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At the twenty-yard line, Buffalo began their third attempt at cracking the league’s top-ranked defense. This time the renowned K-Gun finally appeared. Three quick completions from Kelly to Reed (in the span of just four plays) gained thirty-five yards and surged Buffalo across midfield. The opening quarter came to a close, and the teams paused to switch sides and catch a breath while another sequence of $800,000-per-thirty-second advertisements entertained ABC’s viewing audience.

The momentary break in action did not interrupt the Bills’ rhythm. Healthy gains followed, via a catch by Thomas for thirteen yards and Kelly’s sixth completion to Andre Reed, which picked up another nine. Kelly then connected with tight end Keith McKeller; a penalty—Leonard Marshall blindsided Kelly and shoved him to the ground well after the quarterback released the ball—added four yards to McKeller’s catch and Buffalo advanced to the four-yard line.

On the previous drive, Buffalo had squandered an opportunity deep inside Giants territory. Following Lofton’s sixty-one-yard grab and the subsequent first and goal, the Bills stayed in their familiar no-huddle, shotgun offense: only a field goal resulted.

For their second chance so close to the Giants goal line, the Bills switched to a more conventional short-yardage offense: three tight ends, two backs, no shotgun. A sneaky run up the middle to seldom-used fullback Jamie Mueller came up just inches shy: only a crushing hit by Lawrence Taylor kept him from scoring. Instant replay was even used to determine if Mueller broke the plane of the goal line.

Again, from their unfamiliar formation, the Bills lined up, center Kent Hull gripping a football that flirted with the end zone’s white line. At the snap, a powerful surge by Hull and guard Jim Ritcher opened up a spot in the Giants defensive front. Reserve running back Don Smith aimed for the hole and, behind Mueller’s piercing block of Gary Reasons, squeezed into the end zone for the first Super Bowl touchdown in Buffalo Bills history.

“It was really great coming back here, especially scoring a touchdown here,” said Smith, a former Mississippi State quarterback who played the previous three seasons with the Buccaneers before joining Buffalo as a free agent. “I had never scored a touchdown in this stadium before. The fact that it was the Super Bowl made it even better.”

The 10-3 lead gave Buffalo slight command of the scoreboard. Over the next few minutes, they seized command of the game.

Consecutive marginal gains at the start of the ensuing drive left the Giants with a third and six from their own thirty-six: not ideal positioning for an offense designed to leave minimal distances on third down.

From the shotgun with four wide receivers, Hostetler surveyed the field and fired an incomplete pass, far off-line from his target, rookie Troy Kyles. The quick three-and-out (New York ran only a minute and a half off the clock) troubled Parcells and the entire New York sideline. But there was a much more damaging result of the third-down incompletion.

Giants left tackle Doug Riesenberg, concerned by the inside rush of NFL Defensive Player of the Year Bruce Smith, unknowingly allowed Buffalo’s Leon Seals a clear path into the backfield. (This defensive line stunt is known as an “outside twist.”) Seals, the man initially responsible for Phil Simms’ injured foot back in Week Fifteen, clobbered Hostetler just as the ball was thrown.

“Seals is a big, powerful man, and he got what a defensive lineman would call a great hit,” remembered Hostetler, “because he came down on top of me with his whole body weight and nothing stopping it.”

Hostetler stumbled to the bench and sat there for several minutes with smelling salts pinned to his nose: “I couldn’t even smell the ammonia, I was so woozy. My vision was fuzzy. I thought I might have to come out.”

Meanwhile, Buffalo’s offense, fresh off their twelve-play, eighty-yard touchdown drive, sprang into action. Consecutive Thurman