Buffalo Bills vs Miami Dolphins Monday Night November 14th, 1988

monday night matchup that elevates them from the seller to the super bowl in three seasons the bills have seen the bad times but this season's nine and one record has been relishing the good times being back here in the two and fourteen days and that especially at this time of the year when the weather starts getting cold and you're going out there and you're actually playing for nothing other than you just get the season over with it's now it's so much easier to go out there because you know you have something to work for well the last time i was on a winning football team was my junior in high school believe it or not uh so for me this is the greatest feeling in the world to be on a winning team we're nine and one we're on a roll and hopefully we can keep it going and get into the playoffs well before it was nice to go to the restaurant and people just like give you a private table in a corner because they didn't want to be near you now they want to sit at your table you know and say hey you know what's going on feels great not just for you know jim kelly and some of the team my teammates but for old city you know last four or five years it's been tough on everybody and it's about time we've worked very hard and i think we deserve it but again we have about six more games left the first of those six games for kelly will be tonight against the miami dolphins and he'll bring into joe robbie stadium the physical skills of the consummate nfl quarterback a great arm strength durability and a competitive nature that can lift an entire team and dan marino will be at quarterback for the dolphins one of the greatest pure passers to ever play the game he's averaged over 30 touchdown passes a season in his six-year career two of the game's finest at quarterback tonight as the buffalo bills meet the miami dolphins on abc's nfl monday night football [Music] so [Music] abc's monday night football is being brought news welcome to miami florida on a beautiful south florida evening temperatures in the high 70s a slight breeze is stirring joe robbie stadium less in capacity tonight for a meeting between the buffalo bills and the miami dolphins these two long-time rivals in the american football conference hello again everyone i'm frank gifford and welcome to our afc eastern division battle tonight it's the buffalo bills and the miami dolphins and the buffalo bills being the best record in pro football into joe robbie stadium tonight they are nine and one they have won their last five games this team led of course by jim kelly on offense but they have a defense that's been good all year and it has been getting greater over the past few weeks there's a quiet confidence about this team you don't hear it from their very unassuming coach marv levy or the players either but you get the feeling that they not only have their eye on the division they have their eye on the super bowl and the winning part of that super bowl they take on the miami dolphins tonight the dolphins are five and five they have won four of their last six but they are an up and down team a team in question and tonight when they take on the buffalo bills they know that if they lose that they will drop to five and six and they will have the tenth there will be ten teams in the afc that are better than them and that is going to hurt any chances they might have or any thoughts they might have for entering the playoffs as a wild card because their thoughts then i think will be starting to turn to the draft next year what we really have al is a team in buffalo with an identity miami looking for an identity as they have for the past couple of years i think frank that the miami dolphins are a team very much on a treadmill following the 85 season in the playoffs they were one win away from going to the super bowl but then they were eight and eight and 86 they were eight and seven last year five and five this year one constant of course in their lineup has been dan marino but maybe this team reflects dan marino he's had a decent season but he's been very erratic mourinho threw for more than 500 yards against the jets earlier this year but in a losing cause as far as the offense is concerned no doubt it must revolve around dan marino the dolphins are a one-dimensional team they lead the league in passing yardage they are dead last in the league in rushing yardage and what can they do dan with this buffalo defense they haven't been able to do very much over their last two encounters with them that's for sure who has and i think that's a statement that's indicative of the way the buffalo bills have been playing defensively they've been giving up only 14 points a game that's second best in the national football league only the chicago bears have played defense better how have they played recently well how about in their last two games they haven't even given up a touchdown and if that's not bad enough news for the miami dolphins the last two times the dolphins played the bills one game earlier this year and then a game last year in november both in buffalo the miami dolphins haven't scored any touchdowns against this build defense either you know the names i think tonight for miami it's quite simple that is simply this dan marino and his offensive team have to do something that no one has been doing lately with any regularity let's get the football in the end zone and the last time these two teams faced each other in september at rich stadium in buffalo the final score was nine six bills in a game that featured no touchdowns so kelly awaits and he'll be coming in in a moment because buffalo has won the toss and the bills will receive and with squad reveis hurt the dolphins a month ago signed tony franklin the former patriot so he is now miami's kicker at least for the moment though rivez is almost healthy and is eligible to return next week franklin puts the ball in the air and the game is underway at the five-yard line it's flip johnson now past the 25 and taken down at the 29-yard line the tackle made by the veteran bob bruczynski so here comes jim kelly his career figures versus miami with seven touchdowns and three interceptions but against the league this season surprisingly 10 td's and 12 interceptions thurman thomas is hurt he is on the inactive list so harmon and mueller are the running backs johnson and reed are the wide outs and metzelers is the tight end and there is the offensive line and a good one the veteran joe devlin number 70 at right tackle from the 29-yard line kelly going right to the air hits metzelers the tight end and he picks up about seven to the 36-yard line he is stopped there by john opperdahl the miami defense was doing a pretty decent job earlier in the season but schuler has not been very happy of late turner and soshay are having good years as far as their linebackers are concerned they are minus mark brown tonight they were hoping he could play he suited up couldn't he is inactive and there is the secondary and williams jarvis williams the second round pick out of florida has done a fine job at free safety four interceptions this season jamie mueller the fullback barrels ahead for the first down so the bill's keeping it on the ground rick rath making the tackle but again keep in mind the good-looking rookie thurman thomas out of action tonight with a severely bruised shin i don't think we'll have to wait long al and dan to find out what buffalo wants to do and they want to run the ball they can recall and they have won three times over miami but up in buffalo last year in a 27-0 blowout they just kept the ball all day long just running the ball miami never even saw it they'd like to do that again tonight first and ten buffalo from the 41-yard line that's andre reed in motion kelly protected well far side and it's caught at the 49-yard line by reed just short of the first down and to the disgust of the crowd as well who thought he was out of bounds covered by paul lankford we've been seeing a lot of i guess illustrious use of the sidelines by wide receivers this year and i think we're going to see another example here of beautiful footwork on the sidelines both feet have to be in and the ball really when i first saw it go i thought was going to be out of bounds but what a fabulous play by andre reid keeping both feet in bounds concentrating on the ball and making the catch would have loved it his 49th catch of the year the crowd responds they played it back on the big screen and they didn't like the call as mueller takes it across the 50 and he's very close to the first down he is stopped by number 98 jackie klein in his second year out of alabama did buffalo run that play in a hurry or was that my imagination i think they cranked that baby off in a hurry trying to beat the replay if there was going to be one but at least from that angle we looked at it looked pretty obvious that andre reed had both feet in bounds the crowd didn't like it but that was superlative effort by reed are we getting that so sophisticated now with the replay that they actually are doing that well they are coached by a phi beta kappa marv levy so he'd be the guy to do it let's look at it again that's andre reed in front of paul lankford and you can see obvious that both feet are inbounds that that's as good as it gets they measure for the first down and they are inches short so the bills will have a third and inches opening moments of this game in miami there is marv levy and he hopes this is the first of two visits to miami because the super bowl will be played here on january 22nd [Applause] third down inches rob riddick is their short yardage specialist and that's he as the eye back in this set with carl byrum the fullback and they give it to riddick and he really excels in these situations he gets a first down taking it to the 45-yard line his rushing average is only 3.3 but don't let that fool you about half the time he carries the ball he gets a first down you saw him cocked and ready to give you the patented gritty dive over the line of scrimmage but there was a huge gaping hole you see him he is just about ready to release it but this was just a surge off the line by the bills and there he goes he didn't even need to go up he's carried the ball 52 times this year and 26 carries have resulted in the first down that's exactly the situation they love to use them in at the 45-yard line kelly overthrowing the intended receiver trying to hit ronnie harmon coming out of the backfield it'll be second down and 10. and harmon was open on that play that's a ball that just floated from jim kelly harmon made his break to the inside and i think was in a position to catch the ball but that that ball just floated from jim kelly the protection was good he had a good lane down the middle that ball just overthrown and you see that thurman thomas was there to make the catch in front of lifford hopley there's a pretty brisk breeze blowing around joe robbie here tonight we're gonna have to see if that affects the passing game at all second and ten out of a split back set harmon and it's off his fingertips harman sent out into the flat and they use him as a receiving specialist coming out of the backfield the third year back out of iowa and again they're minus thomas tonight so we'll see a lot of harmon we'll see a lot of rob riddick their short yardage specialist and the other backs are carl byram and jamie mueller it is a running game without a marquee back but it's been very functional this year and this is where you get a coach like marv levy saying what am i doing calling a pass on first and second down because conservative coaches this is the situation they fear the most third and long when they could have been grinding it out on the ground three receivers split to the left as kelly out of the shotgun has a first down to riddick and riddick bouncing down to the 27-yard line he is stopped by the rookie jarvis williams reddick who played such a big role last week after thomas got hurt off to a good start tonight that's only his fourth reception of the year good call ted marchu broto act offensive coordinator calling most of the plays as riddick appears to be limping off but you pick the man who's going to be picked up by linebacker you don't anticipate he's going to be the receiver they left him wide open he gets the first down easily [Applause] buffalo with their third first down they've had the ball for the first three and a half minutes of the game and keeping it on the ground harmon through the middle down to the 22-yard line and that miami defense especially against the run can be very porous as new england proved last week well if you're a dolphin rooter you have to watch the line of scrimmage because i think when you look at these two teams on paper you might have a tendency to look at the buffalo bills and say they are a physical superior team up on the line of scrimmage and at least during the early going the buffalo offensive line is handling the front seven of miami they're putting no pressure on kelly when he goes back to throw and when buffalo is running the ball there's good holes up the middle second down and two from the 21-yard line toss to harmon and harmon picks up a first down or close to it as he moves to the 18-yard line last week new england scored three touchdowns against the miami defense on two of the drives they were long drives and new england stayed on the ground exclusively and frank i think you know how demoralizing that is to a football team not just the defensive football team that's felt up and down the sidelines buffalo way below the nfl average once they're inside the 20-yard line [Applause] and they spot the ball at the 18 and a half so he's a little short of the first down third down and a couple of inches buffalo two for two in third down situations and you can make it three for three now as rob riddick gets the call carl byram leads the way with a nice block and that's the fourth successive first down for the buffalo bills two third and short yardages and thus far miami not even close to stopping and here it is over the left side good block by richard pulling out from the left guard riddick again appeared to be over the top he doesn't have to big gaping hole and daniel wright is really demoralizing but will also allow buffalo to start thinking play action pass if they want to and you can run the football you can do anything with your offense from the 16. kelly to the air kelly fires into the end zone and incomplete he tried to hit metzeler as the tight end roving around the goal line and jackie klein put the pressure on kelly as jim released he wanted trumaine johnson over the left side and was good coverage by judson over the left side and he had to come off of it what's the second time that jim kelly has attempted to throw that pass pattern again on an attempt to hit the post pattern the ball floats on him that ball was at least four feet five feet over the head of the intended receiver and that's something we've got to keep our eye on jim kelly when he attempts to throw the ball hard over the middle is headed salon second down and 10. kelly throwing caught touchdown ronnie harmon that one didn't sail was a little wobbly but it was right in there and harman who is a good running back but they have used him when thurman thomas was in there as a running back as a wide receiver many times good receiver out of the backfield he works well also as a wide receiver and he was set out to the left leopard hobbly was there but well delivered by jim kelly an unusual move by the bills putting harmon all the way out there as a wideout you'd think the advantage would be with hobly the defensive back but he gave him all sorts of room to the inside scott norwood for the point after and the buffalo bills march it down the field harmon with his second touchdown reception of the season buffalo controls the ball for the first five minutes 46 seconds of the first quarter and they lead miami seven to nothing textbook the buffalo bills 13 plays 71 yards converting three times on third down and then kelly hits ronnie harmon for a touchdown seven to nothing bills who seek their 10th win in 11 games the buffalo bills trying to get to the playoffs the bills and the philadelphia eagles have gone the longest among the clubs in the nfl without a playoff appearance neither has appeared in postseason play since 1981 but the bills right now very much on their way joe cribs the former bill takes it from miami at the six yard line and cribs brings it back to the 20. another look now at the touchdown look what the buffalo bills did up here at the top is ronnie harmon but look over here we have andre reed and trumaine johnson this is going to force the dolphins to rotate their zone lifford hobley over here is left all alone the dolphins rotate their defense to the two wide receivers side they make the decision to lock hobbly one-on-one with the running back and that decision costs them a touchdown ronnie harmon following in the footsteps of herschel walker i guess who goes out and plays a little wide receiver that time gets a touchdown grab and yet it was a logical decision to make just not good coverage from the 20-yard line mourinho going right to the air and why not it's jim jensen who's coming off a game in which he caught 12 passes big favorite of the crowd here at joe robbie stadium a team record 12 receptions last sunday and he'll line up everywhere dan marino he hasn't been sacked in his last 290 past attempts that covers six games he has not been sacked since september [Applause] and we'll take a look at the offense in a moment as the dolphins line up at the 35-yard line first and ten the setback is lorenzo hampton that's jensen in the slot [Music] and it's hampton on the ground and he moves forward to the 39 for a pickup of about four troy stratford has been bothered by a gimpy ankle so he was on the inactive list last week he and hampton had been sharing a lot of time but lorenzo getting the call tonight one of the things we're going to watch during the course of the evening is how are the buffalo bills going to pressure the miami dolphins and i think we saw an answer that last time around they're going to try to do it up the middle they moved bruce smith normally a defensive end that time into noseguard playing over jeff dellenbach the center again there's smith moving to the inside the pressure up the middle is what they're going to try to do to disturb mourinho second and six from the 40-yard line that's clayton in motion and hampton swinging to the outside and nothing but white shirts and the first man to hit him is the cornerback derrick burrows there was a mess up in the backfield on the part of woody bennett but he bennett obviously was moving the wrong way they collided and here is the offense for miami with hampton and jensen for the moment starting at the running back spot so jensen in the slot with duper and clayton the wide receivers and farrell edmonds the rookie tight end and up front giesler is going to have his hands full tonight with smith the veteran dylan back replacing the injured stevenson who's been out for a year now and a rookie galbraith at a right guard with ronnie lee filling out the interior third down and 10 now a little shovel pass to stratford and stratford takes it ahead to the 45-yard line but comes up a little short of the first down and if you're gonna run the shovel pass you better run it to the side of bruce smith you know he's got the great upfield rush go ahead and get underneath smith and try to pick up a first down that way that's what the dolphins and stratford tried to do bradford playing on a very sore ankle did not play last week was on the inactive list and and they're going to go for it frank fourth down to the delight of the crowd so a very big gamble by schuler early on after five and five playing with the team that's dominated the first five minutes of this third quarter you've got to think go for it fourth down and inches from the 45-yard line they're in trouble with the clock they're not going to get it off clock down to zero and they're and they didn't did they get a timeout mourinho walked away from it i didn't even see him indicate a timeout but they gave him the timeout boy i sure didn't see him call it no no they called a penalty it's a delay of game penalty that's yeah 40 yard line oh boy nobody threw the flag and dan marino rather than take a timeout just walked away from it and took a five yard penalty so much for that gamble what if you think about it didn't hurt a whole lot of that's what you would suspect they would have done anyway brought out the punting unit it wasn't as if they were doing it to try to draw buffalo offside either because they shut up late out of the huddle well the problem was they brought in mark dennis a reserve offensive lineman he has to report to the official and that whole process took about an extra 10 or 15 seconds now reggie roby to kick flip johnson to receive johnson calls for the fair catch and then lets it bounce and this will pin buffalo deep back at the 9-yard line 51-yard boot by reggie roby 5 35 to go in the first quarter seven-nothing bills hopelessly out of the game against the l.a raiders when dan marino made his professional debut and the rookie from pittsburgh through his first ever professional touchdown pass a six-yarder to tight end joe rose the first of many [Music] [Applause] look down at joe robbie stadium which opened last year after the dolphins had played at the orange goal since they for granted an expansion franchise in the american football league a look down from the goodyear blimp and now a look in at kelly in the buffalo bills from the nine yard line as they begin this drive with harmon on the ground and ronnie harmon running for a first down out to the 21-yard line william judson makes the tackle and another big hole up front exploited by a buffalo running back that's been the story thus far honey harmony can do a lot of things as we just saw he was the number one draft pick in 1986 and kind of lost his job so to speak when thurman thomas the rookie from oklahoma state came in this year but he has been used mostly as a receiver but he is a fine running back as well he's carried three times already for 21 yards again if you pick this up late thurman thomas who's been there featured running back hurt and on the inactive list tonight so we'll see a lot of harman will see a lot of riddick from the 20-yard line kelly throwing the bomb for andre reed too far and a flag is down back up field back at the 20-yard line jarvis williams covering on the play and there's the penalty marker back at the 21 and it's against buffalo which is good news for surely you know the amazing thing about the dolphins for years they've prided themselves on being so penalty-free they've always led the league in penalties or been second but this year it's a whole other story they're 19th the tackle on the right side of the line was uncovered no eligible receiver on the outside the penalty is declined second down so says gordon mccarter there must be seven men on the line of scrimmage and here's a look at the miami dolphins and take a look at that and their penalty yardage over 100 yards twice averaging over 100 for their last three games and if you follow this game closely as al said that is not don schuler's trademark that is amazing [Applause] from the 21-yard line it's jamie mueller on the second and ten stopped by t.j turner number 95 one man the dolphins are missing up front if you haven't been following this team is john bosa last year's number one draft pick but he suffered a severe knee injury in fact they're talking about him maybe not returning until mid-year 89. and bozo who was the number one draft choice here in miami had really not had a great rookie year but was really coming on strong the dolphins were very pleased the way he was playing and this brings up a third long for buffalo last time in this situation they went to riddick out of the backfield third down and seven from the 24-yard line and they shovel it to riddick so they go to him in essence out of the backfield and a flag goes down he was very close to a first down they needed seven he moved from the 24 to the 31 call made by the umpire who's ben montgomery who relays it to mccarter [Applause] i don't know if this is against fogler but the flag hit him tim fogler the right guard unless the umpire had bad aim you can count on it what are the other number 65 offense 10 yard penalty from the previous spot repeat third down and he was the man at the point of attack bogler pulled from his right guard position and makes the block he makes the block to get in front of rob riddick here he is right there there's vogler now watch him do the kickout block he's going to work against number 90 over there eric kumaro and his kumuro tries to come back to the middle vogler tackles it then the flag hits him that's how pin the tail on the donkey got started well that's one of the qualifications to be an umpire you have to have a pin to tail background third and sixteen a little dump pass to harmon past the 20 and run out of bounds at the 23 but the short of the first down all my life runs all my life i wanted to get back at those guys how many how many years have you waited to say that well you have to admit i'm patient i picked my spot that is embarrassing to be hit with that flag isn't it oh it's not especially if it's aimed for someone else so rarely offensive linemen gets recognition i never held in my entire career so i i was always getting hit by flags who were being aimed someplace else at dobler yeah he ate them [Music] john kidd the kick sets up with his own 10 yard line [Applause] scott swadey's to receive he feels at the 35 and gets taken down immediately by steve tasker outstanding on the special teams tasker drops him right away after a 42-yard kick 317 left in the first quarter still seven to nothing buffalo 17 to play in the first quarter al michaels frank gifford and dan deardorff at joe robbie stadium bruce smith and the buffalo defense confronting miami now miami has the ball for the second time and they begin this drive at the 35-yard line buffalo took the opening kickoff and marched 71 yards for a touchdown pills 9-1 dolphins five and five coming in first and ten from the 35. lorenzo hampton out to the 38-yard line hampton in his fourth year out of florida ray bentley number 50 one of the inside backers makes the tackle you know that's something about this buffalo team you're going to be calling names like ray bentley and daryl talley and fred still i mean art still rather but a lot of people that are kind of getting lost in the in the bruce smith and shane conlon and cornelius bennett derby and what this guy marv levy has done is assembled certainly i think a defensive football team that is on the border of reaching the level attained by maybe the 86 giants and the 85 bears exactly they're that good second and six the pressure put on that time and the pass is incomplete and may have hit one of his linemen and the penalty marker goes down so hit ronnie leading up the middle dan marino with smith breathing right into his face tried to get rid of the ball hit ronnie lee his tackle with the football and of course you can't do that smith again dan pointed out they had put him over the center this time he's right in mourinho's face look at that you're gonna you have to get rid of the ball it's ronnie lee his offensive tackle and that draws the flag and i think watch this again watch watch smith go right around jeff delenbach the center and i think you see one thing this is why dan marino hasn't been sacked in the last six games this guy will dump the football he is not going to eat it and an offensive lineman loves to play for a quarterback like that and you combine that with the way he can read also he reads defenses about as well as any quarterback around and of course they set an offense for him to get rid of it quickly but you're right he will get rid of it meanwhile all it was was an incomplete pass as it turns out a loss of down and it's third and sixth at the 39-yard line they picked the flag up and bruce smith has to be saying to himself if i can't sack this guy coming through that clean am i ever going to get him smith lines up at right end mourinho out of the shotgun and smith couldn't wait to jump as moreno fires over the middle and the catchers made at the 41 of buffalo by freddie banks and smith came flying across the line but there's no flag and it doesn't matter to the dolphins anyway they'll take the play and i think he moved right on the ball i think that was just good anticipation on the part of bruce smith and uh obviously that's what the official thought as well did you see who's trying to block him troy stratford well they dropped john keys they're out to help they were trying to get too on him but he's just too quick for it it's amazing though when you looked at it live it appeared everybody else was in a freeze frame and there went bruce why did the dolphins need that 6-4 and 285 and can he move it and there he is on the center again first and 10. miami from the 41-yard line mourinho checks it off after a 20-yard pickup and it's incomplete everything tipping it and again it's dan marino being forced to throw without setting his feet he's falling backwards throwing off his heels a look at it here is dan marino never gets the opportunity to set falling backwards and fred smirless gets his hand on the ball and somehow someway the dolphins up front foster dellenbach and galbraith the middle three are going to have to control this runaway build defensive charge because dan marino can't count on being successful facing that kind of a rush all night long second down and 10 from the 40-yard line and mourinho dumps it off and it's complete to davenport and davenport gets to the 14-yard line and that's the risk you run on a blitz it opens up the middle davenport exploits it first down miami well they say mourinho is not mobile and he's not but cornelius bennett came around the horn with his great speed and he was still able to deliver it watch the blitz up the middle number 58 shane collins going to come from the left a looping charge in the middle and davenport had just come out of the backfield from the right side and that is the risky run ray bentley was trying to make the coverage number 50 there but as you can see he was woefully behind the play and can there be a better quarterback in the game than mourinho and getting rid of the ball in that situation first down miami at the 14 in the final minute of the quarter hampton to the outside and nothing there wrapped up by leonard smith who started the season with the cardinals then came over in week three and does he ever hit plays safety like a linebacker i know you know him well for the years with the saint louis cardinals dad but he will play it like a linebacker they had to have a safety and the cardinals needed a cornerback and it was a pretty good deal for both of them and how about the range displayed there by bruce smith getting all the way out from down over the offensive guard getting out there making a play with a strong safety i we don't want to i guess canonize this football team but defensively boy is buffalo loaded that's a nightmare when you get hit by the firm of smith and smith buffalo jumps collectively flag goes down and the passes dropped by mark duper but the bills almost as a unit appeared to come across the line when they jump collectively like that something is making them jump down it's either the bark of dan marino there's movement somewhere you can almost see it the way mourinho barked that signal that brought them off here's the option now being discussed mccarter to mourinho marv levy meanwhile buffalo sideline and one of the more famous countenances in american sport could be on mount rushmore meanwhile as they sorted out the teams come back up the field it's the end of the quarter number 76 defense was offside the penalty will be assessed after the change of the quarter the offense had the option of having an untimed down at this end of the field they chose to have the penalty enforced at the other end to start the second quarter it'll be second down all right it'll be second and eight at the 12. when we start the second quarter back after this message in a word from and we start the second quarter in miami buffalo ahead seven to nothing miami now has not scored a touchdown against the buffalo defense in nine quarters but they're getting close here as we start the second period they are at the buffalo 12 yard line that is second down eight and now this is the point in the field where recently dan marino's had a couple misfires throwing some interceptions in the end zone and mourinho throws underneath it's caught by davenport he gets pushed back from the nine yard line by daryl talley the aggressive linebacker and his sixth year out of west virginia and davin davenport's beefing a little bit about there about some piling on he thought it'll be third and fourth oh we'll get into that later not necessarily look at mourinho split out third down and four and that's jensen the quarterback flipping it to hampton on a bizarre play taking it to the five yard line oh he said jensen lines up everywhere including quarterback out of the very back of the playbook that one comes he's worked his quarterback over the years hasn't been there this year but he came up as a quarterback and turned into a player that plays about five different positions the crowd loves this it's just the old option down the line you're not going to do this with mourinho jensen takes it down the line pitches it out yeah but unfortunately this makes a blocker out there out of dan marino i don't think he did very much but meanwhile al this brings up a fourth and short it does all that razzle dazzle it's still fourth and one and now out of a tight formation with mourinho back in his more conventional role handing the ball to bennett but he is stopped at the five-yard line woody bennett can't pick up the first down cornelius bennett no relation buffalo held makes a stop and miami still can't put it into the end zone against the bill i'll tell you that may make the highlight reel but i think when you get down here you have to go with what has brought you down here they come up short on the fourth down call woody bennett short by about a yard sedan mourinho going over that fourth down call with don schulip they come up empty do the dolphins bills take over from the five yard line and rob riddick goes through the middle gives them some breathing room takes it out to the 11. when the dolphins didn't convert i want you to look at this guy right here art still working against ronnie lee the right tackle look how he collapses him inside and then makes the tackle himself art still the former chief comes off the ball collapses number 72 ronnie lee and then on his knees gets in on the tackle of woody bennett that is just single-handedly a superb play by this two-time pro bowler aren't still he might work time pro he might have been the last addition that made this defense gel man who wore out his welcome in kansas city in a new home in buffalo mueller to the outside and he takes lankford with him for another couple of yards after he picks up the first down rob riddick led the way with a beautiful block and a first down out at the 21-yard line i still have to go back to that option play miami takes the ball right down the field they have everything working for them they get down and then on a third down come in with an option play with jensen at quarterback and mourinho really a blocker at the point of attack well you know there's been a lot of talk here in miami about the play calling and the play selection we may see a situation there where everyone may deny that they called that play from the 21-yard line first and ten buffalo that's mueller going in motion and riddick is the ball carrier and rick dropped the ball but after his knee was down he picks up five takes it out to the 26-yard line and it's second down well a little respite tonight but tomorrow night back we come with part two horn remembrance and it is the most riveting thing that i have seen in years riddick out to the 29-yard line stopped by lifford hobley what does it go on for some 30 hours all told 18 hours over the next two weeks so be with us tomorrow night eight eastern seven central third down and two coming up buffalo at the 29 yard line 11 minutes to play in the half bills on top seven to nothing jim kelly comes up out of the shotgun protection it's his man andre reed a first down and a lot more and reed goes out of bounds a flag was dropped at the 48-yard line indicating he had gone out of bounds at that point pushed out by paul lankford and again the miami dolphins who came with five people couldn't get anywhere near jim kelly andre reed caught eight passes in the first game the first 9-6 win of buffalo over miami and just a simple crossing pattern kelly with all the time as reed comes all across the all the way across the river will be picked up and then he just turns it on and runs away from paul lankford and he does not go out of bounds until he gets down inside the 45-yard line [Applause] it takes a lot of time to run a crossing pattern and kelly had it provided courtesy of his offensive line goodyear blimp enterprise from pompano beach piloted by jim maloney looking down into joe robbie stadium buffalo with a first down at the 43 of the miami dolphins after a 28-yard pickup reed and chris burkett both foot to the right again burkett has not played in four weeks that's he at the top of the screen [Applause] he's been out with a knee injury as kelly throws and it's caught by reed and reed fights his way for a first down to the 33-yard line an emerging star andre reid in his fourth year at a touchdown state what a beautiful move he made kelly first of all with the half back blitz coming right in his face was able to get the ball to him some way it was william judson coming in and here is reed now watch the move he'll put on jarvis williams williams a good tackler the rookie out of florida just slips right under the arm and keeps his balance and gets the first down but great effort by kelly just to get that off first and ten buffalo at the 33. phil's on top seven to nothing it's dropped by harmon second down [Applause] that time a rollout by the bills and jim kelly just seems to have all the room that he wants to work behind that offensive line that's really controlling the line of scrimmage and that's a perfectly catchable ball that that harmon just doesn't handle and look how quickly this has turned around from the dolphins and their inability to convert inside the buffalo 10 yard line here they are now down inside their own 35 having to defend on second and ten kelly to the air again going deep and too deep intended for trumaine johnson and it will be third down and ten by the way mentioned andre reid at a cuts down state before you start writing in it's touchdown university don't i know it yeah remember remember how we talked last time about where kutztown university was located in pennsylvania because i got a nice little pamphlet from their athletic department postage stu was 23. we appreciated the publicity but in case you were wondering exactly where we are here it is put us in the right state yeah it was nice to get some nice men third down and ten at the 33. kelly from the gun throws to the far side and the catch is made at the 21-yard line by chris burkett and the man who's been hurt the man who was not on injured reserve that he could have been he's missed four weeks and finally he comes back tonight but how about kelly once again he stayed in there he is so confident but more than that he's one of the gutsiest guys you're going to find here is burkett making the move gets to the sideline against rodney thomas but meanwhile kelly knows he is going to get popped by kumaro kumaro loops all the way around the middle frank and comes up and has a clean shot at kelly one of the few times that miami has really pressured kelly that's metal toughness squared this drive started back at the five yard line reddick goes nowhere on a first down play 8 45 to go in the half buffalo on top seven to nothing don schuler and as frank mentioned at the top a vitally important game for this team they're thinking about a wild card possibility buffalo would have to totally collapse not to win the afc east and the dolphins and several other teams in contention for the wild card spots at the moment [Applause] john talking to tom olivadi as defensive coordinator trying to come up with a little magic here second to nine from the 20. and a little magic is almost the best interference but there's no flag we'll call that sleight of hand clifford hobley grabbing on to ronnie harmon and levy wants to know where the flag is they could just as well have dropped one if they wanted to again a good read by kelly as it was ronnie harmon who was flanked out to the right now he's going to get single coverage keep in mind he's a back put out of the flanker and could have called it certainly in the area that could have drawn a flag yeah i guess so looked like a long way into the area where it could have thrown a flag third down in nine now with trumaine johnson and reed split to the left briquette and harmon to the right out of the shotgun kelly with a deep drop riddick is wide open and ridic drops the football but recovers it at the 13-yard line and that fumble may have cost him a first down they had to get to the 11 and a half and that fumble bouncing backwards may be the difference right now between a first down and a fourth down i think your call al is right on he did have the first down again it's just nothing simple riddick just floats out of the backfield he's going to work first against william judson and judd said semi misses the tackle but it looks like it's the hit right up the middle bud brown jars the ball loose and that does force the bills into a field goal fourth and a yard and a half and here's scott norwood a 30-yard attempt kidd will hold at the 20. and the kick is perfect norwood having an exceptional season so a long drive for the bills culminates with a field goal 709 to go on the half it's 10 nothing buffalo bill's franchise one man foremost in your mind he was the first to rush for over 2 000 yards in a single season he led the nfl in rushing four times a member of the pro football hall of fame the juice o.j simpson my understanding frank oj is becoming a golf pro these days and i know he's avoiding me in tennis i see him one more time on that run he's avoiding you in tennis because he's afraid if you beat him it'll end up in the paper and you know that okay award winner we may have another one determined on that ucla game coming up on saturday rodney pete and troy aikman will be involved winner to the rose bowl and as frank fit maybe the heisman at stake as well who's in the rose bowl yeah right right at the 1-yard line joe cribbs 20 and bang down at the 25-yard line the hit made by butch roll and uh on the subject of college football we also have a flag down and we'll tell you about that in a moment michigan on the edge is the fight for play-off first you have to admit it's not a bad saturday afternoon worth of football huh a great one coming up that time of year meanwhile the penalty on the kickoff was against miami negating much of the run back and putting the ball back to the nine yard line where they start this drive down by a score of 10 to nothing first and ten there's lorenzo hampton nice spin move and about a nine and a half yard pickup mark kelso and nate odoms converge on the tackle what appears to be just a little bit short of the first down that was made possible big block on the left side by john giesler who's been having to spend part of his afternoon working against bruce smith but watch keisler number 79 at the left he's working against daryl talley the outside linebacker drives him all the way to the outside and hampton read that and then breaks a tackle spins and this is a kind of an effort sometimes by a running back we saw that time by hampton it sometimes can spark a team get them going a little bit the dolphins look like they're on the verge of falling asleep second in inches and mourinho will take what amounts to a free play and throw it and completes it to duper for a first down out of the 31-yard line duper's numbers are decent this year but he's really not having a mark duper-like season clayton's having a terrific year but not so for duper and he's shaken up as well here frank isn't it refreshing to see a quarterback go to the air on second in the foot i mean i get tired of seeing teams run it that time dan marino takes the opportunity to work outside to duper and look how open he is everyone playing the run and of course they have that much confidence in their offense their pass offense is just like their runoff is here in miami and they have a lot of confidence so mourinho's not going to hurt them with him michaels frank gifford and dan dierdorff as the miami dolphins have the ball at their own 31-yard line moving against this incredibly tough buffalo defense and that's the only way to describe it they've not given up a touchdown in almost two and a half games over the last two and a half weeks and in fact two and a half games against miami going back to last year as well from the 31-yard line hampton for a gain of five as he takes it out to the 36. they also come in tonight with 35 sacks on the year now that's one more than they had in all of last season and again i think a lot of it is art stills acquisition he just made he was the final nail in a real solid defense now that really indicates what they've done in passing yardage it's the first time in 11 years an nfl team has held its opponents below 75 yards passing in each of three consecutive games they shut the packers out last week they gave up just a field goal to the seahawks and the week before only 47 yards to flutie on second and five over the middle woody bennett makes the catch he doesn't do that very well and a first down out to the 48-yard line so they go to woody bennett who makes only his second catch of the season one thing about that graphic though we just put up if you're going to post those kind of numbers you might as well do it against seattle and against green bay and against new england teams that really don't have much of a passing attack i think we're seeing some good offensive mix here by the dolphins hampton has been effective running the football and now they mix it up going on a play action to woody bennett out of the backfield and dan marino right now seems to have his offensive team into a pretty good tempo and he's over a hundred yards 101 to be exact from the 48-yard line it's first and ten as the bills jump and the play is dead before the snap well that harry galbraith the right guard moved for miami that'll end up going against the dolphins i believe is a rookie yeah out of tennessee number eight draft choice this year dolphins with a good draft they've kept nine of their draftees all start number 62 offense five yard penalty it is still the first time when you keep nine it's either a good draft or you're looking to clean house one or the other you know you saw one of the bills move in the middle and i think that that was bruce smith and dan marino drew him offsides what happens though sometimes when the quarterback is that proficient at making that hard count he gets his own guy and harry galbraith that time moved exactly the same time bruce smith did dan marino in essence scared his own lineman first and 15 now from the 43. buffalo leading 10 nothing 351 to play in the half jensen in motion and on first and 15 jensen makes the catch takes it into buffalo territory gets it to the 48-yard line he's tackled by ray bentley jim crash jensen who before the game with the jets here about a month ago prior to the start of the game went up to maria reed one of the miami dolphins cheerleaders proposed gave her an engagement ring and what could she do i mean he was down on what one knee pad when he asked her if she'd get married and she said of course at his career game last week with those 12 receptions and you saw middle and picked up good yardage he did a lot of things he's almost like a tight end the guy's 6'4 220. pretty doggone big wide receiver second and six and through the middle goes ron davenport to the 38-yard line for a first down with under three minutes now to go in the half you know the dolphin offensive line has felt a little victimized they get a lot of publicity for their ability to protect the quarterback dan marino but these guys feel that they can run block two the dolphins have only been averaging 73 yards a game rushing i mean that's just pathetic but these guys say it's only because the coaching staff won't call the running plays we can block the run and they certainly are on this drive and believe me an offensive lineman would much rather block for the run than half the pass protect first and 10 from the 37 yard line out of the shotgun mourinho throws over the middle a flag goes down the catch is made at the 20-yard line by mark clayton but we'll see about the flag back at the 36. [Applause] and it's against the defense against buffalo now mccarter wants to know was the catch made at the 20 the answer is yes and that's where the ball will be put number 29 on the defense the penalty is declined first down derrick burrows with the hole but that's academic as they take the play and a first down of the 20. and you know we've talked about leonard smith and how he will he'll put the stamp on you that time mark clayton down on the ground and leonard smith comes flying in you know you're eligible in professional football to get back up and run again watch this shot that leonard smith is going to go ahead and put on clayton right there clayton can get back up whap right on the helmet in comes leonard smith you might say that's a cheap shot but clayton is eligible to get back up and run and we've come to the two-minute warning miami has all three of its time-outs remaining they're at the buffalo 20 bill's on top 10 to nothing back in the 70s miami won all 20 games during that decade against buffalo but now here are the bills seeking their fourth in a row against miami and miami looking good they're able to move the ball on the ground i think that's the surprising thing we've seen yep it's really very simple guys good drafting good trades moving it on the ground and moving it against the defense but still they are scoreless here with two minutes to go first and 10 from the 20-yard line and lorenzo hampton gets taken down and there's a flag as seals with a three-point takedown and a penalty as well well it's it's the age-old story if you're going to drive a guy into the ground and i think this is the joe turkey jones terry bradshaw rule personal foul unnecessary office 96 on the defense he slammed him down he'll go half the distance from this spot and that's all there is to it the whistle is blowing if you're going to take a man to the turf drag him to the turf don't pick him up and corkscrew him into the ground and that's what leon seals does right here watch the pickup and then into the ground referee gordon mccarter is saying i've been blowing the whistle for three or four seconds before this happens and he almost got involved in it yeah he almost got his legs caught underneath there no wonder he threw the flag took him down as if he were a bottle of chardonnay here it is took down like a bottle of chardonnay as if he were right write down the answer to that and pass it over yeah you'll see the question on jeopardy first and goal from the nine out of the shotgun [Applause] moreno and it's dropped at the six yard line by lorenzo hampton as he came out of the backfield it'll be second and goal hampton almost had to catch that out of self-defense mourinho really zipped it in there dan had completed his last six prior to that drop he's nine of 12 overall in the game and again keep in mind miami has not scored a touchdown against buffalo since their first meeting last year they were shut out in meeting two this year they were held to two field goals in orchard park and there it is 153 minutes or almost ten quarters out of the shotgun on second down mourinho has it tipped incomplete and the flag is thrown in the end zone that's cornelius bennett who is back in the end zone he's certainly showing the frustration working against farrell edmonds the big rookie tied in and you're not kidding when you say big six six 250 pounds that's farrell edmonds number 55 defense half the distance from the nine yard line automatic first down now keep in mind that's the difference there defensive holding it's different from interference if that's interference the ball would have been at the one yard line but it's a five yard penalty in this situation it'll be half the distance to the goal line but brings with it an automatic first down this just means now that the miami dolphins are now in option territory there's bennett in the lower right-hand part of your screen you can't see from that angle all right there was no hold evident in that replay one can only assume that the holding occurred somewhere farther up field was it there from the four mourinho throwing to the outside the cash is made touchdown mark clayton and finally the tree vereth fruit reyna just grilled that in clayton was covered as well as you can cover anyone down near the goal line we have a do we have a flag down i can't see one anywhere the officials are sure acting like there's a flag but that's the empire leo miles guys i can't see a flag oh yes there is right on the goal line now we are going to pick up the flag number 61 an internal lineman established his contact on the line of scrimmage and sustained his contact downfield that is perfectly legal no foul the flag was dropped for roy foster being down field the lineman but it was determined that he was in contact with the man he was blocking no foul if you you know if you can start with a guy you have a one-yard leeway and if you can stay with him here's foster right here working against bruce smith and he stays with him and goes far enough downfield and mark clayton gets it in there he takes burrows into the end zone with him tony franklin to attempt the extra point ron jaworski the holder and they mess up the extra point attempt down by four snap was so high that there was no chance for jaworski to get it down jaworski did a great job i think frank just in handling the ball jeff dillon back is the snapper watch this not that you're going to turn it into anything but pretty fancy footwork and hand work on the part of jaworski thus it's 10-6 miami scoring drive as they march 91 yards clayton makes the catch off the mourino pass for the touchdown but the high snap costs from the extra point and tony franklin kicks off now to buffalo at the one-yard line flip johnson pursued to the outside and taken down at the 15 and chasing him down was tony virginic bills have all of their timeouts remaining they lead by four points with a minute 30 to play in the first half coming up at halftime we're going to take a close-up look at bruce smith we've been following him throughout the first half the big defensive all-pro end for buffalo also we'll be talking with troy aikman ucla heisman trophy cannabis bill's come up out of the shotgun from the 15 and they start with a shovel pass to riddick and reddick gains only a couple it's now second down and eight so now if you're the bills do you go to your hurry up offense or do you run the clock on and they go without a huddle which fairly well answers that question at least for the moment on second down and eight the catch is made up at the 20-yard line by harmon and he fights forward close to the 25 and very close to a first down stopped by judson and we have an official's timeout for a measurement and now a timeout charge to buffalo and we'll have a measurement as well and that'll stop the clock with 59 seconds when harmon first caught that ball it looked like he was going to make his move towards the sidelines and attempt to get out of bounds but instead he stayed in bounds and didn't quite get the first down but when he first caught the ball i thought he was going to make his break right there to the sideline but instead he stays in bounds and this was really after the fact that was a good job by william judson of grabbing hold of harmon but actually he had the decision about another three or four yards back up field they bring the sticks out and it is a first down a first down of the 25 yard line 59 seconds to play in the half bills have two timeouts left you know if the officials had the clock had to stop the clock there for the measurement i wonder why buffalo went ahead and called the timeout the clock was going to stop anyway it was certainly close enough for the measurement and measure they did i i think buffalo wasted a timeout and it would have stopped momentarily well long enough to bring the chains all the way up sure that takes a good 30 45 seconds at the 25 yard line kelly for briquette and he makes the catch at the 48-yard line a great catch he stays in bounds so the clock keeps rolling jarvis williams makes the tackle hurry up offense they've called the next play already but dan made a good point they may have squandered a time out unnecessarily and what a throw here by jim kelly burkett back from having missed four weeks with the bad knees now kelly hits carmen harmon tries to get out of bounds and does at the 47-yard line that stops the clock with 29 seconds william judson covering on the play and keep in mind the bills have a very good place kicker and scott norwood his best of the year 49 yards his career best is 49 yards yeah he's he's the kind of a guy that's deadly from 40 on in there's a look at norwood but he's not a big kicker no he's not the strong legged guy that might remind you of a nick lowry or someone like that somebody that might dent the scoreboard from 53 54 55 yards norwood's not going to give it to you from there second and five from the 47. kelly and riddick had fallen down he was covered by the outside linebacker rick graf but he went down on the grass and it's third down and five with 24 seconds left in the half actually graf and riddick kind of collided inadvertently and i they tangled their feet up and riddick was the guy who went down kelly just makes his reaction off when he expects riddick to break goes and throws the football in a timing pattern all the way and has no idea that when the ball gets there riddick's flat on the ground third and five buffalo at the miami 47 24 seconds to play in the half kelly stepping up and he's going to run for the first down he has to get to the 42 and he gets to the 36-yard line and out of bounds he goes with 15 seconds so at the 36 they are looking at this point at a 53-yard field goal they'll want to get it closer but the best of all worlds for jim kelly had a big open field he likes to scramble he sort of slowed that down under the what you call a very conservative offense of this man marv levy who studied under george allen as you can recall his conservative offenses but kelly not only gets the first down but he gets out of bounds tops the clock and the key here is that buffalo has enough timeouts remaining that they can work the entire field they're not limited to some sort of a sideline pattern they can run something across the middle plenty of time to stop the clock maybe something for about 10 yards to really get them in range and kelly looking for that kind of a pass it's andre reed and he goes out of bounds at the 26 yard line so now you're looking at roughly a 43-yard field goal and they send in norwood with eight seconds and he has been very hot as we mentioned before 24-27 but again andre reed coming all the way across the field and i'll give you an idea how much time kelly has we talked about it earlier with reed coming from the left side all the way across kelly's standing back there waiting waiting until he uncovers and delivers he's made 11 straight including one tonight the ball will be set down at the 34. it's a 44-yard attempt kid to hold and norwich pick is low and partially blocked and no good but we've got a flag down there was a flag thrown right on the sideline right at the snap of the football the flag came in from the head linesman and it's against miami so what a break for buffalo and there are two seconds on the clock tee it up again if the time would have expired it wouldn't have mattered you can't end the period on a defensive foul so that was not even a question they may have lined up offsides number 82 here he is right here right at the bottom of the screen lined up offsides boy what a mistake to be in the neutral zone what a boner for don you don't see that often [Applause] i think he said 82 that would be james pruitt the already much maligned wide receiver now a 39 yard he better block it if he can here he comes again he's almost jumping offside again and this kick is no good so he had two chances and his second is his first miss under 40 yards this season and he missed hits that ball as well al because even though that was a semi-short field goal it barely made it it barely even had enough distance so norwood misfires on two consecutive attempts and shula and the dolphins head to the dressing room trailing by four at the half buffalo on top by a score of 10-6 and will return to joe robbie stadium after this message from the national football league and a word from your local station coming up back at joe robbie stadium in miami the buffalo bills leading the miami dolphins 10 to six buffalo coming into tonight with the best record in pro football and nine and one record across the dolphins at five and five in the dolphins playing the bills very tough we've talked a lot throughout the first half about bruce smith the pro bowl right defensive end for the buffalo bills we have watched him tonight and he has performed once again in pro bowl fashion but it's been an up and down season for bruce smith as we watch him here in the first half four 285 pounds incredible quickness incredible speed so bruce smith a major factor for the bills and they're a resurgence he's had an up and down season as i've mentioned he had a drug suspension and this past week lynn swann caught up with him at his home in norfolk virginia bruce smith grew up the youngest of three children a pudgy little boy who was 30 pounds over the limit to play youth football he was the fat kid that everybody teased i had a lot of instances where i would come home crying or things of that nature and it just built up inside of me and it compelled me to to be the best that i could be when the fat kid grew up he became a standout athlete in every sport he tried earning high school leathers and four varsity sports [Music] he played his college ball at virginia tech despite the school's low profile bruce was the top pro prospect in the country on draft day 1985. first choice first round belongs to buffalo bills buffalo selects defensive end bruce smith [Music] by his fourth season with buffalo bruce was one of the most feared defensive hands in the league and a pro bowl mvp he had resoundingly answered the taunting kids of his childhood bruce smith had come a long way but then he faltered [Music] smith tested positive for substance abuse and was suspended for 30 days at the beginning of this season it was a difficult time for me and most importantly i'd like to apologize to my family my friends i have made a mistake and i paid the penalty for it but there's one thing that i want to leave with everyone that brings that point in mind is a diamond was once a piece of coal that did well under pressure it is the 11th week of the season and bruce smith has come home to norfolk his mother annie has made a special dinner the kind that made her son chubby as a boy but the real reason he's come home is because his father is ill he's had three heart attacks and he also has a pacemaker in his heart and i just want to be there if something happens and he just means so much to me as well as my mother and the rest of my family [Music] bruce has filled his parents lives with the things they never could have afforded themselves a beautiful house an expensive car and a fishing boat that symbolizes the closeness between father and son [Music] from the time that bruce was a child the two would spend weekends fishing on a smaller 14-foot boat even then george smith could tell that his son had special talent [Music] i noticed that he was better than the other kids but becoming the athlete that he is today i had no dreams but believe me i guess i'm one of the proudest fathers in the world always george and annie's baby boy bruce smith carries his family in his heart wherever he goes [Music] we talked about earlier this evening george's father doing fine he's watching this evening tammy all michael's frank gifford and dan deardorff as we strike the second half the buffalo bills coming in with the best record in the national football league a mark of nine and one and the miami dolphins fighting to stay alive stay in playoff contention their record five and five bills took the opening kickoff all the way down the field for a touchdown added a field goal miami with a late touchdown with a high snap on the extra point and it's 10-6 with cribs back deep and bud brown with him to receive the second half kickoff scott norwood will put the ball in the air for buffalo norwood who ended the first half by missing an easy field goal angles the kickoff to the far side and out of bounds it goes and so it'll come out to the 35-yard line the receiving team and mourinho will lead them from the 35 as this abc sports exclusive is being brought to you by megalop one taste we'll tell you why the night belongs to mecca lobe by nissan makers of the pathfinder the vehicle that can take you anywhere in comfort and style and by u.s sprint america's first and only nationwide 100 digital fiber optic phone company miami starts with a shotgun a very high snap and the inside hand off to davenport and he is taken down by tally first and then bruce smith second after a loss of one the great save immediately by mourinho that could have gone to the end zone take a look at the first half numbers we see that buffalo has the advantage in just about everything and turnover free first half buffalo with a 10-6 lead and interesting that miami opened up on the on a first down in the shotgun and now in second and long goes back to regular second and 11. great protection jim jensen makes the catch and he has a first down out of the 49-yard line jim crash jensen i think that's a good look at miami attempting to confuse the buffalo bills defensively by going to the shotgun on first down go to the conventional formation the quarterback under center on on second down and certainly nothing unusual about this this is something the dolphins have been doing with great regularity just running a simple underneath out of the backfield pattern to jim jensen and for some reason frank week after week he's wide open and you saw a good shot of number 56 daryl talley coming as the fourth rush man jensen slipped right into where he had been gets the completion from the 49-yard line over the middle the tight end is edmonds and he has a first down at the 45-yard line number 80 farrell edmonds the rookie out of maryland who had a 20-yard touchdown reception last week against new england frank remember when we were here in the pre-season and we saw edmunds take a pass on a long touchdown run and both of us were really amazed at what kind of speed this guy has 71 yards there's another six yard reception and turned it into a 71-yard touchdown keep an eye out for the name of beryl edmonds this guy could develop into one of the games great tight ends got him in the third round also second down four miami at the buffalo 45 and mourinho after coming up under center back in the gun steps up in the pocket fires over the middle and there's a complete and a flag goes down edmonds was well leonard smith thinks this is going to be offensive yeah he would interfere in play and i think that's what it's going to be house interference number 80 offense and that's evans you told us to remember the name feral edmonds and mccarter does he just trampled leonard smith to strong safety smith just positioned himself in front of him a good old pro that he is and charles edmonds well he thought that was a good thing to do so they go from second and four to second and fourteen now take a look at it it's man for man on the part of leonard smith against feral edmonds hook is lined up in front of him set himself up and as edmonds came out of the break he gave smith a tremendous shot second and 14 from the dolphin 45. a little dump off and the catch made by hampton and he's buried out at the 49-yard line they're back to about the original line of scrimmage it'll be third and ten and again mourinho gets off a pass without a sack the dolphins came into the game without being sacked in six consecutive games a look at smith putting the pressure on here it's not through lack of effort by bruce smith and his folks up front their entire defensive philosophy penetrate penetrate penetrate disrupt the flow run into a pulling guard make a back go deeper on his route that's the entire philosophy of the bill's defense make the game be played at least two yards in your opponent's backfield third and ten out of the shotgun from the 49-yard line clayton comes in motion and mourinho looking for clayton and too deep and nearly intercepted smith was back there double coverage it'll be fourth and ten and on comes the punting unit smith and kirby jackson had him doubled interesting that the receiver there were two receivers in the pattern and mourinho picked the one that drew the double coverage blitz was on two linebackers coming and clayton now draws the double coverage almost picked off and that's leonard smith coming across making a play on the ball reflecting a change in philosophy by the bills they like smith back there playing center field who plays that much better than actually having to play man-to-man coverage on someone on fourth and ten reggie roby good eye kick and the dolphins they touch it outside the goal line and deep in renee thompson great play all effort that's all effort giving up your body he towed for that ball kept it in the field of play great effort he initially tries to catch the ball the ball goes through his hands and then in an attempt to save it he leaves the ground and bats it back before it breaks the plane superb play [Applause] those are my surprises quasi superb play because one official has overruled the other while we were away instead of it being down at the one the ruling is the punt did cross the plain of the goal line but now they're reviewing it as well upstairs and they had brought the ball out to the 20 but they are looking at what you are looking at now to determine whether or not the ball crossed the plane of the goal line for a touchback thompson almost caught the ball and you saw the effort great effort we talked about the diving attempt by thompson to keep it in the field of play now the conference amongst the officials chuck eberling is the replay official you saw him in the booth [Applause] the disagreement was between the two officials who were right on top of the play one of them ran in and put his foot down and actually marked the ball at the one foot line and then the second official on the scene confers and they overrule it but now it's upstairs i don't well the play stanzas it is first down on the 20. one official thought that it did not cross the plane the other did he overrules that official and replay won't change the ruling is what it amounts to you can see the field judge comes in as if it was not a touchback well there's still a nine nine effort style points and so it comes out to the 20. it's a touch back and from the 20-yard line harmon with a straight arm on hobbly and a four-yard pickup out to the 24. 11 20 to play third quarter 10-6 buffalo this is obviously a bigger game for miami because they're right on the edge of falling out of playoff contention but it's also a very big game for buffalo they would have to totally collapse not to win the afc east but more importantly they'd have a two-game lead on cincinnati in the conference what does that mean well at the very end of course it would mean ultimate whole field advantage through the afc playoffs from the 24-yard line carmen and he has stopped after a loss of one at the 23. [Music] field advantage in the in the playhouse that is a huge home field advantage in buffalo in january that's called home field rink what you talking about what about a home field advantage in november the bills were talking to us last night about the problems they had just practicing this week up in buffalo they had to deal with 60 mile an hour winds it toppled a light standard at their practice facility and they told everyone who had their cars on the upper deck of the parking garage to move them off the upper deck because the wind was so bad hey that's early november it's autumn third and sixth in the shotgun kelly flushed out looking for the first down and he pays the price after the first down is made and a flag goes down he's hurt jarvis williams who has a reputation as a very hard hitter with a very hard and late hit here the rookie out of florida and jim kelly had declared himself i'll be anxious to see this from the end zone to see how far out of bounds he was not going to matter we've seen this all year long and jarvis williams the rookie from florida does have a reputation as a hitter i think it's a little bit confused i think he probably could have got away with this in florida but not the way they're calling into the nfl well you know how far out of bounds is jim kelly i mean williams is looking right at kelly look him work the sideline he's still in bounds still in bounds i've seen a lot worse i i know that that's a quarterback and he's obviously made his decision to step out of bounds but that i wouldn't call that a flagrant cheap shot and williams is not looking at that sideline either i mean i think the officials i think officials are correct in throwing the flag and williams shouldn't have done it but we've all seen worse from the he's fumbo ryan he has it rick grass recovers the fumble at midfield jim kelly was trying to get the ball to jamie mueller the fullback and there's a flag from the line judge frustration on the part of mueller he was in the grasp of jackie klein trying to get to the football was lying about a yard away from him and he just couldn't do it conference continues kelly was a long way away from mueller when he tried to get him the football somebody's path was incorrect holding number 98 defense during the fumble you tackle a man with not letting his opportunity to recover the football five yard penalty automatic first round flying tackles mueller that's exactly what the ruling is oh man the frustration i was talking about and then he holds him as he tries to go for the ball now watches mueller never did control the ball bounces off the pad now the ball is loose oh man does not know i don't think that the ball is even free he's just holding on to it oh boy that's a tough call how does klein know the mueller doesn't have the football how do you call that that's tough oh man that's i mean hey the the name of the game is tackle the ball carrier jackie klein sees mueller coming at him since when is a defensive guy supposed to make a determination whether or not he's got the ball [Applause] first of all if klein knew the ball was laying on the field klein would have gone after the football himself that's tom oliver daddy meanwhile it's still buffalo's ball and a catch made at the 34-yard line by rob riddick a pickup of about nine double thumbs down to the officials there [Music] one more time and there was never a completion of the handoff and keep in mind we're watching slow motion from the side jackie klein sees nothing but white shirts coming at him you feel that ball carrier coming at you second down and one from the 34-yard line and mueller fights his way close to a first down so two huge breaks for buffalo on this drive instead of starting this drive inside their one they started at the 20 and instead of coughing up a fumble they get the ball back one more time again now can klein see the ball is he deliberately keeping mueller from getting to the ball no way oh no no no big stink big stink you saw a moment ago jim kelly almost laughingly said to jackie klein sorry about that we owe you one there's aliba dottie and oh he's upset i can't imagine why third down and one from the 34-yard line metzeler is in motion and the short yardage specialist leaping riddick for a first down so on this drive as we mentioned not only do they have they get to start at the 20 instead of the one not only did they keep the ball he also had a a late hit by williams well you know on that play right there the reason none of the dolphins tackled rob riddick is that they weren't sure he had the football so they're trying to make sure he has the football before they tackle it yeah that's the key to that play i think you've made your point sir nailed this sucker down well i don't think he's very good at this boy can he get up or what meanwhile buffalo has made eight of ten third down conversions another one here from the 31 now first and ten kelly to andre reed a first down and reed is taken out of bounds at the 15-yard line by william judson and a marker at the in the backfield in the offensive backfield and this is going to come back so finally on this drive a nightmarish drive for miami the dolphins get their first break illegal use of the hands jammed to the face number 73 offense 10 yard penalty repeat first round will wolford will wolford is the left tackle to see if we can get a look at what happens here's woolford clear up here at the top of the screen jam to the face that's hugh green working against him i better not say anything but it sure looked to me like his hand was in his chest that took care of the other one first and 20. from the 41. kelly catches made at the 20-yard line by crewmaine johnson and that's close to a first down it's a 20-yard pickup they spotted just inside the 21. might be close enough for a measurement we watched trumaine he also was with marv levy in the old usfl back in 1983 marv levy picked him up from san diego last year as just like he did art still a former kansas city chief when he was with kansas city well what a neat catch by johnson that time coming across the middle more often than not you're going to get stroked right in the chin by one of the safeties and epo way out in front nice touch with the hands bringing that in here those numbers reflective of the injury to chris brickette that's giving krillin johnson a chance to see a lot more action over the last three games and it's a first down here at the 20-yard line 7-34 remaining third quarter buffalo on top 10-6 i think it's time uh time for the guys to destroy shirt to lay out for a couple players let's let him play a little footballer [Applause] [Music] takes it to the 10. again if you tuned in late thurman thomas injured he's been there featured running back this year thus we've seen a lot of harmon and riddick tonight with thurman thomas on the inactive list and again no marquee back in this buffalo running game but this running game has held them in good stead all season long harmon just doing what he did a year ago good runner good receiver and when thurman thomas came in the rookie second round pick from oklahoma ronnie harmon had just taken his roll and he's getting a chance to really show tonight with thomas injured first and ten just outside the 10. riddick swings to the outside and ridicu has a nose for the end zone is stopped at the three yard line he is their short yardage specialist they love to to give him the football when they get down deep into enemy territory riddick this season has rushed for six touchdowns received one as well and run back a fumble for a score big day last week when sherman thomas went out they brought in rob riddick and he went for 75 yards on 18 carriage had not played that much other than short yardage how about those two names that he's chasing there cookie gilchrist and o.j simpson not a bad pair of 32s second and three from just outside the three and the first carry of the night for carl byrum as they try to cross them up and he gets inside the one he's a good blocking fullback out of mississippi valley state carry number one for him that's a large leading the way i believe they can get a first down without a touchdown but just barely the ball is inside the one it'll be third down metzelers weighs 250 pounds number 86 foot seven and he's leading byrom all the way very close to getting it in moving the ball over to be exactly on the hash mark in situations like this more often than not the buffalo bills go to air riddick ayarinik is number 40. and he follows byram gets hit but he's in john offroad was the man who hit him but he only needed a few inches and in he goes so his seventh rushing touchdown and he's in the book along with simpson and gilchrist well you can't blame john offerdahl his job is to get over the top of the line of scrimmage and make contact with the ball carrier on their side of the goal line offered all did it but this ought to give us a good look watch alfred i'll come over the top he smacks riddick but really john gets no help whatsoever riddick is able to slide off and then fall into the end zone he was anticipating the lead by riddick and riddick kept it on the ground half the gang tackle on the goal line that time it was john offerdahl all by himself a big break keeps the drive alive and lovable capitalizes by going 80 yards it holds norway's extra point is good and the bills go down the field and with 5 33 to play in the third quarter in miami buffalo now leads the dolphins 17-6 33 seconds to play in the third quarter the buffalo bills on top 17-6 and back to receive bud brown is number 43 but the guy they want to get the ball to at least miami is joe cribbs number 20. you know norwood doesn't get much distance on his kickoffs look what the bills have resorted to actually having to hold the ball and an angle back there so he can get at least a lot of height on it good look at it there the t won't hold it with the ball laying back that far so one of the bills has to hold it for norwood sherman kochraf kick comes down to the six crib and former bill takes it back out to the 27 yard line and throws an elbow into the stomach of foot's hole [Applause] yes there's an aside to that dan too when you have a holder there norwood is considered taken out of the coverage so is the holder so you really come up with a little bit of a sacrifice when you use all the kickoff we'll be back from the goodyear blimp hovering high above joe robbie stadium in miami where the dolphins have the ball at their own 27-yard line now down by 11 and facing a most formidable defense buffalo right up there with chicago in the very elite defensively in the national football league mourinho from the 27-yard line has time and it has an intercepted at the 48-yard line picked off by cornelius bennett and bennett takes it all the way inside the 20 to the 16. cornelius bennett he can blitz you he can tackle you he can also cover back pedal and cover and picks off mourinho's pass and he can run like a halfback mourinho threw the ball well he just did not factor in the great speed of cornelius bennett he literally can move like a half back well big man 6-2-2-35 and he runs like a halfback somebody has to tell me why dan marino threw the ball i mean he threw right into double coverage cornelius bennett is i don't even know how mourinho could see edmonds it appeared that bennett was between edmonds and moreno the whole time dan marino still felt that he could force that ball in there and it backfired we talked at the top about how inconsistent and erratic mourinho has been this year a lot of good plays and a lot of bad plays and that one obviously in the latter category is harmon picks up about two taking it to the 16. the interception was the second of the season for cornelius bennett the 15th interception thrown by mourinho to equal his well he now has 16 touchdown pass he's counting the one tonight well every offensive team runs upon some hard times and when that happens you need your defense to get your bacon out of the fire and that's where the dolphins are right now the miami defense somehow someway has to jar the ball loose turn it over force a field goal that's missed whatever harmon second and seven [Applause] stays in bounds and stays in bounds to the point he's close to a first down at the eight-yard line i think this bacon is getting a little crisp man but it's about to the buffalo bills attacking the perimeter the way they're doing it they're using carl byrum very effectively as a lead blocker and look how the buffalo backs are able to string it out string it out almost all the way to the sidelines and make a cut up field and normally you'd expect that pursuit to be there to cut them off but it's not the case third in inches now at the eight and if you look at the dolphin defense they're starting to look to me like a group that's starting to get a little bit worked over and on third an inch inches buffalo takes a timeout they take their first of the half 3 48 to go third quarter 17-6 bills getting to believe in the buffalo bills and i think a lot of people are week after week as the season moves along how can you not the way they play defense and what i'm impressed with tonight the way they're handling the line of scrimmage offensively as well frank they're very close to a 10-1 there's nobody else like that bill's having third down and issues at the eight yard line of the miami dolphins on top by 11. and it's jamie mueller for a first down it'll be first and goal at the six so rick and dive and mueller can do a sort of a semi dive redux dive is about a 9-6 mueller is more like a 7-3 but it got the job done now though they really have no big name backs in there their biggest name the rookie from oklahoma state thurman thomas not even around as we look at mueller one more time but mueller a lot of power good blockers ronnie harmon can come in there and give you good running that can also give you a good receiver take a look at it at a regular speed you can see it it happens really quickly in here it's very loud that's jackie ship number 50 that came over the top for miami and made the hit but by that time mueller had way too much forward momentum and ship ended up going backwards certainly can't fault the miami defensive team for effort i mean they are being game they're right in there and they're peppering the ball carrier but physically you just get the impression that buffalo just a tad superior on first and goal from the sixth ronnie harmon takes it into the end zone with so much blocking he could start celebrating at the two thanks mainly to a block from carl byrum and that's a great way to get some ribs broken ronnie start doing a little showboating on the two yard line i mean that's that's a good way to miss a couple games bruce smith did some celebrating last week and got chop blocked later because of it that was last week in their game in seattle smith had a couple sacks early in the ball game and did his fake heart attack where he puts his fred sanford routine where he's having the big one and ron mattis took exception to that and came in and put the crunch on it and the league is still examining the shape of that incident [Applause] scott norway's extra point is good with 302 remaining in the third quarter and so after the interception by bennett kelly and the bills take it in and buffalo now leads 24-6 again mitzlars who was the lead blocker on the bill's prior touchdown the lead blocker once again take number 88 six foot seven 250 pounder just chicken blocking along the line of scrimmage but he ties up his man and that's what he's supposed to do well the folks in buffalo pretty shortly will be able to hear something they haven't heard in 22 years and that is tickets for a home playoff game will soon be on sale they have not played a home playoff game since the 1966 season the last time they played a home playoff game had they won the game against kansas city they would have gone to super bowl one but they lost it they've got some excitement going up there now and you were talking about the playoff situation home field and all of that and their duel with cincinnati well they will play cincinnati in two weeks and of course the first tiebreaker will be head and head that will fill up bridge stadium but they right now have will have a two-game advantage on cincinnati and at least two on everybody in the conference as you look at bennett who made the the interception and they'll be on the verge of clinching the afc east because they'd have a four-game lead with five weeks to go [Applause] norah was kicked into the arms of cribs from the four out to the 25 and we talked about that shot block last week on bruce smith in the seattle game the situation the situation was this this is about halfway through the second quarter of last week's game there's bruce smith on the left being fronted up by number 65 edwin bailey watch from the left there's ron mattis the left tackle who had been beaten a couple times by smith in the first quarter came in with that illegal chop block if one lineman has contact with a defensive lineman you cannot come in and hit below the waist that drew a 15 yard on sportsmanlike conduct penalty the bill sent it into the league filing a protest the league has it under advisement and won't rule until next week we're told davenport gain of two that was the type of play of course that has has ended a few careers and it is a play that 10 years ago was perfectly legal it could be done by an offensive lineman it could be done by a running back and there were so many defensive linemen getting knee injuries that the the league justifiably and rightfully so went ahead and outlawed the rule and roy foster that time there's enough that goes on in there without having that happen yeah i mean that's that's really blatant but you know that's the kind of spotlight that you're in when you're the talent and the caliber of a player like bruce smith reggie white's the only other guy that comes to mind in the same sentence with bruce smith on second and seven mourinho fires the catchers made by the tight end edmonds and kelso tackles him after edmonds barrels him over at the 46-yard line so the dolphins cross midfield and a first down with under two minutes to play in the third period kelso sort of the classic overachiever but he's turned into a fine safety man for these bills bruce smith getting double team you'll see 27 lorenzo hampton circle around and they i did they really work on smith at the line of scrimmage that's right you touched on it dan you said you had that you're that caliber player you're going to attract that kind of attention that was roy foster the left guard with both hands on smith's spaceman 26-yard pickup on the play and mourinho under pressure that time has it intercepted again kelso to the 40. and kelso to the 46-yard line he's tackled by john giesler mark kelso having a tremendous season that's his seventh interception of the year he runs the show back there 3.5 grade point average out of william and mary came up as a free agent and has taken charge at the defensive secondary area fine young man off the field also he's a traveler's man of the year for these buffalo bills for not only playing as well as he's playing outstanding football but for his work in and around the community smith getting in late there on dan marino the ball was already gone but really just a very poor pass from dan marino trying to find mark duper but the ball severely overthrown right to kelto now the bills from the 46 and ronnie harmon through the line and he crosses the 50 is tackled at the miami 47 yard line and some of the crowd begins to head for the interstate and a lot of the miami detractors fans that would rather would like to see the dolphins do better are are going to say on a play like that maybe dan marino is better off taking the sack maybe you can't throw it every down sometimes when no one is open a quarterback has to eat the football and this is where the consecutive games without a sack they're working on seven becomes a liability rather than an asset second down and two and riddick goes through the middle and picks up the first down on second effort to the 41-yard line the dolphins by the way as dan mentioned trying to go seven consecutive games without a sack six is the nfl record no team had ever gone six consecutive games without allowing a set [Music] goodyear blimp enterprise looking down into joe robbie stadium as we start the fourth quarter now michaels along with frank gifford and dan dierdorf in the buffalo bills have a first and ten at the miami 41 yard line they lead 24-6 [Applause] and harmon is moved from up above him about two as he takes it to the 39-yard line he is tackled by hugh green new green making a comeback he had a severe knee injury two years ago he's lost a little bit of his mobility a sensational player in college he was second in the heisman balloting in 1980 to george rogers played with tampa bay and now finishing up his career with miami start of that career a teammate of mourinho's pittsburgh second and eighth riddick to the outside and knocked out of bounds by hobley after colic made the initial hit and we're seeing one thing that's really benefiting the buffalo bills and that is with the type of lead they have in the afc east and the way their defense is always keeping them in a ball game they're getting an opportunity to work repeatedly on their running game they're getting a chance to work on a running game that if a lot of playoff games have to be played in buffalo in that cold weather what an asset that would be you could keep talking about a running game you've got total concentration my man thank you very much thank you very much was dan saying something that was a test from the truck and i hope i passed third down and seven from the 38 yard line andre reed hit at the 31 yard line very close to a first down hit by jarvis williams one of nine rookies on this dolphin roster and they have opted to go for defensive picks in the last three years as their top selection williams a number two pick but that tells you what miami was looking to do and they think they're on their way to to reestablishing a defense which had really gone south can we talk about the bills and maybe not having the great names because they have not had the national tv exposure over the years but they have 14 regular starters who were first or second round draft picks now that's the most of any other team in the nfl the most most any other team has would be 11. the first or second round started harmon who looked like he was looking downfield for a moment as if the pass packs it in and picks up one and is knocked back by lifford hobley it'll be second to nine i guess if this was a sports telecast on the local news this would be the news notes section but i guess one of the things we ought to touch on is the first coaching casualty today is daryl rodgers was fired as coach of the detroit lions and replaced by wayne fonts and i guess they loss to tampa bay yesterday was just more than william clay ford could uh could stomach his owner of the lions is from your home down there yeah canton ohio that loss combined with the fact that about 25 000 looked on in the vast silver dome second and nine reed on an end around and andre is stopped just short of the first down it'll be third and one as jarvis williams again is in on the tackle andre reid's having a great year he doesn't have that blazing speed but when you're watching you know right away he's got the quickness came into the night with 48 receptions one of the top receivers in the league but he can do a lot of things out there bills really don't have blazing speed to get deep but reed represents what they do have well he sure likes to play on monday night doesn't he had a big game against the chennai there at giant stadium when we had that game and then another solid performance here tonight and the bills as a team don't seem to object to playing on monday night that was the night a lot of people began to to believe the buffalo bills were for real riddick on the third and one inside the tan and down to the two yard line another big night for rob riddick who last week took over in the first quarter when thurman thomas was hurt and again with thomas inactive tonight riddick gets a chance to shine and that's exactly what he's doing i think back to that monday night game against the jets that's the night that the bill's really burned up giant stadium really literally riddick again ordinary he works inside good block kicking out the cornerback and then upperdown makes the miss and riddick is on his way and we're really seeing a i think a game but at this point demoralized dolphin defense they did their part early here's looking for another touchdown and he gets it rob riddick up among the league leaders in scoring has now put it in the end zone for the 10th time this season and only greg bell has scored more touchdowns in 1988. he has 13 belle of the rams and a former bill ironically but at least bell has done it with a lot more yardage in carrying the football ready riddick now has 10 touchdowns and and fewer than than 200 yards rushing as a as a yearly total or if he's over 200 it's barely we'll get a yearly total for him he had 167 i believe coming into tonight's ball game norwood's extra point is good well that was the 64th time he's carried the football this year and the eighth time he scored a touchdown on the ground not bad one out of eight and buffalo routing miami 31-6 hello on top 31-6 with 11 minutes and 44 seconds to play a rapidly emptying joe robbie stadium they came up about 3 000 shy of a sellout so the game is blacked out here in miami and about half the crowd has departed because the bills lead by last time buffalo appears on a monday night game they routed the jets 37-14 last month short kick crib takes it at the 11-yard line and joe brings it back out to the 26. coming up later on nightline the palestinian parliament in exile has proclaimed an independent state and for the first time is henry from the 26-yard line dan marino on first down is juggled and then dropped by troy stratford and i think bruce smith is going to get a roughing the passer al and he is yep he came into dan marino late [Applause] [Music] it's a little bit frustrating frustration for a defensive lineman who goes against mourinho because he always seems to get rid of remember the new rule you only get one step in going after the quarterback and from that other angle we got a good look that bruce smith took at least three steps before he made contact with the quarterback and that's that's just the automatic call that's all that referee is doing is standing behind the quarterback his first job priority number one protect the quarterback and that time a good call against buffalo bruce has been there all night long but just as mourinho has been releasing the ball that time he just couldn't hold it back well protecting the quarterback is something that hasn't happened a lot through the league this season the irony in this game is that you've got two premier quarterbacks and both have been healthy through the course of the year and that's news these days from the 41-yard line mourinho throws to jensen who makes the catch over the middle and takes it to the 47-yard line for a pickup of six on the subject of injuries the bills very fortunate this year they haven't had that many key injuries and they've had 16 players who've started every game this year that's an extraordinarily large number moreno nearly has it picked off again he's already had two intercepted in this half and nearly a third as wayne davis couldn't handle it let's take a guess everybody at the same time who do you think might have been in dan marino's face how about number 78 bruce smith who takes him to the ground and again dan throwing backwards got lucky that time and avoided the interception family looking on up at norfolk if you were with us at halftime you know his father has not been well but we thought with bruce earlier this evening he's doing fine and he's watching tonight he's watching his son put on quite a show on third and four from the 47. mourinho finds the open man that's freddie banks his second catch of the night is good for a first down and the flag is down at the 33-yard line this one was in the vicinity i believe a mark clayton and it looks like we may get an offensive interference [Applause] schule has seen too much of this this year and we mentioned before number 83 offense penalty from the previous spot repeat third down with the pick play a real good look a real good look at a pick here's mark clayton in the slot watch him come to the outside and pick off the bill's defense so his own man can loop in from behind this is a classic look at the pick there comes clayton to the inside picks off kirby jackson the defender and allowing freddie banks to get loose to the inside that is a no-no and a good job of the officials seeing it and then wipes out a 19-yard gain and makes it third down and 14 for miami from their own 37 10 and a half minutes to go and the pass is incomplete at the 47-yard line you have to wonder if the constant pressure by the bill defense and dan marino's face all night long isn't even affecting the way he's throwing when he's not rushed looks like dan is off balance throwing from the side just not the normal trajectory and accuracy that we expect of dan moreno and you know it's tough for this guy because of his success he's he's really forced to live up to a different set of standards than any other quarterback in its league reggie roby fielded by flip johnson who runs into his own man and then flip is taken down by edmonds and there's another penalty marker tackle made at the 18-yard line gordon mccarter has been a busy man tonight [Applause] read the lips there we're going to have a face mask call edmonds hustling down there for miami but getting the hand on the face mask wrong side gorgeous five-yard face mask committed against the runner five yards from the spot of the fall first down now he gets it straight reverse angle that's farrell edmonds and let's see does he get a hold of the face mask of flip johnson he certainly gives it a good effort gotta understand though that he can't see that that's strictly by field and that is clearly an inadvertent face mask but it does feel like a face mask yeah especially if you're flip johnson so they start now from the 24 yard line and there are the bills in the second half touchdown touchdown touchdown two of those drives starting after interceptions harmon harmon who lost 24 yards on a running play against chicago earlier this season was not looking to duplicate that feat but almost did al i want to tell you you are the most prepared play-by-play man in the visit because you start telling us a story about this before he's even down yet you are setting you are venturing into new ground almost before the handoff i'm going home man are you on top of this to add to that uh the bills had 24 yards rushing when harmon lost 24 yards and they broke even in the only game they lost 24-3 to the bears yeah let me tell you we're hurting if we're telling bear stories i'm sitting here reading a book entitled the life and times of malibu kelly hayes second and 14 from the 20-yard line as riddick you stopped for no gain that's a coloring book isn't it eric kumarow the number one draft choice of this year from ohio state gets in there and makes a good play and the bills i mean the dolphins rather are really pleased with the way he's coming on big guy six seven two sixty well the involved term these days in the draft when you pick somebody who surprises the supposed experts is a reach and he was the number one as they say reach in this year's draft [Music] third and 13 from the 19th a little shovel to riddick after the 31 and i know every time i see that play and you do too frank we think of lee grosskop oh he was the master little shovel pass where is lee wandering around tonight lee is doing what he's announcing he's announcing university of california football in the bay area a job held by marv levy a few years ago before he got back into coaching that's a good way to work it in there yeah there he is more of a phi beta kappa from co college spin around coach to kansas city went up and coached in montreal was with george allen as i mentioned earlier with the rams later the redskins very loyal man he brought ted marchu broda along with him who he met under george allen with the washington redskins did the same thing for his defensive coordinator walt corey from kansas city the bills have just let the clock run down they're going to take a five yard delay of game penalty and go ahead and punt the ball away you know we've been talking about the draft and guys like gary kumaro i guess there's an interesting statistic talking about the bills they have really done it through the draft and done it through drafting successfully 14 of their regular starters are either first or second round draft choices now that's you know you talk about a team that's supposed to be good i mean when you have that many people who are starting there were high draft choices like that i mean that's the way it's supposed to work and the bills are making the most of their draft choices and of course with guys like cornelius bennett and art still and leonard smith with other people's draft choices as well made the right trades put it all together under marv levy and they're on the verge of going 10-1 as kids pick bounces at the 40. swades lets it bounce then it rolls 15 yards from where it initially hit down to the 25-yard line a 49-yard booth 7 44 to go buffalo on top 31. six it sounds like a route but if you weren't with us at the start of the second half the score was 10-6 in favor of the bills they had the ball miami appeared to have recovered a fumble but it was ruled that mueller was being tackled on the play in an attempt to recover the fumble that kept possession for buffalo they were able to take it in for a touchdown and if there's a key play in this game tonight that's the one and what are the odds of don schuler being on the phone to art mcnally the head of the nfl officiating crews tomorrow morning bright and early art i know you're listening get in early because the first call is going to be from schula it could be a 24-hour hotline that'll be an incomplete pass there's a little shovel there it's incomplete that's a forward pass is what it amounts to jaws ron jaworski is the backup quarterback for miami cornelius bennett doing his job number one get up field and then attempting to react back to the inside and almost came up with that ball that would have been an interception if he would have somehow been able to control that but he did the next best thing just totally disrupted the play second and ten with moreno out of the shotgun from the 25. clayton makes the catch and he's after the 33-yard line short of the first down by about two big here for mark clayton what a catch it was thrown behind him put the hand out and pulled it in with one hand and the dolphins going to the hurry up offense the no huddle third and two from the 33. mourinho hits clayton and a first down clayton taken out of bounds at the 42-yard line clayton in the last year of his current contract the duper you might recall was a holdout and duper is not having a very good year in the first year of his new mega bucks deal and clayton thinking about his future negotiation and putting himself in a pretty good position right now isn't that the way it is more often than that whether the sport be football or baseball or whatever there seems to be that element of hunger that uh that drives you to the better performances when you know that it's going to have a direct relationship to what kind of a contract you get duper has only caught one touchdown pass this season which is pretty amazing when you think about the fact you're a wide receiver on a team with dan marino clayton on the other hand has caught seven [Applause] [Music] on third and 12. it's fred smirless good good piece on him in sports illustrated yet because he's he knows it 76 defense made contact still third down his brother has a masters in psychology from massachusetts and said i needed to get all of the information i could so i could understand fred here's fred right here and this will be fred back about here before this play is over with he has gone to four pro bowls but the last time he went was back in 1983 but he is playing pro bowl ball once again rejuvenated a wild and crazy guy as they say third and seven and the cash is made out of the 40-yard line by freddie banks [Applause] for a first down third catch of the night for thanks you talked about duper only having the one touchdown [Applause] [Music] mourinho threw for 359 yards last week and only got 10 points up and he lost to new england clayton taken out of bounds at the buffalo 48-yard line you know something that's interesting guys is that here in miami some of the people that call into the talk shows and some of the writers and some of the local papers are saying maybe the game has passed don shula bye and isn't it incredible that some of the most you know some of the winningest coaches in this game's history can take the heat they can take from both fans and from some of the press i mean i'm thinking of tom landry in dallas chuck noll in pittsburgh and of course this guy don schuler somebody's going to have to catch me in a rare mood to convince me that the game has passed this guy by me too the guy has one losing season in 21 years as a head coach that to me of all the achievements six super bowls he's been to is the most remarkable thing that he is in only one losing season i think the thing about don schuler that has impressed me the most is his adaptability and i'll talk about it after this play on second and eight clayton makes another catch boy he's really padding the stats on this drive that's his fourth catch of the drive and he's out of bounds with the 42 third and four you know football coaches have this stigma of inflexibility i have a system you will conform to my system or you will not play and here is a classic example of the guy that adapts the system to meet his players when he had zonka and kik in that great offensive line they ran the football ran the football ran the football he didn't have that running game but he has a quarterback named mourinho and receivers like cooper and clayton so what does he do he leads the league in passing i mean to me i think that's a tremendous compliment to a coach in his ability to read his players and mold a system around him he's done it any way he's had to third and five as mourinho has his pass dropped by clayton at the 40. it wouldn't have been a first down anyway it'll be fourth down and they'll go for it fourth and five at the 43-yard line there are the numbers again mourinho as we mentioned at the asset his number is very good 3008 yards in 11 games 16 touchdowns 57 he's had four 3 000 yard seasons now but it's been a very erratic year for mourinho and in a way tonight's game is his year in microcosm for a quarterback of mourinho's caliber to have the same number of interceptions as touchdown passes is not good a quarterback of dan's capability should have a two to one ratio touchdown passes the interception and he normally does on fourth and five [Applause] and it's picked off by shane conlon the third intercept for the buffalo bills again mourinho just trying to get rid of it and of course down 31-6 you can excuse that one spectacular catch by conlan it was maybe the best catch of the night trumaine johnson made one coming over the middle for buffalo that sticks in my mind but watch this i mean but the sidearm throw jumping up in the air and that's that's a pretty that ain't all bad guys little one-handed stab by shane cotland he'll find him with himself on the short yardage team and that's conlan's first career interception [Applause] [Music] second year out of penn state what a collection of talent on that defensive unit conlan the first round draft pick a year ago that cornelius spin it over on the other side bruce smith we've been watching all night long meanwhile the new quarterback is frank wright as kelly has done for the night after a good night and harmon who's had a good night as well funny thing about reich here's a guy who who plays very little but the most action he has seen this year was in the jets game on monday night football last month and tonight he's in with five and a half minutes to go and that proves the bills have been prime time players this year routed the jets at the meadow lands on october 17 37-14 kelly can take the rest of the night off and if i'm an afc football player the saying the road to the super bowl super bowl goes through buffalo not only seems like a possibility but a scary possibility at the same time second and eight from the 44. and you got to figure that the bills are going to be very strong because when you get on the kinds of fields you in all probability will have the kind of weather you get in the northeast late december early january you need a running game let's take a look at the remaining games there they play the jets next week at home then the game at cincinnati that's that's a big game but if they keep it up they'll have a two-game cushion going in they will after tonight's victory as well and at tampa bay raiders in buffalo and under the dome at indianapolis and we talk about that cincinnati game being a big game again you look ahead to that home field advantage situation in a possible afc title game think nbc would let us do the game on monday night third and fourth riddick [Music] [Applause] i think with this kind of lead probably could have saved a little wear and tear on the body by taking it out of bounds well the only loss and uh that picture says it all mourinho anguish well semi anguish you're at the point and the other guy's celebrating on the right [Applause] one of the the unsung buffalo heroes those who are now coming in to the public as the bills get more exposure and rightfully so and their regions on sunday afternoon i'm sure will begin to expand shortly as well as nbc and cbs make up their respective maps second down and seven from the 36-yard line well we've got michigan by the authority of the national football league it is intended for the private use of our audience any rebroadcast or any other use of this telecast without the expressed written consent of the national football league [Applause] well done thank you i didn't know that and i'm leaving good night two minutes to go 31-26 for the forgetful football player the only celebrating going on tonight at joe robbie stadium in miami you're speaking of the running game dan well they have to cheer they're they're paid to do so we've been getting some audio in there we're even getting a inside two minutes and a pretty disconsolate group of miami dolphins yeah the feel for these guys they tried tonight they really did and they're looking forward to a tough five weeks ahead because this season is pretty much history it's third and one buffalo at the 31-yard line and a first down is picked up by byram so unless miami stops the clock this one is over in a minute and 50 seconds and we can tell you the executive producer of monday night football is jeffrey mason tonight's game produced by the arvardian ken wolfe carvardi barbarian and directed by craig janoff who has a new shirt our technical director is joey chavo associate director is ben harvey rob byner our halftime producer bill freeburger our tech manager ed mckinnon our unit manager and the gang all here at joe robbie stadium as we wind this one down at the 29-yard line as rob riddick takes it to the 24 and our thanks of course to mr univac steve hurt and malibu kelly hayes and [Music] up here in the booth marcamento on the computer we'll be back here in a few weeks hopefully we will be against miami against cleveland how about the crashing the dogs took yesterday out at mile high in denver how do you figure that 30 to nothing at the half smile creasing the face of marv levy well here's a man who's trying to get to the playoffs for the first time after a long coaching career in professional football canada and here in the nfl with kansas city and now buffalo oh look at this will they [Music] oh he got him he does he looks less than happy i don't think marv's into it not yet but he wouldn't mind a few more of those imagine how that would feel in buffalo in january yeah right it would never hit the carpet no way no way marv would move again till may here are the standings now in the afc east with five weeks to go buffalo 10-1 best record in the nfl colts are hot they won five straight in new england alive in contention for a wild card berth they'll be here next badly in need of offense a changing quarterback today pat ryan gets the call replacing ken o'brien but ryan

Channel: JP Scamurra

Views: 1,616

Keywords: Bills, Buffalo, Buffalo BIlls, Football, Monday Night, Miami, Dolphins, Miami Dolphins, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino

Id: t2AZU3ODWB0

Length: 136min 53sec (8213 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 27 2020