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1998

Week 10 November 8, 1998

Bills 12
New York Jets 34

Attendance: 75,403

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) Doug Flutie had been winning games for the Buffalo Bills by performing miracles. But the New York Jets beat the Bills by challenging Flutie to simply stand and throw.

Scoring Summary
	1	2	3	4	F
Bills	3	6	3	0	12
New York	7	6	7	14	34
First Quarter BUF FG Christie 40, 4:28. Drive: 10 plays, 43 yards, 4:42. Key plays: Flutie 9 pass to Moulds on 3rd-and-6. Buffalo 3, New York 0. NY K.Johnson 25 pass from Testaverde (Hall kick), :45. Drive: 7 plays, 72 yards, 3:43. Key plays: Testaverde 16 pass to K.Johnson; Testaverde 22 pass to Chrebet. New York 7, Buffalo 3. Second Quarter BUF FG Christie 37, 13:05. Drive: 6 plays, 45 yards, 2:40. Key plays: Flutie 25 pass to Moulds; Flutie 17 pass to Reed. New York 7, Buffalo 6. BUF FG Christie 44, 4:51. Drive: 6 plays, 23 yards, 2:01. Key plays: M.Martin recovery of Sowell fumble on Jets 49; A.Smith 8 run. Buffalo 9, New York 7. NY FG Hall 49, :27. Drive: 11 plays, 45 yards, 4:24. Key plays: Testaverde two 16 passes to K.Johnson; C.Martin 3 run on 3rd-and-2. New York 10, Buffalo 9. NY FG Hall 43, :00. Drive: 2 plays, 30 yards, :12. Key plays: O.Smith interception of Flutie pass at Jets' 45; Testaverde 25 pass to Ward. New York 13, Buffalo 9. Third Quarter NY Ward 36 pass from Testaverde (Hall kick), 10:52. Drive: 2 plays, 38 yards, :40. Key play: Ward 15 punt return. New York 20, Buffalo 9. BUF FG Christie 21, 5:30. Drive: 11 plays, 79 yards, 5:22. Key plays: Flutie 16 pass to K.Williams; Flutie 36 pass to Moulds; Glenn 12 pass interference penalty to Jets' 9. New York 20, Buffalo 12. Fourth Quarter NY Chrebet 12 pass from Testaverde (Hall kick), 13:40. Drive: 11 plays, 64 yards, 6:50. Key plays: Testaverde 12 pass to Martin; Testaverde 7 pass to K.Johnson on 4th-and-6; Testaverde 16 pass to Chrebet. New York 27, Buffalo 12. NY Martin 6 run (Hall kick), 6:38. Drive: 10 plays, 46 yards, 5:58. Key plays: Mickens interception of Flutie pass at Bills' 46; Testaverde 18 run; T.Smith 15 roughing-the-kicker penalty. New York 34, Buffalo 12.

How does a defense smother Flutie? Keep him in the pocket.

"They brought in four wideouts to bring on more speed and stretch the defense, so we had to make sure we didn't let him get outside to find all that speed," Jets free safety Jerome Henderson said after his team beat Buffalo 34-12 Sunday.

After winning three starts and helping the Bills salvage a sunken season, Flutie was finally human. He completed 12-of-30 passes for 154 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions as the Jets (6-3) snapped a six-game losing streak against the Bills (5-4).

"He's all over the place, and the first time you overcommit he'll take advantage of it," said Henderson, whose team remained in a first-place tie with Miami in the division. "You've got to be overly protective of that, and overly aware of that."

Flutie was the AFC's top-rated passer going into the game.

Flutie's size has been a sore spot for the 5-foot-10 quarterback. On Sunday, it was a soft spot for the Bills.

"It's difficult for him to throw over the big guys, and that's why some of those balls have extra air in them," said Jets defensive back Otis Smith, whose interception set up a John Hall field goal for a 13-9 Jets halftime lead. "He has to throw that way because of his height. So if you control him in the pocket, you can stop him."

Flutie, who had won nine straight at the Meadowlands, dating back to his college days, seldom had experienced such futility.

"It's been a good five years since I had one of these days," he said.

But fellow reclamation project and former Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde a University of Miami redshirt when Flutie threw his heralded pass to Gerard Phelan for Boston College in 1984 couldn't recall when he'd had such a good day.

"I think I have to go back to college," Testaverde said. "It's been a long time."

Rated No. 2 behind Flutie in the conference before the game, Testaverde threw three touchdown passes while completing 22-of-31 for 258 yards with one interception. He's unbeaten in six starts this year.

The Bills played volleyball with Testaverde's first pass of the game, tipped by John Holecek and picked off by diving Sam Cowart. Experience kept Testaverde from panicking.

"I was disappointed in that first pass, but there was a lot of football to be played after that," he said. "I know with the experience I have you can't let those things get you down, and you have to press on."

Testaverde set up the Jets' first scoring drive with long passes to Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet. He threw 25 yards to Johnson for the score.

Testaverde's 36-yarder to Dedric Ward in the third quarter extended the lead to 20-9. His 12-yarder to Chrebet for 27-12 in the fourth put the game out of reach, even for Flutie.

The Jets, who had lost 17-of-20 to the Bills over the last 10 years and hadn't beaten them since 1994, improved to 4-0 in the division for the first time since 1978.

"It was tough sledding on offense in the first half, but in the second half we did a heck of a job on offense," said coach Bill Parcells.

Three of the Jets' next four division games are on the road, "so I don't feel in control," Parcells said. "You're in control when there's one game to go and you've got a two-game lead."

Parcells offered what for him amounted to a rave.

"I'm pleased. When you get 34 points, you've got to be happy," he said.

Curtis Martin added a 6-yard scoring run for the Jets, who ate up nearly 37 minutes of the clock.

All of Buffalo's scoring came on field goals by Steve Christie as the Bills' five-game winning streak ended. Notes: Bills receiver Andre Reed surpassed Charlie Joyner now Buffalo's receivers coach for sixth place in career yards receiving with 12,150 ... Jets coach Bill Parcells won his 124th regular-season game, tying him with Joe Gibbs for 15th place. He also tied former Jets coach Weeb Ewbank for total victories with 134 ... Bruce Smith, who has more sacks vs. the Jets than any other team, got one Sunday. He's gotten 29.5 of his 159 career sacks against New York. ... Jets RB coach Maurice Carthon was Flutie's fullback with the New Jersey Generals in 1985.

Game Breakdown
	BUF	NYJ
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 0 0 FGs-PATs blocked TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE Punts Returns Kickoffs Returns Interceptions PENALTIES-Yds FUMBLES-Lost TIME OF POSSESSION	11 2 7 2 2-12 0-0 182 50 3.6 48 18 2.7 134 2-20 154 12-30 2 4.2 5-0-0 5-37.0 0 0-0 133 0-0 5-133 1-0 5-45 1-0 23:08	23 8 14 1 10-16 1-2 398 70 5.7 121 37 3.3 277 1-8 285 23-32 1 8.4 6-3-1 2-33.5 0 0-0 136 2-33 5-101 2-2 4-32 2-2 36:52
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUFFALO, A.Smith 9-37, Thomas 6-9, Flutie 3-2. NEW YORK, C.Martin 21-54, Sowell 14-48, Testaverde 2-19. PASSING BUFFALO, Flutie 12-30-2-154. NEW YORK, Testaverde 22-31-1-258, Lucas 1-1-0-27. RECEIVING BUFFALO, Moulds 3-70, Reed 2-28, K.Williams 2-17, Thomas 2-5, Early 1-20, Gash 1-8, Riemersma 1-6. NEW YORK, K.Johnson 7-95, C.Martin 5-17, Chrebet 4-58, Ward 2-61, Brady 2-35, Sowell 2-14, Byars 1-5. PUNT RETURNS NEW YORK, Ward 2-33. KICKOFF RETURNS BUFFALO, K.Williams 5-133. NEW YORK, K.Williams 4-78, Glenn 1-23. TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS BUFFALO, Holecek 7-6-0, Towart 8-2-0, Rogers 7-2-0, Hansen 5-4-0, Perry 6-1-0, Irvin 4-1-0, Washington 4-0-0, T.Smith 3-1-1, Price 3-0-0, Jones 2-4-0, M.Martin 2-4-0, Northern 2-2-0, Pike 2-0-0, Smedley 1-3-0, Grier 1-0-0, Cummings 1-0-0, Hill 1-0-0, K.Williams 1-0-0, Jackson 1-0-0, Moulds 1-0-0, T.Smith 0-1-0, Brandenburg 0-1-0. NEW YORK, Logan 6-0-0, Cox 3-3-1, Green 3-0-0, O.Smith 3-0-0, Lewis 2-2-1, Ferguson 2-1-0, Coleman 2-0-0, Chrebet 2-0-0, Farrior 2-0-0, Lyle 2-0-0, Hamilton 1-0-0, Henderson 1-0-0, Mickens 1-0-0, Gordon 1-0-0, Hall 1-0-0, Hayes 1-1-0, O'Dwyer 1-0-0, P.Johnson 0-4-0, Pleasant 0-1-0, Brown 0-1-0. INTERCEPTIONS BUFFALO, Cowart 1-0. NEW YORK, O.Smith 1-2, Mickens 1-0. MISSED FIELD GOALS None.

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