Bills Central

Chilled! Buffalo Bills Top Dolphins in Final Seconds, Clinch Playoff Berth

''Ironic,'' Josh Allen called the temperature flip. "'Poetic, yeah, I guess you can say. Playing in December in Buffalo is not the easiest task to do.'' The Dolphins just learned that lesson. Again.

Mike Fisher

Turns out, T-shirts don't win football games.

Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel earned a lot of "cute'' points this week by acknowledging what would snowy weather in the "Saturday Showdown'' at Buffalo with his 'I Wish It Were Colder'' garment.

But Bills 32, Dolphins 29 wasn't about T-shirts or bumper stickers or slogans. And in a way, it wasn't even about inclement weather, as the conditions at Highmark Stadium were playable enough. ... at least until the fourth quarter, when snow flurries starting coming down sideways.

As is so often the case, talent wins out. And the Bills' move to 11-3 - keeping Buffalo atop the AFC playoff totem pole - was about arguably the NFL's best player simply flexing his muscles. ... and about "clutch'' rising to the top.

That happened with best-player Josh Allen starting hot and then overcoming some "looseness'' with the football to power Buffalo to a pair of late scoring charges, the final one capped by Tyler Bass' game-winning kick as time expired.

"I love the game and I love winning,'' said Allen, who carried 10 times for 77 yards in addition to his 25-of-40 passing day for 304 yards and four TDs. "I'm going to do whatever I can to do that. ... We've got so much internal drive as a team. ...''

Miami, now 8-6, won the previous matchup this year, 21-19, in drastically different conditions. That early-season game in Florida was about players trying to survive sweltering conditions.

''Ironic,'' Allen called the temperature flip. "'Poetic, yeah, I guess you can say. Playing in December in Buffalo is not the easiest task to do.''

That's part of it. But Buffalo - which clinched a fourth-straight playoff berth - has won five straight regardless of the thermometer. Yes. the Bills have a winter-wonderland advantage in that in the last two years, they have gone 10-1, including the playoffs, in home games played on Nov. 29 or later.

But Bills Mafia remembers that at different times over the course of the last 60 years or so, Buffalo has lost cold-weather games - and lots of them.

The Bills didn't win because Buffalo is cold.

The Bills won because Buffalo is good.

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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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