Serious Playoff Run Made by Bills

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Buffalo Bills beat the Arizona Cardinals the old-fashioned way Sunday night, with a smash-it-up-the-middle running attack led by Jonathan Linton.

Then Doug Flutie and Henry Jones finished Buffalo’s 31-21 victory with big plays in the final minutes.

“We proved tonight that we can still run the ball, that we’re still the Buffalo Bills,” said Linton, who ran for 81 yards and a touchdown in 21 carries

Flutie completed 21 of 32 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, including a four-yard strike to Jay Riemersma on third and goal that put Buffalo up, 24-14, with 3:01 to play.

Jake Plummer, ineffective most of the game, threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Rob Moore to make it 24-21 with 1:49 to go. But on the subsequent onside kick, Jones caught the ball on one bounce, got past Arizona’s Mark Maddox and made a 37-yard dash to the end zone for the clinching score with 1:44 left.

“I don’t think I made a play all day but that one,” Jones said, “and it turned out to be a huge one.”

Buffalo (9-5)--a front-runner in the AFC wild-card race--pulled away from a 14-14 halftime tie with a run-oriented offense that had the ball more than 23 minutes of the second half.

Linton, a second-year player pressed into extra duty with Antowain Smith sidelined because of turf toe, gained 60 yards in 16 carries in the second half.

Buffalo used 12 consecutive running plays to set up Steve Christie’s 33-yard field goal for a 17-14 lead with 4:07 left in the third quarter. The 15-play, 60-yard drive used up 9:16.

Buffalo finished with 25 first downs. Arizona (6-8) had 14--only five in the second half.