Saints 33 Bills 45 The Saints were unable to recover from an early 28-0 deficit in a game that saw six different members of the Bills offense score touchdowns. The Saints were in the hole before they knew what hit them- the game began incompletion, incompletion, sack-and-fumble; Bruce Smith recovered the ball and returned it to the NO 1. Antowain Smith ran in for the score on the next play. It was 7-0 Buffalo with only :35 elapsed. Mark Royals punted after the O couldn't gain a 1st. On 3rd & 11, Fred Weary fell down after failing to bump Moulds at the line; the result was an easy 66 yd TD. Less than 3 minutes in, it was 14-0. The team moved the sticks twice before Kerry Collins was intercepted at midfield. Three plays later, Rob Johnson scrambled for a 12 yd TD. The PAT put the Bills ahead 21-0. After both teams went 3 & punt, Ditka yanked Collins and inserted Billy Joe Tolliver. His first series also went 3 & punt. Buffalo moved downfield thanks to roughing-the-passer on Ron Warner, a 3rd & 7 catch by Riemersma for 11, and a 6 yd QB run on 3rd & 3. Johnson hit Early for 37 on the next play to put the ball at the 2; one play later Gash caught a 1 yd TD throw. With 12:15 left before the half, the visitors led 28-0. Tolliver led the O on a 70 yd TD drive during the next possession; it ended with a 1 yd Troy Davis run. After the D held Buffalo to 3 & punt, BJ #2 engineered another TD drive- Cam Cleeland caught a 5 yd scoring pass on the first play after the 2-minute warning. The halftime score was 28-14. Buffalo ate up more than half the third quarter with a drive that culminated in a 35 yd FG. The Saints responded with another good march, which ended with Brett Bech's 10 yd TD catch. With a minute left in the quarter, the deficit was ten points. Doug Brien tried to pull a fast one by attempting to dribble the kickoff to himself, but a Bill scooped up the ball and ran into the endzone. The ball was put back at the NO 33 due to a facemask penalty, but Buffalo scored soon anyway, on a 23 yd TD catch by Lonnie Johnson. After a pair of 3 & punt series, Tolliver was intercepted; the return plus a 5 yd facemask gave the Bills 1st & 10 at the NO 35. Linton eventually scored on an 8 yd TD run to make it 45-21 with 6:39 left. By the time the 2-minute warning arrived, Tolliver had the team facing 4th & goal at the 1. Aaron Craver got into the endzone for the TD. The try for two was unsuccessful. The onside kick bounced off a Bill and was recovered by Rob Kelly at the NO 28. Tolliver hit Bech with a TD throw on the next play; a throw for 2 points was no-good. The third onside kick of the game bounced over the Bills and was snagged by Bech at the NO 47. Three straight completions put the team at the Buffalo 14 with :48 left, but from there four attempted Tolliver-Bech connections fell incomplete. The season ended with a 45-33 defeat. stats & yardage histograms (from my "le Stat" system, not official) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ note: this stuff is meant to be read using a fixed-width font, like Courier note: the capital letters in the stats are used in the histograms and the drive chart to identify the players ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'........ Kerry collins 2-21 billy Joe tolliver Lamar smith 2-11 9-45 Wilmont perry 1- 2 5- 8-1 Aaron craver 3- 16 3- 1-1 troy Davis Sean dawkins 1-12 andre Hastings 2- 17 eric Guliford 2- 26 brett Bech 4-113-2 cameron Cleeland 10-112-1 jOsh wilcox 1- 10 incomplete 17 8 intercepted 1 1 19-75-2 23-41-296-3-1 3-12-23-0-1 D A DA J <--runs DW A A WWWWWAW W J W **************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ **************************************************************************** LCACGACHBCSC C CB G C B W A CLO B (72) C <--passes H ..runnin'......./.......throwin' & catchin'................. 3- 23-1 roB johnson alex Van pelt 12- 42-1 antowain Smith 14- 60-1 jonathan Linton 1- 1 sam Gash 1- 1-1 2- 5 Clarence williams eric Moulds 2- 90-1 Andre reed 2- 20 quinn Early 1- 37 kevin Williams 2- 19 jay Riemersma 3- 26 lonnie Johnson 1- 23-1 incomplete 6 0 intercepted 0 0 32-131-3 12-18-216-3-0 0-0-0-0-0 C G L L LL L SL B <--runs SLS SSBL B SSLSCSSLL LLL S S **************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ **************************************************************************** GR W ARWR JM E M A <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * Doug Flutie and Thurman Thomas sat out the whole game ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu