Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As we inch closer to the final season at Highmark Stadium, we're remembering its rich history of memorable games. Jeff Nixon played safety for the Bills from 1979 through 1984, his final two seasons with the Bills were spent on injured reserve due to a knee injury.
Nixon was selected in the fifth-round (87th overall) in the 1978 draft out of Richmond. He led the team with six interceptions in 1978. Nixon remembered what the atmosphere was like playing at then Rich Stadium.
"The atmosphere was great because Chuck Knox had come in, and he was an established coach," Nixon said. "He had some great success when he was out in LA and we knew he was a good coach, and he surrounded himself with other good coaches. And I was able to have a pretty good career there during that period of time."
One of the biggest victories at Highmark Stadium during the Chuck Knox era was when the Bills snapped a 20-game losing streak to the Miami Dolphins. The fans were so happy to finally beat Miami that they torn down the goal-post at the end of the game. Nixon had a career day with three interceptions and one fumble recovery. The four takeaways is still the most by one player in a game in franchise history. After the game Nixon left the field quickly to avoid being trampled by fans.
"I was glad to get out of there when I did, because I might have gotten mauled," Nixon tells WBEN. "It was an exciting moment for the fans, and that was the thing that I really, I didn't experience any of those 10 years really of losing. So, you know, but all the fans were so frustrated that we could never beat these guys. So when we finally did, it was like mayhem, just mayhem."
When asked about where the Bills will finish in 2025, Bills fans will be happy to hear Nixon's answer.
"The Bills are going to win the Super Bowl this year," Nixon said. "That was my prediction. They're going to win it because they've got the MVP quarterback, and we've just got a team. We still got the nucleus of this team we had last year. We've lost a couple players, but we've gained, I think, some really good players in the draft."