In Super Bowl XXV, Bills kicker Scott Norwood lined up a 47-yard field goal with the hopes of giving Buffalo its first Super Bowl title. With the score 20-19, the Giants held a slim one-point lead.
As we all know, Norwood, missed his kick, wide-right, giving the Giants the narrowest of Super Bowl wins.
Coincidentally, had Norwood made his field goal to lift the Bills to a 22-20 victory, this still would have been the closest Super Bowl, but the record would be breakable.
“When it left his foot, it had plenty of leg,” longtime Bills kicks Steve Christie told YahooSports. “When you’re a right-footed kicker, the ball always slings left. In this particular case, the ball didn’t hook left like it should have.
“Typically, the way he hit it, that should have made it.”
“A 47-yard field goal on the right hash for a right-footed kicker is a tough kick for anybody,” kicker Mike Lansford told Yahoo. “It’s unfortunate that he got saddled with that. Buffalo was so damn good, just a scoring machine, and Scott was great for them.”
The other Bills appearances in the Super Bowl were, uh, not so close, but the Giants have made a habit of playing tight ones for the title. New York has one of the six three-point victories, 17-14 over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, plus a 21-17 triumph over New England in XLVI
The other games decided by three points were Super Bowls V (Colts 16, Cowboys 13), XXXVI (Patriots 20, Rams 17), XXXVIII (Patriots 32, Panthers 29), XXXIX (Patriots 24, Eagles 21), and XLVII (Ravens 34, 49ers 31).
The overtime game, Super Bowl LI, obviously was the closest game after 60 minutes, but it wound up not even being in the top 10 closest Super Bowls because the Patriots beat the Falcons, 34-28, on James White’s two-yard touchdown run.