Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 27, 1992 TAG: 9201270141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JACK BOGACZYK SPORTS COLUMNIST
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
AGGRESSIVE DEFENSE STYMIES NO-HUDDLE
The Buffalo Bills had the National Football League's best offense this season. But they hadn't played the Washington Redskins."I don't think we gave up," said Bills tight end Keith McKeller after Buffalo suffered its second Super Bowl loss in two years. "We just never did get it going."
The Redskins' offense was impressive in Super Bowl XXVI, but that was expected against a Buffalo defense that wasn't as strong as the one that almost beat the New York Giants a year ago in the NFL finale.
In Washington's 37-24 triumph at the Metrodome, it was the Redskins' defense that turned Buffalo's no-huddle offense into a backpedaling bunch.
"What we tried to do was give a lot of different looks," said Redskins coach Joe Gibbs after his third Super Bowl success. "We tried to go ahead and do our regular substituting even though they were in the no-huddle. We wanted to make sure we got those substitutions, because then it would be a guessing game for them."
By the time Buffalo got to 100 yards in total offense, it was the third quarter and the Bills were the eighth straight AFC Super Bowl loser. The Bills averaged 391 yards per game during the season.
"Every time we looked back it seemed like someone was in [Buffalo quarterback] Jim Kelly's face," McKeller said. "I don't really know what we were doing different, if anything. I think we compared well with them. But they were obviously the better team."
Kelly went down with a mild concussion early in the fourth quarter.
"I can remember some of the game, but not all of it," he said. "The part I can remember, I didn't like. On the concussion, they said I went out on my feet and then I started bitching to the referee or something. I really don't remember that.
"The whole second half is kind of fuzzy right now."
Bills center Kent Hull was part of the Buffalo front that was overwhelmed by the Redskins' rush. It was the second straight game in which the AFC champs struggled with the ball. They survived Denver 10-7 in the AFC title game.
"It got embarrassing at times," Hull said. "We had five turnovers. They had one. That's minus-4. I guarantee you if you're minus-2 in a game, you're going to lose 95 percent of the time.
"We just couldn't execute, period."
Kelly threw a Super Bowl and Buffalo record 58 times, most of those while under pressure. The Redskins had five sacks, raising their 19-game total to 64, including 14 in three playoff games.
"You've got to give credit where credit is due," Kelly said. "They did what we expected them to do, but they were just too tough."