Late Drive Is Stymied by Browns

CLEVELAND — Saturday’s AFC playoff game between the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills was enough to send the most docile inhabitants of the Dog Pound yelping long into the night.

Said Bud Carson, the Browns’ 58-year-old rookie head coach: “It was one of those crazy, wild games that you get about once every three years.”

If that often.

Before 77,706 at Cleveland Stadium, the Browns won, 34-30, in a game that was decided by Scott Norwood’s missed conversion attempt and Ronnie Harmon’s failure to catch a pass in the end zone after the Bills closed to within the final margin with four minutes left.

If Norwood’s left foot hadn’t slipped on the deplorable playing surface, sending his kick into the back of an offensive lineman, the Bills might have settled for a field goal on their last possession.

If Harmon hadn’t missed a pass in the end zone with 14 seconds to play, there would be no long Buffalo winter haunted by missed conversions and potential field goals.

Instead, quarterback Jim Kelly, who passed for four touchdowns and a career-high 405 yards, threw until the bitter end, which for the Bills came with three seconds left.

Kelly, whose second-down pass from the Browns’ 11-yard line was dropped in the far left corner of the end zone by running back Harmon, attempted on third down to connect with running back Thurman Thomas.

A 14th reception would have been a playoff record for Thomas, whose 13 catches equaled a mark set in 1981 by tight end Kellen Winslow of the San Diego Chargers. But former USC linebacker Clay Matthews stepped in front of Thomas and intercepted at the one-yard line.

“They’d been going to him all day,” Matthews said of Thomas. “I kind of had a feeling they’d try again.”

Kelly, who completed 28 of 54 passes with two interceptions, kept his opinions to himself. He hasn’t spoken with the media for about a month. Harmon isn’t speaking with the media either.

It appeared that Harmon simply dropped a well-thrown pass.

“Ronnie Harmon said if Jim would have looked to him quicker, he would have scored,” said Thomas, who only a few weeks ago told a cable television audience in Buffalo that Kelly was the Bills’ weak link. “But by the time he did, (Harmon) was out of the end zone.”

Oh, those bickering Bills.

Once thought to be an emerging power in the NFL, but losers of three of their last four games and seemingly about to self-destruct, Buffalo surprised the Browns with a wide-open attack, amassing 453 total yards.

“I don’t think I’ve been around a football team that played as poorly defensively as we played today,” Carson said. “But I want to say this: That’s the best offensive game plan that I’ve seen this year. They did an outstanding job of coming in with a completely different mixture from what we’d seen, and I would guess we saw every film they had.”

But the Bills didn’t have a monopoly on offense.

Quarterback Bernie Kosar, leading several long drives, completed 20 of 29 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns.

“We had some fire on offense and moved the ball down the field consistently,” said wide receiver Webster Slaughter, who caught three passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns.

And, in a game of big plays, the Browns made the biggest. Included was a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by halfback Eric Metcalf, whose third-quarter return was the first for a touchdown in the club’s postseason history.

The rookie from Texas credited his blockers.

“They walled some people off and I just hit a hole,” Metcalf said. “From there on, it was just a race.”

Metcalf, touched only by kicker Norwood, streaked through a hole in the middle of the field and down the right sideline, seemingly ignoring a two-week-old toe injury that some thought would keep him out of the game.

“When I broke free, I was thinking about my toe and whether I could kick into fifth gear,” Metcalf said. “I knew no one could catch me if it had come down to a foot race, so I just ran (hard) enough to get into the end zone.”

Cleveland seemed to have the Bills on the run all day.

“That was the best four quarters we’ve put together all season,” Kosar said of the Browns’ offense, which ranked 16th in the NFL during the regular season. “From start to finish, we moved the ball. We consumed the clock well and made some big plays. It was a consistent performance.”

Despite their defensive inabilities, the Browns never trailed after Kosar passed three yards into the end zone to tight end Ron Middleton for a 17-14 lead with six seconds left in the half.

On the Browns’ previous possession, Kosar jammed the middle finger on his right hand, hitting it on the shoulder pad of defender Jeff Wright while following through on a pass attempt.

On the Browns’ next possession, Kosar--who jammed the same finger in practice last week--ran back out as if nothing was wrong and led a 55-yard touchdown drive at the end of the half.

“I was used to playing with it (jammed),” Kosar said.

The Browns had kept the ball for more than eight minutes on their first possession, only to come up empty when kicker Matt Bahr slipped and pushed a 45-yard field-goal attempt wide to the right.

Kelly then completed a 72-yard touchdown pass play to Andre Reed, who split the Browns’ defense and caught Kelly’s pass at about the 35-yard line, sprinting the remaining 65 yards.

A 45-yard field goal by Bahr, who kept his feet this time while kicking from about the same spot as his previous attempt, and a 52-yard touchdown pass play from Kosar to Slaughter gave the Browns a 10-7 second-quarter lead.

Slaughter left cornerback Nate Odomes far behind with a hesitation move along the sideline and caught Kosar’s pass in stride.

“The guy was on me pretty tight,” Slaughter said, “but I gave him a little stutter move. It freed me up a bit and Bernie just heaved it.”

More heaves were to come from both quarterbacks.

Kelly put the Bills back in front with 7:48 left in the half, connecting with James Lofton on a 33-yard touchdown pass play to make the score 14-10.

After leading the late second-quarter drive that put the Browns ahead to stay, Kosar found Slaughter deep again in the third quarter.

Only two plays after Kelly underthrew Harmon--the pass being intercepted by cornerback Mark Harper--Slaughter broke free in the secondary and took a 44-yard touchdown pass from Kosar to give the Browns a 24-14 lead.

But Kelly brought the Bills right back before the teams exchanged fumbles on consecutive third-quarter plays.

The second turnover, by fullback Kevin Mack of the Browns, gave the ball to the Bills at the Browns’ 21-yard line.

On third-and-eight at the 19, Kelly passed 15 yards to Thomas, whose receptions totaled 150 yards. On third-and-goal at the four, he passed again to Thomas, whose touchdown catch in front of Matthews pulled the Bills to 24-21 with 4:38 left in the third quarter.

Only 15 seconds later, however, the Browns’ lead was 10 points again after Metcalf returned the kickoff for a touchdown.

Still, after the teams exchanged fourth-quarter field goals, Bahr’s 47-yarder giving the Browns a 34-24 lead with 6:50 left, the Bills battled back.

Using a no-huddle offense, Kelly moved the Bills 77 yards to a touchdown in only a little more than 2 1/2 minutes, passing exclusively to Harmon and Thomas. His three-yard touchdown pass to Thomas, alone in the left flat, made the score 34-30 with four minutes to play.

Norwood then slipped on the conversion attempt.

“The field was icy and hard and my cleats weren’t digging in,” he said. “It was something that we first realized when we first walked out there--that that area was the toughest area of the field.

“I compensated the best I could, shortening my steps into the ball, and it worked out well until that particular kick.”

Unable to regain possession with an onside kick--safety John Hagy was offsides on the kickoff, which wound up out of bounds, anyway--Buffalo forced the Browns to punt, linebacker Darryl Talley sacking Kosar for a nine-yard loss on second down and the Bills holding on third-and-17.

Buffalo got the ball back at its 26-yard line with 2:41 to play and only one timeout left. Kelly converted two fourth downs and a third down, passing 17 yards to wideout Don Beebe on fourth-and-10 at the Bills’ 42, 10 yards to Reed on fourth-and-one at the Browns’ 32 and 11 yards to Thomas on third-and-10 at the Browns’ 22. The Bills reached the 11 with 16 seconds left.

“We were playing a basic zone and our communication was poor,” Carson said. “We didn’t change it at all in between downs, and just let Harmon (and Thomas) catch the ball all the way down the field.

“It was embarrassing.”

On first down from the 11, Kelly threw the ball away intentionally to stop the clock with 14 seconds left and the Browns then called time.

On second down, with his teammates on the sideline holding hands, Kelly made what appeared to be a catchable throw to Harmon, who made four receptions for 50 yards.

Harmon looked to be in bounds, but dropped the pass.

On third down, Kelly threw toward Thomas in the middle of the end zone, but Matthews made the game-saving play for the Browns. According to Lofton, Matthews was supposed to be covering somebody else on the play, but cheated over into the passing lane between Kelly and Thomas.

“It hurts this way,” Thomas said. “I hate to lose a game as close as this one. I’d almost rather lose, 34-0.”

Perhaps, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting.