Raiders bludgeon Bills 20-14

The Oakland Raiders came into Buffalo with the intention of running the ball on the Bills vaulted running defense. The Raiders backs ran all over the No. 1 defense against the run as they defeated the Bills 20-14 before another sellout at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Tyrone Wheatley ran roughshod over the Bills as he rumbled for 97 yards. The Raiders rushed for a total 195 yards and controlled the clock for 2/3 of the game. Wheatley scored two touchdowns, one in the first quarter and the second was for 11 yards in the third. Napoleon Kaufman had 72 yards on 12 carries. The two of them shredded through the Bills once solid defensive line.

Zack Crockett gets hauled down by Bruce Smith

"That ranking crap doesn't mean anything," Ted Washington fumed. "We can't go in thinking, 'We're No. 1.' That's bull. On any given day, a team can come in here and run the ball on us, and that's what happened today."

"We put eight men up there and we still couldn't stop the run," said Bills head coach Wade Phillips after the game.

Rich Gannon had a solid game for the Raiders, completing 15 of 22 for 155 yards and had no interceptions. He mixed the passing game with the runs to keep the Bills defense off balance the entire game.

Doug Flutie, coming off his best game of the season, had a poor showing as he threw three interceptions while completing 19 out of 41 attempts for 210 yards. Having gone ten straight quarters without having a pick, Flutie's first pass was intercepted and that set the stage for a long afternoon for the Bills diminutive quarterback. Six of this passes were knocked down at the line of scrimmage (three of them by DE James Harris) and he was sacked once.

"Sometimes the best pass defense against a quarterback like Flutie is to have your big guys just raise their arms," said Raider head coach Jon Gruden. "Harris moved inside from end to tackle for the first time and blocked three of Flutie's passes at the line of scrimmage."

"Early on, I struggled," said Flutie in his post game conference. "I don't think I was seeing things as clearly as I usually do. It took me a little while to get to that point. They were getting some quick pressure and we were making a play here and there rather than (playing with) consistency."

"It felt like (we) were just a hair out of synch," Flutie continued. "Whether it was in the running game or passing game. Nothing came easy. Even the plays we made, I had someone in my face or I was trying to get rid of it. It was just one of those days where we struggled."

Wile Oakland was running with great success, the Bills had problems getting anything after Antowain Smith galloped to a 52 yard touchdown on their second possession of the game. The Bills totaled 109 yards, but subtract Smith's run and you have only 57 yards rushing. That's not enough to make a dent during an NFL game.

"They were taking away the running game and putting the pressure on the receivers and myself to make some plays," Flutie said.

"They've got a good pass defense," Phillips said about the Raiders. "They were leading the league in interceptions. You're playing to their strengths when they have the ball all the time and you have a very short amount of time and you have to throw it a lot. Although our protection got better and better as we went along."

The Bills had a chance to win this game if the defense stepped up and stopped the Raiders running game with half a quarter remaining. However, the opposite happened. The Raiders, up by 20-14, took the ball on their own 15 and proceeded to eat up the clock and yardage while going all the way down to the Bills 15. After a failed field goal attempt, the Bills took over with under a minute remaining to get down the field and only two time outs left. The Bills did get down to the Raider 29, but a last second desperation pass by Flutie was intercepted and the Bills had their second loss of the season.

Eric Moulds suffered a hamstring injury late in the fourth quarter which could keep him out as long as three weeks.

"Eric is the kind of guy who can go up in a crowd and come down with it and that's what we needed right at the end there," said Flutie. He said that it was tough not to have him during the final drive.

Just like last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bills turned over the ball on their first play from scrimmage as Darrien Gordon picked off Doug Flutie's pass to Peerless Price. The ball was tipped in the air by Price and Gordon was there for the interception. He returned the ball six yards to the Buffalo 31. Napoleon Kaufman went around the left side for 11 yards on second down (this followed a 6 yard run by Tyrone Wheatley). A couple more runs gave the Raiders a first and goal at the Bills 3. From there Wheatley bulled in for the opening touchdown.

Facing a 3rd and 9, Flutie hooked up with Kevin Williams for 17 yards. And then came the play that Antowain Smith has been waiting for the whole season. He got the handoff from Flutie at the Buffalo 38, dashed through a huge opening and bulled over defensive back Eric Turner as if he were a bowling pin and was in daylight. He outran the closest linebacker Richard Harvey and was in the endzone for a 52-yard touchdown. It was his second longest touchdown run in his NFL career.

"That was just a play where the O-line gave me a really nice hole and I just went through there and all I had to do was get through the one defender remaining," said Smith. "And I just put my shoulder down and got through there. I just got out there and was determined to not let anyone catch me."

The Raiders started their next series of downs with a good mixture of passing and running plays. Kaufman started that series by running for 4, then Rich Gannon passed to James Jett for 7 yards. Wheately then rammed up the middle for 7 yards. On the next play, Gannon hit Tim Brown for 25 yards to the Bills 20. Kaufman rushed 8 yards to the Buffalo 12. That's where the Bills defense stiffened. After two incompletions and a two yard run, the Raiders had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Mike Hustead.

The Bills went three and out, so the Raiders started out at the Oakland 22 after a 60-yard Chris Mohr punt. On second down, Gannon hit Wheatley for a 17-yard gain to the Raider 39. Then on another second down, Gannon completed a pass to Brown for eight yards. He had slid 4 yards further, but the refs claimed that he was touched before he slid. On third and one, Zack Crocket got two yards up the middle to keep the drive alive. Gannon threw for 11 yards on second down to Jon Ritchie at the Buffalo 36. The Raiders, doing what no team has done so far this season, continued to shred off big gains against the No. 1 defense in the league. On two consecutive carries, Wheatley ripped of runs of 6 and 11 yards. On third and five, Gannon had his pass to Tim Brown broken up. Hustead came on and kicked a 32-yarder to put the Raiders up 13-7.

When the Bills got the ball back, Andre Reed had two passes hit his hands and drop for incompletions. Flutie came back and hit Jay Riemersma for 14 yards to keep the drive alive. On third and ten, Flutie threw to Eric Moulds for a first down, but Moulds was flagged for offensive interference. On the next attempt, Flutie was chased out of the pocket and was leveled by Travian Smith right after Flutie threw it away. The Bills were forced to punt.

Eric Allen picks off a Flutie pass

For the first time in the game the Raiders went three and out and had to punt back to the Bills. On second down, Flutie found Moulds for a 33-yard completion down to the Oakland 47. However, Flutie's pass to Price was picked off by Eric Allen and he returned it 34 yards. The Raiders were called for unnecessary roughness after Flutie tackled Allen out of bounds.

Wheatley ran the ball down to the Bills 47 on a three yard carry and Gannon took off on the next play for six yards. On third and one, Crockett tried going up the middle and was stopped for no gain. Deciding not to go for it on 4th and 1, the Raiders punted. There was no more scoring in the half and the Raiders headed off to the locker room leading 13-7.

The Raiders started the second half by ramming the ball down the Bills throats. After Wheatley ran up the middle for 6 yards, Gannon hit Derrick Walker for 11 yards. Gannon quickly went to Brown for another 14 yards to the Bills 41. Wheatley burst up the middle for 7 yards on first down. Then Gannon hit Jett for 11 more yards to the Buffalo 23. It turned into the Wheatley show as he gained nine yards on two runs. Then on third down, Gannon ran around the left end for three yards to make the first down at the Bills 14. Wheatley finished off the drive by ripping off right guard for an eleven yard touchdown run.

After a couple of punts, the Bills seemed like they were finally going to mount a drive. Flutie passed to Williams for 13 yards and then Jonathan Linton ran over left guard for 6 yards. Linton then picked up another ten yards before Flutie passed to Riemersma for 12 yards and a first down at the Oakland 37. But from there, Flutie threw three straight incompletions and the Bills punted the ball down to the Raider 4 yard line. For once, the Bills defense stopped the Raider running attack and forced them to punt from their own endzone.

When the Bills got the ball, it was time to get serious and produce their best offensive drive of the game. On second down, Linton caught a 6 yard pass from Flutie and got down to the Raider 45. Williams caught a pass over the middle for 4 yards, which was two yards short of a first down. Electing to go for it, the Flutie hooked up with Williams again for 29 yards and a first down at the Oakland 12. Next play, the Bills quarterback tossed to Eric Molds all alone in the left corner of the endzone for a touchdown to get back into the game 20-14.

After that score, the sellout crowd in Ralph Wilson Stadium came alive. The Bills forced the Raiders to kick to Williams who returned it to the 23. Linton ran around the left corner for 16 yards. Flutie threw a bomb to Moulds who had his man beat, but the ball went through his hands. It was a pass that had touchdown written all over it. The next play was a quarterback draw and Flutie ran for a first down. But the Raider defense then held and the Bills were forced to punt, putting the Raiders on their own 15.

This is when the Raiders had a time consuming drive that ate up almost 7 minutes off the clock. The Raiders converted on three straight third downs. A big play for the Raiders in this drive was a third and two pass by Gannon to Terry Mickens for twelve yards. On their next third down attempt, Henry Jones was tagged with an interference call that kept the clock going and gave the Raiders a first down.

"That third-down interference call really made the difference," said Phillips about the penalty to Jones. "I thought we had all the momentum going and that call on third down really hurt us. Then we didn't stop them a couple of times on third down after that in that drive. It only gave us close to a minute and a half to score but I think if we had some time, we certainly would have had a chance to score. But we didn't."

The third straight third down conversion came on third and seven, from the Oakland 49. Gannon connected with Jett for 9 yards and the first down. Kaufman ran over left end on the next play for 16 yards. Kaufman got the call two plays later and ran over right guard for ten more yards and another first down at the Bills 15. The Raiders ate up valuable time before attempting a 32 yard which was wide left. The Bills squandered time and downs while getting up to only the 27. Flutie, on 4th down completed a 30-yard pass to Price to the Oakland 43 to keep the drive alive.

With only seconds remaining, Flutie threw to Reed for 14 yards to the Raider 29. He was flipped out of bounds by Charles Woodson. Out of the shotgun, Flutie threw deep into the endzone incomplete. And then on the last play of the game, Flutie went back and forced the ball in the middle of the endzone and it was intercepted by Turner who returned for 19 yards.

Woodson was constantly tested in this game by Flutie. The second year cornerback is making a name for himself as the one of the league's best.

"I know one thing, you're not going to beat the Raiders coming after me," Woodson said. "I don't know if that was their game plan, but they came after me quite a bit. All I could do was hold up my end of the bargain. In a sense, I was surprised because of the way I've been playing, but at the same time, I'm a young player. Andre Reed is proven in this league, so why not try the young guy? "

Flutie was upset with the refs at the end of the game. "I was kind of aggravated when we made a big play and we set the ball down. Their guy walked up and kicked it. That should be a 15-yard penalty right there. The ref was standing right over it, trying to set the ball (down). (He) let him do it and ignored the fact that he kicked it. At least stop the clock and reset it instead of letting the clock run. That was huge. That would have put us down to run a real play."

Phillips was obviously upset with his defense's performance. "So much for stats," he said during the post game conference. "We obviously weren't the No. 1 run defense in the league. I thought we played very poorly on defense overall in the running game. We didn't have a good game and we let them control the football."

"We just didn't execute," Sam Cowart said. "At times, we had 10 players doing one thing but not 11. No matter what the call was, we didn't execute well enough."

The Bills now start a three game road trip next Sunday in Seattle. The two games after their match with the Seahawks will be in the Washington area against the Ravens and Redskins.

Copyright © 1999 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.