It's
not often that a kicker gets any recognition for any type of career achievements,
Steve Christie is one of the few. The term clutch performer describes
Christie more than anyone who ever wore the Buffalo Bills uniform. Not
only does Christie own every Buffalo Bills scoring record, as any kicker
who played nine season for one team should, but the lasting legacy that
Steve Christie leaves behind for every kicker that comes after him is that
of his play when the game was on the line.
In his career, Steve Christie has won game with a field goal in the final minute of regulation or in overtime 13 times and on nine of those occasions his kick has been the final play (or walk off field goal). He has seven overtime, game winning field goals. Only Jim Breech (formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals), who holds the all-time NFL record, has more with nine.
Adding to the impressiveness of those accomplishments is the fact that of his seven overtime game winning field goals, he sent the game into overtime by kicking the tying field goal in the last fifteen seconds of the game on four of those occasions. In the 2000 season, Christie pulled this double-clutch twice. To chronicle Steve Christie's clutch performances throughout his career, we should know that Christie is 21-24 in game winning or tying field goals in his twelve years in the NFL.
Christie came to the Bills in 1992 as a plan B free agent from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He came to the Bucs as an undrafted free agent in 1990 after a stellar four year career at the college of William and Mary. He made the all NFC rookie team that year. He set a Tampa Bay record in kicking 49 consecutive PATs, in fact he never missed a point after in his two seasons in Tampa.
"You get depressed winning only three games a season," Christie replied when asked why he left the sunny, warm conditions of Tampa, Florida for the cold, snowy, windy conditions of Buffalo, New York.
Christie would experience winning in Buffalo and would handle the "hawk" (the nick name given to the cold winds of Ralph Wilson Stadium) better than any kicker in the NFL. This shouldn't surprise anyone considering that Christie is a native of Oakville, Ontario, located about 90 or so miles northwest of the Buffalo area.
Christie's first playoff game was a memorable one for him as he kicked the winning field goal against the Houston Oilers for a 41-38 victory in the greatest comeback ever. He would go on to play in several more with the Bills including two Super Bowls. He holds the Super Bowl record for the longest field goal (54 yards) in Super Bowl XXVIII.
In his nine seasons with the Bills, Steve Christie scored at least 100 points in a season eight times and scored 1,011 points total for his career, becoming only the 18th player in NFL history to score that many with one team. The latter stat is more of a longevity record but remember, Steve Christie would not have been around for those nine seasons if not for the ice water in his veins and his knack for driving the ball through the uprights when the game was on the line.
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