Taron Johnson Made One of The Biggest Plays in Buffalo Sports History
It's easy to be a prisoner of the moment. You get caught up in the excitement and over-exaggerate a bit when comparing it to past moments. I don't think that's the case with what happened last night near the end of the third quarter in the Ravens-Bills AFC Divisional round game in Orchard Park.
With the Baltimore Ravens driving inside the Bills' 10-yard line on third and goal (with the score 10-3 Buffalo), Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson threw an interception to nickel cornerback Taron Johnson who took it back 101 yards for a touchdown. Instead of the Ravens potentially tying the game 10-10, the game changed instantly and became 17-3 Bills and that's the way it ended.
Jackson would be injured on the next Ravens series and the Bills are now on their way to their first AFC title game appearance since January of 1994.
Taron Johnson did make one of the biggest plays in Buffalo sports history. It's certainly the biggest of the past 13 or 14 years. The closest things are probably the Sabres playoff goals: the overtime winner from Jason Pominville against the Ottawa Senators in May of 2006. The Chris Drury goal to tie game 5 against the New York Rangers with 7.7 seconds remaining in May of 2007.
I'm sure some Buffalo sports fans would say Johnson's pick-six is the biggest moment since the 1991 pick-six from Carlton Bailey against the Denver Broncos to earn the Bills a trip to the Super Bowl. Seriously, I think it could be the biggest in 30 years in Buffalo sports. It was THAT important.
The play happened in slow motion for me. When Johnson intercepts it, I am in shock, but I also imagine he gets tackles at some point. It wasn't until Johnson got to the 50-yard-line I thought it would be a touchdown.
The Bills now go to the AFC title game against either the Cleveland Browns or Kansas City Chiefs.