Just Out Of Reach

Kelly, who was masterful, completing. 28 passes in 54 attempts for 404 yards and four touchdowns, brought the Bills to within four points, 34-30, with an eight-play. 77-yard scoring drive that consumed less than three minutes. He didn't use a timeout, and got the score on a three-yard pass to Thomas with four minutes to go. Thomas would catch 13 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns, and run 10 times for 27 yards. None of that would matter, however. Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood slipped in the sand and kicked the extra-point attempt into a teammate's back, making a field goal useless to the Bills. "I felt real bad for him," said Bahr of Norwood. "The field has bitten so many people."

Kelly's final drive was stopped by Matthews's interception with three seconds remaining, and Buffalo fans can only wonder what might have happened if Harmon had hung on to Kelly's penultimate pass, or if Norwood had made that extra point and then kicked a field goal to send the game into overtime. But why speculate? There were plenty of dropped balls and bouncing balls that could have turned the game around.

One thing's for sure—Slaughter has a racket going with his cans of Nu-Life (#616 Orange) Color Spray. "I'm the Earl Scheib of the NFL," he says.

So, Earl, you doing the Super Bowl?