Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 33

TIMES-ADVOCATE MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1980 D-1 BusinessFinanee Unbeaten teams stand at one less Chargers smothered Rick Partridges punt. Linebacker Lucius Sanford fell on the ball in the end zone to give Buffalo and easy six points. At the end of the first half, Coryell lost track of the downs and elected to kick a field goal on third down instead of taking another crack at a TD. There were 12 seconds left to play when Rolf Bemrschke booted a 29-yard field goal. That was my mistake," Coryell said.

I thought it was fourth down and ordered the field goal. Actually, I wanted the three points very badly and I really didnt care what down it was. I was afraid of throwing an interception in the end zone and not getting any points. Mistakes continued to plague San Diego in the second half. At the start Please see Chargers, D-3 On San Diegos second possession of the game, running back Clarence Williams fumbled the ball away at the Buffalo 40, stopping a budding Charger drive.

The Bills, however, faded to score any points on the exchange of possessions. Early in the second quarter, Buffalo quarterback Joe Ferguson threw into the end zone to Lou Piccone. The pass was closer to the Charger defenders than Piccone, however. Both San Diego safties, Pete Shaw and Glen Edwards, had a shot at intercepting, but they collided and the ball fell harmlessly to the ground. Nick Mike-Mayer took advantage of the turnover that wasnt, and chipped in a 29-yard field.

Two series later, Buffalo safety man Rod Kush breezed through the Charger defense untouched and Happiness is being a Bills' QB Tve got feeling, Ob Ie got feeling the Butfs-lo Bills sre going the Super BowL Song, Joe Ferguson By TERRY MONAHAN T-A Sports Writer SAN DIEGO Right now, the Buffalo Bills have got the feeling. They can do no wrong. After five weeks of the National Football League season, no one boasts a better record, not Pittsburgh or Los Angeles, the Super Bowl finalists last year, not Dallas, not Philadelphia and not San Diego any more. Buffalo, you see, bested the Chargers, 26-24, and, the bad news is, they didnt play all that well either. Neither did the quarterback, Joe Ferguson.

Lets face it, Ferguson ordered. My afternoons work was barely above stinking. I was way off. A 50 percent passer during his career, hitting almost 68 percent this season, Ferguson completed 14 of 28 passes yesterday afternoon for just 129 yards and one touchdown. The one scoring pass he did toss, a nine-yarder to rookie Mark Brammer, brought Buffalo back into a gaipe it later won with a touchdown set by an interception.

and beaten Oakland and San )iego on back-to-back Sundays, said erguson. Im in shock. San Diego gave us some chances to win and we took advantage of them. Therfe was a time when we couldnt take Advantage of a break in a week. Id have to say were for real now," Ferguson stated.

We certainly took a giant step forward. If San Diego isnt the toughest team in this league, then I dont know my own name. There once was a time when the Bills1 fortunes fell and rose on the right arm of Ferguson. An eight-year veteran, Ferguson, drafted on the third round out of Arkansas after being named the most valuable player in the Southwest Conference, has labored in near obscurity with the rebuilding Bills despite assaulting the clubs passing records almost from his first day on the scene. After a pair of 9-5 seasons, O.J.

Simpson, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards in 1973 Fergusons rookie year slowed up and the once bright future of the franchise clouded up rapidly. During the next five seasons, owner Ralph Wilsons Bills won only 21 and dropped 49 games. We were miserable, said the 6-1, 195-pounder. We had management problems, we had player problems and virtually no draft system at all. We were a great plan for ineptitude with a great future.

Down the line, all they had was Ferguson. Ferguson is still in Buffalo, still directing the Bills offense he inherited from Mike Taliaferro and now suddenly is gaining recognition as one of the leagues outstanding signal callers. Already, he has surpassed the last two records held by former Charger Jack Kemp, now a senator from New York, for career passing yardage and passing attempts. In 100 games as a Bill, Ferguson has thrown only 102 interceptions. Even with the start weve had this year, Ferguson added, I dont think were as good as the 74 team with O.J.

that went to the playoffs. But it might be before the years out. That year was exciting for me, being just in my second year out of college. But this is the highlight of my career. In 79, Ferguson became the first Bill to ever pass for more than 3,000 yards, awaiting some help that arrived this year in rookie halfback Joe Cribbs, guard Conrad Dobler and wide receiver Ron Jessie.

The addition of two things has helped take a lot of pressure off me, Ferguson continued. Were getting better athletes and were also getting smarter athletes. You can have all the stupid athletes you can suit up. Give me a smart one and we can win. And in Buffalo, for most of his career, one thing had go well Ferguson.

Hes had a day with 367 yards passing, just 11 shy of Kemps club record, and another with five touchdown passes. But, mainly, Ferguson has lost in Buffalo. I remember those days when Id have to throw for 250 yards and four or five touchdowns for us to win, recalled Ferguson, wincing as if to remember a few long afternoons. There wasnt one afternoon I had any fun those years, none at all. None like I am today.

Well beat Baltimore. smiled Ferguson. Now thats quite a nice feeling, you must agree. By JOHN MAFFEI T-A Sports Editor SAN DIEGO The San Diego Chargers won the battle, but lost the war yesterday. The Chargers defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage, sacking the previously untouchable Joe Ferguson five times.

But in the end, it was nine crucial errors that led to a 26-24 defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Bills and left Buffalo as the only unbeaten team in the National Football League after five weeks. We made our share of errors, thats for sure said Charger coach Don Coryell. We made the errors and then Buffalo took advantage of them. Some of the Charger mistakes were less glaring than others, but they all took their toll. MARIO CLARK (BOTTOM LEFT) AND WITH BROKEN LEG Plunkett going to come out throwing the ball and acting crazy, quarterback Steve Fuller said yesterday after the Chiefs first victory of the season, 31-17, over the Oakland Raiders.

Of course, I know we should have made a few more first downs, he added. Fuller threw only four passes in the second half and the Chiefs got only two first downs. Plunkett, who took over for Pastorini early in the game, heaved the ball 40 times in the second half to establish NL West Dodgers won on Fergusons lOth-in-ning homer. Manny Mota, the pinch hitting star turned coach and back to pinch hitter, also was among the stars. The 42-year-old ageless wonder singled in a Cey, Sutton Mota star for Dodgers run in the seventh to narrow Houstons lead at the time to 3-2.

Pitcher Don Sutton, the starter in Fridays game, took Motas place in the first base coaching box temporarily. Suttons activities werent over because with two out in the ninth and Astros at first and third, he came on for his first relief pitching effort of the year. Facing pinch hitter Denny Walling, KELLEN WINSLOW CATCHES A PASS (TOP PHOTO), IS HIT BY BILLS' ROD KUSH RECOVERS FUMBLE" (RIGHT) TO STIFFLE CHARGER DRIVE PASTORINI SIDELINED FOR THE SEASON Raiders turn to now after upset OAKLAND (AP) Dan Pastorini, the man who was supposed to bring the bomb back to the Oakland Raiders, is finished for 1980. Jim Plunkett, who threw only one pass the first four weeks of the National Football League season, fired 52 into the Chiefs defense, which intercepted five of them. He entered the game midway in the first period after Pastorini was tackled by Dino Mangiero yesterday and suffered a cracked bone in his right leg as well as knee damage.

We dont know the extent of the Dodgers LOS ANGELES (AP) The Houston Astros came to Los Angeles leading the National League West by three games and promptly lost that cushion by dropping three games to the Dodgers. 1 So, after each played 162 games, the Astros and the Dodgers had to play one more today for the title. Both finished the regular season with 92-70 records. Three times home runs have been made the Dodgers winners first by Joe Ferguson Friday night, then by Steve Garvey Saturday and finally by a crippled Ron Cey yesterday. The scores have been 3-2, 2-1 and 4-3, respectively, with the homers deciding each game.

Heroes in the third game of the series and last of the regular season were many. Cey, who ignored a bruised foot suffered when hit by his own foul, was No. 1. On the 10th pitch to him from Frank LaCorte in the eighth injury yet, Raiders head coach Tom Flores said after the game. But wide receiver Cliff Branch, who caught one of the two touchdown passes thrown by Plunkett, seemed to have no doubt about the extent of the injury.

I told him to just get healthy and come back strong next year, Branch said. Its a broken leg, and I dont think he could come back from that this season. The game, however, went to the slow starting Chiefs. With the score 31-3, we werent throw the inning, Cey slammed the ball over the left field fence. Actually, he had started his time at bat trying to bunt with Steve Garvey at first base, nobody out and the the Astros leading 3-2.

Asked if he thought LaCorte might throw an offspeed pitch, Cey said: No, his fastball is his main pitch and I didn't think with a 3-2 count he would throw something else. Cey had fouled a ball off his foot on the seventh pitch to him in the showdown. He hobbled and then decided to continue. He already had unwrapped the bandage from his injured the right leg (hamstring) and discarded it so hed have more motion at the plate. The next two pitches were fouled off and then he hit a 390-foot drive over the fence, putting the Dodgers into their 4-3 lead.

Cey was also the man who knocked in the ninth-inning tying run in the opening game which the an Oakland single-game record of 60 passes. Kansas City linebackers Gary Spani and Whitney Paul scored the first touchdowns of their pro careers on fumble returns in the first half. Spani ran 16 yards in the opening minutes and Paul, after stealing the ball from Oaklands Dave Casper, romped 32 yards to make the score 31-0 late in the half. We gave it our best shot and came back pretty good, said Flores, whose team is 2-3. Under the circumstances, I think Jim played well.

into extra the 35-year-old Sutton threw a strike and then got the batter on a grounder to second base. In todays one-game nationally-televised playoff Joe Niekro (19-12) was to start for the Astros and Dave Goltz (7-10) for the Dodgers. That kind of a pitching matchup has got to be an advantage for us, said Astros manager Bill Virdon, whose team will be facing a pitcher with a 4.25 earned run average. Houston scored first in yesterdays game as Cesar Cedeno and Art Howe surprised starter Burt Hooton with bunts to open the second inning. Hooton misplayed the second one and by the time the inning was over two runs had scored and Hooton was heading for the showers.

Terry Puhl knocked in a run in the fourth and the Astros led 3-0. Back came the do-or-die, patched-up Dodgers. They scored a run in the fifth and then Pedro Guerrero opened The Raiders made the score 31-17 early in the fourth quarter and moved into Kansas City territory two more times. The last threat ended as cornerback Paul Dombroski intercepted a pass. Branch caught a 10-yard touchdown pass two minutes into the fourth quarter and Bob Chandler snared a six-yarder less than three minutes later, after Derrick Jensen blocked a Kansas City punt.

Chiefs coach Marv Levy said yesterdays victory was keyed by our defense. innings the seventh with a single and Ferguson advanced him with a hit before Mota drove in the run. Manny was lifted for a pinch runner, went back to the bench and then became a coach again, relieving Sutton of those duties. Reggie Smith, who had starred for the dub until a shoulder injury required surgery, had a little talk with Sutton late in the game. Can you pitch an inning? Reggie asked Don, who had pitched eight innings Friday night.

When the answer was yes, Reggie went to manager Tom Lasorda, who promptly sent Sutton to the bullpen, perhaps the first starting pitcher to work the first base coaching box, the bullpen and the pitching mound late in the same game. All I had to do was make two pitches, Sutton said. What those other guys did was a lot more than I did..