ORCHARD PARK, New York – As snow began to fall early in the fourth quarter, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills found themselves in their element in warm weather against the Miami Dolphins.
The AFC leaders Bills (11-3) overcame an eight-point deficit with Allen overseeing goals in the final two possessions, topped by Tyler Bass, who hit a 25-yard field goal on time to to lead Buffalo to a 32-29 win Saturday night.
The Bills secured their fourth straight playoff berth and fifth in six seasons under coach Sean McDermott.
The decisive field goal triggered a boisterous celebration in front of a snowball-throwing crowd, with bass, receiver Stefon Diggs and left tackle Dion Dawkins diving headfirst and sliding on their chests on the snowy field.
‘Almost like it was all meant to happen, wasn’t it?’ said Poyer a long-foreseen lake-effect blizzard finally arrives. “Josh takes the offense and the snow falls. It was actually kind of surreal. It was still a fun, fun atmosphere.”
Allen, meanwhile, called the arrival of Mother Nature a pure coincidence. Instead, he credited his teammates for stepping up, especially as the offense cooled during a third quarter in which Buffalo ended four straight drives with punts and after Allen ended the fifth drive with a fumble.
“The third quarter isn’t where we wanted to be,” Allen said. “But I thought our defense made a damn fine play, especially in the second half, and then T-Bass at the end. He’s a hammer.”
Allen threw a 5-yard pass to Dawson Knox and the quarterback then vaulted the line for a 2-point conversion to tie it 29 with 9:02 left. Allen lost control of the ball but a replay check showed he crossed the goal line before fumbling.
Allen then oversaw a 15-play, 86-yard drive that ate up the final 5:56 to set Bass’ field goal.
Allen threw four touchdown passes to take his career total to 171 (including one received) and tied former Miami quarterback Dan Marino for the most NFL players in the first five seasons of his career.
With a fifth straight win and third in three weeks against a division opponent, Buffalo also came closer to their third straight AFC East title by building a three-win lead over Miami.
“You can’t win a Super Bowl if you don’t make the playoffs. That’s goal #1 down,” Allen said of a team that came into the season with Super Bowl ambitions and, thanks to tiebreaks, has the inside track to take first place in the AFC standings.
The Dolphins (8-6) went into the weekend second and sixth in the AFC. They have now lost three straight games in their attempt to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2016.
“We put in a very good performance against a very, very good team,” said Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. “I know a lot of people would love to do it because of the weather, but our team never did.”
Conditions were very different from the Dolphins’ 21-19 win over Buffalo in Miami in September, when the temperature during the game was 89 degrees.
This time, the Bills used the home game elements to their advantage in an outing that almost saw them slip away.
The Dolphins took the lead on Tua Tagovailoa 20-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill with 2:30 left in the third quarter. Miami’s drive was extended by tagging Buffalo’s Cam Lewis for roughing up punter Thomas Morstead after the Bills stopped the Dolphins with a three-and-out in midfield.
Miami then benefited from Allen being sacked and losing a fumble forced by Jaelan Phillips and recovered by Christian Wilkins in midfield after two games in the fourth quarter. The turnover resulted in Jason Sanders hitting a 47-yard field goal.
Tagovailoa finished 17 of 30 for 234 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yarder for Jaylen Waddle. Raheem Mostert finished rushing for 136 yards while backup Salvon Ahmed ran for 43 yards, including an 11-yard TD.
Despite the loss, the Dolphins’ offense showed signs of rediscovering their groove. After the combination for 527 yards offense Miami lost to San Francisco and the Los Angeles Chargers on back-to-back weekends on the West Coast, finishing with 405 yards against a Buffalo defense that entered the weekend ranked ninth in the NFL in yards allowed.
“I thought we as a team handled the elements pretty well for a team coming out of 80 degree weather,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m very proud of how our team captains performed in that game. I think our team is taking a step in the right direction.”
Allen finished 25 of 40 for 304 yards and set a career high with four touchdowns. Nyheim Hynes, Quintin Morris and James Cook each had TD catches.
Allen showed his fearless ability to never give up a game with his 4-yard touchdown pass to Cook to put Buffalo 21-13 ahead for a 12-play, 82-yard drive after time was up break up.
With eight seconds left, Allen was waiting in the pocket before being flushed to his right. Two steps from being out of bounds and when time was up, Allen found Cook alone in the back of the end zone.
INJURIES
Dolphins: DB Keion Crossen returned after injuring his knee in the first half and then retired in the fourth quarter with a knee injury.
Bills: C Mitch Morse did not return after being checked out for a head injury in the second half.
NEXT
Dolphins: Host Green Bay on Christmas Day.
Bills: Saturday in Chicago.
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