European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday december 10, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 21 sports the wild wild acc West raiders prevail 17-14 in of shootout with Broncos Denver a Howie Long. The Angeles raid ers All pro defensive end had chased in vain after elusive Denver quarterback John All afternoon. "1 must have come within two or three inches of him Diphl or nine said an exhausted Long. He kept getting away. That s inc sign of a Greal finally in overtime sunday at snowy mile High Siadi us. Long sacked Elway. To Cammal Greg Townsend a Howie Lone i cd a sni ii second Lair. Knocking the Ball Loose and own Send Tell on the Fumble at the Denver 8-Yard line. On the next play Chri i Bahr drilled a 26-Yard Field goal 4 55 Inlo overtime giving the raiders a 17-14 National football league Victory that boosted the raiders playoff Hopes and severely damaged Denver s. I was t trying to Knock the Ball out i was just trying to sack him and give our offence Good Field position said Townsend. The Ball squirted on the ground. 1 fell Down hoping i could gel of the ill fated Fumble Elway said. I Don t know what happened. I saw everyone coming at me. The Ball was Slippery from the Snow and the wind was blowing and 1 was just trying Roget a grip on it As i Gol Bahr s Field goal capped a Gutty Raider comeback from a 14-0 halftime deficit in a bitterly fought game that featured nine turnovers five by los Angeles and 18 pen allies nine by each Cam. Thai s what football is All about said Raider coach jets whip Bills 27-7, stay in playoff race Tom Flores. It s Ama my to play the same learn in three weeks and gel two overtimes los a Pelcs won the pre Vious meeting 31-28 in of. It was t something we had planned on. But we have a tradition for gelling up for big games especially voc Riim Marcus Allen led the Raider offence Rushing for 135 Yards his seventh straight 100 Yard performance. He scored inc lying touchdown in the third Quarter. Denver coach Dan Reeves admitted to a miscommunication at the Start of overtime. Light Snow was falling As the Broncos won the toss and Captain Barney Chavous elected to receive. We wanted to defend the South goal Reeves said. We thought with the wind and Snow blowing right in their face we could pin them Down and make it difficult for them to move the football. I la take inc blame for the Denver Nevei was Bulc to move past its own 20-Yard line in overtime. Congratulations to inc raiders said Reeves. They played Well and deserved the Victory. We said All week Long that we d have to be Able to run inc Ball to win and we did the Broncos Mana cd n7 cards it Shing on ? ? will the Victory. Inc raiders their record i 10-4, pained sole Possession of first plate in the Ai c West and claimed the tiebreaker in Case of a deadlock for the division title. The Broncos fell in 9-5 and. Ill two games remaining face an Uphill to make the playoffs. Los Angeles rallied from the halftime deficit with a pair of third period scores. Marc Wilson parsed 3 Yards to Light end Todd Christensen for inc firm Raider score Wilh h.3i left in the period. Less than four minutes later following a Mark play pcs incr Eplion. Allen dashed 15 Yards for inc lying to. The raiders threatened three More limes in the fourth Quarter but a pair of Dennis Smith interceptions ended the scoring chances. Christensen dropped a third Down pass at the Bronco 25 to thwart he Oral threat. Denver put together two Long scoring drives for its two first half ads. Elway capped \ 77-Yard, id play drive in the first period Wilh a 5-Yard to loss to Light end James Wright. Bolh quarterbacks suffered turnovers Al inc hands of aggressive defences. Wilson passes were picked off four times three of them by Smith and also had the fumbled snap late in the first half. was intercepted three times and had the one crucial Fumble. Orchard Park . A new York jets tackle Marvin Powell said his team treated sunday s game As if it were a playoff since the jets opponents the Buffalo Bills Haven t been confused Wilh a playoff team for several years now it s nol difficult to figure out who won the game before 23,122 shivering fans at 80,000-seat Rich stadium. Thanks to three Ken o Brien touchdown passes iwo to Mickey Shuler and a 96 Yard bomb to Wesley Walker that was the longest play in jets history the Jeu blistered the Bills 27-7 in a game Between american football conference East rivals. The jets 10-4, stayed even with Miami and new England atop the acc East As the teams enter the final two games of the season. Powell said the jets had Little mar Gin for error coming into the game. If we had lost this game we knew we would be almost out of it said Powell. We treated this game As if it were n play off game and As a purge for the Detroit game a 31-20 loss to the Lions in thanks giving the 2-12 Bills who drove inside the jets 10 on four occasions but Only got an 8-Yard touchdown run from Greg Bell for All their Effort were trying to figure out Why their offence self destructed. It was like there was a big steel Wall in the end on said Buffalo quarterback Bruce Mathison who completed 22 of 39 passes for 357 Yards. It s like studying real hard getting As on the quizzes and then getting a b on the final o Brien completed 25 of 40 passes for 370 Yards. He threw touchdown passes of 20 and 2 Yards to Shuler and the 96-Yard bomb to Walker. Johnny Hector scored the other Jcu touchdown on a 12-Yard run. The Bills the nil s lowest scoring team had three Long drives stopped by turnovers one coming on a Fumble when they were on inc jets i and another coming when Mathison s pass from the jets 4 As intercepted in the end zone. Re Dato Tomets tight end Mickey Shuler. Gnu cd in two touchdown passes against Bills nil payoff Jumble coming into focus by he associated press Only the Chicago bears have clinched a berth in the National football league playoffs after sunday s games although the los Angeles rams could assure themselves of at least a wild card spot with a Victory monday night Over the san Francisco 49ers. The bears Wilh a 13-1 record have clinched the National conference Central division title. They will play Host to All of their postseason games. Elsewhere in the pfc Dallas can Clinch the East can division Wilh a Victory at Home next sunday against the new York giants. A cowboys Triumph would give them a one game Lead with one week to play plus two game sweeps Over their two competitors for the title Washington and new York in the event any of the teams finish with the same record. The giants can win the division Wilh a Victory Over the cowboys and a loss by Washington in either of its last two games. New York needs the redskins to lose because in the event of a three Way lie Between Dallas Washington and the giants the cowboys win the tie breaker because of a better record among those three teams. Washington Only has a Chance to win the division if the giants and cowboys tie. The redskins however could still earn a wild card berth. Minnesota Detroit and Green Bay each have mathematical chances to win wild card berths in the pfc Central. If san Francisco beats the rams on monday night it would eliminate Green Bay As Well As Philadelphia. If the rams win. They Clinch at least a wild card but not the division. If 49crs lose monday they could still win the division by winning their last two games pro Viding the rams lose the last two. In the american conference the los Angeles raid ers can Clinch the West Wilh a win in either of their last two games because they beat Denver twice. Denver would win the Lille a Lonj a it has a a incr record than los Angeles. Seal Lac can still win if inc so Hawks win their last iwo inc raiders lose iwo and Denver loses at least one. Pittsburgh Cincinnati and Cleveland All have a Chance to win the Central division but none a Chance for a wild card. In the East a new England win at Miami next monday night and a new York jets loss in either fits " last two games will give new England the title because the patriots win the tiebreaker if All three should end at 11-5. If there s a two Way tic with either team the patriots again assuming a Victory Over Miami Mon Flay beat Miami twice and have a better division re Cord Over jets. Neither the jets nor Miami can Clinch the division next weekend. The jets Miami and new England Allare 10-4
