| 
 1998
|
Week 3
September 20, 1998 St. Louis 34
Bills 33
Attendance: 65,199
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) It will be a little easier for Tony Banks to return to St. Louis.
Then, again, why would he want to go home?
| Scoring
Summary |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
| St. Louis |
0 |
10 |
10 |
14 |
34 |
| Bills |
7 |
7 |
14 |
5 |
33 |
First Quarter
BUF Gash 5 pass from Johnson (Christie kick), 5:54. Drive: 8 plays, 69 yards, 4:04.
Key plays: Johnson 32 run; A.Smith 13 run; Johnson 4 pass to Thomas on 3rd-and-3. Buffalo
7, St. Louis 0.
Second Quarter
STL FG Wilkins 27, 13:22. Drive: 14 plays, 71 yards, 7:32. Key plays: Banks 20 pass
to Proehl; Banks 17 pass to Thomas on 3rd-and-7; Harris 15 run. Buffalo 7, St. Louis 3.STL
Hill 12 run (Wilkins kick), 4:58. Drive: 3 plays, 98 yards, 1:50. Key plays: Hill 46 run;
Banks 45 pass to Kennison. St. Louis 10, Buffalo 7.
BUF Reed 13 pass from Johnson (Christie kick), :52. Drive: 11 plays, 67 yards,
4:06. Key plays: Johnson 22 pass to Thomas on 3rd-and-17; Johnson 18 pass to Riemersma;
A.Smith 7 run on 3rd-and-1; Johnson 17 pass to Gash. Buffalo 14, St. Louis 10.
Third Quarter
BUF T.Thomas 14 run (Christie kick), 12:06. Drive: 7 plays, 80 yards, 3:54. Key
plays: R.Johnson 10 pass to L.Johnson; R.Johnson 41 pass to Moulds. Buffalo 21, St. Louis
10.
BUF Riemersma 16 pass from R.Johnson (Christie kick), 11:41. Drive: 1 plays, 16
yards, :04. Key plays: Schulz 23 interception return to Rams 16. Buffalo 28, St. Louis 10.
STL FG Wilkins 25, 6:37. Drive: 5 plays, 44 yards, 2:36. Key plays: Fumble
recovery by Agnew on Rams 49; Hill 40 run. Buffalo 28, St. Louis 13.
STL Lee 23 pass from Banks (Wilkins kick), 3:55. Drive: 3 plays, 28 yards, :20.
Key plays: McCleon 14 interception return to Bills 28. Buffalo 28, St. Louis 20.
Fourth Quarter
BUF FG Christie 36, 14:57. Drive: 5 plays, 32 yards, 2:15. Key plays: Riemersma
recovered muffed punt on 50; Williams 28 run. Buffalo 31, St. Louis 20.
STL Hill 1 run (Lee run), 10:32. Drive: 3 plays, 58 yards, 1:32. Key plays:
Kennison 37 punt return to own 42; Banks 15 pass to Proehl; 30-yard pass interference
penalty on Irvin. Buffalo 31, St. Louis 28.
BUF Safety, Hill tackled by T.Washington in end zone, 8:19. Buffalo 33, St.
Louis 28.
STL Banks 2 run (run failed), :11. Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards, 3:46. Key plays:
Banks 22 and 34 passes to Proehl; Banks 12 pass to Lee; defensive holding penalty on Irvin
with 18 seconds remaining in game, stops clock. St. Louis 34, Buffalo 33. |
After being booed during last week's home loss to Minnesota, Banks and his Rams
teammates won their fourth straight road game. They have lost seven consecutive in St.
Louis.
Banks' two interceptions were irrelevant. All that mattered was making it into the end
zone this time on a 2-yard run with 11 seconds left.
Last week, Banks came up a yard short on a the final play of the game against
Minnesota. A touchdown would have tied the game.
His scramble Sunday gave the Rams a 34-33 win over Buffalo.
"When Tony took off and ran, I think he knew if he doesn't score it's over,"
said Rams coach Dick Vermeil. "He got in there this time. He was due for something to
go his way. I think Tony Banks deserves something like that after what happened to him
this week. He deserved an opportunity to be saluted."
Trailing 33-28, the Rams (1-2) began the winning drive on their own 20 with 3:57 left.
After they moved down the field with a 34-yard completion to Ricky Proehl and a 14-yard
shuffle pass to Amp Lee, Banks ran in for the go-ahead touchdown.
"We've been in this situation before, not very many times on the winning
end," Banks said. "We hope to get this thing snowballing and make a run for the
playoffs."
St. Louis trailed 28-10 in the third quarter before a pair of turnovers by Buffalo
(0-3) allowed the Rams to make a comeback.
"I guess we just got complacent with ourselves and felt we had the game in the
bag," said Antowain Smith, who led the Bills with 118 yards on 22 carries. "We
are relatively young on offense but we still have to know that the game's not over in that
situation."
Lee's 23-yard TD reception, Greg Hill's 1-yard TD plunge and a 2-point conversion made
it 31-28. Hill finished with a career-high 158 yards on 19 carries.
On the Rams' next series, Hill was tackled in the end zone by Ted Washington for a
safety that put the Bills up 33-28. Hill broke his right leg on the play and will miss 6-8
weeks.
The Bills entered the game second in the NFL in total defense.
"Our run defense was absolutely horrible," said Buffalo coach Wade Phillips.
"They have a good running back but I guess we're reading our press clippings on how
we are going to stop the run."
Thurman Thomas' 14-yard scoring run on Buffalo's first possession of the second half
gave the Bills a 21-10 lead. After an interception by Kurt Scultz, Johnson connected with
tight end Jay Riemersma 27 seconds later on a 16-yard touchdown pass.
Johnson was 18-of-28 for 231 yards and three touchdown passes before sustaining a mild
concussion midway through the fourth quarter. He didn't return for the final series.
Notes: The Bills allowed an NFL-leading 13 sacks entering the game and gave up nine to the
Rams. . ... The collapse by the Bills was their worst since December 1985, when they were
ahead 21-0 at Pittsburgh. They ended up losing 30-24. ... Isaac Bruce, the NFL's leading
receiver, did not play for the Rams with a hamstring injury. ... The Rams lost defensive
starters Kevin Carter (calf strain) and Lorenzo Styles (groin). Neither returned. ...
Buffalo's Andre Reed suffered a separated shoulder and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
| Game
Breakdown |
|
STL |
BUF |
FIRST DOWNS
Rushing
Passing
Penalty
THIRD DOWN EFF
FOURTH DOWN EFF
TOTAL NET YARDS
Total Plays
Avg Gain
NET YARDS RUSHING
Rushes
Avg per rush
NET YARDS PASSING
Sacked-Yds lost
Gross-Yds passing
Completed-Att.
Had Intercepted
Yards-Pass Play
KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB
PUNTS-Avg.
Punts blocked
FGs-PATs blocked
TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE
Punts Returns
Kickoffs Returns
Interceptions
PENALTIES-Yds
FUMBLES-Lost
TIME OF POSSESSION |
21
9
9
3
5-10
0-0
406
54
7.5
181
25
7.2
225
2-10
235
13-27
2
7.8
8-4-3
3-53.7
0
0-0
174
3-57
5-103
1-14
4-20
2-2
24:36 |
23
10
12
1
5-13
0-0
407
74
5.5
215
35
6.1
192
9-39
231
18-30
1
4.9
6-4-1
7-45.6
0
0-0
168
3-44
5-101
2-23
9-91
1-1
35:24 |
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING ST. LOUIS, Hill 19-158, Harris 1-15, Lee 1-5, Banks 2-3, Moore
2-0. BUFFALO, A.Smith 22-118, R.Johnson 4-35, T.Thomas 7-32, Williams 1-28, Gash 1-2.PASSING
ST. LOUIS, Banks 13-27-2-235. BUFFALO, R.Johnson 18-28-1-231, Flutie 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING ST. LOUIS, Lee 5-72, Proehl 4-91, Thomas 2-26,
Kennison 1-45, Harris 1-1. BUFFALO, Moulds 4-65, Reed 4-35, Thomas 3-46, Riemersma 3-44,
Gash 3-31, L.Johnson 1-10.
PUNT RETURNS ST. LOUIS, Kennison 3-57. BUFFALO, Williams 3-44.
KICKOFF RETURNS ST. LOUIS, Thomas 4-79, Horne 1-24. BUFFALO,
Williams 4-81, Holmes 1-20.
TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS ST. LOUIS, E.Hill 8-0-1, Ma.Jones 7-0-1,
McCleon 6-1-0, Wright 6-0-1, Lyght 4-1-0, Lyle 4-1-0, Carter 4-0-2, Clemons 3-1-2,
Williams 3-1-0, Agnew 1-3-0, Md.Jones 1-2-0, Farr 2-0-2, Phillips 2-0-0, Horne 2-0-0,
Little 2-0-0, Styles 1-1-0, Jenkins 1-0-0, Robinson 1-0-0, Allen 1-0-0, McBurrows 1-0-0,
Tuten 1-0-0. BUFFALO, Jones 5-1-0, Schulz 4-2-0, B.Smith 4-1-1, Holecek 4-1-0, Rodgers
3-1-1, Washington 3-1-0, Martin 3-0-0, Cowart 3-0-0, Hansen 3-0-0, T.Smith 2-0-0, Jackson
2-0-0, Price 0-2-0, Wiley 1-0-0, Brandenburg 1-0-0, Holmes 1-0-0, Moulds 1-0-0, Northern
0-1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS ST. LOUIS, McLeon 1-14. BUFFALO, Schulz 2-23.
MISSED FIELD GOALS None. |
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