The Best of One Bills Drive: Oct. 21, 1990

(Greg D. Tranter and Budd Bailey have written a book about the history of the football stadium in Orchard Park called "One Bills Drive." It is scheduled for publication by Reedy Press around October 15. The books covers the top 50 games played in the stadium's history from 1973 until January 2025. However, there are several other games that qualified as thrilling - but they couldn't crack the top 50. Those contests deserve to be remembered too, so we'll offer them in this space a couple of times per week during the season.)

Score by Quarters:

                                    1       2       3       4       Final

N.Y. Jets (L, 2-5)          7       14     3       3        27

Buffalo (W, 5-1)          0       17      7       6        30

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Jets – McNeil 5-yard run (Leahy kick)

2 – Jets – O’Brien 1-yard pass to Boyer (Leahy kick)

2 – Bills – Kelly 19-yard pass to Reed (Norwood kick)

2 – Jets – O’Brien 19-yard pass to Toon (Leahy kick)

2 – Bills – Kelly 14-yard pass to Reed (Norwood kick)

2 – Bills – Norwood 29-yard field goal

3 – Jets – Leahy 28-yard field goal

3 – Bills – Kelly 60-yard pass to Lofton (Norwood kick)

4 – Jets – Leahy 25-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Kelly 14-yard pass to Mueller (Norwood kick)

Recap:

The Bills were riding high following two emotionally charged improbable comeback wins over the Broncos and Raiders and a more-than-welcome bye week. A letdown playing the 2-4 Jets could have been expected. After all, Buffalo already had routed New York by a score of 30-7 in September in the Meadowlands.

In other words, it was important for Buffalo to keep its eye on the target in the rematch. “You have to stay focused on football because if you don’t, you start to lose your edge,” linebacker Darryl Talley said.

Meanwhile, the Jets had been smoked by the Chargers 39-3 in their previous game, and they certainly wanted to show they weren’t that bad.

“If I have to sit down and talk to them and try to motivate them, we’ve got problems,” Jets coach Bruce Coslet said. “If we don’t play well, the same thing’s going to happen.”

The game would turn out to be an aerial duel between two quarterbacks taken in the 1983 NFL draft, remembered now as “The Year of the Quarterback.” Jim Kelly of the Bills was taken No. 14 out of Miami (Fla.), and Ken O’Brien of the Jets was selected No. 24 from UC Davis. Kelly had defeated O’Brien in four of the seven head-to-head matchups between the two prior to this meeting.

The Jets jumped on top early. They put together a solid 63-yard drive that culminated in Freeman McNeil’s 5-yard touchdown run. Two plays following the kickoff, Jets cornerback Erik McMillan picked off an errant Kelly pass that set up a short scoring pass and the Jets were quickly on top 14-0.

Buffalo got on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter when Kelly found Reed at the New York 3-yard line and the deft receiver carried it into the end zone for the score. But O’Brien directed the Jets on a 10-play, 71-yard march that he finished off with a scoring strike to Al Toon.

The Bills reverted to some trickery to set up their next touchdown. Facing a third and 14 from their own 35-yard line, Kelly ran a reverse to Reed, who scooted around end and went 26-yards to the Jets’ 39. A 25-yard pass to James Lofton took the ball to the New York 14-yard line and on the next play Kelly hit Reed for the touchdown. Buffalo followed that with a Norwood field goal just before halftime, so the Jets went to the break in front 21-17.

On the Jets’ first possession of the second half, O’Brien used 14 plays to net a field goal. The Bills responded immediately to tie the score. Two completions to Reed netted 31 yards and then Kelly completed a long pass to Lofton who carried the football the final 22 yards to the end zone for the tying score.

“I had good coverage on (Lofton), but I looked back to see the pass,” defensive back John Booty of the Jets said. “He’s a great receiver, and it was a perfect pass. Lofton is Lofton. He’s been in the league forever.”

In the fourth quarter, Buffalo forced an O’Brien interception by Kirby Jackson but Norwood missed the ensuing 24-yard field goal. The Jets took the lead after another lengthy drive led by O’Brien as Pat Leahy kicked a 25-yard field goal.

The Bills took over the ball with only 2:38 remaining and down by three points. If they were going to win, they would have to engineer their third consecutive fourth-quarter comeback. “I had all the confidence in the world,” Kelly said later. “We run that offense in the middle of games, not just in the two-minute drill.”

Buffalo moved into range for a tying field goal at the Jets’ 29-yard line and faced a third and 10. Kelly found Reed open at the New York 13-yard line for a key first down with 48 seconds left. One play later, the Bills’ quarterback scrambled around in the backfield to buy additional time and then found little-used fullback Jamie Mueller alone in the end zone for the winning touchdown. Kelly threw his arms up in celebration. “I was pumped up,” he said. “I kind of lost it for a while there.”  

“This is the last thing I ever expected,” Mueller said. “But when you get the opportunity, you have to make the best of it. I’m blocking weak side and looking for one of the linebackers to come. They both dropped off, so I just find an open area so if Jim needs help or is in a scramble, I try to get in the open field so he can throw to me. And that’s what he did.”

“Today, Jamie caught the one he worked the whole offseason for,” head coach Marv Levy said. “They’ve gained confidence from doing it (coming from behind to win). You have to win games like that if you want to go to the Super Bowl.”

The Jets had 19 seconds to pull off one last miracle, but the effort fell short and they were losers again. “Just a (lousy) feeling,” Jets linebacker Joe Mott said. “It’s too terrible to put into words.”

Buffalo had played far from its best game, but the standings didn’t notice. “We can’t rely on a comeback every week to win,” Kelly said. “One of these weeks we’re going to come out and you’re going to see offense, defense and special teams and we’re going to blow somebody out. But until we do, a win is a win.”

Noteworthy: Kelly threw for 297 yards on 19 completions in 32 attempts and had four touchdown passes. … Reed caught three passes for 116 yards and two scores and Lofton caught 3 passes for 99 yards. … Mueller’s touchdown reception was the only one of his four-year NFL career. … The Bills’ leading rusher was Reed with two carries on reverses for 38 yards. … Thurman Thomas injured his knee early in the game and did not return, carrying the ball only twice for five yards. The injury was not serious. … The Bills compiled 405 yards to New York’s 342. … O’Brien completed 14 of 28 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. … With their third consecutive fourth-quarter comeback, the Bills had outscored their opponents in the fourth quarter 71-24. … Bills’ defensive end Bruce Smith and Jets’ tight end Boyer almost came to blows after the game, as Smith was upset that Boyer kept blocking his knees in an attempt to injure him. “If he keeps it up, I’m going to kick his butt,” Smith said, “If he caught me flush in the knee, he’d have ruined my career.”

Legacy: The Bills won four more in a row to stretch their winning streak to eight games, which included some blowout victories as Kelly had predicted – 27-10 over New England, 42-0 in Cleveland, and 45-14 vs the Cardinals, before losing to Houston.

Meanwhile, the Jets won their next two games to show signs of a pulse … and then dropped five straight to fall well out of the playoff picture. They finished 6-10.