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Dynamic Doug

Bills down Jets with impressive effort from Flutie

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Posted: Monday September 20, 1999 03:26 PM

Bills QB Doug Flutie had two crucial carries in the team's third-quarter scoring drive. AP

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Doug Flutie doesn't only run and pass. He also throws his 179-pound body at 257-pound Pro Bowl linebackers to help the Buffalo Bills win.

That's just what the 36-year-old quarterback did Sunday night to help propel the Bills to a 17-3 victory over the New York Jets.

"I expect that attitude from everyone on the field," Flutie said after leveling the Jets' Mo Lewis to spring Antowain Smith on a 12-yard run that set up the game's first score.

"I don't block all the time but sometimes you have to sacrifice yourself and your body."

Flutie's heroics only emphasized the absence of Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde, gone for the season with an torn Achilles' tendon. That's the same Testaverde who was a redshirt at Miami in 1984 when Flutie threw his "Hail Mary" pass for Boston College that made him nationally famous.

"Doug's a player. He makes plays," coach Wade Phillips said in something of an understatement. "He made them throughout the game, even blocking. We don't expect him to do that."

Flutie had help against Jets (0-2), a team that was missing six starters, including Testaverde.

Smith, held to 7 yards on six carries by Indianapolis last week, gained 113 on 30 carries Sunday night.

Bills nose tackle Ted Washington and linebacker Sam Cowart stuffed Jerald Sowell on fourth-and-inches at the goal line when the game was scoreless in the second quarter. Overall, the Bills gained 224 yards on the ground against a New York defense missing nose tackle Jason Ferguson after being held to 47 in a 31-14 loss at Indianapolis.

"Six inches away you have to take a shot," Jets coach Bill Parcells said of going for it.

Nor did Parcells blame injuries.

"This is the first time I've been disappointed in the team," said Parcells, perhaps forgetting his tirade of a month ago, after the second exhibition game against Philadelphia.

"It wasn't injuries. I wouldn't use that as an excuse. Poor playing. That's what we needed to overcome. We had a nose tackle out but they did a good job running and I give them credit for that."

Flutie credited the running and the defense.

"When we're running the ball well, it opens up other things," Flutie said. "It creates an attitude and temper. The offensive line came in with the attitude that we're going to show you, we're going to show the league that we can run. We hammer the ball."

And Phillips pointed to the fourth-down play that set the Bills off on a 99-yard drive the other way for the first score.

"The fourth-down play was a big play for us. To take it all the way down the field really changed the game for us," Phillips said.

That was when Flutie first shined as the Bills broke open a lethargic game and giving Buffalo (1-1) all the points it would need.

First he ran for 14 and 24 yards on the 99-yard drive that came after Washington and Cowart's play.

Then on a third-and-1 from the Jets' 13, Smith ran right, then broke left, pursued by Lewis, New York's 257-pound Pro Bowl linebacker. As Lewis lunged for Smith, Flutie leveled him.

"I was looking for a defensive back," Flutie said. "But then I saw Mo behind me so I headed for him. I didn't think he saw me, so I was going to hit him high. But then I chickened out and just cut him."

Smith got to the 1 and scored on the next play to make it 7-0.

Then, on the first possession of the third quarter, Flutie took the Bills on a 57-yard, 8-play drive, that he capped with a 24-yard scoring run on which he rolled right, zigged left and then went straight up the middle for the score that made it 14-0.

Rick Mirer, replacing Testaverde, was 13-of-28 for 121 yards for an offense that never really got going.

"I think as we went along, I got comfortable with what we were doing," he said. "But we couldn't put any drives back to back."

Flutie, meanwhile, was 15-of-25 for 160 yards, and rushed five times for 69 yards.

And, for history's sake, add one block on a 257-pound linebacker.

Notes: The Jets have opened four of the last five seasons 0-2. But last season they came back to win the AFC East at 12-4. ... Ed Abramoski, who spent 35 years as the Bills' trainer, was honored before the game by having his name placed on the team's wall of fame. ... Flutie is 11-1 as a starter at home. ... Flutie's two 24-yard runs in the second quarter were his longest in the NFL and his 67 yards on the ground were the most in his NFL career. ... The three points the Bills allowed were the fewest since Sept. 20, 1992, when they shut out Indianapolils.

 

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