More than 21 years have passed since the infamous Home Run Throwback, when the Tennessee Titans scored a touchdown on a trick play off a kickoff return in the AFC wild card game to stun the Buffalo Bills 22-16 and eliminate them from the playoffs. Bills fans have long argued that the touchdown was illegal because the pass across the field from the Titans' Frank Wycheck to Kevin Dyson moved forward, not laterally.
On Monday Night Football, Mike Vrabel's Titans tried an almost identical stunt following a punt by the Bills' Matt Haack with 3:07 left in the first quarter. Usual Tennessee returner Chester Rogers caught the punt, ran forward two yards, then threw the ball to the opposite side of the field to Chris Jackson, who ran 22 yards before being tackled by A.J. Klein.
[More: Buffalo sports' greatest what-ifs? What if the Home Run Throwback was an illegal forward pass?]
Unlike that Music City Miracle throwback, a flag was thrown this time, and officials quickly ruled the ball traveled forward – a five-yard penalty from the spot of the foul. The ESPN broadcast team did not notice the connection between the second-most infamous play in Bills history and what had just occurred until nearly a minute later, although The News' Jay Skurski, Mike Harrington and much of Bills Twitter caught on immediately.
Homerun Throwback, part II -- only this time, with the flag.
— Jay Skurski (@JaySkurski) October 19, 2021
Needed that call 21 1/2 years ago.
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) October 19, 2021
They finally called a forward lateral in Tennessee...
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 19, 2021
The slight difference in the two plays was that the Music City Miracle came from a kickoff, not a punt, and Lorenzo Neal, one of the Titans' up-men, originally fielded the short kickoff before handing to Wycheck, the passer. On Monday night, Rogers, the passer, caught the punt directly.
One eerie connection was that the TV angle and the sides of the field in which the play was executed were identical.
