MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The way this game symbolized the Buffalo Bills’ season is almost poetic.
Unknowingly, they embarked on a screenplay come to life that would get the approval of some Hollywood scriptwriters.
Sunday night’s 21-14 victory over the Miami Dolphins not only secures the AFC East and the conference’s No. 2 seed, but also puts an exclamation point on a five-game journey the Bills started in early December.
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It just didn’t go how anyone expected. If the Bills’ 2023 season had a boldface, all-caps headline, that would be it.
The Bills have been fighting for their playoff lives weekly for the past month. But thanks to the Tennessee Titans’ upset of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Bills played Sunday night knowing that, no matter what, their season was extending into next week.
Perhaps some of the energy that helps them play with an edge left them. The Bills entered the game as road favorites, with the Dolphins missing several key players in the lineup.
Despite those matchup advantages the Bills had coming in, they slowly faded away with every failed drive and player lost to injury. A great first two drives ended in two Josh Allen interceptions.
They battled back for a touchdown to tie the game, but after the Dolphins went ahead 14-7, Allen made a critical error in throwing a pass short of the end zone near the end of the first half. He watched as the clock hit all zeroes, and the timeout-less Bills lost any chance for points with a play stopped two yards shy of the end zone.
Along the way, the Bills lost three starters — cornerback Rasul Douglas, wide receiver Gabriel Davis and linebacker Tyrel Dodson — and a key contributor in running back Ty Johnson for the rest of the game due to injury.
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Their first drive of the second half failed and ended in a punt. Their second drive pushed the ball down the field, but Allen fumbled away another chance for points. They left three opportunities for field goals slip through their hands with turnovers and that’s probably only the low end of how many points they could have had.
The Bills had every reason to fold. Maybe it just wasn’t their night. Maybe it’d be a different story this time next week in another Bills-Dolphins clash.
Travel plans for the following weekend likely began to roll through fans’ minds to try and make next week feel like another home outing for the Bills in Miami. Heck, after the Allen sack and fumble, reporters who may or may not have written this column booked refundable travel for Miami next weekend — just in case.
Then Deonte Harty happened.
DEONTE HARTY 95 YARDS TO THE HOUSE
📺: #BUFvsMIA on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/GqJJdyI3EW pic.twitter.com/3U8IefaOiN— NFL (@NFL) January 8, 2024
When the game seemed its bleakest, and Miami booted its punt all the way to the Bills’ 4-yard line, it seemed like yet another massive hill to climb to get close to the end zone. But Harty, perhaps the fastest player on the roster, made a couple of players miss, and seemingly out of nowhere, he was past the punter and screaming into the end zone for six.
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Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel called the play “a gut punch.” Most Bills players pointed to that moment as the seismic shift of the evening.
It was the true awakening for a Bills team that knows a thing or two about awakenings in 2023. And so began the in-game microcosm of the Bills’ turnaround this season.
For most inside the locker room, they’ll point to the near-win in Philadelphia, passing for as many yards as they did in the pouring rain and going toe-to-toe with the then 10-1 Eagles. As odd as it was for an overtime loss to be the catalyst, that was the moment they knew they could actually accomplish all their goals this season after an, at best, rocky start with some terrible losses.
And just like the Eagles loss was the wake-up call leading to the five wins they needed to capture the AFC East, Harty’s punt return for a touchdown led to five pivotal moments the rest of the way.
And in both cases, their next time out on the field, the Bills looked completely rejuvenated and like a different team.
The defense forced a quick Dolphins three-and-out, allowing just one yard, much like the Chiefs win where the defense led the way.
Then came the Bills’ best drive of the night: an eight-play drive averaging more than 9 yards per play that ended in the game-winning touchdown, similar to their offensive explosion against the Dallas Cowboys.
After that, the defense forced another Dolphins three-and-out in which only three yards were allowed. This is the very defense that played a pivotal role in holding the Los Angeles Chargers to field goals despite several missed opportunities by the offense.
Then, needing to get precious time off the clock, the Bills took a delay of game penalty after a timeout but watched as Allen, even in not his best game, scrambled like a superhero to pick up the needed 13 yards, extend the drive and burn the Dolphins’ final timeout. That likens to Allen not having his best day against the New England Patriots but still providing a scoring touch on the ground when Bills needed it from him.
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Then came the Taylor Rapp interception to seal the game, shutting the door on the Dolphins and their AFC East hopes for good. The fifth big moment in the fifth big game.
“I think this game was the epitome of the whole season,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane told The Athletic after his team’s AFC East-clinching win. “Bad things happen in stretches, but at the right moment, [Allen’s] going to make the play to help us win.”
Following that blowout victory over the Cowboys, it showed all-too-familiar signs of the 2021 Bills team that had its best chance at winning the whole thing during the Sean McDermott and Beane era in Buffalo. But the opportunity ahead of them in the playoffs this season may even have that beat.
And with this electric stretch of five-straight wins to enter the playoffs, the Bills have much in their favor. The path to the glory they’ve been chasing since their 2017 arrival is as clean as it’s ever been.
Their wild-card matchup is at home against a Pittsburgh Steelers team that has struggled to score points and likely will be without its top player, pass rusher T.J. Watt. Should they advance past that game, it could set up for a first for the McDermott-Beane Bills.
Assuming the Chiefs get past the Dolphins next weekend, the Bills would host their postseason arch-nemesis Chiefs at home for the first time since 2017. And it’s a far different Chiefs team than most years, as Kansas City has struggled to score points for the first time in a long time with Patrick Mahomes. And if the Chiefs don’t advance, the Bills would get a playoff newbie in the Texans or Browns at home.
If the Bills move past the divisional round, their most likely matchup would be against the Ravens, who they have played well against in their last two matchups — including a playoff victory. And if not them, it would be one of the Texans, Browns or Dolphins — three winnable matchups — at home.
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There are no Joe Burrow-led Bengals lurking around the corner. With how they’ve rescued their season, and the different ways they’ve won the past five weeks, capturing the AFC seems as possible as it ever has for the Bills.
It may be the best opportunity they’ll ever have under McDermott and Beane to get to the Super Bowl. Now armed with at least two home games in a potential playoff run, if not more, it’s as realistic as ever. They’ve lost only once at Highmark Stadium, and it took a last-minute Denver Broncos drive to do it.
They entered Week 18 as the team no one wanted to play in the postseason, and that was before clinching a much cleaner route. Their path and current playing level make them as much of a bonafide Super Bowl contender as anyone in the NFL.
At 6-6 only a month ago, an opportunity like this one seemed as distant as ever in what looked to be a lost season with a super-talented roster. But now they’ve arrived at this moment of opportunity.
It just didn’t go how anyone expected.
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Model projects each NFL playoff team’s chances to win the Super Bowl
(Top photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
