that became known as the "Music City Miracle": During the ensuing kickoff, Frank Wycheck lateraled the ball to Kevin Dyson who then scored the winning touchdown. Although Wycheck's pass was close to an illegal forward lateral, replays were ruled inconclusive and the call on the field was upheld as a touchdown. The Titans went on to advance to the Super Bowl. The Titans game would mark the last appearance by the Bills in the playoffs for the next 18 years. Following the season, the final ties to the Bills' Super Bowl years were severed when Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and Bruce Smith were all cut. Antowain Smith, Eric Moulds, and Marcellus Wiley respectively had long since eclipsed them on the depth chart. In the 2000 season, the team would miss the playoffs following an 8–8 year. Both Flutie and Smith were dominant in their final game as Bills, in a 42–23 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Thomas would be quickly replaced by rookie Travis Henry. After the 2000 season, with the team still caught up in the Johnson vs. Flutie controversy, general manager John Butler departed for the San Diego Chargers—and took Flutie and Wiley with him, among many other Bills contributors. Doug Flutie left the Bills with a .677 winning percentage in 31 starts. Antowain Smith also left as a free agent for the New England Patriots, where he was the starting running back on their first two Super Bowl championship teams. 2001–2016: Playoff drought 2001–2005: Tom Donahoe and Drew Bledsoe In 2001, following the departure of John Butler, team owner Ralph Wilson announced his retirement as president of the organization and handed the reins of his franchise to Tom Donahoe, a former executive with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The move turned out to be disastrous. Donahoe (just a year after the team had released three eventual Hall of Famers in a salary cap move) proceeded to gut the franchise of most of its remaining recognizable talent and replaced it with young, inexperienced, unknown lower-end players, much of which joined Butler in San Diego that year, and installed Rob Johnson as the starting quarterback. The team went from playoff contenders to a 31–49 record during Donahoe's five-year tenure. Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams took over as head coach for the 2001 season, which proved to be the worst in recent memory for the Bills. Rob Johnson went down in mid-season