"The Colts' comeback against the Bucs was really remarkable because it was against the best defensive team in football and the defending Super Bowl champions in such a short period of time. But naturally, I was a first-hand observer (and head coach) of the Bills' come-from-behind victory over the Houston Oilers in the 1992 playoffs. We played the game without Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Cornelius Bennett -- three of our stars -- and came back from a 35-3 deficit with around 22 minutes left in the game.
"So what was I thinking during the game? We were devastated when we found ourselves down 28-3 at halftime. Here we were, AFC champions, being humiliated at home in the playoffs. There was no great pep talk like you'd see in the movies. Halftime is only 12 minutes long; I really only had three minutes to make adjustments. The only thing I recall saying to our players was, 'You are two-time defending AFC champions. When you walk off the field 30 minutes from now, don't let anybody say that you quit or gave up.' Whether it meant anything to them or not, I don't know, but on our first possession of the second half, the ball went off of one of our tight end's hands and the Oilers ran it back for a touchdown to make it 35-3. On the kickoff, the kicker flubbed it and somehow hit one of our front five players and they nearly recovered the ball. We got it though, and we scored on the next play. Then we recovered an on-side kick, scored quickly and got back in the game. In seven minutes we scored four touchdowns and had 31 points going into the fourth quarter.
"It must have been in that team to do such a feat because just one year later during the regular season we came back from a 26-0 halftime deficit against Indianapolis, considered the third-greatest comeback of all time. Coincidentally, one man who's been a vital part of both comebacks (the Bills/Oilers and last week's Colts/Bucs) is Bill Polian. He was our GM in Buffalo at the time and now he's in charge of the Colts. Bill's a good friend, a great guy, he speaks well and has great enthusiasm. And he has two amazing comebacks to look back upon.
"I do a lot of exercising, and sometimes I'm feeling serene and my mind wanders and that pleasant thought comes back to me. It was beautiful -- a remarkable event. You have to coach for 47 years to have a few moments like that occur, and it's one that I very much treasure."
