The Best of One Bills Drive: Dec. 24, 2016

(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.)

Score by Quarters:

                                     1       2       3       4       OT     Final

Miami (W, 10-5)               7        7       14      3       3         34

Buffalo (L, 7-8)                 0        7       14     10      0         31

Scoring Summary:

Quarter – Team – Play

1 – Dolphins – Ajayi 2-yard run (Franks kick)

2 – Dolphins – Drake 45-yard run (Franks kick)

2 – Bills – Taylor 38-yard pass to Watkins (Carpenter kick)

3 – Dolphins – Moore 56-yard pass to Parker (Franks kick)

3 – Bills – McCoy 19-yard run (Carpenter kick)

3 – Dolphins – Moore 6-yard pass to Stills (Franks kick)

3 – Bills – Taylor 18-yard pass to Clay (Carpenter kick)

4 – Bills – Carpenter 28-yard field goal

4 – Bills – Taylor 7-yard pass to Clay (Carpenter kick)

4 – Dolphins – Franks 55-yard field goal

OT – Dolphins – Franks 27-field goal

Recap:

One key point about Rex Ryan: The man never lost a news conference. Games, yes. But news conferences, no.

The Bills had hired Ryan in January, 2015 to bring the Bills back to the playoffs. While his record with his previous team, the New York Jets, was up and down, he did lead that team to consecutive AFC championships games in 2009 and 2010. That sounded good to a Bills team that hadn’t reached the playoffs since the 1999 season.

What he brought at that opening media conference was a braggadocio that at the time had Bills fans giddy that success was just around the corner. Ryan said that day (January 14), “I’m not going to let our fans down. I know it’s been 15 years since the Bills made the playoffs. Well, get ready, man. We’re going.” He also said that the Bills would have the No. 1- rated defense in the NFL.

In his first season as Buffalo coach the team finished a disappointing 8-8 and out of the playoffs with the 19^th-ranked defense. And 2016 had not looked much different as Christmas approached. Coming into the Miami game the Bills were again a .500 team and were ranked 16^th in overall defense.

Buffalo still had a chance to make the playoffs, though the likelihood was slim. The team needed wins in its final two games and needed help from others. Rumors were floating that Ryan might not survive his second season on the five-year, $27.5 million contract he had signed. A good showing against the AFC East-leading Dolphins were about as close as you could get to a must-win game.

The Bills did not start the game like it was a do-or-die game to stay in playoff contention, failing to score on its first four possessions. Meanwhile, Miami built a 14-0 lead on two lengthy touchdown drives. The Bills were getting dominated at the point of attack. It was the opposite of the “bully” that Ryan stated he would create on the defensive side of the football when he became head coach.

Buffalo finally responded on offense prior to the end of the first half, with a Tyrod Taylor to Sammy Watkins touchdown pass. The third quarter became an offensive shootout with splash plays galore. Miami scored first on a long touchdown pass from backup quarterback Matt Moore, who was playing in place of the injured Ryan Tannehill, to DeVante Parker. Buffalo responded when LeSean McCoy ran 19 yards for a touchdown.

Moore threw a pass 44 yards to Damien Williams that set up a short touchdown throw from the Dolphins’ quarterback to Kenny Stills. Buffalo kept pace with Taylor passing 53 yards to Watkins, and he then completed the drive with a touchdown pass to tight end and former Dolphin Charles Clay. “We were able to make some of those explosive plays we haven’t made that much this year,” Taylor said. “That just shows when we have all our guys, all those weapons on the field at one time how explosive we can be.” 

The spirited game went to the fourth quarter with Miami hanging onto a 28-21 lead. The Bills offense continued to produce. Buffalo cut into the lead with a field goal by Dan Carpenter. With time running down, the Bills had one more chance to pull the game out.

From his own 11-yard line Taylor deftly moved the Bills to the Miami 7, where he faced a fourth and goal with 1:25 remaining. Taylor found Clay two yards deep in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown and a 31-28 lead after scoring 17 straight points.

Now it was up to Ryan’s defense to secure the victory, but it couldn’t. It gave up just enough yards for Dolphins’ kicker Andrew Franks to kick a 55-yard field goal to tie the game with six seconds left. “I think 56, 57 was the longest I hit in warmups,” Franks said. “The wind sort of helped a little. It was, I felt, my range. I thought I hit a really pure ball.”

Buffalo had a chance to win the game in overtime, but Carpenter missed a 45-yard field goal attempt. And then with time running down in the overtime – knowing that a tie eliminated the Bills from the playoff race - Buffalo faced a fourth and two from its own 41-yard line but decided to punt. In the first play following the punt, Ajayi broke a 57-yard run to set up Franks’ game-winning field goal. In reviewing the play afterwards, the Bills only had 10 defenders on the field. Buffalo’s defense and a lack of discipline cost the team any chance it had of making the postseason. These were the two flaws that resonated throughout Ryan’s two years as Bills’ coach and ultimately cost him his job.

Ryan took a lot of heat after the game for his fourth-down decision. “I believed we’d get them stopped,” he said. “I just thought that was the right move, pin them deep and get the ball back again.”

When asked if he thought the poor defensive performance in the Miami game and throughout the season would cost him his job, he said, “That would be a first.”

Noteworthy: It was the Bills’ best offensive performance in the Ryan era. Buffalo gained 589 yards of total offense. … It was Taylor’s best career game. He completed 26 of 39 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns. It was his first 300-yard passing game. He also rushed for 60 yards on 12 carries. … McCoy rushed for 128 yards on 24 carries and one score and would finish the season with 1,267 yards, his best season as a Bill. … The Bills defense was gashed by Miami’s running attack. The Dolphins rushed for 261 yards on 38 carries, 6.9 yards per rush. … Ajayi ran for 206 of those yards on 31 rushes. … With Ajayi’s performance the Bills defense allowed the three worst rushing performances against it in team history (LeVeon Bell had rushed for 236 yards in Week 14 and Ajayi rushed for 214 in Week Seven). Moore, starting only his second game of the season, threw for 233 yards on 16 of 30 passes and two touchdowns. It was Buffalo’s sixth loss in which it had scored 24 or more points, the most in team history. … The Bills playoff drought had now reached 17 seasons.

Legacy: Ryan was fired the day after Christmas and was replaced by interim coach Anthony Lynn. Ryan finished his two-year tenure in Buffalo with a 15-16 record. Lynn lost his only game as Bills head coach, a 30-10 defeat to the Jets. However, he was hired at the end of the season to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, a position he held for four years.

The firing of Ryan led the Bills to hire current head coach Sean McDermott, who would end the Buffalo playoff drought in his first season.

The Dolphins won the AFC East title with the win over the Bills, but lost 30-12 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card playoff round.