Grogan Resurfaces, Leads 14-3 Patriot Win

The Buffalo Bills scored a knockout, but still came up losers.

The Bills put New England quarterback Tony Eason out of the game with a separated left shoulder in the second quarter Sunday, but Steve Grogan came out of exile to lead the Patriots to a 14-3 victory.

“I don’t know if they would have gone to Grogan if the other guy didn’t get hurt,” Buffalo Coach Hank Bullough said.

The Bills (0-6) sacked Eason on three straight plays, sending him to the sidelines on the final sack.

Grogan, who hadn’t played in more than a year, gave the Patriots a 7-3 lead with a 16-yard scoring pass to Irving Fryar in the third period and finished with 15 completions in 19 attempts for 282 yards.

New England had just four first downs on 25 plays with Eason at quarterback and eight on its first 16 with Grogan. The 11-year veteran had lost his job to Eason when he played poorly against Seattle on Sept. 16, 1984.

“Without a doubt, the performance of Steve Grogan was the thing that turned us around,” Patriot Coach Raymond Berry said. “He came into a tough situation and really lifted the football team. Those years of experience really prepared him.”

Berry said Eason would be examined today to determine how long he will be sidelined.

Coaches call the plays for Eason, but Grogan is allowed to call his own.

“I was calling plays the coaches would have called,” Grogan said. “I just asked the guys (his teammates) what they thought would go and they told me.”

Little went well for Buffalo, which suffered its eighth consecutive loss.

“We didn’t play very well,” Bullough said. “We are a better football team than we showed today in some phases of the game. In other phases, we’re about as good as we’re going to get.”

The Patriots (3-3) sealed the verdict when Raymond Clayborn returned an interception of Vince Ferragamo’s pass 27 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth period.

Buffalo, which has lost 22 of its last 24 games, led, 3-0, at halftime on a 47-yard field goal by Scott Norwood with 6:21 gone in the second quarter. Charles Romes had intercepted Eason’s pass to give the Bills the ball at the New England 23-yard line.

Grogan led New England to its go-ahead touchdown by completing passes of 21 yards to Cedric Jones, 12 yards to Fryar and 23 yards Craig James.

On the play after James’ reception, Fryar made a diving catch in the end zone with 3:40 gone in the third quarter.