The Love of Sports put together a great list of the top 20 most memorable playoff games.
2. 1992 AFC Wild Card: Bills 41, Oilers 38 (OT)
At some point during this game, possibly at halftime, NBC actually flashed a graphic on screen that said something to the tune of: “Next week: Houston at Pittsburgh, 4pm.” Oops. I wish I had video to confirm this. Oh, and the Bills stormed back with hall-of-famers Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas out of the game. My dad attended the game, and reported of fans trying to scale the fences to get back into the stadium after walking out with the score 35-3. Of course, with the local blackout, the only way you could see it in Western New York was if you were there.1. 2003 NFC Divisional: Panthers 29, Rams 23 (2 OT)
I will go to my grave arguing this is the second-most entertaining NFL game I’ve ever seen, behind only Super Bowl XXXVIII. Amazingly, the ‘04 Panthers played in both.How awesome was it?
– Mushin Muhammad scored not on a catch, but a fumble recovery of a botched shovel pass.
– The Panthers, following a John Kasay missed FG that would have put them up by 14, blew an 11-point lead in the final 2:39, and still won.
– The Rams’ kicker successfully recovered his own onside kick after cutting Carolina’s lead to three.
– Mike Martz’s bizarre strategy to let the clock run down and play for the tie, despite having the ball in the red zone with that offense at home will be second-guessed for eternity.
– The Panthers seemingly won the game in the first OT on a 40-yard field goal but got flagged for delay of game. The 45-yard attempt sailed wide right.
– The Rams then missed a 53-yard field goal on their ensuing possession.
– The game went into a second overtime – the first such game since 1987.
– Jake Delhomme’s 69-yard nail-in-the-coffin bomb to Steve Smith was as pretty of a play as you’ll ever see.
– It was the Rams’ first home playoff loss, and their first home loss of any kind in 14 games.
– It was the fifth-longest game in NFL history.
– I needed a separate list just to describe the awesomeness of this game.
What a great list, although as a Falcons fan I would have loved to have seen the boys at TLOS rank the 1998 NFC Championship Game higher than 10. Thanks Gary Anderson – love, ya.
Make sure and check out the entire list because it comes complete with video. It’s crazy to look back on how many great playoff games there have been over the years.
