Woe, Canada! Bills Legendary Jaguars-Like Comeback Goofed Up by ESPN
The Jacksonville Jaguars' postseason comeback victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night had many recappers and highlight reel-makers improvising and making quick edits, including those at the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
One such adjustment got the Buffalo Bills involved and created one of the more humorous visuals in recent professional sports memory.
The Jacksonville comeback, which saw the Jaguars erase a 27-0 deficit en route to a 31-30 triumph, is good for the third-largest erasure in NFL postseason history. That top pair likewise came in the Wild Card round, with Indianapolis rising from 28 down against Kansas City in 2014, with all comebacks paling in comparison to the Bills' return from a 35-3 deficit built by the Houston Oilers 21 years prior.
In recognition of Jacksonville's victory, the late edition of ESPN's flagship program "SportsCenter" showcased highlights from their partners in overcoming adversity. In an error perhaps caused by the rush to air, the moments from the Bills-Oilers game showcased the logo of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers rather than Houston's since-moved NFL franchise.
While the humorous error was lambasted on social media, the mistake could feasibly be blamed on the fact that the Houston Oilers logo hasn't been used since the team moved to Tennessee after the 1996-97 season (re-branding as the Titans two years later). Jacksonville's comeback was likewise unexpected, the deficit having mostly been erased in the second half and the Jaguars even trailed by two possessions entering the final period.
One can only imagine how the comeback engineered by Frank Reich would've gone against Alberta's Oilers, well-known for their physical, high-scoring exploits (headlined by hockey legends Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier), ones that produced five Stanley Cup lifts between 1984 and 1990. That comeback against Houston, which required overtime, set the tone and pace for the third of four consecutive Super Bowl visits for Western New York in the early 1990s: they'd easily dispatch Pittsburgh and Miami in the Divisional and Conference Championship rounds before falling to the Dallas Cowboys.
The modern Bills (13-3) certainly hope that a comeback like the one against the Oilers won't be necessary this Sunday, as their latest Super Bowl trek begins against the aforementioned Miami Dolphins (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Buffalo will host Jacksonville in the Divisional round if it prevails over South Beach and the Baltimore Ravens top the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday's postseason nightcap.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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