‘Josh being Josh’ leads Bills to playoff clinching win over Dolphins

‘Josh being Josh’ leads #Bills to playoff clinching win over #Dolphins:

The Bills walked out of a snowy Orchard Park on Saturday night with a 32-29 win over the Miami Dolphins.

While the game was nowhere near perfect and took a last second field goal from kicker Tyler Bass to put it away, the victory clinched a playoff berth and put another division title on the horizon.

Often times when watching Bills quarterback Josh Allen play football, you are either left in awe or scratching your head regarding some of the decision making. It has become a common theme with him, that at times, you’ll have to take some frustrating moments to be gifted with the exceptional ones.

Saturday night we saw a lot more of the latter.

Heading into the half, the Bills (11-3) were clinging to a one-point lead, up 14-13 following a Miami (8-6) touchdown. Buffalo drove down the field and with six-seconds left on the clock and one timeout ran a play.

Typically in that situation, with the ability to stop the clock, you run a quick play and if it’s not there give yourself a second or two to kick the field goal and walk away with at least three-points.

Except this time, Allen decided to improvise.

The QB held the ball, ran the clock down to zero and threw a dart to running back James Cook to give the Bills the 21-13 lead going into halftime:

“End of the first half was big,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said with a big smile on his face during his postgame press conference. “Yeah, run it down to zero on the clock and throw a touchdown.”

“He’s lucky he threw a touchdown pass right there or else he and I were gonna have a little… I probably would’ve flattened his tires maybe after the game.” McDermott said laughing. “He’ll learn from that one and maybe I’ll learn a little bit from it too.”

One reporter mentioned to McDermott that Allen said when he threw the ball he just waited to hear cheers to know if the play was successful or not.

“He’s darn lucky he was hearing some cheers.” McDermott playfully responded, again smiling.

While the Bills coach was in a rather jovial mood regarding the play, the QB himself seemed a little more remorseful fully understanding the implications decisions like that can have on a game and on a larger scale, the season.

“That’s either a really good play or a really stupid play,” Allen told the media after the win. “I’m just thankful he [Cook] came back to the ball and made a play on it. I threw it and in my head I’m just like I know I wasted too much time. I know there’s zero-seconds on the clock and I just kinda slid on the ground and I just, you know, laid there and waited for cheers. And you know, thank God, cheers came cause you gotta have points before the half. Shouldn’t have put myself in that situation, but again found a way to make a play.”

Similarly to that moment, came another miraculous play in the 4th-quarter.

With the Bills down eight points, 29-21, Allen led his squad down the field on a 9-minute drive that tied the game thanks to an unbelievably close two-point conversion that saw a signature Allen moment… taking the ball himself, and soaring through the air to knot it up.

The play was reviewed on the field, but the refs ultimately concluded the ball crossed the goal line:

When asked when he knew the two-point conversion was good, Allen gave a deadpan response.

“Right when it happened,” the quarterback said very matter of fact. “I thought I was in. I stood there with my hands up, but it’s a game of inches and I’m just thankful we got it over.”

Bills tight end Dawson Knox, who had a very up and down night having several drops, but also hauling in six-catches for 98-yard and the game-tying touchdown.

Knox noted how Allen makes the unimaginable seem routine.

“He makes plays that I’ve never seen before,” Knox replied. “Sometime you kinda turn into a fan while you’re watching him. Unfortunately, I was under a 300-pound, 3-technique on that play that he reached the ball over on the two-point, so I didn’t see it until we saw the Jumbotron. But, I’ve kinda talked about it before. It’s not even surprising at this point. You’re just like, ‘o there’s Josh being Josh again.’ He’s the best quarterback in the league. The best football player in the league. So, anytime you got him on your team, you got a chance to win.”

When asked specifically if the tight end said anything to his QB following the touchdown right before halftime, Knox let out a laugh.

“That’s one of those where it’s like, when he’s making plays like that, no one says anything. Just tap him on the butt, ‘good job Josh. Good job being yourself.’ Ya, there’s nothing really to be said when he’s making plays like that,” Knox said.

While the Bills have not played very pretty football down the stretch, they have found a way to keep winning games.

At 11-3, the Bills now have a 99% chance of winning the AFC East (via the NY Times). They also maintain their position as the number one seed in the conference, ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs, which would secure homefield throughout the playoffs.

To get to where this team ultimately wants to go, it’ll take magical moments from their signal-caller. Saturday, under the lights with the snow falling, was one prime example.

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