Sunday, September 4th, 1988 1:00PM
Minnesota Vikings (0-0) @ Buffalo Bills (0-0)
Rich Stadium
Weather: 68 degrees, relative humidity 85%, wind 11 mph
Line: Minnesota -2.5 (buffalo), O/U 44 (under)
Attendance: 76,783 (80,290)
Reed catches 2 touchdowns, defense holds strong as the Bills surge out of the gate.
The Bills opened the season in strong fashion to a raucous crowd of over 76,000 at Rich Stadium. The Vikings got the ball first and drove for a touchdown. A commanding 10 play drive was capped by Allen Rice's 13 yard touchdown reception from quarterback Wade Wilson (14-25 165 yds, 1TD, 1INT 72.9 RTG). Chuck Nelson's extra point attempt was blocked by the Bills and that was the last Minnesota would light the scoreboard, watching as a 6-0 lead became a 35-6 defeat over the next 55:31.
In one of the lone highlights for the Vikings, fullback Alfred Anderson gallops for a 16 yard run in Buffalo territory on the Vikings' only touchdown drive early in the 1st quarter
Buffalo's offense was methodical, scoring on its following 2 drives (sandwiching a missed Nelson field goal of 39 yards). The Bills' 1st 2 drives combined for 30 plays, covered 153 yards, and saw 11 first downs. These drives were aided by 40 yards in Viking penalties, the most costly coming on a key roughing the passer penalty on a 3rd and 10 incompletion that kept life in Buffalo's 1st touchdown drive. A few plays later, Ronnie Harmon converted a 3rd and 7 on a reception from Jim Kelly (17-25 209 yds, 3TD, 133.2 RTG) that went for 23 yards. That set up Buffalo's 1st score of the season, a 3 yard touchdown run by Thurman Thomas, the 1st score of his NFL career.
On Buffalo's next drive, Minnesota took another costly penalty on 3rd and 10 to extend the drive and let up some critical 3rd down conversions (Buffalo converted 73% for the game). Andre Reed caught the 10 yard touchdown pass from Jim Kelly on 3rd and goal from the 10.
After exchanging punts, on 2nd and 21 from their own 6, Viking halfback Allen Rice fumbled a handoff, giving the Bills an 8 yard field to score with 1:30 left in the half. this time it was Chris Burkett catching the touchdown pass to put the Bills up 21-6 at the half.
The Vikings' offensive line kept Bruce Smith in check most of the game, however Smith would record a sack. The Bills defense totalled 5 sacks, interrupting Wade Wilson.
The Bills took the 1st possession of the 2nd half and drove right down the field methodically. The score came on a 29 yard pass to Andre Reed, his 2nd of the afternoon and Jim Kelly's 3rd touchdown pass to go up 28-6. Minnesota's last gasp came on the following drive. The Vikings battled to the Buffalo 5, but linebacker Darryl Talley outfought DJ Dozier for a Wade Wilson pass in the end zone to claim the interception and all but clinch the contest. Thurman Thomas would later add the exclamation point with a 4 yard touchdown run to close the scoring at 35-6.
Player of the game:
Jim Kelly - Bills
Kelly went 17-25 for 209 yards and 3 touchdowns Sunday vs the Vikings for a 133.2 QB Rating
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
OT
|
Total
| |
| 1988 Minnesota |
6
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
| 1988 Buffalo |
7
|
14
|
7
|
7
|
0
|
35
|
| Scoring Plays | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qtr | Clock | Poss | Scoring Description(Extra Point) | Score | ||
| 1 | 10:31 | 1988 Minnesota | A.Rice 13 yd. pass from W.Wilson (kick blocked) | 6-0 MNN | ||
| 1 | 4:41 | 1988 Buffalo | T.Thomas 3 yd. run (S.Norwood kick) | 7-6 BUA | ||
| 2 | 7:37 | 1988 Buffalo | A.Reed 10 yd. pass from J.Kelly (S.Norwood kick) | 14-6 BUA | ||
| 2 | 0:37 | 1988 Buffalo | C.Burkett 12 yd. pass from J.Kelly (S.Norwood kick) | 21-6 BUA | ||
| 3 | 11:01 | 1988 Buffalo | A.Reed 29 yd. pass from J.Kelly (S.Norwood kick) | 28-6 BUA | ||
| 4 | 9:55 | 1988 Buffalo | T.Thomas 4 yd. run (S.Norwood kick) | 35-6 BUA | ||
Team Statistics
| ||
| 1988 Minnesota | 1988 Buffalo | |
| First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total | 6-11-1-18 | 7-13-2-22 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 7-14-50% | 8-11-73% |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 2-3-67% | 0-0-0% |
| Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct) | 7-14-50% | 28-28-100% |
| Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play | 281-61-4.6 | 267-59-4.5 |
| Total Net Yards Rushing | 113 | 62 |
| Total Rushes | 26 | 32 |
| Average Per Rush | 4.3 | 1.9 |
| Passes Completed/Attempted | 17/30 (56.7%) | 17/26 (65.4%) |
| Net Yards Passing | 168 | 205 |
| Avg Yards Per Pass | 6.8 | 8.0 |
| Sacked/Yards Lost | 5/36 | 1/4 |
| Punts/Average | 3/43.7 | 3/52.7 |
| Punts Received/Return Yardage | 0/0 | 2/27 |
| Kickoffs/Returns | 4/74 | 2/45 |
| Interceptions/Returns | 0/0 | 1/0 |
| Penalties/Yards | 10/79 | 5/40 |
| Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost | 2/1 | 2/0 |
| Time of Possession | 28 mins 29 secs | 31 mins 31 secs |
| Average Drive Start | MNN 21 | BUA 33 |
Passing Stats
| ||||||||||||
| Att | Comp | Yds | Comp % | Yds/Att | TD | TD % | INT | INT % | Long | Sack | Rating | |
| Wade Wilson | 25 | 14 | 165 | 56.0 | 6.6 | 1 | 4.0 | 1 | 4.0 | 23 | 3/21 | 72.9 |
| Tommy Kramer | 5 | 3 | 39 | 60.0 | 7.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 2/15 | 84.6 |
| Jim Kelly | 25 | 17 | 209 | 68.0 | 8.4 | 3 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1/4 | 133.2 |
| Frank Reich | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 39.6 |
Rushing Stats
| |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | 2 Pt Conv | Fumbles/Lost | |||||
| Allen Rice | 11 | 48 | 4.4 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2/1 | ||||
| Darryl Harris | 4 | 7 | 1.8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Darrin Nelson | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Rick Fenney | 3 | 11 | 3.7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Alfred Anderson | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Wade Wilson | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Thurman Thomas | 15 | 33 | 2.2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1/0 | ||||
| Robb Riddick | 9 | 23 | 2.6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1/0 | ||||
| Jamie Mueller | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Ronnie Harmon | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Carl Byrum | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Jim Kelly | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
Receiving Stats
| |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | 2 Pt Conv | ||||||
| Allen Rice | 5 | 62 | 12.4 | 30 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Steve Jordan | 4 | 44 | 11.0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Anthony Carter | 2 | 24 | 12.0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Jim Gustafson | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Rick Fenney | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Alfred Anderson | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Hassan Jones | 1 | 23 | 23.0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Darrin Nelson | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Thurman Thomas | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Andre Reed | 3 | 49 | 16.3 | 29 | 2 | 0 | |||||
| Chris Burkett | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 12 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Pete Metzelaars | 2 | 32 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Ronnie Harmon | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Trumaine Johnson | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Robb Riddick | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Field Goals
| |||||||||||
| 1-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | Totals | % Made | |||||
| Chuck Nelson | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 0.0 | ||||
Punting
| |||||||||||
| No | Avg | Net | Tb | Inside 20 | Long | Blocked | |||||
| Bucky Scribner | 3 | 43.7 | 34.7 | 0 | 2 | 54 | 0 | ||||
| John Kidd | 3 | 52.7 | 52.7 | 0 | 2 | 56 | 0 | ||||
Kickoff Returns
| |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||||||
| Darryl Harris | 3 | 57 | 19.0 | 21 | 0 | ||||||
| Darrin Nelson | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 | ||||||
| Erroll Tucker | 2 | 45 | 22.5 | 25 | 0 | ||||||
Punt Returns
| |||||||||||
| Ret | FC | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | ||||||
| Leo Lewis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Erroll Tucker | 1 | 0 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | |||||
| Flip Johnson | 1 | 0 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 | |||||
Individual Defense
| |||||||||||
| Tackles | Sacks | Fum Rec | |||||||||
| Scott Studwell | 12 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| David Howard | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Carl Lee | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Jesse Solomon | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Reggie Rutland | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Doug Martin | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Joey Browner | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Keith Millard | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Chris Doleman | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| John E. Harris | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Issiac Holt | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Henry Thomas | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Al Baker | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Tommy Kramer | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Darryl Talley | 10 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Mark Kelso | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Leonard Smith | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Ray Bentley | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Derrick Burroughs | 4 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Bruce Smith | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Fred Smerlas | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Nate Odomes | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Shane Conlan | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Art Still | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Cornelius Bennett | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Wayne Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Thurman Thomas | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Robb Riddick | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
Interceptions
| |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||||||
| Darryl Talley | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Game Story
| |||||
| Jim Kelly had a strong game as Buffalo smashed Minnesota by the score of 35 to 6. Kelly tossed the ball 25 times for 209 yards and 3 touchdowns. Buffalo was great on third down, converting on 8 of 11 opportunities. Minnesota out-rushed 0 113 to 62 yards. | |||||
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