Bills Get Bounces, Dolphins Take Fall : AFC: After trailing, 17-7, at halftime, Buffalo comes alive behind Kelly for a 42-31 victory.

With their playoff hopes dimming, the Buffalo Bills took advantage of several lucky bounces and rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the Miami Dolphins, 42-31, Sunday night.

Jim Kelly threw four touchdown passes, including a 72-yarder to Don Beebe that ignited the comeback in the third quarter, when Buffalo outscored Miami, 21-0.

Andre Reed scored on receptions of 21 and 83 yards, and completed the first pass attempt of his 10-year career to set up another touchdown.

“Maybe they’re just better than us,” Miami quarterback Dan Marino said. “Every time they play us, they just dominate us.”

A loss by the Bills would have pushed the four-time defending AFC champions to the brink of elimination from the playoff race. Instead, they overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit to complete a season sweep of first-place Miami and tighten the AFC East race.

“The game just completely turned around,” Miami Coach Don Shula said. “It keeps them alive.”

Buffalo is 7-6, along with New England. The Dolphins are 8-5.

Miami has been on the verge of ending the Bills’ AFC reign several times in the past. But Buffalo has won 15 of 18 games against the Dolphins since 1987, including eight of nine at Joe Robbie Stadium--site of this season’s Super Bowl.

“Rich Stadium south,” Kelly said. “This was a stepping stone for us. If everyone does their job, there’s no telling what we’re capable of. Everyone knows what we can do. You can’t count the Buffalo Bills out.”

On a rainy night, the ball repeatedly bounced the Bills’ way as they scored 35 points in a 24-minute span. Beebe’s long reception was tipped; Reed dropped the ball, but picked it up before completing a pass to Bill Brooks for a 32-yard gain; Mike Dumas caught teammate Yonel Jourdain’s fumble on a kickoff return and turned it into a 62-yard play to set up another touchdown.

“That ball was bouncing very strangely tonight,” Miami guard Keith Sims said.

“They had a couple of good bounces that helped them, but we have to be able to overcome those sorts of things,” Shula said. “We came apart in that third quarter. It’s really tough to deal with and live with.”

Kelly completed 18 of 28 passes for 299 yards with one interception. Miami’s Dan Marino completed 25 of 42 for 311 yards and three touchdowns but had three passes intercepted.

Buffalo closed to 17-14 on the second play of the second half. Kelly’s long pass deflected off safety Gene Atkins’ hand, allowing Beebe to grab the ball in full stride and continue down the sideline for the touchdown.

“We had some lucky plays,” Buffalo Coach Marv Levy said. “But you’ve got to do something with it after you get the lucky plays.”

The Bills quickly got the ball back on Matt Darby’s interception, and they took a 21-17 lead nine plays later when Kelly connected with Reed for the first time, with Reed beating J.B. Brown on third down for a 21-yard touchdown reception.

After a Miami punt, Reed’s pass to Brooks set up Carwell Gardner’s one-yard touchdown run for a 28-17 Buffalo lead. The drive was sustained by a third-down pass interference penalty against Troy Vincent.

The Dolphins closed to 28-23 when Marino passed to Keith Jackson on a 23-yard touchdown pass play.

But Jourdain and Dumas teamed on the bizarre kickoff return to set up another one-yard touchdown run by Gardner, and Reed beat a blitz for an 83-yard touchdown pass play to clinch the victory.

“It was,” Levy said, “a huge win for us.”