Elam boots game-winner as clock winds toward 0:00

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- In his 15 NFL seasons, Jason Elam had never missed 3 field goals in one game.

He 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 on Sunday.

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

Maybe it was good that Elam 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 one 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 and taken off the field by ambulance at the start of the third quarter.

Everett fell immediately to the ground and showed no signs of consciousness after a helmet-to-helmet hit when he tackled Denver's Domenik Hixon during a kickoff to open the second half. Everett was placed on a backboard with his head and body immobilized, and carefully loaded into an ambulance at the Broncos 30.

Bills coach Dick Jauron would only say that the player was in hospital under observation for a cervical spinal injury. Jauron wouldn't say whether Everett regained consciousness on the field or en route to the hospital.

"It was real hard," Bills cornerback Terrence McGee said. "I watched the whole thing and he never moved."