ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takes from the Buffalo Bills’ 21-14 victory against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium:
1. Give the Bills major credit for a gritty — though not always pretty — effort to make sure they didn’t settle for entering the postseason solely because of another team’s assistance.
How could the Bills, still a Super Bowl contender regardless of the struggles that once put their playoff qualification in doubt, be satisfied with that? They needed to finish the job by capturing a fourth straight AFC East championship and capturing a No. 2 seed.
Now, they’ll be at home for Sunday’s wild-card game against Pittsburgh and for a divisional-round game if they advance. Now, the path to the Super Bowl looks a bit more manageable.
At times, however, nothing looked all that manageable for the Bills on Sunday night.
Let’s start with Josh Allen. He seemed to be having one of those games where he single-handedly gives the opponent the win. He had three turnovers, all deep in Dolphins territory, with a pair of interceptions and a fumble. He would make up for it with two touchdown passes — with one resulting from a fortunate bounce off the helmet of a Dolphin defender and into the hands of Trent Sherfield, who kept his feet in bounds while falling out of the back of the end zone — and a game-high 67 yards on 15 runs. The Bills also would get an unlikely boost from Deonte Harty’s 96-yard punt return, longest in franchise history, for a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14 early in the fourth quarter.
Then, there are the injuries. The Bills lost at least five key players: Wide receiver Gabe Davis (knee), linebacker Tyrel Dodson (shoulder), cornerback Rasul Douglas (knee), running back Ty Johnson (concussion), and tackle Dion Dawkins (hand laceration).
2. Josh Allen’s mistakes and those of others put the Bills in a precarious spot where the game wasn’t settled until Taylor Rapp intercepted Tua Tagovailoa with 1:13 left.
It shouldn’t have been that difficult, given the impressive work the Bills did to keep the Dolphins’ explosive offense in check. Miami had 16 first downs, but only three in the second half.
The Bills’ defense continues to be the most consistent part of a team whose offense is supposed to be its strength. It’s fair to say that defense tends to do the most to carry teams in the postseason, and Buffalo’s D has done so while overcoming multiple key injuries.
Once again, Sean McDermott did a masterful job of putting together a scheme and calling signals that allowed the Bills’ defenders to be in the best position to stifle Miami’s explosive offense.
3. It's no small point that some of the bigger heroes of the game were non-stars: Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty, Kahlil Shakir, Dane Jackson (who started slowly after replacing Douglas but made a big pass breakup late), and Taylor Rapp.
The Bills did get significant contributions from players on the tap half of the roster. But Sunday night, thanks in part to the many injuries they suffered, was about unheralded players coming through. Shakir wound up leading the Bills with 105 receiving yards and a team-high average of 17.5 yards per catch on six receptions.
Take away what they did and there was a real chance the Bills would have suffered a loss.
“That’s how you win,” Sean McDermott said. “The MVP is not always the start and Josh is a lot. But the MVP is sometimes hidden in the locker room, and it’s been a different person just about every week.”
4. Josh Allen got away with yet another slow start and poor first half. He’s unlikely to be able to do so throughout the playoffs.
Allen had impressive numbers. He completed 30 of 38 passes for 359 yards.
“Got to be smarter with the ball,” Allen said. “We were beating ourselves, and I was beating us.”
He needs to play cleaner. He was far too reckless with the ball. That was especially true on his fumble, when Christian Wilkins ripped the ball away from him on a sack. Allen should have been more aware of protecting the ball as he was being pulled to the ground.
5. Las Vegas oddsmakers have made the Bills a double-digit favorite against the Steelers. That sounds about right.
The Steelers’ starting quarterback, Mason Rudolph, had been a third-stringer and still pretty much plays as one. Pittsburgh also is expected to be without its best player, edge rusher T.J. Watt, who suffered a knee injury against Baltimore Saturday.
The game shouldn’t be competitive, but the Bills continue to have a nasty habit of playing down to the level of a weaker opponent.
Allen spoke the truth when he said of Sunday night’s win, “The only thing it solidifies is a home game and one more game. So it doesn’t mean anything if we go out there next week and don’t do our jobs.”
It won’t mean a thing if the Bills don’t play the way a Super Bowl contender is supposed to play. And make no mistake. The Bills should not be a team that is merely happy to have reached the postseason.
