| October 13, 2004 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 01:34 AM |
The Miami Dolphins were snowed under by Drew Bledsoe and the Buffalo Bills. Bledsoe threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns as the Bills knocked out quarterback Ray Lucas and kept their sagging playoff hopes alive with a 38-21 victory over the Dolphins. Buffalo survived despite a huge game from Ricky Williams, who carried 27 times for 228 yards and two scores.
The day started positively for the Dolphins when Williams raced up the sidelines for a 45-yard touchdown run and Weaver caught his TD pass for a 14-3 lead. Bledsoe collected just his third career rushing touchdown when he went in from two yards out to cut the lead to 14-10. The tone of the game changed dramatically in the second quarter when Miami gambled on a 4th-and-4 at the Buffalo 36. Lucas was sacked and fumbled and end Chidi Ahanotu returned the ball 17 yards to the Miami 31 for the Bills' first turnover in 16 quarters. Three players later, Bledsoe hit Price on a 20-yard TD pass to put the Bills in front, 17-14.
In the 3rd, the Dolphins regained the lead on a 55-yard touchdown run by Ricky Williams, the longest of his career. Later in the quarter, Bledsoe lofted a 73-yarder to Peerless Price - the longest catch of his career - and added a 57-yarder to Eric Moulds with 3:01 left that tipped off the hands of cornerback Sam Madison, giving Buffalo a 31-21 lead. The only score of the fourth quarter was a one-yard touchdown run by Henry. Moulds caught five passes for 130 yards and a score and Price had a pair of TD catches for 93 yards. Both went over 1,000 receiving yards this season. Travis Henry also reached a milestone, carrying 35 times for 151 yards and passing the 1,000-yard barrier. It was the fifth time this season Henry ran for at least 100 yards.
The Bills improved to 9-0 at Rich Stadium in the postseason with their impressive 37-22 victory over their AFC East foe the Miami Dolphins in the first round of the AFC playoffs. The Bills jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a seven play, 58-yard drive that resulted in a one-yard TD run by RB Thurman Thomas, who ran his consecutive postseason games with a TD streak to six games. Buffalo would never look back as they forced Miami into three downs and out before K Steve Christie added his first of three FGs to make the score 10-0.
The Bills defense stepped up at the start of the second quarter when Miami attempted a fourth-and-seven play from the Buffalo 32-yard line and were stopped. The Bills took over on downs and needed only four plays to march down the field for the score on RB Darick Holmes’ 21-yard run into the end zone. The score was set up by a vintage 32-yard burst by RB Thurman Thomas to the Dolphins 21-yard line. Thomas, who had his sixth career 100-yard rushing postseason game, would finish the day with 158 yards on 25 carries and the Bills’ 341 rushing yards would be the second highest total in NFL postseason history.
Buffalo crossed the goal line again on their next possession when QB Jim Kelly’s perfect 37-yard touch pass fell into the arms of WR Steve Tasker in the end zone to make the score 24-0 at halftime. Tasker would finish the first half with 108 yards receiving, the first 100-yard receiving game of his career. The scoring drive was set up by LB Marlo Perry’s first career interception at the Bills’ 38.
Buffalo added three more points to their lead late in the third quarter when Christie added a 23-yard FG to push the lead to 27-0. Miami finally got on the board on their first possession of the fourth quarter when QB Dan Marino hit WR O.J. McDuffie on a five-yard TD pass. The Bills punched in their final TD of the afternoon on RB Tim Tindale’s career-long 44-yard burst off the left side for the score. The Dolphins rebounded with another score before Christie added a 44-yard FG, the team’s final points of the day. The Dolphins added one final TD late in the game to provide for the final margin of victory, 37-22.
Kelly went to work, and was able to connect on five straight passes to complete an 82-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Flip Johnson in just 2:27. The Bills then got the ball back from the Dolphins as Nate Odomes got his second interception of the afternoon, and returned the ball to the Buffalo 49 with 1:44 left on the clock.
Kelly completed three passes to move the ball to the Dolphin 30, and kept the chains moving with an 11-yard pass to Thurman Thomas at the Miami 19. Reed then caught a 15-yard Kelly pass to move the ball to the 4, and Kelly had to spike the ball. Miami took an offside penalty to move the ball to the two-yard-line, which was the margin of victory and defeat for Buffalo. With just two seconds left on the clock, Kelly dropped back to pass, but then decided to take it himself, and just beat Louis Oliver to the goal line to give the Bills a dramatic 27-24 win over the Dolphins. It was his first rushing TD in 45 games in the NFL. It was Buffalo’s fifth victory in a row over the Dolphins.
