The Best of One Bills Drive - Sept. 20, 1992

(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

Indianapolis (L, 1-2)   0        0        0        0          0

Buffalo (W, 3-0)          7        3       14      14     38

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Bills – Kelly 1-yard pass to Metzelaars (Christie kick)

2 – Bills – Christie 52-yard field goal

3 – Bills – Gardner 1-yard run (Christie kick)

3 – Bills – Jones 23-yard interception return (Christie kick)

4 – Bills – Kelly 1-yard pass to Fina (Christie kick)

4 – Bills – Jones 82-yard interception return (Christie kick)

Recap:

Henry Jones must have figured something out during his second year with the Bills.

The safety was a first-round draft choice, No. 26 overall, of the team in 1991. He played in 15 of the team’s games but didn’t start any of them. Jones didn’t have a single interception in the entire season.

But then the safety entered his sophomore season, and he turned the corner. In the Bills’ season opener, he had two interceptions to help Buffalo clobber the Rams. It was a great way for him to celebrate his first start. Two weeks later, Jones had one of the most memorable games of his life against the Indianapolis Colts.

No one was talking about the Bills’ defense at that point. The Bills were averaging 37 points and 425.5 yards per game, an offensive juggernaut in the early going of the 1992 season. The Colts were rebuilding under new head coach and former Bills offensive coordinator Ted Marchibroda. He had been the architect of the Bills’ No-Huddle offense, but now he had to try and figure out how to defend it. “It’s a lot better to prepare for the Bills than it is to prepare against the Bills,” Marchibroda said. The Colts had split their first two games with an opening day win over Cleveland followed by a loss versus the Oilers, after having only won a single game in 1991.

The Sunday night game, broadcast by TNT started slowly for both teams with penalties hindering the early drives. Thurman Thomas’s fumble that was recovered by Colts’ defensive lineman Larry Hand stopped the Bills. Midway through the first quarter Indianapolis moved into field goal range, but Dean Biasucci missed a 48-yard field goal that hit the crossbar.

Buffalo finally scored first as Jim Kelly climaxed a long drive with a short pass to tight end Pete Metzelaars for a touchdown. “We ran a dive fake at them,” Metzelaars said. “Basically, it was the ‘Butch Rolle’ play. I thought he was just going to throw it up high to me, but he said it might have slipped out of his hands. The ball seemed like it was diving away from me and I didn’t know if I was going to get to it.”

Buffalo secured some momentum late in the half with a 52-yard field goal by Steve Christie, which had been set up by a nice punt return from Chris Hale. The field goal tied the Bills’ record for the longest kick in team history. The Bills went to the intermission with a 10-0 lead. Buffalo had moved the ball pretty well with 195 yards of offense, but were stopped by two fumbles and a missed field goal. The Bills defense was controlling the Colts’ offense which had gained only 71 yards on 29 offensive plays and had committed six penalties.

The Bills took control early in the second half, scoring on its opening drive. Fullback Carwell Gardner bulled his way over from the one-yard line to cap a 77-yard drive and stretch the Buffalo lead to 17. “Offensively in the first half, we just kept making mistakes,” Bills’ center Kent Hull said. “When we came in at halftime, we said, ‘Look, we get the ball first and we’ve got to take this thing down and score.’ Our defense was playing great and we felt if we could go up 17-0, we could put a little pressure on the Colts.” 

Later in the third quarter, Jones returned an errant Jack Trudeau pass 23 yards for a touchdown. That obviously didn’t satisfy him.

Buffalo added an offensive touchdown early in the fourth quarter when tackle John Fina caught a one-yard scoring pass from Kelly. It was the Bills’ second tackle-eligible touchdown in three games to start the 1992 season. It stretched Buffalo’s lead to 31-0. It was Fina’s second touchdown in his life; the other was when he was in sixth grade. “I played outside linebacker and intercepted a pass. Ran it back 36 yards. Touchdown. It wasn’t nearly as exciting,” Fina said.

On the Colts’ next possession, Jones did something no Bills player had ever done. The strong safety picked off Tom Tupa’s pass and raced 82 yards for a touchdown. It was the first time in Bills history that a player had returned two interceptions for scores in the same game. “Two interceptions for touchdowns in a game, it feels really good,” Jones said. “It’s a long season. I’ve still got aways to go and a lot to learn, but I’m feeling good each day and hopefully I can keep up the good work.” 

Not only did Jones set a Bills’ record with the pair of pick-six plays, but he tied an NFL record that still stands to this day. No one has ever returned three interceptions for scores, so Jones has a share of the record with 24 others. “The second one, I was playing a hook zone, and I dropped pretty deep and I don’t think Tupa saw me,” Jones said. “He threw it right into my breast plate. I saw a lot of space down the right sideline so I just headed for it.”

Throughout the game Bills’ defensive end Bruce Smith was wreaking havoc all over the field and disrupting the Colts offense. He contributed 11 tackles and 2½ sacks. “Bruce was a man on a mission tonight,” Trudeau said. “Tonight, whether it was the national TV audience or what, he didn’t seem to take any plays off. He just played a great game.”

“I think their defense right now is as good as any in the league,” Marchibroda said. “In my mind, Bruce Smith is, without question, the premier defensive end in the league. We had a tough time handling him. We tried to adjust at times and it didn’t seem to do much for us.”

Noteworthy: Buffalo’s defense held the Colts offense to 140 total yards including only 37 yards rushing. … Kelly completed 17 of 27 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns. … Metzelaars had six catches for 53 yards and one score and Andre Reed contributed 77 yards on five catches. … Kenneth Davis led the Bills in rushing with 64 yards on 12 carries. … Bills rookie receiver Brad Lamb had his first career NFL catch for 18 yards in the third quarter. … Hale’s seven punt returns in the game were the second most in a single game in Bills history.

Legacy: The Bills started the season on a four-game win streak, and then were beset with inconsistency. They lost two in a row, won five, lost two, won two and lost on the last day of the season at Houston to cost them their fifth consecutive AFC East Title. Buffalo qualified for the playoffs but would have to play in the Wild Card round and win three games to make it to the Super Bowl. The Bills had a rematch with Houston in Orchard Park on January 3, 1993.

As for Jones, he led the league in interceptions with eight and interception return yardage with 263. He played 12 years in the NFL, and had two other pick-sixes in that time.

The Colts, meanwhile, turned out to be the surprise of the league that season. Marchibroda’s gang won nine games after winning only one in 1991, and Indy defeated Buffalo 16-13 in overtime later in the season.