Wide Right (Buffalo Bills)
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Wide Right, a.k.a. 47 Wide Right, was Scott Norwood's missed 47-yard field goal attempt for the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
at the end of Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991, as described by sportscaster
Al Michaels Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television play-by-play sportscaster for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Amazon Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on network sports television sin ...
. The missed field goal resulted in the game being won by the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...
. The phrase "wide right" has since become synonymous with the game itself, and has since been used in other sports. This game is also called The Miss by some Bills fans.


The field goal attempt

Following an 11-yard run for a first down by Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly spiked the ball for an incompletion to stop the clock (since the Bills had already exhausted their timeouts). With eight seconds left in the game, Norwood's Buffalo Bills trailed the New York Giants by a single point. They chose to try a 47-yard field goal, which would win the game and the championship for the Bills. However, 47 yards was considered near the limit of Norwood's kicking range, particularly on a grass field, according to comments during the original game broadcast.ABC Sports commentary of Super Bowl XXV Bills head coach Marv Levy also noted that fewer than 50% of such attempts succeeded. In fact, during his career, Norwood was 1 of 5 for field goal attempts of more than 40 yards on grass, and with his longest field goal being 48 yards in that season. Norwood lined up for the 47-yard game-winning field goal attempt from the right hash of the 37-yard line, with Frank Reich the holder and Adam Lingner the long snapper. The kick, although it had sufficient distance, passed about a foot to the right of the righthand
goalpost In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is pl ...
and the field goal attempt failed. Television sportscaster
Al Michaels Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television play-by-play sportscaster for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Amazon Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on network sports television sin ...
, calling the game for ABC, announced the occurrence to a stunned television audience: "No good...wide right." Later video analysis revealed Frank Reich mistakenly aligned the laces to the right, thereby positioning the kicked ball to fade right once in the air. The Giants took possession with four seconds left and ran out the clock for a 20–19 victory, making this
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the closest ever. Had Norwood successfully scored it would have likely given the Bills a 22–20 victory, their first Super Bowl win, and it would also have been the first Super Bowl to be decided by a game-ending field goal since Jim O'Brien's 32-yard kick which gave the
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a 16–13 victory against the
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in Super Bowl V.


Aftermath

In losing the game, the Bills lost their first of four consecutive Super Bowls. This loss was the closest the team got to victory, as the following three Super Bowls ended with the Bills losing by considerable margins (13 points to the
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in
Super Bowl XXVI Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...
, 35 points to the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
in Super Bowl XXVII, and 17 points to the
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in Super Bowl XXVIII, respectively). The city of Buffalo had not won a Big 4 sports championship since
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...
(which became the longest such streak of futility for any city that has at least two major sports franchises once
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, whose last title came in
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
, lost one of its two teams in 2017), so Norwood's unsuccessful attempt had an even greater significance. As of 2025, the winless streak remains intact. The Bills immediately began searching for a replacement for Norwood after the missed kick. Former Giants kicker Björn Nittmo was brought into the 1991 training camp but failed to impress, which kept Norwood on the roster for the 1991 season. Finally, in 1992, the Bills signed the kicker who would become Norwood's replacement, Steve Christie, which ended Norwood's career. A similar occurrence happened in the Divisional round of the 2023–24 NFL playoffs against the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...
; Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a game-tying 44-yard kick late in the 4th quarter to the right of the goalpost leading to the Bills' loss, which drew comparisons to Norwood's "Wide Right" kick, including by the game's commentator Jim Nantz, who said "Wide right. The two most dreaded words in Buffalo have surfaced again."


See also

* '' Buffalo '66'' * The Comeback * Gary Anderson's missed field goal in the 1998 NFC Championship Game * Mike Vanderjagt’s missed field goal in the 2005 AFC Divisional Round * Double Doink * River City Relay * List of nicknamed NFL games and plays


Notes


External links


Video from NFL.com
{{NFL on ABC Super Bowl plays Buffalo Bills postseason New York Giants postseason 1990 NFL season 1991 in sports in Florida 20th century in Tampa, Florida