After an embarrassing loss in the season opener against the Colts, the Bills needed to make a complete turnaround in their home opener against the Jets. A turnaround is exactly what happened last night in the Bills 17-3 win over New York. To say this was a crucial game so early in the season may be a little premature, but the Bills would not want to switch places with the Jets who are now 0-2 and in the AFC East basement.
"I don't know if there are must-wins in Week Two," Wade Phillips said. "We didn't win in Week Two last year. But I just thought we had to play better. Our guys made up their mind they were going to play well and they did. I think we have a lot of momentum now that we didn't have going into the season."
"They beat us pretty good tonight," Bill Parcells said after the game. "We didn't do a good job defensing the run. We started off all right but they eventually wore us down. We let Flutie improvise just enough to get a good touchdown drive."
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Doug Flutie takes off against the Jets |
"When we run the ball well it opens the whole other aspect of our game - play-action, passes, hitting little dart routes, running naked bootlegs," Flutie said. "By running the ball well it creates an attitude and tempo. The offensive line came in with the attitude that they were going to show the media that we can run the ball and they were going to show the rest of the league that we can run the ball."
"It helped me get into the groove running the ball," Smith explained about his increased work load. "I was trying to attack the defense, running north and south instead of east and west. I thought that had a lot to do with my success tonight."
The Jets had the momentum early in the second quarter as they drove all the way down to the Bills 1 yard line. Bill Parcells gambled on 4th and 1, figuring his superb front line could make a hole, so they could punch it in. However, Ted Washington, along with Sam Cowart, made the big stop on Jerald Stowell and the Bills had the ball on their own 1 yard line. By stopping the Jets on that fourth and goal, it completely changed the complexion of the game.
"That was the turning point in the game," Phillips said. "We missed a couple of field goals, which is highly unusual for Christie. The fourth-down play was a really big play for us. Then for us to take it all the way down the field really changed the game."
Bills' linebacker John Holecek agreed that stopping the Jets on 4th and 1 was the pivotal play of the game. "Without a doubt, Ted made the play," Holecek said. "It wasn't even close. We didn't have much to do as linebackers. I was trying to scrape and get there, but the guy (Stowell) was already down when I got there. All I had to do was put my hands on him and make sure he was down, because Ted just closed it down.
"It's like a turnover," Holecek added. " It's fourth-and-1 and they don't get it. You're taking points off the board, and momentum is definitely swinging back to us. What an energy boost. What a display of perseverance by our team."
Antowain Smith got the ball on first down and burst through for 5 important yards to get the Bills a little breathing room. After another Smith run netted 2 yards, Flutie, out of the shotgun, hit Eric Moulds for a 11-yard gain up to the Bills 19 where he went out of bounds. With a 2nd and 10 at the 19, Flutie scrambled away from a sack and rambled 14 yards for another first down. After the Jets were penalized 5 yards for holding, Flutie escaped from another sack and took off again, this time getting all the way down to the Jets 38 for a 24-yard pickup. On the next play, Smith burst up the middle for 12 yards down to the New York 22. After a 5 yard holding penalty on Ruben Brown, Flutie connected with Sam Gash for another seven yards, putting the ball on the Jet 20. Next it was Jonathon Linton's turn to smash it up the middle, gaining 8 yards to the 12 yard line. And then came the play of the night. Smith got the ball and started to run to the right. He saw plenty of traffic in that direction, so Smith cut back and went to the left. As he turned the corner, Smith was about to be tackled by Mo Lewis when Flutie laid a perfect block on Lewis, springing Smith loose down the left sideline for what looked like a touchdown. The refs ruled that he stepped out of bounds. However, on the next play, Smith got the ball again and ran up the middle untouched for the score.
Flutie's block on Lewis was reminiscence of Jim Kelly in his hey-day, making key blocks for his runners. This was Flutie's best drive in his Bills career. He took the team from his own 1 yard line all the way down the field, including 2 important runs and one huge block to make it happen.
"I thought Antowain was past me, so I looked up field for a defensive back to block. Then I glanced back and saw Mo Lewis running after him. I thought about blocking him high, then I chickened out."
"It was designed to go off tackle to the right," Antowain said of the 11-yard run. "But somebody shot the gap and I almost didn't get the handoff. Doug made a great block for me. You got the smallest guy on the team out there with the biggest heart, but he was laying it all on the line for us. He's a leader. In the locker room he kidded me. He told me ‘Hey ‘Towaine! Guess who had the longest run of the game?'"
The Bills kicked off in the second half and the defense forced the Jets to go 3 and out. Flutie then started where he left off in the first half. On third and 8 from his own 45, Flutie found Kevin Williams for 14 yards down to the Jet 41 to keep the drive alive. The Bills offense, which mixed the run and the pass much better than last week, kept pecking away at the Jets D. Flutie got another first down with an 8 yard pass to Reed down at the 31. After two runs by Smith got the Bills down to the 24, Flutie took the third down snap from the shot-gun, faked a hand off and took off around the left corner. He dashed down the side and then cut to the middle, finding a gap and making it all the way to the endzone for the touchdown. The amazing little giant had done it again! Two consecutive drive starts resulted in touchdowns for Flutie and the Bills. Buffalo was now in command at 14-0.
After the kickoff, the Jets decided it was time to get serious. Rick Mirer, playing for the injured Vinny Testaverde, got the Jets rolling with a 27-yard pass to Keyshawn Johnson. Then Mirer threw to Richie Anderson (no, I wasn't playing for the Jets) down to the Buffalo 27, good for 18 yards. Johnson was the next target for Mirer, and Keyshawn made a spectacular catch at the Buffalo 11. Then, as they had done all night, the Bills defense came up big. They put the Jet' drive to a halt and John Hall came in to kick a 31-yard field goal.
The Bills were able to get a field goal by Steve Christie, a 35-yarder after a 15-play, 66-yard drive that consumed another 12:55 off the clock in the fourth quarter and that was all the scoring for the night.
"This is the first time I've been disappointed in the team," said Parcells. "It wasn't injuries. I wouldn't use that as an excuse. Poor playing. That's what we needed to overcome. We had a nose tackle out but they did a good job running and I give them credit for that. They beat us up pretty good tonight."
It was an exhilarating victory for the Bills and keeps them in stride with the Patriots, Colts and Dolphins in the keenly competitive AFC East. Next week the Bills host the Philadelphia Eagles and hope to keep the momentum going.
Copyright © 1999 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.
Flashback to January 30, 199. The New York Giants were underdogs to the Bills going into the Super Bowl and for the Giants to beat the Bills vaulted No Huddle offense, Giant coach Bill Parcells devised a plan of ball control and limiting the time the Bills had the ball. Ball control was the name of the game and the Giants offense had the ball for 40 minutes, and 33 seconds in this Super Bowl XXV. This broke a record for time of possession in the SB. For a period of 13 straight minutes, beginning near the end of the first half and continuing into the second half for 9 ½ minutes, the Giants rammed the ball down the Bills throats.
Since that SB victory, Parcells has owned the Bills. No matter what team he coached, Parcells was usually able to devise a strategy to beat the Bills.
Now let's zoom back to September 19, 1999. The place is Ralph Wilson Stadium and the Bills are taking on Parcells' New York Jets. With the game a scoreless tie in the second quarter, Parcells elects to go for the touchdown on 4th and goal from the Buffalo 1. Jerald Stowell gets the handoff and is immediately stuffed by Ted Washington (assisted by Sam Cowart) for no gain.
The Bills offense comes on the field and capitalizes on the defensive stand to drive down the field 99 yards which eats up a lot of the clock in the process. The drive is highlighted by two big scrambles by Bills quarterback Doug Flutie and an even bigger block by Flutie that springs Antowain Smith loose for an 11-yard gain to the Jets 1-yard line. Next play, Smith waltzes into the endzone untouched.
"I don't do that a lot and people always say, ‘The quarterback could get hurt blocking,'" Flutie said about the block heard around the football world last night. "But sometimes you have to do some blocking, just like everyone else, in order to win a football game."
The next time the Bills got the ball in the second half, Flutie performed even more magic against the Jets in leading them to a 14-0 lead. The icing on the cake came when Flutie weaved through the Jets defense for a 24-yard touchdown run.
The two Bills drives were an "In your face, Parcells" statement by the Bills. The Bills had finally given Parcells a taste of his own medicine.
One of the big reasons for the Bills victory was the running game. Last week in Indianapolis, the Bills runners had a hard time cracking the line of scrimmage. Bills coach Wade Phillips had promised a more run-orientated game plan, and he was true to his word. In Sunday's game, the Bills rushed for 224 yards. Smith had his best game since last season, running 113 yards on 30 carries.
"The offensive line did a tremendous job," Smith said after the game. "They were coming off the ball tremendously and moving people around which allowed me to find the holes."
Last week, Smith gained only 8 yards on 7 carries. He decided to make amends against the Jets.
"Last week I looked at the film and I wasn't being Antowain," the Bills running back said. "I wasn't being aggressive. I wasn't attacking the defense. So I promised the offensive linemen that they'd see a different Antowain Smith this week. I was going to get the ball, and if there wasn't a hole I was going to try to make a hole. "That's the thing I need to do. I'm 6-2, 230 pounds. That's not my style running east and west.
"You gain confidence of your offensive line like that. You're taking what's there. They know you're hitting it up there as hard as you can, so they're going to fire off the ball a little bit harder."
"We wanted to come out and establish the running game because we were tired of everyone saying we couldn't run the ball," offensive right tackle Robert Hicks added. "We proved today we can run the ball when it's called upon us to do it."
Doug Flutie had a career game for the Bills. He is now 11-1 as the Bills' starter at home in Ralph Wilson Stadium. His two 24-yard runs in the second quarter and at the start of the second half, were his longest in the NFL. Also, Flutie's 67 yards on the ground were the most in his NFL career.
"It came down to third down and doing a good job against Flutie on the scramble," said the man Bills fans love to hate, Jets linebacker Bryan Cox. "He was able to get loose, keep drives going. They did a good job on third down and we didn't, in essence that was the game."
The key play of the game was stopping the Jets when they went for the touchdown instead of kicking the sure 3 points. Before that, the Jets were gaining momentum and after the Bills stopped the Jets and took over the ball, the Bills seized control of the game.
"The fourth-down play was a big play for us. To take it all the way down the field really changed the game for us," Phillips said.
Parcells commented about going for it on fourth down by saying, "You're on the road, you're on the 6-inch line, you've got to be able to get the ball in the end zone. The percentage play isn't three, it's try to go for the 6."
Sam Cowart was one of the players in to stop the big play.
"It got the whole stadium pumped," Cowart said. "I mean, the ball was on the inch-yard line, so their chances were pretty good. But Ted Cottrell made the right call. They put us in a good situation to make the play.
"The main thing is we didn't give up any big plays," Cowart continued. "Playing well on third down was the key … We did good against the run, containing Curtis Martin and trying to make Mirer beat us."
The Jets have been ripped apart by injuries to key players. Not only is Testaverde out for the season, but they had to play without receiver Wayne Chrebet, running back Leon Johnson, nose tackle Jason Ferguson and cornerback Otis Smith. Parcells didn't want to use that for an excuse.
"You have to play with the guys you have and we didn't do that," Keyshawn Johnson said. "It's disappointing to come out and play the way we did in a game that was so important. We've dug a big hole for ourselves, and we have to find a way to climb out of it in a hurry."
"You go over to the Jets locker room right now," Flutie said. "They're questioning themselves. They're wondering, ‘When are we going to win?'"
The Bills were finally able to break the Parcells' mystique and do to his team what they have had to endure all these years at the hands of the Big Tuna's teams. And now Big Bill knows what it feels like.
Copyright © 1999 Bills Thunder, all rights reserved
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