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1998

Week 9 November 1, 1998

Miami 24
Bills 30

Attendance: 79,011

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) Zach Thomas didn't hesitate when asked about the difference between Miami's two games with Buffalo.

Scoring Summary
	1	2	3	4	F
Miami	7	7	7	3	24
Bills	0	14	0	16	30
First Quarter MIA Gadsden 12 pass from Marino (Mare kick), 4:52. Drive: 11 plays, 60 yards, 6:24. Key plays: Marino 6 pass to McDuffie an 3rd-and-6; defensive holding penalty on D.Smith on 3rd-and-1; Marino 16 pass to L.Thomas on 3rd-and-4. Miami 7, Buffalo 0. Second Quarter BUF Riemersma 1 pass from Flutie (Christie kick), 12:48. Drive: 7 plays, 34 yards, 3:57. Key plays: Buffalo takes over on downs on Dolhins' 34; Flutie 10 pass to Reed on 3rd-and-1; Flutie 13 pass to Reed on 3rd-and-9. Miami 7, Buffalo 7. MIA Jabbar 1 run (Mare kick), 6:54. Drive: 10 plays, 74 yards, 5:54. Key plays: Marino 29 and 27 passes to Gadsden. Miami 14, Buffalo 7. BUF Riemersma 16 pass from Flutie, (Christie kick), 1:02. Drive: 9 plays, 56 yards, 4:31. Key plays: Flutie 8 pass to Moulds on 3rd-and-1; Flutie 13 pass to Williams; A.Smith 13 run. Miami 14, Buffalo 14. Third Quarter MIA Avery 1 run (Mare kick), 10:08. Drive: 9 plays, 71 yards, 4:52. Key plays: Jabbar 31 run to Bills 7. Miami 21, Buffalo 14. Fourth Quarter MIA FG Mare 38, 13:39. Drive: 4 plays, 8 yards, 1:47. Key plays: Buckley fumble recovery at Bills 28. Miami 24, Buffalo 14. BUF Moulds 48 pass from Flutie (Christie kick), 11:46. Drive: 4 plays, 70 yards, 1:53. Key plays: Flutie 11 pass to Reed. Miami 24, Buffalo 21. BUF FG Christie 22, 9:54. Drive: 4 plays, 9 yards, 1:34. Key plays: Hansen fumble recover at Dolphins 13. Buffalo 24, Miami 24. BUF FG Christie 36, 1:58. Drive: 11 plays, 54 yards, 6:19. Key plays: Flutie 13 pass to Reed on 3rd-and-5; Flutie 14 pass to Gash. Buffalo 27, Miami 24. BUF FG Christie 25, :23. Drive: 4 plays, 5 yards, 1:00. Key plays: Bills take over on downs at Dolphins 12. Buffalo 30, Miami 24.

"Him," the Dolphins linebacker said of Bills quarterback Doug Flutie. "He made all the plays. In the end, he just wore us down."

Flutie, facing a Jimmy Johnson-coached team for the first time since 1984 when his "Hail Mary" pass for Boston College beat Johnson's Miami Hurricanes, rallied the Bills to a 30-24 victory Sunday.

"He's a talented quarterback. We said that going in," said Johnson, whose Dolphins beat the Rob Johnson-quarterbacked Bills 13-7 in the second week of the season.

Flutie, 15-of-26 for 206 yards and three touchdowns, began the comeback with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Eric Moulds early in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't lose our poise," said Andre Reed, who made five catches for 72 yards. "Down 21-14, it was up to our offense to get it back, and we did. Years ago, if we were down a touchdown, we went in the tank."

Steve Christie added three field goals two in the final two minutes as Buffalo (5-3) climbed into a four-way tie for the AFC East lead with Miami, New England and the New York Jets.

"He's 36 and out there playing like he's a kid," Buffalo tight end Jay Riemersma said after catching two touchdown passes. "For us young guys, it's nice to see that enthusiasm."

The tying field goal came after Ted Washington jarred the ball loose from Miami quarterback Dan Marino and Phil Hansen recovered at the Miami 27.

Marino nearly won the game after Christie's 25-yarder made it 30-24. John Avery returned the kickoff to the Buffalo 45 and Marino's desperation pass to O.J. McDuffie was completed 4 yards short of the end zone.

"I need a drink," said Buffalo coach Wade Phillips, whose team won its fifth straight. "Dr Pepper."

Credit Flutie, who replaced the injured Rob Johnson, with four of the wins. But Phillips wasn't ready to name the former Canadian Football League star the starter just yet.

"I'm going to dance around that," Phillips said.

Miami seemed headed for victory after Thomas stripped the ball from Antowain Smith and Terrell Buckley recovered late in the third quarter. Olindo Mare's 38-yard field goal gave Miami a 24-14 lead early in fourth.

But Flutie brought the Bills back with the 48-yard TD pass to Moulds.

"We needed a big play and something to spark us and Eric Moulds came up with it," Flutie said. "It was like pulling teeth to move the football."

Washington then sacked Marino, knocking the ball loose for Hansen to recover, and Christie's 36-yard field goal tied it at 24.

Marino gave the Dolphins a 7-0 lead, throwing 12 yards to Oronde Gadsden, who lunged backward to make the catch.

Jimmy Johnson's gamble and a big defensive play then set up the Bills on the Miami 34. Gabe Northern stuffed Karim Abdul-Jabbar for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-inches play.

"We had an inch to go," Jimmy Johnson said. "We were trying to make something happen to take their crowd out of the game."

Moments later, from the Miami 14, Flutie scrambled and threw to Reed at the 1. On the next play, Flutie faked a handoff and found Riemersma wide open in the end zone, tying the game early in the second quarter.

Marino threw 29 yards to Gadsden under pressure from Bruce Smith, and lofted a 27-yarder to Gadsden, whose fingertip catch set up Miami at the 1. Abdul-Jabbar plunged in from there for a 14-7 lead.

The Bills drove late in the half to tie it again.

Buffalo began the drive at its 44 after Marino was sacked by Hansen and Smith. Flutie lofted a 16-yarder over the middle to Riemersma, who made a one-handed catch deep in the end zone.

The Dolphins kept the ball on the ground and ate up nearly five minutes on the first drive of the second half, driving 71 yards to the end zone, all but 12 of them rushing.

Abdul-Jabbar broke loose to the 8 behind a block by Gadsden, Avery carried to the 1, then dived in for a 21-14 lead. Notes: Rob Johnson has been sacked 24 times in 3 games while Flutie has been sacked four times in 4 games. ... Flutie and Marino each hold single-season record for touchdowns Flutie threw 48 in CFL and Marino 48 in NFL. ... Thomas had a game-high 15 tackles.

Game Breakdown
	MIA	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	15 6 8 1 6-14 0-2 296 63 4.7 128 33 3.9 168 3-28 196 15-27 0 5.6 5-0-0 5-35.0 0 0-0 191 3-11 6-180 1-0 5-35 1-1 31:33	16 5 11 0 6-13 0-0 313 57 5.5 116 30 3.9 197 1-9 206 15-26 1 7.3 7-2-1 3-45.7 0 0-0 92 0-0 5-92 0-0 4-27 1-1 28:27
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING MIAMI, Abdul-Jabbar 22-97, Avery 9-17, Marino 1-10, Parmalee 1-4. BUFFALO, A.Smith 21-82, T.Thomas 6-23, Flutie 2-9, Gash 1-2. PASSING MIAMI, Marino 15-27-0-196. BUFFALO, Flutie 15-26-1-206. RECEIVING MIAMI, Gadsden 3-68, McDuffie 3-57, L.Thomas 2-34, Drayton 2-13, Abdul-Jabbar 2-9, Parmalee 2-7, Perry 1-8. BUFFALO, Reed 5-72, Moulds 3-61, Williams 2-21, Riemersma 2-17, Gash 1-14, T.Thomas 1-14, Johnson 1-7. PUNT RETURNS MIAMI, Buckley 3-11. KICKOFF RETURNS MIAMI, Avery 6-180. BUFFALO, Williams 4-77, Gash 1-15. TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS MIAMI, Z.Thomas 9-6-0, Marion 6-0-0, Buckley 5-0-0, Madison 4-1-0, Gardener 3-1-0, Rodgers 2-2-0, Walker 2-0-0, Brigance 2-0-0, C.Jackson 1-1-0, R.Jones 1-1-0, Taylor 1-1-0, Burton 1-0-1, Mixon 1-0-0, Wilson 1-0-0, Hollier 1-0-0, Stewart 1-0-0, Bromell 0-1-0. BUFFALO, Holecek 8-3-0, Hansen 5-3-1{, Cowart 6-1-0, Northern 4-1-0, Washington 4-0-1, Martin 3-1-0, Price 2-2-0, B.Smith 2-2-{, R.Jackson 3-3-0, Brandenburg 2-0-0, Smedley 2-0-0, Perry 2-0-0, H.Jones 1-1-0, T.Smith 1-1-0, Greer 1-0-0, Irvin 1-0-0, Albright 1-0-0, Moran 1-0-0. INTERCEPTIONS MIAMI, Buckley 1-0. MISSED FIELD GOALS BUFFALO, Christie 49 (WL).

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