ASSOCIATED PRESS Denver's Jason Elam celebrated his game-winning field goal with holder Todd Sauerbrun after the Broncos won yesterday.

Elam does it again

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. » In his 15 NFL seasons, Jason Elam had never missed three field goals in one game.

The Denver Broncos kicker wasn't about to start a new trend.

Elam and the Broncos field goal unit scrambled onto the field to convert a 42-yard attempt just as time ran out, lifting Denver to a 15-14 season-opening win over the stunned and injury-depleted Buffalo Bills yesterday.

"I'm really happy and thankful I got a chance to redeem myself there," said Elam, who had missed a 43-yard attempt 3 minutes earlier. He also had a 50-yarder sail wide left in the third quarter.

Maybe it was good that the Hawaii alumnus had little time to think about the final kick.

The Broncos were out of timeouts when Jay Cutler hit Javon Walker for an 11-yard catch with 14 seconds left, leading to a mad scramble onto the field. Broncos holder Todd Sauerbrun got the ball down with 1 second remaining.

"I'm going to look back at this game down the road and this is going to be one of my favorites," said Elam, who has scored more points for one team than anyone else in NFL history. "Out of all the kicks I've had, I've never had a scenario like that."

The field goal, though, was overshadowed by a frightening moment, when Bills reserve tight end Kevin Everett was knocked cold after suffering cervical spine injury and taken off the field by ambulance at the start of the third quarter.

Everett had surgery yesterday, and there is concern about whether he will be able to walk again.

"He's had some sparse movement," Everett's agent Brian Overstreet told the Associated Press in a phone interview late yesterday.