Kelly Is Sharp, but Bills Lose, 28-24 : O’Brien Throws Two Touchdown Passes to Lead Jets

Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly wasn’t a winner in his NFL debut, but his coach, Hank Bullough, sure wasn’t complaining about Kelly’s performance in a 28-24 loss to the New York Jets Sunday in front of a Rich Stadium record crowd of 79,951.

“The biggest thing you have to remember about Kelly is that he’s only been in uniform three weeks,” Bullough said. “No quarterback can learn a whole playbook in three weeks.”

Kelly, the former United States Football League star who signed a five-year contract worth $8 million with Buffalo last month, completed 20 of 33 passes for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns.

“I wanted to win this game so bad because Buffalo has had 2-14 seasons the last couple of years,” Kelly said. “We have to keep one thing in our minds, that’s that we can win. I’m not downplaying the defense at all, but they have to get the ball back for us so we can score.”

The Bills defense got burned for two big pass plays that went for touchdowns, and both plays involved gambles.

On the first, the Bills were caught in a blitz that left veteran cornerback Charles Romes one-on-one with speedy Jet wide receiver Al Toon, who easily beat Romes to take a 46-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ken O’Brien.

“If you’re going to blitz, Al Toon is a big horse out there,” said O’Brien, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 318 yards and 2 touchdowns. “Everybody rushed me. I don’t know how I got rid of the ball so quickly.”

Toon’s second-quarter score made it 14-7, and the other big play, a 71-yard scoring pass play from O’Brien to Wesley Walker in the fourth quarter, made it 28-17. Buffalo cornerback Derrick Burroughs went for the interception and missed.

Following Walker’s score, Kelly drove the Bills 53 yards to a touchdown, passing four yards to tight end Pete Metzelaars to make it 28-24.

The Jets were able to keep the ball away from Buffalo for the final five minutes, however, and New York Coach Joe Walton said he was “glad to get out of here with a win.”

Walton and the other Jets said they were impressed by Kelly’s poise. He was sacked only once.

Jet defensive end Mark Gastineau said: “He’s an excellent athlete and a great quarterback. His toughness was a bit of a surprise, but the biggest surprise was the way he scrambled out of the pocket and took advantage of the situation.”

The Jets’ other touchdowns came on a two-yard run by Tony Paige and a one-yard run by Johnny Hector, while Kelly’s touchdown passes to Metzelaars, Andre Reed and Greg Bell were supplemented by a Scott Norwood field goal.