1997

Bills 16
Kansas City 22

Attendance: 78,169

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Elvis Grbac didn't want to know what it felt like to be victimized by a last minute touchdown. Apparently cornerback Mark McMillian didn't either. McMillian picked off a Todd Collins pass on fourth-and-goal with six seconds to go, preserving the Chiefs 22-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

As Grbac watched Buffalo's final possession unfold, his mind drifted back to Kansas City's 28-27 victory at Oakland on Monday night when he found Andre Rison for a game-winning, 32-yard touchdown with three seconds to go. "My mind was saying, 'I don't want to feel like the Raiders,'" Grbac said. "The defense did a great job." "We do know how to keep it interesting," Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "It was once again a tough, hard battle, as we fully expected. I was really pleased with the play of our defense."

Kansas City scored the game winning touchdown on a six-play, 50-yard drive that started when safety Reggie Tongue intercepted a Collins pass at mid-field. Greg Hill and Grbac each ripped off 16-yard runs to set up the touchdown, a 1-yard pass from Grbac to Tony Richardson with 6:55 remaining.

Collins tried to rally the Bills. His 15-yard pass to tight end Lonnie Johnson set them up at the Kansas City 7-yard line with 27 seconds left, but Collins--under heavy pressure from the Chiefs pass rush--threw three consecutive incompletions before McMillians interception. "You've got four passes that you've got to get off in 27 seconds. The coverage is going to be tight," Buffalo coach Marv Levy said. "We almost hit Quinn Early on one of them. They threw a variety of blitzes at us and you either do or you don't, and we didn't." "It feels pretty bad," Collins said. "We were 7 yards away with four shots at it. I felt we had some really good shots, but we didn't do it. It is frustrating."

Grbac was 20 for 37 for 160 yards for the Chiefs, who avenged a loss to Buffalo in the final week of last season that helped eliminate Kansas City from playoff contention. Collins completed 22 of 43 passes for 275 yards with two interceptions and was sacked four times. The Bills are off to their worst start since going 1-3 in 1987.

Buffalo ended a field-goal battle early in the third quarter when Collins connected with Andre Reed for a 77-yard touchdown to give the Bills their first lead, 10-9. Steve Christie kicked his second field goal of the game, a 33-yarder in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, to extend Buffalo's cushion to 13-9. The 57-yard drive was aided by an 18-yard pass interference penalty against McMillian and a 40-yard call against James Hasty.

The Chiefs regained the momentum when Tamarick Vanover returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a score, giving Kansas City a 16-13 edge. It was the fifth time Vanover has returned a kick for a touchdown. "As soon as I stepped through the first wedge and saw it was just me and the kicker, I knew I was gone," Vanover said.

Buffalo needed two minutes to tie the score. Collins threw a 45-yard pass to Early to set up a 30-yard field goal by Christie with 11:52 to play.

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