1999

Indianapolis 6
Bills 31

Attendance: 61,959

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Rob Johnson rode the bench and bit his lip for 15 games this season as Doug Flutie quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills. When Johnson finally got his chance to play, he let his arm do the talking.  

Doug who?

Johnson, in his first start this season, gave Flutie a day off and Indianapolis a headache in a 31-6 rout Sunday.

Johnson cut through the AFC East champion Colts like they were an expansion team, and snapped their 11-game winning streak as the Bills (11-5) secured the fifth seed for the AFC playoffs.

Buffalo will play at Tennessee in the first round.

"The coaches know I like to throw the ball downfield, and that's what we did," said Johnson, who completed 24 of 32 passes for 287 yards, including touchdowns to rookies Peerless Price and Bobby Collins as Buffalo rolled up a season-high 419 yards. It was the eighth career start for Johnson, who was traded to Buffalo from Jacksonville in 1998.

Fans cheered loudly for Johnson, who received his biggest accolade from owner Ralph Wilson. "He was spectacular," said Wilson, one of the original AFL owners. "I won't get into that," Wilson said when asked who should start at quarterback against Tennessee.

Bills coach Wade Phillips was prickly about the subject. "I've already answered these questions," Phillips said. "I'm not mad that Rob played well. I want him to be as good as he can be."

Antowain Smith and Jonathan Linton ran for touchdowns of 21 yards and 3 yards, respectively, and Steve Christie capped the scoring with a 19-yard field goal.

Mike Vanderjagt kicked two field goals for Indianapolis, which was shut out in the second half by the NFL's stingiest defense. Rookie star Edgerrin James, who had rushed for 112 yards in the Colts' 31-14 win over Buffalo on opening day, had his second-worst day with 50 yards rushing on 2.8 per carry.

The Bills also outrushed the Colts 132 yards to 44.

"They kicked our tail today," said Colts coach Jim Mora, whose team has a bye through the first round of the playoffs. "They kicked it in just about every way that you can get it kicked."

Johnson, who had thrown only two passes and completed just one in one appearance all season, engineered touchdown drives of 83, 80 and 82 yards on Buffalo's first three possessions of the game for a 21-6 halftime lead.

The Bills had put together five drives of 80-plus yards all season under Flutie, and never more than one in a single game.

Johnson completed 11 of 12 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown to Price in the half. Eric Moulds had eight catches for 110 yards, and veteran Andre Reed had five catches to move past Art Monk into second place behind Jerry Rice in the league with 945 career catches.

Reed, a 15-year Bills veteran, also passed Steve Largent and took over fourth place on the NFL's yards receiving list with 13,095.

Reed claims he's not finished, but hinted he might have played his last game in Buffalo. "Whether it's here or somewhere else, I still have a lot to give to this game," he said.

Peyton Manning, the top-rated passer in the AFC going into the game, was 18-of-29 for a season-low 163 yards and failed for the second straight week to throw a touchdown pass after throwing at least one in each game.

Manning was replaced by Steve Walsh midway through the fourth as the Colts (13-3) failed to clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Colts crushed the Bills 31-14 on opening day.

Johnson hadn't started since the final game last season, when he completed 12 of 18 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-33 win over the New Orleans Saints.

"When you haven't played in a year people forget what you can do, and it's `What have you done for me lately?'" Johnson said. "It was good to go out there and boost the team's confidence in me, so if I had to go in there, they'd rally around me."

Injured in the fifth game against the Colts last year, Johnson lost his starting job as Flutie led the Bills to the playoffs. Flutie played in the Pro Bowl, was the league's Comeback Player of the Year and signed a $22 million contract extension.

Indianapolis completed the most dramatic turnaround in NFL history coming off last season's dismal 3-13 mark.

Indianapolis clinched the AFC East title two weeks ago with a 24-21 win over Washington.

The Colts drove 72 yards on 10 plays for a field goal by Mike Vanderjagt and 3-0 lead on their opening drive.

Buffalo grabbed the lead with an 83-yard drive fueled by Johnson's 35-yard pass to Kevin Williams on third-and-1 and capped by Smith's 21-yard run with 5:22 left in the first quarter. 

NOTES - Colts linebacker Cornelius Bennett injured his left knee on the first defensive play and said he would have it examined Monday. The Colts have won in Buffalo just three times since 1980 and not since 1994. With Rob Johnson's seven straight completions to start the game, Bills quarterbacks had 19 completions in a row including Doug Flutie's last 12 against the Patriots last week. Antowain Smith sustained a concussion in the first half and did not return.

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