"We Gotta Beat These People"

The Dolphins don't matter any more.

Hear that from a lot of Bills fans these days. Buffalo's rivalry with Miami has lost its luster. "They're dead in the water. We're on the rise."

Rivalries can't be felt by the uninitiated. They have to be taught, whether it's within the Bills locker room, or in the fans themselves. A date in Toronto in December seems to be the latest expression of minimizing what had grown over two generations to be the franchise's most bitter rivalry.

Don't tell Lou Saban the Dolphins don't matter. Listen in the clip below to his anguish in the middle of the 0-20 imprisonment the Bills endured in the 1970's and you understand why Buffalo fans born before Y2K understand what's at stake when it's time to Squish the Fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_0wGYt_4Ck&feature=related


Or ask anyone who stormed the field at Rich Stadium in September of 1980 when Joe Cribbs, Joe Ferguson and Roosevelt Leaks helped break the decade-long hex Don Shula held over the Bills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBETnH4rB_Y&feature=related


So if rivalries must be taught, here are the basics. Shula's teams won 20 straight games over the Bills, some by the most excruciating and even questionable of manners. Old-timers will note Shula was on the NFL competition committee and argue he had the refs in his pocket?

Even after the Bills won a few in the 1980s, Miami's mastery resumed with the arrival of Dan Marino. Then came Marv Levy and Jim Kelly and the balance of the rivalry headed north. The Bills owned the Dolphins through the 90s and three playoff games.

Through this decade, both teams have been marginalized, and so has the rivalry. But that should by no means lead to its demise.

Rivals see intrinsic contrasts in each other. Look at the regions: South Florida vs. Western New York. It's perfect. And so, it should be preserved.

So let's continue our education, with bests and worst moments.

Worst:
5. 1999. Dolphin Stadium. Trace Armstrong sacks Doug Flutie on the last play of the AFC playoff game in Miami. Eric Moulds had torched the Dolphin secondary all day long, but Marino and company held the lead late. Flutie had driven the Bills to the Miami 10 for the tie, but couldn't pull of another miracle.

4. 1978. Rich Stadium. Could have used replay. The Bills had taken a late one-point lead and were ready to break the streak, but Bob Griese still had one last pass. His long throw down the hash marks to tight end Andre Tillman clearly hit the ground, but the refs ruled it catch at the Buffalo 33. Garo Yepremium kicks a 50-yard field goal to win it as time expires.

3. 1974. Orange Bowl. The Phantom Flag. First place Bills steal the momentum early as Tony Greene steps in front of a Griese throw and goes 105 yards for a TD. Flag thrown after the pick. Holding. Ball reverts to the Fish. They score.

2. 1974. Orange Bowl. Same game, the one that nearly killed Saban. Bills get two late TD throws from backup Gary Marangi, including one with :56 left. Still time though. Dolphins move ball to midfield, but Mercury Morris fumbles. Pat Toomay brushes ref after recovery. Flagged for personal foul. Dolphins retain possession. Don Nottingham runs for the winning TD on next play. You can still hear Saban: "God almighty, why do we do that!"

1. 1979. Rich Stadium. Charles Romes returns blocked kick for a TD. Bills D shuts out Miami for three quarters of the season opener. Then the skies opened. Larry Czonka bulls for the go-ahead score. But there's hope. Punt returner Keith Moody sets the Bills up at the Dolphin 20 in the waning moments. Enter Tom Dempsey, who kicked fans in the gut one more time when he shanked the winning kick (by the way, it was wide right.)

As a 13-year old first-time season ticket-holding witness to that one, I remember sitting in Section J4, Row 13, Seat 11 with my parents just letting the rain soak me and wondering, so this is what it means to be a Bills fan?

Ah, but the next year, the tide changed.

Best:
5. 1993. Joe Robbie Stadium. Cornelius Bennett sacks and strips Dan Marino, then picks up the fumble and prances the remaining ten yards for a score that propelled the Bills over the Fish in a Monday Night Football Massacre.

4. 2002. Ralph Wilson Stadium. After Ricky Williams plowed through the Bills for 200 yards and two long TD runs, but Drew Bledsoe and company throttled Miami in a snow game that turned the Ralph into a snow globe. Long TD catches to Peerless Price and Eric Moulds amidst choruses of "Let It Snow" became the signature image of the Dolphins futility of playing Buffalo here in December.

3. 1990. Rich Stadium. Take your pick. Frank Reich's understudy performance in a 24-7 victory that clinched an AFC East title. Or Thurman Thomas' catch against his helmet on the opening play of the Bills playoff victory over Marino. Kelly had just returned from injury to lead the Bills to their first Super Bowl date.

2. 1989. Joe Robbie Stadium. Jim Kelly dives across the goal line on the game's final play to overcome a 12-point fourth quarter deficit. (Trivia: who caught the TD pass the Bills needed before Kelly's sneak? The answer below)

1. 1980. Rich Stadium. Jeff Nixon intercepts Griese three times. Fergie throws to Roosevelt Leaks for the go-ahead score and Joe Cribbs dives over for the clincher. The field is stormed. The goal posts come down. One's fed to Ralph Wilson's owner box. The other goes over the rim of the stadium. a 17-7 opening day victory snaps the 20-game streak. Still have a slice of turf and some netting from that one. Talkin' Proud, as a theme for the city and the Chuck Knox Bills, takes off.

Just the tip of the iceberg for Bills fans who've seen Jeff Wright sack Marino and Fergie light up the 'Fins for 31 first half points on Monday Night Football. Even Trent Edwards, with his 4 TD passes last December in his first Miami game, has started to write his role in the rivalry.

And as the chapters grow, from Flip Johnson (there's your trivia answer) to Travis Henry and his botched halfback option pass, there will be plenty of bit players. For every Bryan Cox hand gesture, there's Thomas, Darick Holmes and Tim Tindale running the Finnies out of the Ralph, and Shula out of the game for good. But remember, O.J. Simpson and Joe D. never beat the Dolphins as Bills in the 70s. Donte Whitner and Marshawn Lynch have never lost to them.

So Miami Week, as hardcore fans still like to call it, remains something Bills followers should come to recognize as more than just another game on the schedule. Doing so is as important as wearing the red and the blue.

What are your Miami memories?