| 
 2000
|
Regular
Season
October 22, 2000 Bills
27
Minnesota 31
Attendance: 64,116
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Vikings can win many ways, but in a jam
they'll usually look for their biggest threat -- Randy Moss.
| Scoring
Summary |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
| Bills |
0 |
10 |
7 |
10 |
27 |
| Minnesota |
3 |
3 |
7 |
18 |
31 |
|
First Quarter
MIN FG, GARY ANDERSON 38 YD, 12:33. Drive: 8
plays, 51 yards in 5:10. Key plays: Culpepper 28-yard pass to Moss to
Buffalo 33; 5-yard offsides penalty on Bills' Flowers on 3rd-and-5 to
Buffalo 23.
Second Quarter
BUF TD, ERIC MOULDS 25 YD PASS FROM DOUG
FLUTIE (STEVE CHRISTIE KICK), 1:22. Drive: 5 plays, 53 yards in 1:41.
Key plays: Watson 20-yard punt return to Buffalo 47; Bryson 24-yard
run to Minnesota 29.
BUF FG, STEVE CHRISTIE 26
YD, 14:06. Drive: 21 plays, 80 yards in 10:55. Key plays: Flutie 9-yard
pass to McDaniel on 3rd-and-5 to Buffalo 27; Flutie 6-yard pass to
Moulds on 3rd-and-1 to Buffalo 42; Flutie 18-yard pass to Price on
3rd-and-14 to Minnesota 44; Flutie 5-yard pass to Moulds on 3rd-and-5 to
Minnesota 31.
MIN FG, GARY ANDERSON 20
YD, 15:00. Drive: 6 plays, 64 yards in 0:54. Key plays: Culpepper
28-yard pass to Moss to Buffalo 37; Culpepper 28-yard pass to Carter to
Buffalo 9.
Third Quarter
MIN TD, CRIS CARTER 2 YD PASS FROM DAUNTE
CULPEPPER (GARY ANDERSON KICK), 5:43. Drive: 10 plays, 69 yards in 5:43.
Key plays: Culpepper 4-yard pass to Moss on 3rd-and-1 to Buffalo 43;
Culpepper 16-yard pass to Carter to Buffalo 27; Culpepper 10-yard pass
to McWilliams to Buffalo 17; Culpepper 2-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to
Buffalo 6.
BUF TD, SAMMY MORRIS 1 YD RUN (STEVE CHRISTIE
KICK), 13:47. Drive: 14 plays, 80 yards in 8:04. Key plays: Wright
5-yard pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-3 to Bills' 32; Flutie
17-yard pass to Bryson to Buffalo 47; Flutie 19-yard pass to Moulds on
3rd-and-8 to Minnesota 32; Flutie 13-yard pass to McDaniel to Minnesota
14.
Fourth Quarter
BUF TD, SAMMY MORRIS 18 YD PASS FROM DOUG
FLUTIE (STEVE CHRISTIE KICK), 0:41. Drive: 4 plays, 34 yards in 0:54.
Key plays: Rogers 10-yard interception return to Minnesota 34; Bryson
19-yard run to Minnesota 15.
MIN TD, CRIS CARTER 11 YD
PASS FROM DAUNTE CULPEPPER (DAUNTE CULPEPPER PASS TO MOE WILLIAMS FOR
TWO-POINT CONVERSION), 5:26. Drive: 9 plays, 69 yards in 4:45. Key
plays: Culppeper 17-yard pass to Carter to Buffalo 49; Culpepper 11-yard
pass to Moss to Buffalo 40; 5-yard holdingve penalty on Bills' Irvin on
3rd-and-6 to Buffalo 40; Smith 20-yard run to Buffalo 11.
BUF FG, STEVE CHRISTIE 48 YD, 8:21. Drive: 6
plays, 18 yards in 2:55. Key plays: Watson 33-yard kickoff return to
Minnesota 49; Flutie 8-yard pass to McDaniel to Minnesota 41.
MIN TD, RANDY MOSS 39 YD PASS FROM DAUNTE
CULPEPPER (GARY ANDERSON KICK), 11:18. Drive: 2 plays, 34 yards in 0:12.
Key plays: Walters 28-yard punt return to Buffalo 34.
MIN FG, GARY ANDERSON 21 YD, 13:56. Drive: 7
plays, 31 yards in 1:42. Key plays: Culpepper 24-yard pass to Carter on
3rd-and-11 to Buffalo 11; Culpepper 10-yard run to Buffalo 5.
|
The Vikings (7-0), the NFL's only unbeaten team following St. Louis' loss to
Kansas City, also needed a TD reception by Cris Carter, another dazzling fourth
quarter by Daunte Culpepper and the record-breaking foot of Gary Anderson.
But to win, Minnesota needed Moss to get behind Bills defenders Daryl Porter and
Kevin Irvin and keep his feet barely inbounds while catching the pass from
Culpepper in the back of the end zone to tie the score at 27.
"It came down to one play," said Bills coach Wade Phillips,
whose Bills (3-4) have lost four of their last five games. "One play,
and it's the difference in the game. We had two guys covering Moss.
Obviously, we didn't have him covered."
The name of the play?
"It's called, 'Moss, go get it,"' said Moss, who caught five
passes for 110 yards. "I've always been a prime-time player. I think
my name and my number speaks for itself."
Moss also caught a critical 42-yard touchdown catch in a 30-23 victory over
Tampa Bay on Oct. 9. He even played defensive back to defend the Bills' final
pass, which fell incomplete.
Anderson's extra point gave the Vikings a 28-27 lead with 3:42 remaining. His
21-yard field goal with 1:04 left broke George Blanda's career scoring record by
two points. Anderson, 41, has scored 2,004 points over 19 seasons.
The Vikings pulled to within 24-21 on an 11-yard touchdown pass to Carter, who
caught seven passes for 107 yards, and a 2-point conversion pass to Moe Williams.
"We feel like we have weapons that can't be shut down for a whole
game," Vikings coach Dennis Green said. "But we can't always assume
we'll throw touchdown passes to Randy Moss or Cris Carter. It won't always work
that way."
Culpepper led the Vikings to his third come-from-behind victory in the
fourth quarter. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 118 yards in the quarter
after being limited to 9-for-18 passing, for 131 yards, over the first
three periods.
The Vikings also picked up big plays by Troy Walters, whose 28-yard
punt return set up Moss' touchdown reception, and defensive backs Robert
Tate and Orlando Thomas, who prevented Doug Flutie from making any last
minute magic by recovering Peerless Price's fumbled reception.
Tate knocked the ball from Price and Thomas recovered.
"We were just a step off, a play behind, in the first half,"
Thomas said. "We just needed to come up with one or two more
turnovers to help out in the second half. They were winning on third
down."
Flutie, who turns 38 on Monday, was making his first start since last
season because of Rob Johnson's separated shoulder. He completed 28 of 43
passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns.
"It felt great, just like riding a bike," Flutie said.
"You jump right on and away you go. We should have found a way. Even
after they took the lead, I thought we should have found a way to
win."
The Bills (3-4) converted 10 of 17 third downs behind him and
controlled the ball for more than 11 minutes on a 21-play drive in the
second quarter and for more than eight minutes on a 14-play drive in the
third quarter.
"The game plan was to keep their offense off the field, and you
can see why," Phillips said. "We needed one more first
down."
The Vikings opened the third quarter with a 69-yard drive capped by a
6-yard touchdown pass to Carter and a 13-10 lead. But the Bills marched 80
yards on their next possession, reclaiming the lead at 17-13 on Sammy
Morris' 1-yard run.
Buffalo's defense got the ball right back on an interception by Sam
Rogers, who advanced the ball to the Vikings 34. Flutie, facing
third-and-13, threw a sidearm pass to Sammy Morris under the Vikings'
coverage. Morris ran the rest NOTES - The Bills' Eric Moulds caught 12
passes for 132 yards. ... Culpepper became the third quarterback in NFL
history to win in his first seven starts, joining Mike Tomczak and Dieter
Brock. ... Culpepper also became the first in Vikings history to record a
quarterback rating of 100.0 or better in four consecutive games.
| Game
Breakdown |
|
BUF |
MIN |
FIRST DOWNS
Passing
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY
TOTAL NET YARDS
Total plays
Average gain
NET YARDS RUSHING
Rushes
Average per rush
NET YARDS PASSING
Completed-attempted
Yards per pass
Sacked-yards lost
PUNTS-AVERAGE
RETURN YARDAGE
Punts-returns
Kickoffs-returns
Interceptions-returns
PENALTIES-YARDS
FUMBLES-LOST
TIME OF POSSESSION |
21
15
10-17
0-0
406
72
5.6
120
28
4.3
286
28-43
6.5
1-8
4-40.3
106
2-23
3-73
1-10
11-72
2-1
35:38 |
17
12
3-9
0-0
348
51
6.8
97
22
4.4
251
17-29
8.7
0-0
4-42.3
147
2-41
6-106
0-0
9-55
1-0
24:22 |
INDIVIDUAL
STATISTICS
Missed field goals
None.
Buffalo rushing
Shawn Bryson 11-72, Sammy Morris 14-31, Jonathan Linton 2-9, Doug Flutie 1-8.
Minnesota rushing
Robert Smith 16-68, Daunte Culpepper 6-29.
Buffalo passing
Doug Flutie 28-43 for 294 yards, 0 INT, 2 TD.
Minnesota passing
Daunte Culpepper 17-29 for 251 yards, 1 INT, 3 TD.
Buffalo receiving
Eric Moulds 12-135, Jeremy Mcdaniel 5-39, Sammy Morris 4-39, Peerless Price
3-42, Kwame Cavil 2-22, Shawn Bryson 2-17.
Minnesota receiving
Cris Carter 7-107, Randy Moss 5-110, Johnny Mcwilliams 3-12, Matthew Hatchette
1-13, Robert Smith 1-9.
Buffalo tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial)
Keion Carpenter 6-0-0, John Holecek 4-2-0, Sam Cowart 3-3-0, Henry Jones 3-1-0,
Ted Washington 3-1-0, Ken Irvin 3-0-0, Daryl Porter 2-1-0, Pat Williams 2-1-0,
Antoine Winfield 2-1-0, Sam Rogers 2-0-0, Phil Hansen 1-1-0, Donovan Greer
0-2-0, Keith Newman 1-0-0, Marcellus Wiley 1-0-0, Leif Larsen 1-0-0.
Minnesota tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial)
Robert Griffith 9-2-0, Ed Mcdaniel 10-0-0, Cris Dishman 7-0-0, Kailee Wong
5-2-1, Robert Tate 4-1-0, Orlando Thomas 4-1-0, Dwayne Rudd 4-1-0, Chris Hovan
4-0-0, Talance Sawyer 2-0-0, Tony Williams 2-0-0, John Burrough 0-2-0, Kenny
Wright 1-0-0.
Interceptions
Buffalo (Sam Rogers 1 for 10 yards).
Fumbles lost
Buffalo (Peerless Price).
Opponent's fumbles recovered
Minnesota (Orlando Thomas).
|
|
