Bills’ Kelly Goes Home to Houston and Loses

The Houston Oilers enjoyed welcoming Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly, a Houston resident, home for the holidays.

The Oilers gave Kelly six sacks worth 43 yards in losses and Tony Zendejas kicked field goals of 26, 51 and 22 yards to lead the Oilers to a 16-7 season-ending victory Sunday.

Kelly, in turn, set a club record for single-season completions but the Oiler defense harassed the former Houston Gambler quarterback throughout the game.

“We feel this is our backyard now and we showed him that,” Oiler linebacker Johnny Meads said. “I got keyed up going against the hometown boy here. We’ve been holding good quarterbacks down all year.”

An interception by Steve Brown set up a Zendejas field goal and Robert Abraham recovered a Kelly fumble.

“From the start, we didn’t catch the football,” Kelly said. “Then I fumbled and overthrew a lot of receivers.”

Kelly said the Oiler defense lived up to its aggressive reputation.

“We realized they would put pressure on us with their blitzes,” he said. “Sometimes we picked it up and sometimes we didn’t.”

The Oilers, who had an eight-game losing streak in a disappointing season, closed out their season with four victories in their final seven games.

“I was so happy with the players after the bad start,” Houston Coach Jerry Glanville said. “Nobody was going anywhere but nobody was surrendering.”

Houston quarterback Warren Moon, who had 26 interceptions this season, finished with no thefts in the final two games.

“We played consistent offense finally,” Moon said. “The start of the season was OK and the middle was terrible. We finally got to the point of our strength, the wide open plays.”

The Bills closed out their season with a 4-12 record, while the Oilers finished at 5-11 with two straight victories.

Zendejas finished the season with 22 field goals. His 51-yarder, which followed a 38-yard interception return by Houston cornerback Steve Brown, was his longest of the season.