| December 24, 2004 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 06:36 AM |
The Bills and Niners are playing for just the ninth time ever and the series is deadlocked at 4-4. They last met in 2001 when Buffalo traveled to San Francisco and lost 35-0 to the 49ers. The Bills and 49ers met in Orchard Park, NY in 1998 when the Bills posted a 26-21 home win.
The last Buffalo win at SF came on 9/13/92 (34-31) when both Jim Kelly and Steve Young threw for 400 yards in the only puntless game in NFL history. The home team has won four of the last five contests. Here is a look back at three memorable games of the past.
Rob Johnson overshadowed his counterpart, completing 19 of 27 passes for 254 yards and one touchdown to lead the Bills to a 26-21 victory Sunday. The Bills entered the contest with just one victory in their last 10 games, worst in the league over that span, but they dominated the suddenly mistake-prone 49ers from the beginning. The 49ers entered the game ranked first in the NFL in rushing, passing and total offense, but were held to just 56 yards passing and 105 total yards in the first half.
The Bills wasted no time in taking advantage of San Francisco's secondary, which struggled against Buffalo's passing attack even though it was missing its top receiver, Andre Reed. Johnson found Eric Moulds for a 50-yard reception on the game's first play and Buffalo took a 3-0 lead on Steve Christie's 24-yard field goal 2:30 into the game. Garrison Hearst's fumble late in the first quarter gave Buffalo the ball on the 49ers 30 yard-line and Antowain Smith's 6-yard scoring run made it 10-0. Another San Francisco miscue, a fumble by kickoff returner R.W. McQuarters, put the Bills in San Francisco territory again. Johnson took advantage tossing a 5-yard touchdown to Quinn Early for a 17-0 advantage. After getting down to the 49ers 1-yard line on their final possession of the first half, the Bills had to settle for Christie's 19-yard field goal with three seconds left for a 20-0 halftime lead. San Francisco had 12 first-half penalties and set a franchise record with 22 penalties for 178 yards in the game.
In the fourth quarter, the 49ers scored 3 TDs of the arm of Steve Young. After Christie's third field goal of the game made it 23-0, Young finally got San Francisco on the board. A 33-yard reception to Jerry Rice set up a 47-yard touchdown pass to fullback Marc Edwards. Young connected with Rice on a 2-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 23-8. Irv Smith's 9-yard touchdown reception from Young made it 26-14, but San Francisco was unable to convert on the 2-point conversion. Their second-half comeback ended when they couldn't recover the onside kick after Young had hit J.J. Stokes with a 21-yard TD pass with 1:03 left.
Game 13 saw the Bills come out on the short end of the stick in a tough battle in Candlestick Park against the 49ers. After opening the game with a TD drive, the Buffalo defense put the clamps on the high owered San Francisco offense. Buffalo answered the opening drive with a 16 play drive of their own, that consumed almost 8 minutes. The drive was aided by a vintage 22 yard Thurman Thomas run to the 49er 9 yard line. The Bills had to settle for a Christie FG. The Buffalo defense pressured San Fran QB Steve Young all second quarter, with Brice Smith getting 2 sacks and Bryce Paup adding one more, the NFL leader with 16 on the season. Buffalo received the first good bounce in the game when a 29 yard TD pass intended for Lonnie Johnson deflected off the TE’s hands and into the arms of Justin Armour. The 49ers managed to drive for a game tying FG on the last play of the half to make it 10-10.
In the 3rd quarter, momentum was solidly behind the Bills. Steve Tasker returned a punt to the 49er 31 yard line, setting up what appeared to be a go ahead Buffalo TD. Darick Holmes plunged up the middle on first and goal from the 49er 1 yard line, but LB Gary Plummer forced the fumble . SD Safety Lee Woodall scooped up the loose ball and returned it 96 yards for the 17-10 lead, a lead the 49ers would not relinquish. Trailing 20-10 late, Buffalo refused to quit. Steve Tasker hauled in a 13 yard TD pass with 10:52 remaining. But San Francisco added a late Derrick Loville 8 yard TD run for the final score of 27-17.
In one of the wildest games in NFL history, the Bills' Jim Kelly and the 49ers' Steve Young put on quite a show for the 64,053 at Candlestick Park, as both quarterbacks threw for over 400 yards in Buffalo's 34-31 win over San Francisco. Both Kelly and Young were graduates in the USFL a decade earlier, and the reunion of the defunct league's two brightest stars brought back comparisons to the at wide open era of football. The two teams combined for 1,086 yards of offense, fourth-highest in NFL history, and neither team attempted a punt, an NFL first. As for Kelly, he became the first Bills QB to pass for more than 400 yards in a regular-season game, and also passed a career milestone with 20,000 yards in his NFL career.
San Francisco opened the scoring after taking advantage of a Bills' fumble, with Young passing 23 yards to Odessa Turner with 3:26 left in the first quarter. The teams then traded scoring on eight straight possessions. Steve Christie put Buffalo on the board with a 41-yard field goal with :18 remaining in the quarter, but San Francisco upped its lead to 14-3 as FB Tom Rathman capped off an 80-yard drive. Thurman Thomas hauled in a 20-yard pass from Kelly for Buffalo's first touchdown to make the score 14-10 with 9:35 left in the half, but San Francisco's Mike Cofer and Steve Christie traded field goals and the 49ers added another touchdown for a 24-13 San Francisco lead.
However, Buffalo opened the second half with a bang, marching 80 yards in five plays, finishing with a Pete Metzelaars 53-yard reception 2:27 into the third quarter to cut the 49er lead to 4, then Metzelaars added another less than six minutes later to put Buffalo on top. Young answered back, hitting Taylor for a 54-yard strike late in the third quarter, but Buffalo had the final answer, as Thurman Thomas' 11-yard run gave the Bills a 34-31 lead with 3:04 remaining in regulation. The 49ers were able to attempt a 47-yarder with :54 remaining to try to force overtime, but it was no good, giving Buffalo the win. For the afternoon, Kelly finished completing 22 of 33 passes for 403 yards, while Steve Young finished with 26 completions for 449 yards. Andre Reed had 10 catches for 144 yards, Pete Metzelaars had 4 catches for 113, and Thurman Thomas added 94 more on 4 grabs himself.
