Bills Central

Bills 'Soap Opera' Survives Dolphins Upset Try in Playoff Thriller

The AFC East champion Bills knew their division rival Miami Dolphins might give them a scare in this Wild Card playoff game. But this scary?

Mike Fisher

"This,'' Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott said with a smile this week, "is not a soap opera.''

With all due respect to the overseer of Sunday's Wild Card win over the Miami Dolphins ...

Yes, coach. It is.

It's one of the best things about sports, and football, really - the human element. Ups and downs and joy and sadness and defeat and triumph. ... with a pointy ball.

Or, in this game for the Bills - now one step closer to a Super Bowl after a dominant effort over their AFC East rival - the ups, the joy and the triumph. 

The Damar Hamlin horrible injury and remarkable recovery is of course the most notable storyline of the Bills' eventful season. But in following up their 13-3 season with a first-round win, Bills Mafia hopes they can look forward to more events - including the NFL's ultimate event.

The Bills came in at 13-point favorites in part because Miami was reduced to having to start a third-string quarterback in rookie Skylar Thompson. ... but in this fourth consecutive postseason appearance, they didn't exactly steamroll to their eighth straight win.

Bills QB Josh Allen's work here (23 of 39, 352 yards, three TDs) was eye-catching ... and yes, it included two second-quarter interceptions that added a bit of a soap-operatic flavor. Dawson Knox' spectacular one-handed snatch marked an early TD, and combined with a rookie James Cook TD run, Buffalo owned a 17-0 lead.

It also included Allen involving himself in a fight against constant Dolphins pest Christian Wilkins.

But what Miami really did on defense was fight their way into a competition with the powerful Bills, a fight that included a sack-strip defensive TD to open the second half, giving the underdogs the lead.

Allen found Cole Beasley and Gabe Davis (six catches, 113 yards) for TDs at the end of the third for a 34-24 lead., those two joining the numbers game with Stefon Diggs (seven catches, 114 yards). But Miami would not fully go away, and was down 34-31 as Thompson drove them to midfield with three minutes left in the game and a fourth-and-1.

But the Dolphins finally broke. ... when Thompson (18 of 45, 220 yards, two interceptions) and crew didn't get the snap off in time, earning a five-yard penalty, and then failing on fourth-and-6.

In other words, in a sense, the Bills may have won by about a second. And by about a yard.

Ah, the human element. Ups and downs and joy and sadness and defeat and triumph. ... with a pointy ball. And for the Buffalo Bills, the "soap opera'' now moves on to another episode.

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983. He is the author of two best-selling books on the NFL.

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