Wide Right (Buffalo Bills)

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Wide Right or 47 wide right is a term for Scott Norwood's missed 47-yard field goal during Super Bowl XXV. With 8 seconds left to play, Norwood's Buffalo Bills trailed the New York Giants by a single point. However, 47 yards was considered near the limit of Norwood's range, particularly on a grass field, according to the comments during the original game broadcast.^[1] Converting the field goal would have won the championship for the Bills. Instead, the New York Giants took possession with 4 seconds left and ran out the clock for a 20-19 victory, making this Super Bowl the closest ever.

[edit] References in popular culture

The field goal miss was the central feature of the popular indie film Buffalo ’66, where Billy Brown (played by the film's writer and director, Vincent Gallo), just released from prison, seeks to kill a Bills kicker named "Scott Wood" for missing a field goal that would have won the Super Bowl, leaving Brown with a large gambling debt. The bookie forced him to confess to a friend's crime and be sent to prison to settle the debt.

In the Everybody Loves Raymond fourth season episode "The Tenth Anniversary", Ray tapes the 1991 Super Bowl over his wedding video. After this is discovered, the men at the anniversary party watch the video only to find that Ray did not tape the kick, as the tape cuts back to his wedding.

While not explicitly stated, the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective alludes to the event when the Miami Dolphins miss a field goal wide left to lose Super Bowl XIX to the San Francisco 49ers in the last seconds of the game. The event drives Dolphins kicker Ray Finkle to insanity. (In reality, the 49ers and Dolphins had played in Super Bowl XIX, with San Francisco winning the game handily, 38-16.)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ABC Sports commentary of Super Bowl XXV

[edit] See also

• The Comeback
• Music City Miracle