| January 03, 2005 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 10:56 AM |
The Bills’ Super Bowl dream came to a close on the frozen surface of Three Rivers Stadium with a 40-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the AFC playoffs. The Bills, playing without DE Bruce Smith who remained in Buffalo with the flu, quickly found themselves trailing 20-0 with under five minutes to play in the first half. Instead of packing it in, the Bills persevered and kept the game close by adding a one-yard RB Thurman Thomas TD plunge with under a minute remaining in the first half to close the gap to 20-7. For Thomas it was his seventh consecutive postseason game with a TD, second highest streak in NFL history.
The Steelers quickly regrouped to add a FG which made the score 23-7 at halftime. Pittsburgh added another three-pointer at the start of the third quarter before the Bills offense would get jump-started by a 40-yard run on a reverse by WR Steve Tasker. Two plays later backup QB Alex Van Pelt, in for a shaken QB Jim Kelly, hit TE Tony Cline on a two-yard TD pass to close the gap to 26-14. It was Cline’s first-career touchdown.
On their first possession of the final stanza the Bills drove 36 yards in six plays which was capped off by a nine yard pass from Kelly, who returned in the middle of the drive, to Thomas to make the score 26-21. For Thomas, it was his 18th postseason TD, making him the NFL’s career postseason TD leader at the time.
Pittsburgh took their ensuing possession and held onto the ball for 5:07 in driving 76 yards for the game-clinching TD to make the score 33-21. The Steelers added one more score in the waning moments to provide the final margin, 40-21.
In what was quickly turning into a Cinderella post season, the Buffalo Bills moved on to Pittsburgh to take on the AFC Central division champions. Buffalo took advantage of three Pittsburgh turnovers, and sacked QB Neil O'Donnell seven times en route to a 24-3 victory, earning the Bills their third consecutive trip to the AFC Championship Game. Pittsburgh's only points came on its first possession when K Gary Anderson connected on a 38-yard FG. Buffalo set the halftime score at 7-3 when QB Frank Reich hit OL Mitch Frerotte out of the backfield on a one-yard TD pass. The score was set up when DE Bruce Smith sacked O'Donnell, forcing a fumble which was recovered by DE Phil Hansen on the Buffalo 41. On the Bills' first possession of the half, Buffalo marched 80 yards in 13 plays, capped off by a 17-yard scoring strike from Reich to WR James Lofton to make the score 14-3, Buffalo. After a botched FG attempt by Pittsburgh, Buffalo drove 44-yards, setting up a K Steve Christie 43-yard FG. The Bills put the game away on their next possession, putting together an 86-yard drive that ended with a FB Carwell Gardner one-yard run to set the final score, 24-3. RB Kenneth Davis rushed 10 times for 107 yards, while WR Don Beebe grabbed seven passes for 72 yards to compliment Reich's 16-23 passing performance. LB Darryl Talley recorded seven tackles and a sack, and NT Jeff Wright and DE Keith Willis had two sacks a piece to lead the Buffalo defensive effort.
In week 2 they hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers at Rich Stadium. Both teams entered the contest with 1-0 records. The Steelers quickly got a clinic in the no-huddle offense, as Buffalo racked up 52 points in a 52-34 win in front of 79,545 at Rich Stadium. Quarterback Jim Kelly, who grew up in Pittsburgh, torched his boyhood team for six touchdown passes, setting a club record and a personal high, with four of those tosses going to Don Beebe, who tied a team record with Jerry Butler for four touchdown receptions in a game. It was especially sweet for Beebe, who was lost for the season with a broken leg one year ago. Against the Steelers on that September afternoon, Buffalo recorded the second-highest point total in team history, and the most ever in their NFL existence.
On their second drive of the game, Buffalo opened the scoring with a 53-yard strike from Kelly to James Lofton 6:18 into the game, and the Bills quickly added a Scott Norwood 50-yard field goal to give the Bills a 10-0 lead as the first quarter ended.
Kicker Gary Anderson put Pittsburgh on the board, but then the Kelly to Beebe show began. On Buffalo's next drive, the Bills went 80 yards in 10 plays, and Kelly hit Beebe for a 34-yard touchdown with 3:46 gone in the second quarter. The defense held Pittsburgh on their next possession, and notched another touchdown toss. Buffalo capped off a 63-yard drive with a 14-yard reception from Kelly to give the Bills a 24-3 lead with 6:57 remaining in the half. Pittsburgh did narrow the gap before the half to 24-10, as they got a 56-yard touchdown run by Barry Foster late in the half.
Buffalo opened the second half with another scoring drive, as they drove 80 yards down the field and Andre Reed caught Kelly's fourth touchdown pass of the day to give the Bills a 31-10 lead with 3:47 gone in the second. However, the Steelers wouldn't go away quietly, putting together a 17-point run to make the game close by the end of the third quarter, but the Bills then put the final exclamation point on their record-setting afternoon with a fourth-quarter explosion.
Just 1:51 into the fourth quarter, Beebe caught a 11-yard touchdown pass, which tied Kelly for the club mark for throwing five touchdown passes in a game, which tied him with his own mark set in 1989 and Joe Ferguson hit twice. The touchdown also made Beebe only the fourth Bill to catch three touchdowns in a game. Just over five minutes later, Kelly hit Beebe again for a 4-yard pass, breaking the club mark with his sixth touchdown pass, and making Beebe only the second Bill to have caught four touchdowns in a game, and with it Buffalo had a 45-27 lead. Nate Odomes put a cap on the afternoon by returning an interception back 32 yards for a touchdown just :45 after Beebe's last touchdown. Thurman Thomas finished with 107 yards rushing on the day.
After a Roy Gerela FG opened the scoring for the Steelers in the 1st quarter, Buffalo returned the favor. Joe Ferguson hit his TE Paul Seymour for a 22- yard TD to give the underdog Buffalo Bills an early 7-3 lead.
Pittsburgh dominated the second quarter blowing the game open. Steeler QB Terry Bradshaw lit up the Bills for 143 yards in the quarter engineering 4 TD scoring drives. Bradshaw hit RB Rocky Bleir for a 27 yard score, then drove Pittsburgh to the goal line on the next 3 possessions. Each drive was capped off with Franco Harris TD runs of 1, 3, and 1 yards. The only thing that went right for Buffalo was 2 blocked extra points. The Steelers went into the half sporting a 29-7 lead.
Ferguson and Simpson hooked up mid way through the 3rd quarter on a 3 yard TD pass to bring the Bills to within 15. The Steelers took control of the game by running the ball an incredible 51 times for 235 yards. Ball control and Chuck Knoll’s stingy Steel Curtain defense locked down OJ Simpson and held the star RB to 49 yards on 15 carries. Gerela's 4th quarter FG made the final Pittsburgh 32, Buffalo 14. It was an unspectacular performance for what would turn out to be his only playoff appearance. The Electric Company, Buffalo’s famed offensive line, held the Steelers to no sacks in the game, despite the Steelers leading the league with 52. Pittsburgh went on to win their first Super Bowl over Minnesota 3 weeks later.