Thomas Takes Ball, Bills Take Steelers : AFC: He gets the call 41 times from Kelly, outruns Foster and leads Buffalo out of its slump with a 28-20 victory.

Barry Foster got most of the hype. Thurman Thomas got most of the yards.

Thomas, the NFL’s all-purpose yardage leader for the past three seasons, outplayed Foster Sunday to lead the Buffalo Bills past the Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-20.

Thomas carried a career-high 37 times for 155 yards and a touchdown, and added 30 yards on four catches.

“Any time you get two top rushing teams together, they want to outdo each other,” Thomas said. “It’s the same way with me and Barry today. It does get you motivated knowing you’re playing against one of the best backs in the National Football League.”

Foster finished with 77 yards in 22 carries and had four catches for 36 yards. He was held to 25 yards in nine carries during the first half, when Buffalo built a 21-6 lead.

“We really dug a hole,” Foster said. “We really couldn’t execute in the first half. They put up 21 points real quick in the first half and you can’t win like that against a good team like Buffalo.”

Buffalo (7-2), which slumped after opening the season with a four-game winning streak during which the Bills averaged 38 points a game, quickened the tempo in the first half with its no-huddle offense.

A fumble by Andre Reed at the Steelers’ 18 after a pass from Jim Kelly ended Buffalo’s first drive. But the Bills moved downfield again on their next possession, scoring when Kelly found James Lofton wide open for a 22-yard touchdown pass.

The Steelers (6-3) answered with Gary Anderson’s 28-yard field goal, but the Bills scored touchdowns on their next two drives. Kelly threw a two-yard touchdown pass to tackle Mitch Frerotte, who was lined up at tight end, and Thomas ran one yard for a score.

Kelly, who completed 26 of 33 passes for 290 yards, routed the Bills’ offense through Thomas, who was involved in 23 of Buffalo’s 48 plays in the first half.

“When (Thomas) is hot like that, you want to give him the ball all the time,” Bills’ center Kent Hull said.

The Steelers didn’t collapse. They came back on their opening drive of the second half and made it 21-13 when Neil O’Donnell connected with Ernie Mills on a 12-yard touchdown pass play.

The Bills countered, taking advantage of a mix-up in the Steeler secondary when Kelly once again found Lofton wide open on a 45-yard touchdown pass play.

“There had to be a dropped coverage for him to be that open,” Bills’ Coach Marv Levy said. “No one gives you none-on-one coverage.”

Pittsburgh cut the lead to 28-20 when O’Donnell hooked up with Merrill Hoge for an 11-yard touchdown pass play at the end of the third quarter.

Then the Buffalo defense stiffened. The Steelers went three plays and out on their next two possessions and the Bills ended up with the ball on offense for the game’s final 8:04.

“It was 28-20 with 12 minutes left in the game,” Steelers’ cornerback Rod Woodson said. “The defense needed to play some football and we didn’t do that.”

Steeler Coach Bill Cowher said he’s seen the Bills’ offense score easily “on a lot of football teams and they did it to us today. We were in a situation where we were back on our heels all day.”

The Bills play the Dolphins a week from tonight at Miami. The Dolphins beat Buffalo, 37-10, earlier this season at Rich Stadium.