American Football · 2000 · Nashville, USA
The Music City Miracle
Trailing by a point with 16 seconds left, the Tennessee Titans return a kickoff the length of the field through a single lateral pass, stunning the Buffalo Bills in an AFC Wild Card game.
Titans 22-16 Bills
Result
16 seconds
Time remaining at kickoff
75 yards
Return distance
The Buffalo Bills had just retaken a 16-15 lead over the Tennessee Titans with a field goal with 16 seconds remaining in their AFC Wild Card game on 8 January 2000, a result that looked all but settled. On the ensuing kickoff, Titans tight end Frank Wycheck fielded a lateral from Lorenzo Neal near his own goal line, then threw a pass across the field to wide receiver Kevin Dyson.
Dyson caught it in stride along the near sideline and ran the remaining distance untouched, completing a 75-yard score as time expired. Bills coaches immediately protested that Wycheck's throw had gone forward rather than sideways or backward, which would have made it an illegal forward lateral, but officials upheld the play after review.
The Titans won 22-16 and the play was nicknamed the Music City Miracle for Nashville's music-industry identity. It remains one of the most replayed and most argued-over finishes in NFL postseason history, and it launched a Titans run that fell one yard short of forcing overtime in that season's Super Bowl XXXIV.
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