat " oh we'll get 'em next year" People became more used to getting to the Super Bowl and learned how to cope after being hardened by this difficult loss. --

Paul Peck
WIVB-TV CBS Channel 4 Buffalo Sports Producer

I would say there was more shock from the players after the game. Shocked, that they lost (after being big favorites), and shocked that they lost that way. I remember the locker room being very quiet. But I do remember Norwood answering everyone's questions, the same ones two and three times. I know Marv Levy has since admitted it took him a few weeks to get over the loss.


The leader and quarterback of the team, Jim Kelly, was later quoted as saying, "We should have had the game wrapped up before the half, but we didn't. So, I guess that our problem in this game, our first Super Bowl, was a matter of experience, or our lack of experience." The Buffalo Bills went on, in record fashion, to lose another three Super Bowls back to back to back to back. A record that seems destined to never be broken. The Buffalo Bills and their fans are still waiting, to this day, for that illusive Super Bowl Championship.