Bills Fortunate To Get ‘W’ Against Dolphins as Mafia Swarms Miami

AFC East Championship on the Line

Midway through the 4th quarter, with a divisional championship on the line, the Miami Dolphins needed to make a crucial first down in a game versus their arch-nemesis from the AFC East, the hated Buffalo Bills.

And Hard Rock Stadium in Miami got loud.

For a few moments, it sounded like most of the fans in the stands of the packed stadium in South Beach were trying to make things difficult for the home team.  But that wasn't the case.  The escalating crowd noise was the sound of vociferous Bills fans, many of whom traveled nearly 1400 miles to root for their beloved team.

The Bills would ultimately get the defensive stop they needed, and the swarm of Bills Mafia in attendance would rejoice in victory while watching their team sew up the AFC East.

With the victory, the Bills notched their 4th straight division championship and earned a home game against the Steelers in the first round of the NFL playoffs set to start next weekend.

Bills were 6-6 After 12 Games

It was a fitting ending to a topsy-turvy regular season for the Bills.  Just a few weeks ago, Buffalo was sitting with an underwhelming 6-6 record, and needed to win out the remainder of their games to have a chance to make the playoffs - which they did - so kudos to them.

But let's not get carried away here.

Buffalo did what they had to do last night in Miami, but if we're being honest, one could say they were a bit fortuitous to get this huge win.

Somehow, in the biggest game of the season, they were able to overcome three turnovers by Josh Allen.  But the star QB was good when he needed to be passing for 359 yards with two touchdowns.

Miracle in Miami

One of those TD passes came on 2nd down and goal from inside the 10 after Allen's pass was tipped at the goal line, sending the ball 20 feet into the air.

A ball like that is usually intercepted, or at the very least batted down or lands out of bounds. Instead, the floating pigskin miraculously landed in the arms of Trent Sherfield, who somehow stayed in bounds, tying the score at 7-7.

Later, trailing 14-7 in the 4th quarter, Deonte Harty fielded a punt at his own 4-yard line and took it 96 yards to the house for the longest punt return touchdown in the history of the franchise.  Again, I'm not saying it was luck, because Harty is a good returner.  But punt returns for touchdowns are a statistical anomaly, and occur less than .3 percent of the time in NFL games.

The Bills scored 14 of their 21 points on the kinds of plays that no team would be able to replicate if they played that same game every day for the next 100 years.

But I digress.

Rather be Lucky than Good

I'm not trying to downplay the team, hate on their fanbase, or besmirch their accomplishment because, at the end of the day, the Bills did what they had to do.

Even in victory, and with all the talent, the Bills are a team that tends to make the simple things - like an ordinary handoff, or clocking the ball at the end of the half to kick a field goal - look very complicated.

Moving forward, if they play anywhere near the kind of game they played last night against, say the Ravens, that's a 41-14 loss.

Yet here the Bills are, and just like when they were 6-6, they're bucking all the odds to give themselves a chance to fight another day while their rabid, passionate fanbase continues to make the most noise in the league.