Steelers 19, Bills 16

Rewind to January 6, 1990. I'm at the AFC Divisional Playoff game at Cleveland's ancient Municipal Stadium, sitting off the left corner of the endzone. Definitely the wildest crowd I've ever seen for anything. The Bills are down 34-30 with less than 30 seconds left in the 4th quarter but they are at the Browns 20 and driving for the winning score. Jim Kelly drops back to pass and Bills back-up running back Ronnie Harmon shakes his coverage and is wide open in the left corner of the endzone, about 25 yards from my seat. I can clearly see that he has no one within 5 yards of him. Kelly notices as well and throws a perfect ball to him right on the numbers. He drops it. On the next play, Clay Matthews intercepts Kelly. Game over. Bills lose 34-30.

Steve Johnson's drop against the Steelers 21 years later was also a perfect pass and also would have won the game. Obviously, there was less riding on it as the Bills were 2-8 and Harmon's drop was in a playoff game. NFL players take countless practice reps and regularly make spectacular catches but sometimes, passes are dropped for no apparent reason. It wasn't one of those situations where the receiver is concentrating on running after he makes the catch or is aware of a defender bearing down on him. Nope. He just dropped it. After his fantastic performance last week, Johnson also managed to drop 4 other passes yesterday. Someone on the post game WGR call-in suggested that he was thinking about pulling up his jersey to reveal this week's message.

So, they remain in good position to draft their franchise quarterback with only 2 wins. I am encouraged that they have been very competitive for each of the past 5 weeks, winning twice and losing the other 3 in overtime. They have only been blown out twice this season - at Green Bay and against the Jets. Although they are a bad team, there is reason for hope.

Ronnie Harmon never played another game for the Bills after the 1989 season. It seems safe to say that Steve Johnson has a bright career ahead of him with the Bills. He just has to move on and be thankful that it wasn't a very important game.