I find myself this morning almost as excited about a 1pm Sunday start for the Bills next game as I am about the fact that the team claimed the number two seed in the AFC playoffs. Despite a sense of relief coming after the Tennessee Titans held on to defeat and eliminate the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier in the day, guaranteeing the Bills a playoff spot, last night’s game in south Florida was a stressful as any have been this season with the game’s outcome in doubt until the final minute of play. These late games leave me feeling completely wired at 11.45pm which is already a good couple of hours past the time I usually retire for the night. I’m off to a bit of a late start this morning trying, without much success, to get more information on some of the injuries the Bills suffered in the slugfest.
As Josh Allen said after, last night’s game was a microcosm of
the Bills season: some good things early, then injuries, turnovers and missed
opportunities, followed up by a key special teams play, a swift recovery and a
hard-earned, razor-thin win. Allen also said that on the drive which produced
the game-winning touchdown pass to Dawson Knox, the ball was coming out of his
hand better than it had all season. It was certainly enough to overcome another
turnover-plagued first half where he threw two interceptions in the redzone
(the team’s first redzone turnovers of the season) and also fumbled the ball
away on a strip-sack. We saw bad Josh Allen turn to good Josh Allen over the
course of the game and good Josh Allen is usually good enough to win. It
certainly was last night.
The boxscore from last night reads like a blowout game with
the Bills dominating most key statistical categories: They posted 26 first
downs to the Dolphins 16, 473 yards of total offence to the Dolphins 275 and
held the ball for just over 38 minutes to the Dolphins 22. The two quarterbacks
both threw two interceptions each with Tua Tagovailoa’s final one to Bills safety
Taylor Rapp sealing the win. Allen earned a passer rating of 101.6 completing
30 passes on 38 attempts for 359 yards with two touchdowns and the two picks. Tua’s passer
rating was a lowly 62.7 as he reached only 173 yards.
There are new injury concerns for the Buffalo sports radio talking
heads to pour over this coming week. Gabe Davis watched most of the game from
the sidelines after suffering what appeared to be another “non-contact” injury
and Rasul Douglas and Tyrel Dodson both left and did not return. Dion Dawkins
somehow lacerated his hand but did return to the game. The fact that the Bills
seems to be able to maintain such a high level of defensive play no matter how
many starters go down is, in my view, a testament to Sean McDermott and the job
he has done as defensive coordinator this season. We will know more about the
seriousness of these injuries in the next couple of days.
The Miami Dolphins, clearly a Superbowl contender for much
of the season, now find themselves the AFC’s sixth seed with a game in Kansas
City next Saturday night where winter weather is forecast to have arrived with
a vengeance. The Dolphins needed this game arguably more the Bills did – and they
looked well-positioned to claim the Division title and the second seed with its
two home playoff games until Deonte Harty’s brilliant 96-yard punt return tied
the game and completely changed its trajectory early in the fourth quarter. The
Dolphins went three-and-out on their next series and the Bills scored the
winning touchdown on the ensuing drive. “All Three Phases” is a term we hear
often enough and certainly it rang true for the Bills last night. I can not see
the Dolphins having much success on a cold dark night in Missouri five days
from now. What a fall it has been for these Fish: from the high-flying early
season juggernaut which raced up and down the field at will (admittedly mostly
against weaker teams) and scored ten touchdowns against the Broncos in late
September. As a division rival and long-time nemesis, the Miami Dolphins get no
sympathy from me but it must be a tough morning to be a fan of theirs.
Next up for the Bills are the Pittsburgh Steelers who ground
out a win on Saturday at a saturated PSI.net stadium (as I still like to call
it) in Baltimore against the Ravens back-ups. The Bills are early 9.5 point
favourites. Home playoff games are what NFL teams play for all season and the
Bills have definitely earned theirs. But the Steelers will not be intimidated
by cold weather or the hostile environment. There will not be as many Steeler
fans in Orchard Park on Sunday as there were Bills fans in Miami Gardens last
night but Steeler Nation is known as perhaps the best travelling fan base in
the league and plenty of them will make the short trip north then east along
the south shore of Lake Erie for this game. This bodes well for those of us who
may be looking to unload tickets on the secondary market.
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