BILLS SHOOT DOWN THE EAGLES

On a beautiful late September afternoon, the Bills took advantage of both the weather and their opponent's weaknesses for a big 26-0 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. By winning, the Bills take a 2-1 record into Miami for their Monday Night Football showdown with the Dolphins next week.

Gabe Northern sacks Eagle quarterback Doug Pederson

There was a fear in some corners of a letdown against a vastly inferior Eagle team, but the Bills put that to rest early in the game as they rammed the ball down the Eagles throats on the opening series and continued to do so the rest of the game. The Bills defense came up big in this one, pitching a shutout for the first time since September 20, 1992 against the Colts.

Doug Flutie upped his home record as a starter to 13-1 as he completed 18 out of 26 passes for 175 yards and one touchdown. He had one picked off to halt another Bills drive. Flutie also ran with the ball 5 times for 32 yards, a 6.4 average. He did have problems getting the Bills in from the red zone as the Bills got inside the Philadelphia 10 yard line twice in the first half and to the 11 another time and Steve Christie was forced to kick three field goals when the drives came up short.

One of the highlights of the game was when Andre Reed caught his third pass of the game, putting him at the 900 mark for career receptions. Reed had to leap up and make a nice grab to reach that milestone.

"I'd be remiss to say it doesn't mean anything," Reed said in the locker room after the game, "but it wouldn't be possible without a bunch of other guys doing their job. Believe me, it never would have been possible without that - without guys playing together, having confidence in each other. I've been able to do it year in and year out, when everybody said 'He can't do this and he can't do that.' "

"Every year, a time clock goes off in my head,"Reed continued ,"and I know it's time to play football. When that time clock doesn't tick anymore, I'll know it's time to ease off."

"I'm still making plays out there. Until I'm not making plays, I'm still going to be here."

The Bills wanted to establish the running game as they did against the Jets last week and were successful as they rushed for 192 yards. Antowain Smith continued to get important yardage as he carried 16 times for 64 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Linton had only 7 fewer yards on 15 carries.

But it was the defense that should get a lot of the credit for this win. Phil Hansen had two crucial fumble recoveries as a result of two sacks, one by Gabe Northern and the other by Bruce Smith. The defensive unit stuffed the running game, limiting the Eagles to a mere 22 yards on the ground. Philadelphia had only 169 yards total offense and it marked the second straight week the Bills defense has not had a touchdown scored on them.

Antowain Smith gallops for a big gain

When the Bills opened up on offense, Anthony Smith got the ball and ran around the left side and picked up 17 yards. On the next carry, Smith went around the right end for another 20 yards and things started to look good for the Bills. Doug Flutie threw eleven yards to Andre Reed who stepped out of bounds at the Eagles 3 yard line. From there, Smith and Jonathan Linton tried to smash it up the middle for the score, but were pushed back for losses of 1 and 2 yards. A third down pass to Linton fell incomplete so Steve Christie came in and kicked a 24-yard field goal to put the Bills on the board early.

The Eagles went 3 and out the next series and the Bills got good position again at the Philly 48. As they did the week before, the Bills were insistent about establishing their running game and Linton ripped off right tackle for seven yards to open their second drive. Flutie then threw two straight passes, one to Jay Riemersma for seven and then to Reed for 15 yards. The two plays pushed the Bills down to the Philadelphia 19. Linton got down to the Eagle 12-yard line and then Flutie tried to get around the right end, but was tackled by Hollis Thomas before he could pick up the first down. So Christie came in again and kicked a 29-yarder to put the Bills up 6-0.

The Bills got another glorious opportunity when Gabe Northern sacked Eagle quarterback Doug Pederson for an 11 yard loss at the Philadelphia 9 and Pederson fumbled the ball. Phil Hansen scooped up the ball and got down to the 5 before being tackled. Another big red zone opportunity turned into another bust as Christie had to kick his third straight field goal, this time from 19 yards out.

In the second quarter, the Eagles were able to drive down to the Bills 20, fueled by Pederson passes of 35-yards to Charles Johnson, 18-yards to Luther Broughton and 14 yards to Jed Weaver. With a first and goal, Pederson went back to pass but was blitzed by Bruce Smith and Smith knocked the ball from Pederson. Hasen was "Johnny-on-the-spot" once again as he picked up the ball and dashed all the way down to the Philly 48.

"I'm a pretty conservative guy, and I like to fall on the ball just to make sure we get it," Hansen reflected about his fumble recoveries. "But it bounced just right. Thurman told me he would give me exclusive lessons. But first he wants me to buy his video tape."

After a first down fumble return for a Philadelphia touchdown was wiped out by an offsides, Flutie threw to Sam Gash for a 14-yard pickup at the Eagle 29. Then Flutie rolled out and picked up a first down by scrambling 13 yards. The Bills finally were able to hit pay dirt when Flutie hooked up with Reimersma diving in the middle of the endzone for a 15-yard touchdown completion.

Pederson came right back and completed a 27-yard pass to Broughton at the Bills 38. But the drive stalled out at the Bills 32 and Norm Johnson was wide right on a 50-yard field goal attempt.

The Bills were not done, even though there was only around a minute left in the half. Flutie, out of the shotgun, hit Linton for 9 yards. After a 5 yard carry by Linton, Flutie had a pass picked off by Al Harris and Harris returned it all the way from the Philly 37 for a TD. But once again, the Eagles were offsides, negating the score. Flutie scrambled around right end for 9 yards and out of bounds to stop the clock. Next play he passed to Kevin Williams for 13 yards and Williams also got out of bounds. With only 8 ticks on the clock left, Flutie attempted a long pass to Moulds in the left corner of the endzone, but overthrew him. So Christie came on and kicked his fourth fieldgoal of the first half, putting the Bills up 19-0.

In the second half, Flutie started off another scoring drive with a 13-yard pitch to Eric Moulds and a reverse to Kevin Williams netted another 13 yards to the Eagle 24. Flutie then passed to Gash for 6 yards and then hit Moulds for another 11 yards to the Philadelphia 4 yard line. The Bills finally cracked their red-zone blues when Smith burst through a hole to score and put the Bills up 26-0.

In the fourth quarter, Wade Phillips decided to give Flutie a rest and put in Rob Johnson. However, Johnson was hit hard when being sacked and didn't get up for a couple minutes. It is reported that Johnson suffered another concussion. Alex Van Pelt took over from there and the Bills cruised the rest of the way for the victory.

Flutie commenting about the easy win said, "In the NFL, you do not get too many of these where there was a relaxed, confident feeling, We played a solid, all-around game and consistently pulled away. It just felt like a well-rounded effort.We think we're a good football team; we'll find out this week (next Monday night against Miami)."

"We played a little conservative today," Wade Phillips said. "Our defense was playing good so I felt we should play that way. I was proud of our rushing game; we were very efficient today."

Next Monday is the first really big test for the Bills. They defeated the wounded Jets and the hapless Eagles. Now it will be Dan Marino and the Dolphins on MNF.

Copyright © 1999 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.