Bills’ Margin of Victory vs. Dolphins Equals Damar Hamlin’s Number

Buffalo's emotional season continued with another inadvertent tribute to its injured safety.
Bills’ Margin of Victory vs. Dolphins Equals Damar Hamlin’s Number
Bills’ Margin of Victory vs. Dolphins Equals Damar Hamlin’s Number /

The Bills' emotional season continued during the wild-card round with another inadvertent numerical nod to injured safety Damar Hamlin.

Buffalo defeated the Dolphins 34–31—with the margin of victory, three, equalling Hamlin’s jersey number.

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Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field during the Jan. 2 Monday Night Football game against the Bengals. The second-year safety out of Pittsburgh has recovered gradually and felt well enough this week to return to Buffalo’s facility.

On Jan. 8, with Hamlin watching from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the Bills defeated the Patriots 35–23 to close their regular season. Running back Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, marking the first kick-return score for Buffalo in three years and approximately three months.

The Bills advanced to the divisional round with the win, where they will play either Cincinnati or the Jaguars.


Published
Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .