First half Houston dominated the game early, as quarterback
Warren Moon completed 19 of 22 passes for 218 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first half; Moon had only played in the second quarter of the previous game against the Bills after missing five straight games due to injury. The Oilers held the ball for 21:12, keeping the Bills' high-powered offense off the field for most of the first two quarters. On the opening drive of the first quarter, Moon completed 6 of 7 passes on an 80-yard scoring drive that took over 9 minutes off the clock and ended it with his first touchdown throw to wide receiver
Haywood Jeffires for 3 yards to give the Oilers a 7–0 lead. Buffalo responded on their ensuing drive, as
Kenneth Davis returned the kickoff 33 yards to the 44-yard line. Reich subsequently led the Bills to the Oilers 18-yard line where
Steve Christie made a 36-yard field goal, to cut the score to 7–3. But Moon struck right back, leading the Oilers on a second quarter scoring drive that was nearly identical to their first one, completing 6 of 7 passes on another 80-yard drive and finishing it with a 7-yard touchdown pass to
Webster Slaughter. Then after forcing the Bills to a
three-and-out, Moon threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to
Curtis Duncan. Later on, with 1:15 left in the half, the Oilers drove for another touchdown, aided by an encroachment call against the Bills on fourth down and 1. Moon completed the drive with his second touchdown pass to Jeffires, this one a 27-yarder, and the Oilers went into their locker room with a 28–3 halftime lead.
Second half In the Bills' locker room, Defensive Coordinator
Walt Corey angrily chided the defense. "I was hollering the same things the fans were hollering at me when we left the field", Corey says. "I can't repeat the words, but the more I talked, the louder I got. The thing that bothered me was their approach. To me, they looked timid. They looked like they were going to get in the right spots, but they weren't going to make anything happen afterward. This is an attitude game. Sometimes you start playing and you're afraid to make things happen or afraid to make a mistake." Nose Tackle
Jeff Wright recalled "With every word that came out of Walt's mouth, he reached a new temperature level, until he finally just exploded. He had every right to say the things that he said. We were embarrassing him, we were embarrassing ourselves, we were embarrassing Buffalo Bills fans." Meanwhile, head coach
Marv Levy told his team, "You've got thirty more minutes. Maybe it's the last thirty minutes of your season. When your season's over, you're going to have to live with yourselves and look yourselves in the eyes. You'd well better have reason to feel good about yourselves, regardless of how this game turns out."
Steve Tasker praised the "brilliance in his simplicity ... We had been in two Super Bowls, and he appealed to our pride. It wound up working". Reminding Reich about his comeback while at Maryland, Kelly said "maybe lightning will strike twice" as the team began the second half. At the time, the NFL did not have any replay challenge system to challenge the call. The extra point made the score 35–17 with 7:46 left in the third quarter. Houston was then forced to punt for the first time in the game on their next drive, and
Greg Montgomery's 25-yard kick gave Buffalo the ball at their own 41-yard line. Reich started out the ensuing drive with an 18-yard completion to
James Lofton. Davis gained 20 yards on a screen pass and then Reich threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Reed, trimming the lead (after making the extra point) to 35–24. In a span of 10 minutes in the third quarter, the Bills had run 18 plays, gained 176 yards, and scored 21 points, while holding the Oilers' offense to 3 plays for 3 yards. The situation did not get any better for Houston. On the first play of the Oilers' ensuing possession, Moon's pass was tipped off the hands of Slaughter; Bills' safety
Henry Jones intercepted the pass from Moon and returned it 15 yards to the Houston 23-yard line. Three plays later, Buffalo faced fourth down and five on the 18-yard line. Rather than attempt a field goal, Reich connected with Reed for the touchdown. With the score (including the extra point), the Bills had cut their deficit from 32 points to four in a span of just 6:52. On the Oilers' next drive, linebacker
Darryl Talley forced a fumble from Moon while sacking him. Houston recovered the fumble, but they were forced to punt, and Montgomery's 24-yard kick gave Buffalo the ball at its 48-yard line. In the third quarter, Buffalo had outscored Houston 28–7 while holding Moon to 2 of 7 completions for 19 yards. This time, the Bills could not take advantage of their excellent starting field position and had to punt. Moon's run and shoot offense began to move the ball effectively again, aided by a roughing the passer penalty on
Bruce Smith that negated linebacker
Carlton Bailey's interception. Despite two sacks by Wright on the drive, Houston reached the Buffalo 14-yard line.
Al Del Greco attempted a field goal to increase the Oilers' lead, but Montgomery fumbled the snap. Talley recovered the ball and returned it 70 yards, but officials ruled him down by contact when he made the initial recovery, giving Buffalo the ball on their own 26-yard line. After two plays, the Bills faced third down and four. With Houston's defense dropping back and expecting a pass, Reich handed the ball off to Davis, who stormed through the line and took off for a 35-yard gain. Only a diving tackle from defensive back
Steve Jackson prevented Davis from taking it all the way for a touchdown. Then Reich went back to passing the ball, completing a short pass to Reed at the Oilers' 17-yard line on third down and two for the first down. With just 3:08 left in the fourth quarter, Reich threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Reed, giving Buffalo its first lead of the game 38–35 (after the extra point); for the first time all season, the Houston defense (ninth in fewest points allowed that season) had allowed over 29 points. But Moon led Houston downfield on a 63-yard drive to score the tying 26-yard field goal from Del Greco to send the game into overtime. A key play on the drive was an 18-yard completion to Slaughter on fourth down and four from the Bills' 34-yard line.
Overtime Houston won the coin toss and got the ball at its 20-yard line. Moon started out the drive with two completions for 7 yards, but his 50th pass attempt of the day turned out to be his last. On third down and three, Moon threw a pass intended for Ernest Givins five yards downfield. Givins was not able to get to the ball and it ended up further downfield into the arms of defensive back
Nate Odomes for an interception. After a 2-yard return, Jeffires committed a 15-yard facemask penalty while making the tackle, giving Buffalo a first down on Houston's 20-yard line. Game commentators examined the replay and strongly asserted that Givins was held on the play by Darryl Talley. However, the referees assessed no holding penalty against Buffalo, so they retained possession. After two runs by Davis, Christie kicked a 32-yard field goal to give Buffalo the win, 41–38. Reich finished the game with 21 of 34 pass completions for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 1 interception. Reed had 8 catches for 136 yards and 3 touchdowns. Davis rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 2 passes for 25 yards and returning a kickoff for 33. Moon recorded 36 of 50 completions for 371 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions. His 36 completions set a playoff record that stood until broken by
Drew Brees's 39 completions in 2010, and then broken again by
Ben Roethlisberger in 2020 with 47 completions. Givins caught 9 passes for 117 yards. Jeffires recorded 8 catches for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns. ==Aftermath==