Bills-Dolphins history: Buffalo comes back from dead to keep 1994 playoff hopes alive

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (Dec. 4, 1994) - The computer terminals were powered up, the word processors loaded and poised to spit out the epitaph to one of the great eras in National Football League history.

This was supposed to be the night when the Buffalo Bills, the almost team of the 90s, were put to rest. Finally.

After reaching the Super Bowl four consecutive years, the end was in sight - 30 short minutes away - as the Miami Dolphins stormed to a 17-7 halftime lead at soggy and soldout Joe Robbie Stadium.

Fittingly it was the Dolphins, who the Bills had tormented the most during their four-year domination of the AFC, who were in position to toss the final shovelful of dirt into the grave and officially eliminate Buffalo from contention for the AFC East title.

By now, you know the rest.

The Dolphins choked like dogs, like they always seem to do.

And the Bills reached into their endless reservoir of courage, resiliency, and hey, let’s face it, luck, and produced a wild and wacky 35-point second-half barrage that keyed a memorable 42-31 victory.

“It seems like when this team needs to do what it has to do, we do it,” said wide receiver Andre Reed.

They are unbelievable, these Bills.

Just when you think they’ve gone flatline, they suddenly jerk to life, sit up, smile, then tear their opposition’s heart out.

“This was a lot of fun after so many analysts counted us out,” defensive end Bruce Smith said. “Again, they don’t play the game and what we have in the upper left hand corner of our chests is what matters.”

A loss would have knocked them out of the running for the AFC East crown and would have further doomed them in the jumbled wildcard race.

Now, the Bills (7-6) remain tied for second place in the division with the New England Patriots, one game behind the Dolphins (8-5). And they own the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Miami with their season sweep, so if the teams finish tied for first, Buffalo would win the title.

Actually, the Bills are in tiebreaker heaven. They have vaulted into fifth place in the conference standings because they own victories over all three teams that are 7-6 - New England, Denver and Kansas City.

What does it all mean?

The Bills could probably survive stubbing their toe this week against Minnesota, and as long as they beat New England and Indianapolis to finish 9-7, they could probably make the playoffs.

Of course, that’s not what they want to do. They want to win all three remaining games and win the division. Last year, they closed the season with a four-game winning streak to pull away and win the division title.

“This is one of four, hopefully,” quarterback Jim Kelly said. “We have to take one at a time, it was a steppingstone for us. I think we all realize what we’re capable of doing and if everyone concentrates and takes care of their own assignment, hey, you never know what we can do.

“Anyone who has seen the Buffalo Bills for the past five or six years knows exactly what we’re capable of doing and I don’t think anyone would ever count us out. I know in that locker room over there, the 47 guys who lace up their shoes and play never quit.”

It looked like the Bills were tripping over their laces in the first half as the Dolphins scored 17 points in the second quarter to take control.

To make matters worse, both of Buffalo’s starting offensive guards - John Davis and Jerry Crafts - were on the sidelines after halftime, Davis with an injury, Crafts with a demotion.

In their places were little-used Mike Devlin and never-used Jerry Ostroski, who had just been activated off the practice squad four days earlier.

The immobile Kelly, forced into a passing mode behind this line? Oh my.

But on the third play of the second half, Don Beebe caught a deflected Kelly pass and sprinted 72 yards for a touchdown and right then, you knew that maybe the planets were aligning properly.

A few minutes later, Dan Marino - who suffered through a very un-Marino-like night with three interceptions - threw a bad pass into coverage. The ball was deflected into the air and Matt Darby intercepted and returned to the Bills 47.

Here, Kelly, who completed 18 of 28 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns, led a 53-yard march to the go-ahead touchdown, a 21-yard pass to Reed on a third-and-3 play.

But the Bills were only just beginning. After a Miami punt, the Bills stormed downfield again, going 67 yards to Carwell Gardner’s one-yard plunge that made it 28-17.

The touchdown was set up by a questionable interference penalty on Troy Vincent that gave the Bills a first down at the Miami 40. On the next play, Reed threw a 32-yard option pass to Bill Brooks after fumbling the handoff.

Marino refused to lie down, swiftly moving the Dolphins 75 yards in 1:50 to his touchdown pass to Keith Jackson. The Bills foiled the two-point conversion, leaving the score at 28-23.

The craziness continued on the kickoff as Yonel Jourdain fumbled, but the ball popped into Mike Dumas’ hands and he raced down the left sideline 40 yards to the Miami 28. Four plays later, Gardner scored from the one to make it 35-23.

Marino again pushed downfield, but the Bills defense made its biggest play of the night. Jeff Wright pressured Marino into an ill-advised pass over the middle on third-and-goal from the Bills 8 and linebacker Marvcus Patton intercepted.

Three plays later, Reed took a short third-down Kelly pass 83 yards for the exclamation point touchdown.

“We had a lot of things happen right for us,” center Kent Hull said. “The Beebe catch, the kickoff return, but we were playing hard and making things happen.”

Coach Marv Levy agreed.

“It was a huge win,” he said. “You might say we had some lucky plays, but you’ve got to do something about it after you get them, and we did.”

And so the Bills are still lurking and the drive for five is still alive.

“No, this was not normal,” linebacker Darryl Talley said of the victory, Buffalo’s eighth in nine trips to Joe Robbie. “Guys stepped up and made some tremendous plays today and we got the takeaways, which we hadn’t been doing all year. It feels great to get a win and stay alive.”

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills vs. Dolphins history: Buffalo emerges from the dead in second half