Flutie Fails to Pull Off Another Miracle

Even magicians run out of tricks. Doug Flutie ran out of luck--and receivers too.

With Eric Moulds sidelined for the final drive, the Buffalo quarterback watched one pass slip through a receiver’s fingers and another get intercepted by Eric Turner in the end zone with no time left in the Oakland Raiders’ 20-14 victory over the Bills on Sunday.

“We got a few and had a few slip through our hands,” said Flutie, who completed 19 of 41 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions.

Tyrone Wheatley racked up 97 of his team’s 195 yards rushing in 25 carries and scored two touchdowns on runs of three and 11 yards as Oakland (3-3) ended Buffalo’s four-game winning streak and halted its own losing skid at two games.

The Bills (4-2) matched their lowest scoring output of the season in their worst game since a season-opening 31-14 loss to Indianapolis.

“I’ve been up here eight or nine times and except for one other time, we’ve never been in the game,” Raider receiver Tim Brown said.

The Raiders lost to Buffalo, 44-21, last season.

On the Bills’ final drive Sunday, Flutie connected with rookie Peerless Price for 30 yards and passed to Andre Reed for 14 more to the Oakland 29 with 15 seconds to go.

Two incompletions later, including a pass that went off Price’s fingertips in the end zone, Turner picked Flutie off.

“I wouldn’t call it demoralizing, but we didn’t play well,” Buffalo linebacker Gabe Northern said.

Moulds injured his hamstring with about seven minutes left and will be out three to four weeks. He was immediately missed.

“Eric is the kind of guy that can go up and make a play,” Flutie said. “That’s what I was trying to do on that drive, put the ball in position so someone could make a play.”

Rich Gannon completed 15 of 22 passes for 155 yards with no interceptions, but the Oakland running game produced the winning points: Wheatley scored on an 11-yard run for a 20-7 lead with 10:17 left in the third quarter.

After that, the Bills had a five-play scoring drive, throwing 29 yards to Kevin Williams to the Oakland 12-yard line and passing to Moulds in the end zone on the next play to cut the lead to 20-14 with 13:29 to play.

The Raiders ate up 6:34, but Michael Husted missed a 32-yard field goal, giving the dangerous Flutie one more chance with 59 seconds to play.

“You keep the wonder kid off the field, and you’re going to be all right,” Wheatley said. “You don’t want them to have the ball and [Flutie] to have time to throw.”

The Bills fell short as they targeted Oakland cornerback Charles Woodson on the last drive. “I’ll tell you this,” Woodson said. “You’re not going to beat the Oakland Raiders by coming after me.”

The Raiders, who rushed for only 55 yards against Denver last week after leading the league in rushing with an average of 147.5 yards the first four weeks of the season, ran for 107 yards in the first half against a Buffalo defense that was ranked first in the league against the run.

The Raiders, whose injury-depleted secondary was shredded by Flutie last season, this time intercepted Flutie twice in the first half.