Bills Steal East

Buffalo’s second-half surge ends with an AFC East title. The Bills were able to secure a division title and clinch the No. 2 seed in the AFC after outlasting the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, 21-14. 

It was a rather clunky start for both of these teams as Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Allen swapped interceptions on the opening two drives. Allen also had another pick on Buffalo’s second drive of the night and this turnover came inside the end zone to eliminate a scoring opportunity for the Bills. To compound the turnover, Miami drove 80 yards down the field, and Dolphins rookie back De’Von Achane opened up the scoring with a 25-yard touchdown run. Both clubs would then volley two more scoring drives before the break and it seemed like the Bills were going to at least cut into the 14-7 Dolphins lead as they brought the ball to the Miami 11-yard line in the closing seconds. However, a poor decision by Allen to throw over the middle of the field was completed, but they couldn’t get back to the line in time before the clock ran out on the first half, eliminating another scoring opportunity. 

The second half was silent initially with a scoreless third quarter and a fumble by Allen just outsize the red zone looked like it was going to be a major swing in momentum in favor of Miami. However, Buffalo’s defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession, and return specialist Deonte Harty fielded a punt from his 5-yard line and took it 95 yards to the house to tie the game at 14 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. 

That score swung the momentum drastically in favor of the Bills. The defense forced a three-and-out of the Dolphins following that touchdown and handed the ball to the offense, which is where Allen had arguably his best stretch of the night. He orchestrated a 74-yard touchdown drive that featured several impressive chunk plays and was capped off by a go-ahead score to Dawson Knox to take the lead. 

After a failed fourth-and-1 from the Miami 37-yard line, the Dolphins did have an opportunity to tie the game and brought the football as far as the Buffalo 40, but Taylor Rapp picked off Tagovailoa to secure the division for the Bills for the fourth straight season. 

Allen finished his night 30 of 38 passing for 359 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Khalil Shakir led all receivers with 105 yards on six catches. Meanwhile, Tagovailoa completed 17 of 27 for 173 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. 

No one ever said the Buffalo Bills like to do things the easy way.

While a fourth consecutive AFC East division title may hardly be a surprise from a team that entered the season with high expectations, the way the Bills got here certainly is.

Not many division winners suffer losses to five non-playoff teams in a season. But that’s exactly what Buffalo did in dropping games to the Jets, Patriots, Jaguars, Broncos and Bengals.

In fact, their only loss to a playoff team all season came on the road, in overtime against the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 26.

At that point, the Bills were 6-6 with a schedule that included the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins among five remaining games, with Miami holding a three-game lead in the AFC East with a 9-6 record.

And yet, as unlikely as it may have once seemed, the Bills arrived in Miami this past weekend with a chance to steal the division crown, then overcame a 14-7 half-time deficit to do exactly that.

As a result, the Dolphins are headed on the road to Kansas City next weekend while the AFC East champion Bills will host the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at 1 p.m. at Highmark Stadium.

The Bills are heavy favourites in that game (the line opened at Bills -9.5 on FanDuel Sunday night), in part because they’ve been a much better team at home than on the road this season, having suffered just one loss at Highmark Stadium.  

All of which highlights the importance of what they were able to do in Miami Sunday night.

After surrendering 14 points to the Dolphins during the first half, Buffalo held Miami to four punts and an interception on five possessions in the second, limiting the Dolphins’ ability to run the ball with effectiveness.

The Dolphins entered Week 18 as the NFL’s highest-scoring team at 30.1 points per game. But in two contests this season the Bills held them to a total of just 34.

Miami superstar receiver Tyreek Hill had seven catches for 82 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, but that came with a catch rate of just over 50 per cent of the 13 balls thrown his way.

And when Bills safety Taylor Rapp intercepted Tua Tagovailoa as the Dolphins were driving towards a potential tying score, it marked the fourth time in the past five weeks that the Buffalo defense came up with a late-game stop to secure a win.

In three games over that span, facing Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Tagovailoa, Buffalo’s defense surrendered two touchdown passes in 12 quarters of football.

Yes, the Bills’ win over Miami was a game with lots of ups and downs and wasn’t always pretty. But that’s how the Bills got here.

And of their playoff run, be it short or long, we should expect nothing less.