| November 26, 2004 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 08:25 AM |
The Seahawks and Bills have squared off nine times during the regular season with the Seahawks holding a 6-3 advantage. The Seahawks have won three of the last four meetings, including a 23-20 victory in the last game played on November 18, 2001 at Buffalo. The last time the two teams met in Seattle was at Husky Stadium on December 23, 2000, in the season finale. The Bills won that game 42-23 led by Doug Flutie’s perfect 158.3 passer rating completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Overall, the Seahawks are 5-2 versus the Bills in games played in Seattle, including a 5-1 mark in the Kingdome.
After a sluggish first quarter, Van Pelt came alive in the second. He threw a 51-yard pass to Eric Moulds, then found Peerless Price for a 16-yard TD two players later to cut the Bills' deficit to 10-7. Van Pelt was 7-of-9 on Buffalo's next possession, which was capped by a 25-yard field goal by Jake Arians for a 10-10 halftime tie. Alexander's touchdown capped a 70-yard drive that featured a 21-yard pass from Hasselbeck to Bobby Engram on 3rd-and-4. Arians answered with a 26-yard field goal, but Lindell was good from 38 yards with 5 1/2 minutes to play to give Seattle a 20-13 lead. On the Bills' next possession, Van Pelt was sacked by linebacker Chad Brown and fumbled, with defensive tackle Antonio Cochran recovering at the Buffalo 33. But Alexander's one-yard TD early in the third quarter put the Seahawks (5-4) ahead for good, 17-10. Lindell added field goals of 38 and 51 yards in a 2:10 span of the fourth quarter to extend Seattle's lead to 23-13. The Seahawks withstood a late touchdown pass from Alex Van Pelt to tight end Jay Riemersma . The Seahawks settled for a 51-yard field goal by Lindell that turned out to be the difference.
Buffalo capped off their 41st season with an offensive explosion, racking up 332 yards in the first half of a 42-23 rout of Seattle. Matched against the NFL's worst defense, the Bills punted only once and rolled up 579 yards. The Seahawks committed four turnovers, losing three fumbles and throwing an interception.
Flutie guided Buffalo to a 28-14 halftime lead, going 14-for-17 for 249 yards and three touchdowns. Aided by 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalties on Willie Williams and Chad Brown, the Bills scored the first time they had the ball. Flutie passed 11 yards to Shawn Bryson for the touchdown. They made it 14-0 on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Flutie to Price before Seattle's Charlie Rogers ran back the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown. Buffalo quickly scored again after Flutie completed a 48-yard pass to Eric Moulds to the Seattle 15. With Bryson out with a back and hip injury that he suffered when he scored his touchdown, Antowain Smith made it 21-7 on a 9-yard run, his first of three TD runs.
Seattle QB John Kitna spiked the ball after scoring on a 1-yard run early in the second quarter, but it was a short-lived celebration. After recovering Darrell Jackson's fumble at the 50, the Bills got their final touchdown of the opening half on a 6-yard pass from Flutie to tight end Jay Riemersa with 1:09 left. In the second half, Smith scored on runs of 2 and 4 yards, while Ricky Watters had a 6-yard touchdown run for the Seahawks.
The Bills dug themselves an early hole out of which they were unable to climb and fell to 4-3 with their 2nd straight loss. Seattle scored on its first 3 possessions and 5 of its first 6 to take a 23-0 lead. Buffalo outscored the host Seahawks 13-3 in the 2nd half but it was not enough to recover from the early deficit. The Bills were missing 5 starters due to injury- WR Eric Moulds, TE Jay Riemersma, LG Ruben Brown, LB John Holecek, and DE Phil Hansen.
The Seahawks returned the opening kickoff 54 yards and scored 5 plays later on Jon Kitna's 7-yard TD pass to Derrick Mayes. A pair of Todd Peterson FGs preceded another Kitna-to-Mayes TD, this one a 43-yarder midway though the 2nd quarter. Peterson's 3rd FG of the half gave Seattle a 23-0 lead before Steve Christie's 50-yard FG on the final play before intermission put Buffalo on the board.
Buffalo held Seattle scoreless in the 3rd quarter and narrowed the gap to 23-9 with an 18-yard TD pass from Doug Flutie to rookie Peerless Price (the PAT failed due to a bad snap). The TD was a career first for Price, who started in place of the injured Eric Moulds (hamstring). Buffalo was unable to capitalize on a successful onside kick following the Price TD and Peterson's 4th FG of the day put Seattle up 26-9 in the 4th. Buffalo answered with a 9-play, 79-yard scoring drive that ended on a 1-yard TD grab by TE Jay Riemersma. It was the only time that Riemersma was on the field, as a groin injury kept the starting TE from most of the action. Trailing by 10 with 7:32 left, the Bills were unable to pull closer as their next drive ended with a Flutie fumble and the subsequent one when Buffalo turned it over on downs. Rookie WR Peerless Price filled in admirably for Moulds, finishing with a game-high 106 receiving yards on 4 catches.
Buffalo played host to the Seattle Seahawks and drove their record to 5-1 with a 27-21 victory. After a scoreless first quarter, Seattle jumped out to the lead on a RB Chris Warren’s 3 yard run. Seattle was driving for a second score when Kurt Schultz picked of Rick Mirer for his third interception in the past 3 games. Starting from their own 15, Kelly led the Bills on a 15 play 85 yard TD drive capped off with a spectacular Bill Brooks reception in the endzone. The Seahawks muffed the ensuing kickoff giving the Bill the ball back on the Seattle 17. The Bills managed a FG for a 10-7 lead at the half. Buffalo blew the game open in the third With Kelly TD passes to TE Lonnie Johnson and Bill Brooks, the second TD set up by Jeff Burris’ first career pick. A Rick Mirer TD pass to WR Joey Galloway put Seattle back into the game, But Christie added one more FG to give the Bills insurance in the 27-21 win. Bryce Paup continued his impressive season registering another 2 sacks.