Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Ryan Bates did not score against the New England Patriots. Rather, it was fellow teammate in the trenches, Tommy Doyle, who did.
In the Bills’ 47-17 win against the Pats, Doyle caught a pass from quarterback Josh Allen as he was wide open in the end zone. Doyle had been checking in as the extra tight end on plays for several weeks now so the Patriots didn’t realize what was coming.
Despite Doyle’s play catching headlines as “big-man touchdowns” often do, it was Bates that rounded out things in an ear-catching manner.
Doyle celebrated the score by jumping into the crowd. In the corner of the end zone where Doyle did so was a WGRZ-TV camera.
Upon getting a front-row seat to the scene unfolding, also caught was Bates at the end. As he was leaving the fans, he grabbed a chicken wing hat that a fan was wearing and put it on himself.
He then yelled what anyone would: “I’m a chicken wing! I’m a (expletive) chicken wing.”
The incredible sequence can be found below:
Somehow, in a game that featured SEVEN Bills touchdowns and the end of the Patriots season, the absolute moment of the night for me was Ryan 'Rick' Bates (@52batesryan) during Tommy Doyle's leap into the stands.
It's…it's perfect. 🍗@WGRZ #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/AnVQhPZc49
— J.T. Messinger (@JTMessinger) January 16, 2022
According to Doyle, Bates said he improv’d the entire thing.
“(Bates was) like, ‘I don’t know, the chicken wing fell off the guy’s head,’ and he kind of just was in the moment,” Doyle said via the Buffalo News. “Then he ended up giving the hat back to the guy. So shout out to Ryan Bates, stand-up guy, he gave the chicken wing hat back to the guy.”
Nice hands by Doyle, but it’s hard to argue that the MVP of this moment goes to anyone other than Bates.
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