NFL PLAYOFFS : Bill Defense Chops Chiefs Down to Size : AFC: Buffalo stifles Kansas City running game in 37-14 victory. Kelly throws three touchdown passes.

Linebacker Shane Conlan led Buffalo’s defense in tackles this season, but after Sunday’s one-sided performance by the Bills, he felt left out.

Buffalo put the brakes on Kansas City’s rushing attack in a 37-14 AFC semifinal victory in Rich Stadium before 80,182, but by Conlan’s account, he had been little more than a spectator.

“How good were we playing?” Conlan said. “Our defensive line was doing such a great job that many times I’d get in untouched, but the play was already over. You know, it’s frustrating to be a linebacker and not be able to hit anyone.”

The Chiefs had rushed for 247 yards during a 33-6 victory over the Bills on Oct. 7, but before they crossed the 50-yard line Sunday, they were trailing, 24-0.

“We just stuffed them,” nose tackle Jeff Wright said.

The Bills, who were buoyed by the return of Wright and defensive end Bruce Smith, who did not play in the loss in Kansas City, limited the Chiefs to 77 yards in 24 rushes. After controlling the ball for more than 44 minutes in the earlier game, the Chiefs were left to stumble on offense for 25:51.

“Today we were playing with a loaded deck on defense,” Bill defensive lineman Leon Seals said. “And with 80,000 screaming fans behind us, not much is going to be able to hold us back.”

Throw in quarterback Jim Kelly and a no-huddle attack that has averaged 44 points in its last three playoff games, and Kansas City is left with its worst non-strike loss since falling to Seattle, 43-14, on Sept. 20, 1987.

“Clearly, it’s a damn fine Buffalo football team,” Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “It’s a real disappointment for our entire organization to come in here and not perform any better than we did.”

The Bills (14-3) started slowly, but when Kelly detected man-to-man coverage on wide receiver Andre Reed late in the first quarter, the scoring began.

“It was an audible,” Kelly said of his first touchdown pass. “The running game was sputtering, so we thought we had to loosen them up a little bit with the deep ball.”

Kelly beat a Chief blitz with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Reed, who had raced past cornerback Jayice Pearson down the sideline. Kelly came back to Reed in the second quarter, and Reed fooled Pearson one-on-one again for a 53-yard touchdown.

“The second touchdown was going to be a running play, but Jim saw the coverage he liked,” said Reed, who caught four passes for 100 yards. “My job was just to beat the guy and run to the post. Those kind of routes are in our game plan every week, but we just happened to catch them at the right time.”

Kelly completed 23 of 35 passes for 273 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Chiefs had the ball six times in the first half and on each occasion were forced to punt. Their best advance was to the 50.

“Everyone in the world knew we were going to run the ball,” said Chief running back Barry Word, who gained 50 yards on 15 carries. “When someone shuts down your running game, you have to be able to do something else.”

When the Chiefs tried to pass, they were confronted with a problem of a different sort. Steve DeBerg, who completed five of nine passes for 22 yards, was forced from the game during the second quarter because of stretched thumb ligaments after he slammed his right hand on Wright’s helmet while trying to throw.

DeBerg might undergo surgery today, while the Bills make preparations for an AFC Championship shootout with John Elway and the Denver Broncos Sunday. Buffalo scored three touchdowns in 77 seconds during the fourth quarter to defeat Denver, 29-28, here last year.

“The difference between Elway and DeBerg and (Mark Vlasic) is like night and day,” Seals said. “He’s (Elway) a heck of a player, and they have a heck of a team.”

Kansas City had to play Vlasic in place of DeBerg. Vlasic had more interceptions--four--than completions at one point before finishing nine for 20 for 124 yards.

“When you get out there and there isn’t any rhythm and you make some mistakes, you’re going to end up going in the other direction,” Vlasic said. “I just made some bad decisions. Maybe it was because I was feeling like I had to force it.”

Kansas City cornerback Kevin Ross was in position to make Vlasic’s afternoon more meaningful shortly before halftime, but on his way to returning an interception 65 yards for a touchdown, he left the ball behind.

Ross had stepped in front of Bill receiver Don Beebe at the Chiefs’ 35, with a clear path to the end zone, but he could not get a grip on Kelly’s pass.

“I told him after he dropped it, ‘I’m glad you did, because I was going to have to catch you,’ ” said Beebe, who caught a game-high six passes for 77 yards. “If he had scored, that would have definitely given them some momentum.”

Instead, the Bills took a 17-0 halftime lead on Scott Norwood’s 33-yard field goal with two seconds remaining. Norwood, who missed a 47-yarder in the closing seconds of Buffalo’s 20-19 Super Bowl XXV defeat by the Giants last season, added field goals of 20 and 47 yards during the fourth quarter.

The Chiefs were unable to mount a second-half threat, but Buffalo continued on the attack with Kelly completing a 10-yard touchdown pass to James Lofton.

“It was just a matter of getting the time to throw,” Kelly said. “That’s why the game balls went to the offensive line.”

The Chiefs moved into Buffalo territory for the first time with 5:34 remaining in the third quarter. Linebacker Lonnie Marts intercepted Kelly’s pass at the Kansas City 45 and returned it to the Bills’ 43. The Chiefs scored on Word’s three-yard run, but trailed, 24-7.

“After losing to the Chiefs in Kansas City, this was a game for respect,” Bill safety Leonard Smith said. “When we played there that ‘chop-chop’ their fans do drove me crazy. Hey, the Bills drove them crazy today.”

Once the Bills were in control, they turned the game over to running back Thurman Thomas and his backup, Kenneth Davis. Thomas ran 22 times for 100 yards, the fourth consecutive time in the post-season he has hit 100 or more. Davis added 75 yards in 19 carries, including a fourth-quarter, five-yard touchdown run.

“Because of the tremendous potency in the Kansas City running game, I think there was a feeling by many outside observers that only one team in the game had a running game,” Buffalo Coach Marv Levy said. “That wasn’t the case.”