I read in a statistics almanac that the “largest deficit overcome” by an NFL team in a game was the 32-point comeback by the Buffalo Bills in that famous 1992 playoff game where they came back from a 35-3 deficit against the Houston Oilers to eventually beat Houston, 41-38.
Now, did the Bills have to ***win ***for the deficit to count as “overcome” for these statistical purposes? If they had come all the way back to tie the game at, let’s say, 38-38, but still eventually lost in the end, would that still have gone into the record books?
I don’t think that’s true. Suppose the Bills had been down 35-3 and then been able to come back and take the lead. But then the Oilers had scored a last second touchdown and won the game 44-41. The Bills would have overcome the 32 point deficit even though they lost.
Oddly, in this scenario, I would not say that the Bills overcame the lead, but I would say that the Oilers blew their lead. That feels hypocritical but also somehow correct.
I see what you’re saying, but I think overcome implies that the game ended with victory. If you didn’t ultimately win, no matter how close you made it, you didn’t overcome it. Even if you eventually took the lead.
Had the Bills fallen behind 35-3, gone ahead 38-35 and then lost 41-35, they would not have “overcome the lead” because the establishment of that lead would have been part of the reason the Oilers won the game. That’s the thing about a lead; it allows you to be outplayed for the remainder of the contest, but still win.
Last night Indiana blew a 17- point lead against Toronto. Toronto won, though. Had Indiana managed to scrape back in and win after blowing the lead, the lead would not really have been “Blown” because that 17-point advantage would have been the reason they were in a position to win at all.