The Best of One Bills Drive - Dec. 17, 2022

(Greg D. Tranter and Budd Bailey have written a book about the history of the football stadium in Orchard Park called "One Bills Drive." It has been published by Reedy Press (https://reedypress.com/shop/one-bills-drive-the-buffalo-bills-greatest-home-games/). The books covers the top 50 games played in the stadium's history from 1973 until January 2025. However, there are several other games that qualified as thrilling - but they couldn't crack the top 50. Those contests deserve to be remembered too, so we'll offer them in this space a couple of times per week during the season.)

Attendance: 70,794

Score by Quarters

                                    1        2       3        4       Final

Miami (L, 8-6)             3       10      13      3        29

Buffalo (W, 11-3)        7       14      0       11      32

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play]

1 – Dolphins – Sanders 39-yard field goal

1 – Bills – Allen 14-yard pass to Morris (Bass kick)

2 – Dolphins – Sanders 21-yard field goal

2 – Bills – Allen 10-yard pass to Hines (Bass kick)

2 – Dolphins – Ahmed 11-yard run (Sanders kick)

2 – Bills – Allen 4-yard pass to Cook (Bass kick)

3 - Dolphins – Tagovailoa 67-yard pass to Waddle (pass failed)

3 – Dolphins – Tagovailoa 20-yard pass to Hill (Sanders kick)

4 – Dolphins – Sanders 47-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Allen 5-yard pass to Knox (Allen run)

4 – Bills – Bass 25-yard field goal \

Recap:

If Bills’ fans could wish for the way that their favorite team would clinch a spot in the postseason, a victory over the rival Miami Dolphins might be near the top of the list. And if there could be a little snow involved in the last-season home game, even better.

Such a scenario seemed unlikely at the end of November. The Dolphins had won five straight games to move to 8-3 on the season, while the Bills were 8-4 with one of the losses coming in Miami back in September. But Buffalo knocked off divisional rivals in its next two games while the Dolphins had laid a couple of eggs in consecutive 33-17 losses to San Francisco and the Los Angeles Chargers. The wish was within reach, and it looked more than possible as the game approached. Snow was in the forecast for the Saturday night contest, and Bills vice president of operations Andy Major knew it was coming. “We’re prepared, and we’re ready,” he said.

So were the Bills’ players. But it wasn’t easy.

The Dolphins opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a field goal, but the Bills took the lead less than two minutes later on a touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Quintin Morris. The alternating score pattern continued through the second quarter. A key play came right before halftime with the Bills deep in Miami territory. Allen decided not to throw the ball away when rushed. Instead, he took a chance and scrambled without thinking that the clock could end the half without the Bills scoring at all. Josh eventually threw a short pass to James Cook for a touchdown. The thrill ride of a play meant Buffalo had a 21-13 lead at intermission.

“I threw it and in my head I’m like I know I wasted too much time,” Allen said. “I just kind of slid on the ground and I just laid there and waited for cheers. … I shouldn’t have put myself in that situation but again, found a way to make a play.”

Miami started the second half with the ball, and capitalized immediately. Tua Tagolvailoa completed a 67-yard pass to Jaylen Waddle for a touchdown to draw the Dolphins within two, but the two-point conversion failed. But Miami added another score later in the third quarter, and early in the fourth period Jason Sanders’ field goal put the Dolphins ahead by eight.

On cue, the snow started coming down harder at that point. And the Bills were thinking, “Let it snow.”

Buffalo needed less than three minutes to tie the game. Allen made the key play with a 44-yard run; he said after the game he ran “just like Forrest Gump.” Allen later threw his fourth TD pass of the night to his fourth different target, Dawson Knox. Allen used his legs to tie the game at 29-29 on the two-point conversion, jumping over a defender to reach the end zone.

“Almost like it was all supposed to happen, right?” safety Jordan Poyer of the Bills said. “We didn’t see much snow. We thought we were going to see a lot more snow than we did. But yeah, Josh takes the offense down and scores and snow starts just coming down. It was actually kind of surreal. It was a fun, fun atmosphere, though.”

Miami picked up a pair of first downs to open its next possession, but the drive stalled a few yards into Buffalo territory. The Dolphins punted and couldn’t have asked for much more than a Buffalo fair catch on the Bills’ 7. With six minutes left and conditions worsening, Miami didn’t seem to be in a bad position.

Allen, though, responded to the challenge. Buffalo moved to its 42, when the quarterback completed a key third-down pass to Isaiah McKenzie to keep the ball. Three runs by Devin Singletary moved the ball to the Miami 34 with about a minute left, and a game-winning field goal attempt started to come into focus.

With 50 seconds left, Allen’s pass to McKenzie fell incomplete, but Miami’s Kader Kohou was called for pass interference. That put the ball on the 13, and the Dolphins’ fate seemed assured. With two seconds left, Tyler Bass sent everyone home with a 25-yard field goal. The Bills had survived by a score of 32-29. They were in the playoffs – for the fourth straight season and the fifth time in six years.

The final drive checked in at 15 plays (eight runs, seven passes) for 86 yards. Allen didn’t need to prove how good he was at that point, but his play down the stretch reinforced the idea that he ranked with the NFL’s best.

“He makes plays that I’ve never seen before,” Knox said. “Sometimes you kind of turn into a fan while you’re watching him. It’s not even surprising at that point. You’re just like, ‘Oh, there’s Josh being Josh again.’ He’s the best quarterback in the league, the best football player in the league. So anytime you’ve got him on your team, you’ve got a chance to win.”

When the game was over, the Dolphins were sure that it wasn’t the snow that extended their losing streak. It was the Bills.

“I know a lot of people would like to make it about the weather, but our team never did,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said. “It’s cool for you guys to talk about, but it was more about the football players on the football field.”

Looking back on everything after the game, Bills coach Sean McDermott used the word “humbling” to describe the experience. “Really, that’s how I feel about it. Humbled to be a part of it in this great town that doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves, honestly. The fans, I mean – this place is unique. So just awesome. Awesome.”

Noteworthy: While Allen’s four touchdown passes and 304 passing yards were the headline, Buffalo’s running game was important too. It ran for 150 yards to average more than five yards per carry. Allen had 77 of those yards on 10 carries. He became the third quarterback ever to run for 75 yards and pass for 300 in the same game three different times (Michael Vick and Russell Wilson). … Miami was even better at 188 yards on 25 carries. … A total of 851 total yards was compiled by the two teams. … Buffalo had a nice edge over Miami in third-down conversions, 8 of 14 versus 5 of 15. … Mitch Morse of the Bills left the game in the third period after the sixth concussion of his NFL career.

Legacy: A week later, the Bills wrapped up the AFC East title with a Christmas Eve win in Chicago. The week after that, Buffalo won it seventh straight game to complete a 13-3 season.

As for the Dolphins, they lost two more games after this game to run their losing streak to five. But they did defeat the New York Giants to finish 9-8 for the year. That was still good enough for a playoff berth, and they had earned the right to play one more game … in Buffalo.