Friday, February 17, 2012

Steve Christie

Sent: 9/22/11
Received: 2/17/12
Time: 148 Days
Address: Home
Item Sent: 1990 Score Traded, 1992 Topps, 1994 Topps
Item Received: 1990 Score Traded, 1992 Topps, 1994 Topps.  All signed in black Sharpie.

Notes:
Canadian placekicker Steve Christie came to the Buffalo Bills in 1992 after two solid but under-the-radar seasons with the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  He replaced longtime Bills kicker Scott Norwood,  a fine kicker who was never quite the same after hooking the potential game-winning kick in Super Bowl XXV.  While Norwood had unfairly earned the reputation as a choker courtesy of that one missed kick (albeit on the world's biggest stage), Christie quickly established himself as the exact opposite.  Christie himself recovered his own perfectly-executed on-side kick during the Bills historic playoff comeback against the Oilers during the 1992 playoffs.  He would later nail the overtime game-winner, completing the greatest comeback in NFL history.  He also holds the record for longest field goal in Super Bowl history (54 yards in Super Bowl XXVII against Dallas) and has a share of the all-time NFL career record for regular season overtime game-winning field goals.  Kickers and punters often get slighted in discussions of great football players, but Steve Christie is a bona-fide Bills legend.

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