Tuesday's a quiet day around the NFL. Every day's a quiet day for the Red Sox. Hockey's taking a nap. The NBA still a few weeks out. And here on Standing Room Only, that means three words: Box. Score. Bank.
I wanted to go with a Pats game today, so I started looking back through the years hoping to find a September 18th date that was worthy of some press. Here's what I found:
The last time the Pats played on 918 was way back in 2011, when they beat the Chargers in Week 2. (Think we'll skip that for now.) The last time before that? September 18, 2005 when the defending champs were upset by Stephen Davis and the Panthers. (No thanks.)
And the last time before that?
September 18, 1994.
Yes.
So let's set the Box Score Bank for 18 years ago today . . .
New England Patriots
The Lion King was the top movie at the box office, narrowly edging Forrest Gumpand not narrowly edging House Party 3. "I'll Make Love To You" by Boyz II Men was in the midst of its 14-week run atop the Billboard charts. A month earlier, Major League Ball called it quits on the '94 season. Two months later, the Jacksonville Jaguars were announced as the NFL's 30th franchise. Bill Parcells was in his second year as coach of the Patriots. Aaron Hernandez was four years old.
And over in Cincinnati, the Pats were riding high on the back of big 'ol Marion Butts.
Final Score: Patriots 31, Bengals 28
Butts probably shouldn't get all the credit. After all, Drew Bledsoe had a solid game, completing 30 of 50 passes for 350 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and patting the ball in the pocket an NFL record 117 times. The great Michael Timpson had a nice game with 10 catches for 125 yards and a TD. Not to be outdone, the Pats D picked up seven sacks on David Klinger. But mostly because his name is Marion Butts, I'm giving the game ball to Marion Butts, who ran for two touchdowns (including the clincher in the fourth) in the Pats big Week 3 win.
It was a season of streaks for the Pats back in '94. This win over Cincy broke a two-game drought. After that, they ran off three straight wins. That was followed by four straight losses. And finally, a seven-game winning streak that powered New England to a 10-6 record and their first playoff appearance since 1986.
There, they met the Cleveland Browns and a 42-year-old named Bill Belichick, in the first playoff game on head coaching career.
The Pats dropped that one, 20-13. Not so coincidentally? Marion Butts spent the entire game on the bench.
"Don't take any signals," Parcells said afterwards. "I was just doing what I thought for that particular game. It has nothing to do with Marion Butts."
Butts was gone the next year.
But he'll always have Cincinnati.
Rich can be reached at rlevine@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Rich on Twitter at http:twitter.comrich_levine