ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Before reviewing the wild finish here Monday night, let's go back to the last time the Denver Broncos won a road game against the Buffalo Bills at this same wind-swirling stadium now called Highmark Stadium.
It was 16 years ago, the 2007 season-opener. The Broncos were down 14-12 with 18 seconds and no timeouts remaining. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan told his field-goal unit the “Toro!” was on after the next play.
Jay Cutler, in his first season as a full-time starting quarterback, completed an 11-yard pass to Javon Walker for a first down near the left hash marks. With the ball at the 24-yard line, “Toro!” was shouted from the sideline, signaling the field-goal unit to sprint onto the field, and forcing the offense to scurry to the sideline.
Jason Elam kicked the ball with one second remaining, and by the time it split the uprights, the clock read 00:00. The Broncos won, 15-14.
Coaches change, rosters change and so do the code words for crisis field goal attempts.
“My biggest challenge is the special teams coaches calling it ‘Hurricane,''' said Broncos head coach Sean Payton. "I’m used to calling it ‘May-Day’ for 20-some years, so I’ll yell ‘May-Day’ initially, and then get it right. They executed it well.''
Actually the Broncos only executed half-well. They used May-Day at the end of the first half and Broncos' kicker Wil Lutz nailed a 40-yard field goal to give the visitors a 15-8 lead, Bills fans booed their team into the intermission.
"Hurricane" was the call again with 24 seconds left in the game. The Broncos were down, 22-21 -- in part because of their botched extra-point adventures. Lutz pulled one extra point off the left upright and holder Riley Dixon bobbled the snap to cause another extra point to get away. Instead of being up 1 point, the extra point issues had the Broncos down 1.
And the clock was ticking.
Lucky for the Broncos' field-goal unit, their quarterback Russell Wilson drew a pass interference penalty with no timeouts remaining to set up another hurried-up field goal attempt, this time to win it. Counting on a clean field-goal operation under chaotic circumstrances, though, hardly seemed ideal.
“It’s not chaotic. It’s not chaotic. It’s really not,'' Patyon said. "They had 12 guys on the field, but we do it all the time. Sometimes when you’re doing that, as opposed to coming out of a huddle thinking about it, it’s a little bit easier. It’s not really that difficult.”
Maybe so but Lutz missed the 41-yard field goal wide right. There were 4 seconds left on the clock. The Bills' sideline was celebrating it's improbable win. Bummer loss for the ... wait a second. A flag was thrown.
The Bills had 12 men on the field. The Broncos got to re-kick, this time with 0:04 on the clock. No 'Hurricane' needed. The field goal unit was already out there and Lutz was 5 yards closer.
This time he didn't finesse his kick. He drilled the 36 yarder down the middle. The clock hit 0:00. Broncos win.
"I've got to handle that situation better,'' Lutz said of running on the field and getting set as the clock ticks down. "I had plenty of time to take my steps and everything. And I didn't. I'm kind of mad at myself the way I handled that kick. Saved by the grace of God."
Elam and his wife Tamy, by the way, live near Hilton Head, South Carolina. They have raised, and are raising, six kids aged 27 to 9.
"Life is great,'' Elam said Monday in a phone conversation a few hours prior to the game.
At his Ring of Fame induction ceremony in 2016, Elam called his Toro! Toro! kick the biggest in his 17-year career, bigger even then his NFL record-tying 63-yard field goal in 1998.
“Yeah, that would probably be even above the 63,’’ Elam said. “Because that was for a win. The 63 yarder was more an individual thing. We were winning at the time and that was just a fun kick. But the Toro! Toro! thing, that was awesome. Just the way the whole thing went down. The season opener, on the road, everything about it was just a fun kick.’’
The Broncos hadn't won in Buffalo since the Elam kick off Toro! Toro! in 2007. And then 16 years later came the Hurricane.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Sports
