NFL Recap (New England-Buffalo)
Posted: Sun November 15, 1998 at 6:24 p.m. EST
BUFFALO 13, NEW ENGLAND 10
BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Doug Flutie threw for 178
yards and a touchdown in his first game against his former team and the Buffalo Bills used a steady
ground attack to defeat the New England Patriots,
13-10, in a pivotal AFC East showdown.
Flutie, who was given up by the Patriots following the 1989 season,
completed 14-of-26 passes with two interceptions for Buffalo (6-4), which
is tied with the New York
Jets for second place in the division, one game behind Miami.
Antowain Smith
rushed 24 times for 88 yards and Thurman Thomas added 76
yards on 11 carries as Buffalo totaled 213 yards on the ground. The Bills
won for the sixth time in seven games and are attempting to become the
fifth NFL team to make the playoffs after an 0-3 start.
"We were determined to run the ball better than we did last game,"
said Bills coach Wade Phillips. "Unfortunately, sometimes you are motivated
by not doing well and we didn't do well against the Jets last week. We
said going into this week that we have got to re-establish our running
game."
Drew Bledsoe
completed just 12-of-31 passes for 180 yards with no interceptions for New
England (5-5), which has dropped four of five games.
"This one hurts pretty bad," said Bledsoe. "We've got ourselves up
against it. We gotta pretty much have to run the table to do what we set
out to do. That's what we are forced with, that's where we got to go."
Bledsoe again played without injured receivers Terry Glenn (hamstring)
and Troy Brown (ankle),
but Vincent Brisby
returned and had just one catch for seven yards.
Buffalo ended a three-game skid to the Patriots and won for just the
second time in the last eight meetings. The teams play again in two weeks
at New England.
Flutie played for the Patriots under coach Raymond Berry from 1987-89.
His most extensive action came in 1988, when he posted a 6-3 record as the
starter and threw for 1,150 yards and eight touchdowns with 10
interceptions.
But the following year, Flutie made just three starts and led the Pats
to only one win. After the Patriots determined that the 5-9 quarterback
was too small to excel in the NFL, Flutie signed to play in the Canadian
Football League, where he stayed until joining Buffalo in January.
"I prepare the same way every week no matter who the opponent or
whether I am starting or backing up," said Flutie. "It was a little bit
special beating New England, but I think the emphasis was on it being an
AFC East game. In a couple of weeks it will be very sentimental for me to
go back to New England and play there."
Buffalo scored on the opening possession of the game as Flutie
engineered a 53-yard drive that was capped by Steve Christie's 31-yard
field goal 6:06 into the contest.
After New England was forced to punt, Flutie was at it again. He
rushed three times for 38 yards and had a 23-yard pass to Andre Reed to help set up
Christie's 20-yarder 40 seconds into the second period.
New England's Adam
Vinatieri missed a 39-yard field goal attempt on the next series but
nailed a 38-yarder with 4:55 left in the half to make it a three-point
game.
Bills tight end Lonnie
Johnson fumbled the ensuing kickoff and New England set up another
39-yard attempt for Vinatieri, who missed again with 3:36 to go. Christie
also failed on a 40-yarder at the gun during the windy conditions.
"I guess it's not a real easy place to kick, it wasn't today at
least," said Vinatieri. "In trying to adjust, I tried a little left -- I
guess just try to kick it normal, fight it best you can. Mother nature
just beat me today."
Buffalo extended its lead in the third quarter after Kevin Williams' 12-yard
punt return to the New England 47. Flutie hit Eric Moulds for a pair of
nine-yard passes and Thomas rushed for nine yards before tight end Jay Riemersma hauled in a
10-yard scoring strike with 1:57 left to make it 13-3.
But the Patriots retaliated with a seven-play, 75-yard drive to draw
within three points again. Bledsoe was 5-of-6 for 75 yards on the series,
including a 37-yard touchdown pass to rookie Tony Simmons 1:49 into the
fourth quarter.
Flutie drove the Bills back down the field, reaching the Patriots 4
after more than eight minutes. But safety Lawyer Milloy stepped in
front of a pass intended for Williams in the end zone to keep the score
close.
The interception ended a string of 27 straight trips into the red zone
in which the Bills had scored.
New England went three-and-out on its next series, but stopped Buffalo
on downs with 2:57 to play.
Bledsoe hit tight end Ben Coates for nine yards
and Shawn Jefferson for
22 to reach the Bills 42 just before the two-minute warning. A pass
interference call on safety Henry Jones advanced the
ball to the 34, but Bledsoe had four straight incompletions to end New
England's final chance.
"We had some dropped balls and some situations where we could have
converted on third down and that hurt," added Bledsoe. "But the bottom line
is we just weren't good enough to win the game today."
Patriots running back Robert Edwards, who is
second in rushing among all NFL rookies, was held to 50 yards on 14 carries
and has just 108 over his last three contests. Coates had four catches for
70 yards.
Buffalo allowed a season-low 11 first downs and 206 total yards in
winning its fourth straight home game.
"When you dissect this game, there are different ways of looking at
it," said Patriots coach Pete Carroll. "The fight was there to give us a
chance to win this game. There were plenty of shots there. The plays
weren't made, we dropped balls all day long today. We had plenty of
opportunities to win this game."
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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