Previous Games Pre#1: Denver Pre#2: at San Diego Pre#3: Dallas Pre#4: at K.C. #1: New Orleans #2: Minnesota

Game #3: Buffalo Bills 9/20/98 We Got One!!! The Rams came back from a 28-10 second half deficit last Sunday, playing on the road in Buffalo, to steal a scintillating 34-33 victory from the now 0 & 3 Bills. The situation looked bleak in the second half... trailing by 18 points after two quick Buffalo TD's to open the half. The Rams fought back amidst a flurry of turnovers, broken plays, miscues, injuries, and downright bad luck. Each time they seized the momentum, something unforseen happened to swing it back the other way. The Rams struggled to get going in the first half, as has been the case in all of their games thusfar. Greg Hill was the lone bright spot in an ugly first half. Hill finnished with 158 yards and 2 TD's on 19 carries, including an awesome 46 yard run that took the Rams from their own two yard line and initiated a 98 yard touchdown drive. His NFC Player of the Week performance was bittersweet, as he was knocked from the game and perhaps the season late in the second half when he was tackled for a safety by Bills 350 lb DT Ted Washington. Washington rolled him up, twisted his leg back and breaking his fibula. Greg is expected to miss 8-10 weeks, and Vermeil will make a decision as to whether to place him on the IR next week. If he does so, Hill will miss the rest of the season. Hill scored his first touchdown of the game on the same drive to give the Rams a 10-7 lead, their first of the season, but it was shortlived. On their next possession just before the half, Buffalo took advantage of the Rams porous run defense, moving the ball up the field and taking a 14-10 lead into the half. Vermeil did not try to get anymore ponts in the closing seconds of the first half, because he was confident that the Rams could move the ball on the Bills and win the game in the second. But the second half started very ugly for the Rams. The Vikings moved the ball up the field and scored on their opening drive to stretch the lead. Tony Banks threw an interception on the Rams first play of the half after the ensuing kickoff, and Bills QB Rob Johnson hit TE Jay Riemersma for a 16 yard touchdown on the very next play. Buffalo 28, RAMS 10. Not exactly what Vermeil had in mind at halftime. Things looked pretty bleak at that point, as the Rams were trying to comeback on the road from 18 down without their top offensive threat WR, Ike Bruce. But Greg Hill led the Rams back, and LB Mike A. Jones chipped in an interception to cut the Bills lead to 8 points. The Rams D finally began to stiffen up and held the Bills to 3 and out on the ensuing possession, but disaster struck again on the punt, as Ryan McNeil was pushed into Eddie Kennison who was calling for a fair catch. The Bills recovered the ball and the momentum, although the Rams defense refused to give up. They held them to a field goal. The Rams battled back again and cut the Bills lead to just 3 points on Greg Hill's second touchdown and a masterful call by offensive coordinator Jerry Rhome, spreading the field and slipping the ball to Amp Lee up the middle for the two point conversion. Bills 31, Rams 28 ... it was a ballgame once again. The Rams defense stood tall and held the Bills again, and they seemed to be on the verge of cruising to victory when MLB Eric Hill knocked Bills QB Rob Johnson from the game on a QB sneak with about 9 minutes left in the fourth. Johnson was the third starting quarterback that the Rams have KO'd in as many weeks. But disaster struck again... the Bills downed the ball on the Rams half yard line on the punt, and on the very next play, RB Greg Hill, in the midst of a career day, was rolled up in the endzone by Washington, and had to be carted from the field. Buffalo had extended its lead to 33-28, and would get the ball back on the free kick. The Rams D stopped them once again when it counted, and Tony Banks and the rams offense took the field at their own 20 yard line with just over 3 minutes to go in the game. They were without Isaac Bruce, they were without Greg hill, and they were without doubt. The Drive Banks led the Rams up the field methodically, focussing on RB Amp Lee and WR Rickey Proehl as his primary targets. He found Lee around midfield early in the drive, but had crossed the line of scrimmage, losing the yardage as well as the down. He didn't waiver, he stepped up on 3rd and 15 and found Proehl in the middle of the field for the first down. He hit Proehl twice on slant patterns to the center of the field... each for 15-20 yard gains. With the clock running down, he would again find Amp Lee hovering in the center of the field, and Lee ambled all the way down to the Bills 2 yard line. After a two yard loss by Jerald Moore, and an interference call against the Bills, Banks stepped up to the line with 17 seconds on the clock... and threw the monkey from his back... Banks dropped back, surveying the field, before pulling the ball down and heading for the endzone as he done just a week before against the Vikings and been stopped cold on the one foot line as time expired... ...but this time he got in. Atta Boy Tony!!! Final Score: Rams 34, Bills 33 Up Next: Arizona Peace, FastEddie HOME