With a city prepared to party, superstars Barry Foster of the Steelers and Jim Kelly of the Bills missed last call Monday night. Both were injured and failed to last past halftime of this midseason AFC showdown, robbing it of its luster but not its intensity.
The Steelers won easily 23-0.
Foster sprained his left ankle on the first series and Kelly suffered a concussion on the next-to-last play of the half dominated by the Steelers. That brought on Frank Reich, the quarterback who beat the Steelers in the AFC playoffs last January in Pittsburgh.
But Reich was behind 17-0 before he got onto the field this time as the Steelers scored on a 9-yard run by backup running back Leroy Thompson, a field goal by Gary Anderson and a 1-yard touchdown pass from Neil O’Donnell to Eric Green. The Bills then lost leading receiver Andre Reed in the second half with an injured wrist.
Losers of five straight against the Bills, the Steelers got the defending AFC champions where they wanted them-in Three Rivers Stadium on Light Up Night.
The city buildings were lit and so were many fans. The Steelers tried to live up to pregame fireworks by sending their No. 1-ranked defense against the Bills’ array of offensive firepower.
It was the first game against the Steelers in Three Rivers for Kelly, who grew up in East Brady, Pa., right up the Allegheny River. Kelly played in Pittsburgh in 1984 with the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League, but he was injured when the Bills eliminated the Steelers in last year’s AFC playoffs.
That 24-3 embarrassment was on the minds of the Steelers, who were trying to take over sole possession of first place in the AFC Central Division.
The Bills came into the game with the sixth-ranked offense, second in rushing, but for the first time in their AFC reign, their defense was the talk of the league. They had allowed just 12.1 points per game and only 30 second-half points all year. They had given up just one TD in each of the past four games.
The Steelers immediately put them to work, wearing them out in the first half with their power offense. But they could generate only a 10-0 lead, hardly enough to get comfortable.
After Foster suffered a sprained ankle, the Steelers didn’t miss a beat as Thompson scored on a 9-yard run to finish an 81-yard drive. The march consumed 7 minutes 17 seconds and the Bills’ defense was on the field for 10:45 of the first quarter, when their no-huddle offense gave them little time to catch their breath.
Foster landed awkwardly on an incomplete pass and was helped into the locker room for X-rays on his left ankle. The X-rays revealed no fracture, but he didn’t return. Thompson, a third-year back from Penn State, gained 100 yards against the Saints earlier this year when both he and Foster went over the century mark. It was Thompson’s development that allowed the Steelers to trade Tim Worley to the Bears.
The Steelers are an NFC-type power team with two gigantic tight ends, Green and Adrian Cooper-280 and 270 pounds, respectively-capable of blocking and receiving to complement the attack. It predictably took a toll on the Bills early. Even when the Steelers’ second possession ended in a punt, it took 10 plays.
With cornerback Rod Woodson covering Bills slot receiver Andre Reed, Kelly relied on Thurman Thomas, as usual, but the Bills failed to get past midfield until Reed got open on a fly pattern for a 51-yard completion before halftime.
Two plays later, Kelly was sacked for an 11-yard loss by end Kenny Davidson, who turned Kelly upside down. He landed hard but stayed in the game for the final play of the half, an incompletion. He didn’t come out of the locker room to start the third quarter.
After two penalties and a drop by Pete Metzelaars backed the Bills up and forced a punt early in the second quarter, the Steelers took at the 46 and drove to the 19, where they faced third and 1. Instead of sticking with the run that had worked so well, O’Donnell threw an incompletion and the Steelers settled for a 37-yard field goal by Anderson.
The Bills considered themselves fortunate to be down by only 10 after watching the Steelers dominate the time of possession in the first half, 20:25 to 9:35.
But the Steelers drove 70 yards with the second-half kickoff and scored on a rollout to the uncovered Green. On the next possession, an interception by Bills safety Mark Kelso was nullified by a questionable roughing penalty on Oliver Barnett, allowing the Steelers to add a 19-yard field goal and raise the margin to 20-0. Again, the drive took 11 plays, consuming 5:55.
