Bills Bounce Back, but Need Late Kick : AFC: Kelly and Thomas lead the way, but Christie’s field goal is the difference in Buffalo’s 38-35 victory. Bledsoe and Patriots are again on the losing end of a shootout.

Steve Christie’s 32-yard field goal with 52 seconds left lifted the Buffalo Bills to a 38-35 victory over the New England Patriots.

“We needed this win against a divisional opponent like New England,” quarterback Jim Kelly said. “We came in thinking it was a must win. You can’t get down 0-2 in this league.”

That’s where the Patriots, who lost their opener, 39-35, in Miami, find themselves after the Buffalo defense slipped and blew a 28-14 halftime lead.

On the winning drive, Kelly led the Bills from their 43-yard line to the New England 15.

The Bills--held to a field goal in a season-opening upset by the New York Jets--got four touchdown passes from Kelly and 106 rushing yards from Thurman Thomas.

So their offense is back, but the defense still must convince doubters that the club can win a fifth consecutive AFC championship.

“They know the season’s going down the tubes if they don’t get going,” New England Coach Bill Parcells said.

They did, but the Patriots had some things going themselves.

Trailing, 35-21, in the fourth quarter, the Patriots capitalized on interceptions on consecutive series to score two touchdowns. The first set up a 12-yard touchdown pass play from Drew Bledsoe to Michael Timpson, and the second led to Marion Butts’ six-yard touchdown run--his second touchdown of the game--with 4:22 left.

Buffalo defensive end Bruce Smith wasn’t surprised that his team had trouble stopping the Patriots.

“I didn’t expect a shootout, but I did expect their team to play well,” Smith said.

The off-season departure of defensive backs Nate Odomes and Mark Kelso and offensive tackle Howard Ballard fueled talk that the Bills, losers of the last four Super Bowls, wouldn’t get a fifth chance.

And the opening 23-3 loss to the Jets added to it. Kelly knew the Bills had to turn their season around quickly.

Buffalo Coach Marv Levy said the Bills also had expectations of themselves to live up to.

“You can’t win games solely on our reputations,” Levy said. “We talked about that. Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith, among our star players, took charge all week.”

Thomas played up to his reputation after gaining five yards in seven carries against the Jets last week. After the first two plays Sunday, he passed his rushing total against the Jets: He had two five-yard gains to start the 80-yard drive that gave Buffalo a 7-0 lead.

“We decided to move at a faster pace. It seems to help us execute better,” he said. “I loved the tempo we set in the first half but we got tired.”

Meanwhile, Bledsoe’s reputation is growing. The top pick in last year’s draft passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns one week after passing for 421 yards and four touchdowns. But Dan Marino had five touchdown passes for the Dolphins.

“I just feel drained,” Bledsoe said. “When you lose by 25 points, you feel embarrassed. A close game like this, anyone can see that one play could have made all the difference. That makes it that much harder to digest.”

Bledsoe couldn’t make it at the end.

He had led the Patriots downfield after getting the ball at his 27-yard line with 46 seconds left and no timeouts.

On third-and-five with 24 seconds left, a four-yard pass to Ben Coates put the ball at the Buffalo 39. With no way to stop the clock, Bledsoe raced to the line of scrimmage and ran for a three-yard sneak as time ran out.

“I should have thrown the ball to the sideline,” he said. “It was a bad decision.”

Bledsoe became the first New England Patriots quarterback with three consecutive 300-yard passing games. His 380 yards against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday followed a 329-yard performance in last year’s finale against Miami and a 421-yard day in this year’s opener against the Dolphins. He has 11 touchdown passes in those three games.

The 70 points the Patriots have scored in their first two games is the most they have scored in the first two games of any season. The previous high was 69 in 1979. Last season, the Patriots scored their 70th point in their fifth game.

Buffalo coasted through the first half as the New England secondary gave up a 37-yard pass play to Andre Reed, a four-yard pass play to Thomas, a 12-yard pass play to Bill Brooks and a 14-yard pass play to Don Beebe. Bledsoe threw two scoring passes to Coates.

Kelly’s four touchdown passes set a Bills team record with 183. Joe Ferguson’s old mark was 181.