1997

Bills 13
Miami 30

Attendance: 74,155

The Buffalo Bills stayed close to the Miami Dolphins until Troy Drayton went out for a pass. The wide-open tight end's 30-yard touchdown reception with 5:11 remaining gave the Dolphins some breathing room in a 30-13 victory. Miami led only 16-13 when Dan Marino found Drayton open at the 10-yard line, some 15 yards from the nearest defender. After the score, the Dolphins stopped Buffalo on downs and added an insurance touchdown on Karim Abdul-Jabbar's 1-yard run.

A halftime ceremony honored Miami's 17-0 season 25 years ago, and the Dolphins were so inspired by the tribute that they nearly blew a 13-0 lead. But Miami held on despite two second-half turnovers and moved into a first-place tie with the New York Jets in the AFC East. The Dolphins hold the tie-breaker advantage over the Jets by virtue of sweeping their two-game series. "We knew what we were in for," Drayton said. "We needed this because we wanted to stay in first place, keep the ball rolling and get to the playoffs." "About this time of year every year," coach Jimmy Johnson said, "a couple teams start to get on a roll and come out of the pack and get good things happening before the playoffs. We're coming close to that."

The Bills dropped two games back. They've lost three of their past four games. Buffalo's punchless offense scored more than one touchdown for only the second time in six games. Quarterback Todd Collins, who returned to the lineup after being benched for two games in favor of Alex Van Pelt, completed 19 of 37 passes for 152 yards. "We did too many things not well to isolate on one individual," Bills coach Marv Levy said.

Marino was 18-for-24 for 234 yards. Rookie tight end Ed Perry scored his first NFL touchdown on a 3-yard reception to cap a 90-yard drive, and Olindo Mare kicked field goals of 37, 30 and 35 yards. "Bitterly disappointing," Levy said. "Marino is a great player. You have to counter with some more offense than we were able to do. There aren't many that match Marino."

The Dolphins, who failed to score a touchdown in a 9-6 loss at Buffalo earlier in November, this time raced to a 13-0 lead after 22 minutes. Buffalo's offense finally got untracked on the first possession of the second half. The Bills converted two third-and-long situations to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Darick Holmes. Steve Christie's 36-yard field goal made the score 16-10. After Steve Tasker recovered Irving Spikes' fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Christie hit a 24-yard field goal. "Being able to hold them to a field goal there was a big a series as there was in the game," Johnson said.

Miami regained the momentum on Drayton's score to cap a 61-yard drive. On second-and-11, he ran past linebacker Bryce Paup, whose attention was elsewhere. No one in the secondary was in Dayton's vicinity, and as he trotted across the goal line with the reception, Paup stretched out his arms in disbelief. "It was a miscommunication at the line of scrimmage," safety Kurt Schulz said. "Against Marino, he's going to take advantage of these things, and he did." Marino laughed when talking about the play. "They blew the coverage," he said. "Normally when no one covers someone, they're really open." The blown coverage wasn't Buffalo's only mistake. The Bills, who have 18 more turnovers than takeaways this season, gave the ball up twice in their territory, and both mistakes led to field goals.

George Teague made a leaping interception on a pass by Collins, who was hit as he threw by Jason Taylor. The turnover led to Mare's 30-yard field goal for a 13-0 lead. Jason Taylor recovered Antowain Smith's fumble at the Buffalo 24, and three plays later Mare banked a 35-yard field goal off the right upright to put Miami ahead 16-7.

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