NFL Recap (Buffalo-New Orleans)
Posted: Sun December 27, 1998 at 7:53 p.m. EST
BUFFALO 45, NEW ORLEANS 33
NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Rob Johnson finished the
regular season the way he began it -- as the starting quarterback for the
Buffalo Bills.
Subbing for an injured Doug Flutie, Johnson
started for the first time since October 11th and threw three touchdown
passes and ran for a score to lead the Bills to a 45-33 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
Flutie, who rested an injured leg, will return to the helm next
weekend when the Bills (10-6) travel to Miami to play the Dolphins in an
AFC wild card game.
Johnson started his first game since he was forced to leave an October
11th game at Indianapolis with bruised ribs. Flutie came off the bench to
lead the Bills to a 31-24 victory and won Buffalo's next three games as the
starter before coach Wade Phillips named him as the starter for the rest of
the season.
In his first year back in the NFL after a seven-year hiatus, the
former Heisman Trophy winner is 7-3 as the Bills' starter.
"It was the most frustrating thing in the world," Flutie said. "You
want to play; that's what you do, play football. You dress up, you go and
operate with a lot worse injuries than this, so now we're off to the next
phase."
Johnson, who finished 12-of-18 for 216 yards, was relegated to serving
as a $25 million backup after signing a five-year deal in the off-season to
be Buffalo's quarterback of the future. Today, he showed minimal rust from
the long layoff.
"I think Doug could have played today," Phillips said. "We wanted to
play everybody. I wanted Rob to get a chance to play and he did. He had a
good game. What I worried about at the end of the game was not them
winning the game, but somebody getting hurt."
Johnson fired a 66-yard scoring strike to Pro Bowler Eric Moulds with 12:06
left in the first quarter to give Buffalo an early 14-0 lead and scored
himself on a 12-yard jaunt with 6:13 remaining to make it a 21-point
cushion.
He found fullback Sam
Gash for a one-yard TD pass early in the second quarter to give the
Bills a 28-0 bulge. After the Saints pulled within 31-21 in the third
quarter, Johnson connected with Lonnie Johnson from 23
yards on the first play of the fourth period to rebuild the advantage back
to 17.
Moulds had two catches for 90 yards and broke the Bills' single-season
record for receiving yards with 1,368, surpassing the mark of 1,312
established by teammate Andre
Reed in 1989.
"This is a playoff-caliber team," said Moulds. "They started off
slow, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish. I'm real excited
about what's going on."
Bills kicker Steve
Christie established a club single-season scoring record with his extra
point after Lonnie Johnson's TD grab. It gave him 139 points for the
season, eclipsing the previous mark set by O.J. Simpson in 1975.
Embattled Saints quarterback Kerry Collins was yanked
by coach Mike Ditka for the second straight weekend after going 3-of-12 for
23 yards with a fumble and an interception, both of which led to Buffalo
scores.
Billy Joe Tolliver
came on in the first quarter and staged a late rally. He was 24-of-40 for
291 yards with three touchdown passes -- all in the second half -- and an
interception, stating his case for returning next season.
"You know, nobody knows," Tolliver said. "After you go 6-10, nobody's
saying anything. Nobody knows what's going to happen. I think you just go
out and try to do your job and let it fall where it falls."
After winning their first three games, the Saints lost 10 of 13 and
finished 6-10 for the second straight season under Ditka.
"We closed another chapter, and it's a horror novel we just closed a
chapter on," Ditka said. "But our guys don't quit. They don't play good,
but we didn't quit. I'm proud of them."
The Bills won their second straight visit to the Superdome and
improved to 4-2 in the all-time series against the Saints, who have not
reached the postseason since 1992.
The 78 combined points were the most scored at the Superdome since the
Saints posted a 44-34 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
on December 6th, 1987. The last time New Orleans allowed 45 points to an
opponent at home was a 45-29 loss to the New York Giants on
September 24th, 1995.
Bruce Smith
recovered Collins' fumble on the Saints' opening drive and returned it 18
yards to the 1. Antowain
Smith took it over on the Bills' first play from scrimmage to give his
team a 7-0 lead just 35 seconds into play.
On their next drive, the Bills took just three plays to score, as
Johnson found Moulds on a long TD strike to open a 14-0 lead with 12:06
left and give the third-year wideout his record.
Safety Kurt Schulz
picked off Collins at midfield to set up the Bills' next scoring drive.
Johnson connected with Moulds on a 24-yard pass to the New Orleans 12
before taking it in himself on the next play with 6:13 left in the opening
quarter.
The Bills marched 81 yards on nine plays in a drive that bridged the
first and second quarters before Johnson found Gash on a one-yard TD pass
to push the lead to 28-0.
Tolliver got the Saints going in the second quarter, mounting a
69-yard, 11-play drive which culminated in a one-yard scoring plunge by Troy Davis with 6:29
remaining in the half. Tolliver found rookie tight end Cameron Cleeland on a
five-yard TD pass with just under two minutes to go as the Saints cut the
deficit in half.
Cleeland had 10 catches for 112 yards and finished the season as the
team leader in TD receptions with six.
Buffalo took control early in the third quarter with a 13-play,
45-yard drive, which Christie capped on a 35-yard field goal with 7:18
left. But Tolliver answered with 10-yard scoring strike to Brett Bech with one minute
to go, pulling the Saints within 31-21.
Linebacker Joe
Cummings picked up Doug
Brien's ensuing kickoff and returned it 21 yards to the New Orleans 33.
Three plays later, tight end Lonnie Johnson caught a 23-yard TD from Rob
Johnson to re-establish a 17-point bulge on the first play of the fourth
quarter.
Manny Martin intercepted Tolliver on the next drive and returned it 23
yards to the New Orleans 35. Jonathan Linton scored on
an eight-yard run seven plays later to make it 45-21. Linton led the
Bills' ground attack with 60 yards on 13 carries.
The Saints did not die easily however, reeling off the next 12 points
within a 13-second span of the fourth quarter, on a one-yard run by
fullback Aaron Craver
and a 72-yard TD pass from Tolliver to Bech with just under two minutes
remaining. The Saints failed on two-point conversion attempts after both
scores.
Bech, who had a career-high 113 yards on four catches, recovered the
ensuing onside kick at the New Orleans 47, but dropped a sure TD pass with
38 seconds to play before time exprired on the Saints' season.
"It was my career game," said Bech. "My most impressive game, but it
almost doesn't count. We made some plays there late and recovered some
onside kicks, but I just came up short."
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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