Kelly’s Rare Run Leads Buffalo Stampede

With the game on the line and the clock running out, Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly decided it was time to score his first National Football League touchdown.

Kelly ran two yards up the middle with no time left for the score, capping the Bills’ rally from an 11-point deficit in the final three minutes to beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-24, Sunday.

Buffalo trailed, 24-20, when Nate Odomes’ second interception of Dan Marino set up the winning drive at the Buffalo 49 with 1:44 left. Kelly hit five of six passes before an incompletion and an offsides penalty against Miami put the ball at the two-yard line with two seconds left.

From shotgun formation, Kelly took three steps back before heading for the end zone. He eluded end Jeff Cross and then dove across the goal line as Louis Oliver and David Frye hit him.

“The play was a pass to the fullback coming out of the backfield,” Kelly said. “I saw the linebacker go with him. I just took off.

“I was hoping I’d make it because I knew if I didn’t, I’d never hear the end of it for the rest of my career.”

It was Kelly’s first rushing touchdown in his 45-game NFL career.

On the Bills’ previous possession, Kelly moved them 82 yards in 76 seconds for a touchdown on a 26-yard pass to Flip Johnson with 2:50 left.

“I don’t think anyone in this (interview) room could have said the Buffalo Bills were going to come back in the last few minutes,” Kelly said. “The only person who knew that was me.”

The victory was Buffalo’s fifth straight over Miami, and the Dolphins have also lost 10 straight games to AFC East teams. The defeat ended their 13-game winning streak in home openers, the longest in the NFL.

“Losing this is about as tough as I can remember,” Miami Coach Don Shula said. “I thought our guys really fought and scratched and deserved to win. . . . It’s just a bitter disappointment.”

Buffalo’s first touchdown came after Odomes stripped the ball from Miami’s Troy Stradford, and linebacker Cornelius Bennett recovered at the Dolphin two-yard line. Larry Kinnebrew scored on the next play for a 10-10 tie in the third quarter.

Miami took a 17-10 lead in the third quarter when Jim Jensen blocked a punt by John Kidd and Marc Logan caught the ball just beyond the goal line. That was the Dolphins’ first touchdown on a blocked punt since 1973.

Andre Brown, a rookie free agent, caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Marino to give Miami a 24-13 lead with 4:17 left. The catch was one of three Brown made on third down in the 73-yard scoring drive.

“We felt good about ourselves,” Dolphin guard Roy Foster said. “We felt real confident. Then it was like this huge building fell on us.”

The Dolphins had a chance to build their lead but committed two turnovers inside the Buffalo 20 in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Odomes intercepted a Marino pass at the 15. The Bills and Dolphins exchanged fumbles on the next two plays, with Buffalo’s Derrick Burroughs recovering a bobble by Stradford at the 11.

Scott Norwood kicked 37- and 34-yard field goals for Buffalo.

Oliver suffered a concussion on the final play. He was admitted to a hospital for observation.