Bills rally to topple Dolphins

In what has to be a rarity for the 1970's, the Buffalo Bills downed the Miami Dolphins 21-18 at Rich Stadium.

Carson Long kicked a 38 yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining to give the Bills the win.

O.J. Simpson was held to 54 yards on 19 carries, but he did slash his way into the endzone from 4 yards out to put Buffalo on top with less than five minutes in the 4th quarter.

Garo Yepremian tied the game with a 37 yard field goal with just under a minute to play, but the Bills were to counter as Roland Hooks caught a short pass out of the backfield from Joe Ferguson and raced 30 yards into Dolphin territory.

Hooks finished with 5 catches for 80 yards to lead the Bills.

Gary Davis ran for 105 yards to lead Miami.

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1977 Miami	7	2	3	6	0	18
1977 Buffalo	0	3	7	11	0	21

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	6:15	1977 Miami	N.Moore 8 yd. pass from B.Griese (G.Yepremian kick)	7-0 MIA
2	4:39	1977 Buffalo	C.Long 40 yd. field goal	7-3 MIA
2	1:00	1977 Miami	Safety, S.Towle makes a tackle in the end zone.	9-3 MIA
3	6:04	1977 Buffalo	J.Holland 15 yd. pass from J.Ferguson (C.Long kick)	10-9 BUA
3	1:47	1977 Miami	G.Yepremian 26 yd. field goal	12-10 MIA
4	10:11	1977 Miami	G.Yepremian 34 yd. field goal	15-10 MIA
4	4:48	1977 Buffalo	O.Simpson 4 yd. run (B.Chandler Pass)	18-15 BUA
4	0:52	1977 Miami	G.Yepremian 37 yd. field goal	18-18 BUA
4	0:08	1977 Buffalo	C.Long 38 yd. field goal	21-18 BUA

Team Statistics
	1977 Miami	1977 Buffalo
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	14-4-0-18	6-7-0-13
Third Down Efficiency	4-11-36%	5-14-36%
Fourth Down Efficiency	0-0-0%	1-2-50%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	13-35-37%	14-21-67%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	369-61-6.0	275-56-4.9
Total Net Yards Rushing	279	87
Total Rushes	42	31
Average Per Rush	6.6	2.8
Passes Completed/Attempted	8/16 (50.0%)	13/25 (52.0%)
Net Yards Passing	90	188
Avg Yards Per Pass	7.3	7.5
Sacked/Yards Lost	3/27	0/0
Punts/Average	4/40.8	5/41.8
Punts Received/Return Yardage	5/10	2/13
Kickoffs/Returns	6/125	5/105
Interceptions/Returns	0/0	0/0
Penalties/Yards	0/0	0/0
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	6/4	2/1
Time of Possession	31 mins 10 secs	28 mins 50 secs
Average Drive Start	MIA 39	BUA 22

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1977 Miami
Bob Griese	16	8	117	50.0	7.3	1	6.3	0	0	46	3/27	95.1
1977 Buffalo
Joe Ferguson	25	13	188	52.0	7.5	1	4.0	0	0	56	0/0	90.1

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1977 Miami
Gary Davis	15	105	7.0	27	0	0	0/0
Benny Malone	9	76	8.4	26	0	0	0/0
Norm Bulaich	9	66	7.3	17	0	0	0/0
Leroy Harris	5	16	3.2	5	0	0	0/0
Don Nottingham	2	16	8.0	15	0	0	0/0
Bob Griese	2	0	0.0	0	0	0	2/2
1977 Buffalo
O.J. Simpson	19	54	2.8	16	1	0	0/0
Jim Braxton	6	15	2.5	6	0	0	0/0
Joe Ferguson	3	15	5.0	14	0	0	0/0
Roland Hooks	3	3	1.0	2	0	0	1/1

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1977 Miami
Nat Moore	4	71	17.8	46	1	0
Andre Tillman	2	19	9.5	14	0	0
Duriel Harris	2	27	13.5	19	0	0
1977 Buffalo
Roland Hooks	5	80	16.0	30	0	0
O.J. Simpson	3	20	6.7	10	0	0
Paul Seymour	2	7	3.5	6	0	0
John Holland	1	15	15.0	15	1	0
Jim Braxton	1	10	10.0	10	0	0
Bob Chandler	1	56	56.0	56	0	1

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1977 Miami
Garo Yepremian	0/0	1/1	2/2	0/0	0/0	3/3	100
1977 Buffalo
Carson Long	0/0	0/0	1/2	1/1	0/0	2/3	66.7

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1977 Miami
Mike Michel	4	40.8	32.5	1	3	47	0
1977 Buffalo
Marv Bateman	5	41.8	39.8	0	1	55	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1977 Miami
Freddie Solomon	3	54	18.0	31	0
Gary Davis	2	50	25.0	33	0
Andre Tillman	1	21	21.0	21	0
1977 Buffalo
Keith Moody	3	50	16.7	20	0
John Kimbrough	2	55	27.5	30	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1977 Miami
Freddie Solomon	5	0	10	2.0	16	0
1977 Buffalo
John Kimbrough	1	0	6	6.0	6	0
Keith Moody	1	0	7	7.0	7	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1977 Miami
Kim Bokamper	8	0	0
Vern Den Herder	5	0	0
Norris Thomas	5	0	0
Steve Towle	5	0	0
Larry Gordon	4	0	2
Bob Baumhower	4	0	0
Bob Matheson	4	0	0
Tim Foley	3	0	0
Charles Cornelius	1	0	1
Vern Roberson	1	0	0
Curtis Johnson	1	0	0
A.J. Duhe	1	0	0
1977 Buffalo
Merv Krakau	13	1	1
Mario Clark	8	0	0
Dwight Harrison	6	0	0
Mike Kadish	5	1	0
Tony Greene	5	0	0
Shane Nelson	4	0	0
Sherman White	3	0	0
Ben Williams	2	1	0
Doug Jones	2	0	0
Dan Jilek	2	0	1
Keith Moody	1	0	0
Bill Dunstan	1	0	0
Mike Collier	0	0	1
Bob Chandler	0	0	1
John Kimbrough	0	0	1