The Buffalo Bills made the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1999 thanks to a 22-16 win over the Miami Dolphins Sunday (plus the Cincinnati Bengals coming up with their own crazy win against the Baltimore Ravens), but their victory came in incredibly bizarre fashion. Buffalo led 10-0 at halftime, but lost star running back LeSean McCoy early in the third quarter, and things only got weirder after that. Consider Bills’ linebacker Preston Brown’s fourth-quarter 98-yard fumble recovery off Dolphins’ receiver Jarvis Landry for a touchdown, which Brown celebrated extensively as the referee announced it was overturned:
Soon afterwards, Dolphins’ quarterback David Fales threw a short pass to Landry for a touchdown, but that sparked a huge brawl after Landry got hit at the goal line. A Bills’ player tried to drag him backwards in a headlock, he then butted heads with Buffalo safety Jordan Poyer, and this turned into a whole melee, complete with Dolphins’ RB Kenyan Drake pitching a Bills’ helmet to midfield. Three Miami players (Landry, Drake and lineman Jake Brendel) were ejected over this:
And the weirdness wasn’t done yet. The Dolphins’ two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete, leaving Buffalo with a 22-9 lead with just over six minutes left. That looked pretty safe considering how poorly the Miami offense had been playing. However, the Bills didn’t get far on their next drive, and the Dolphins then scored to make it 22-16 and a one-possession game. They then recovered an onside kick (their fourth success on five attempts this year) and had a chance to win it, but Fales threw a late interception to seal the deal. However, the Bills still had to wait for this remarkable Bengals’ play to head to the playoffs:
https://twitter.com/AllaireMatt/status/947637264129150977
That provoked quite the reaction in Buffalo:
And the team’s Twitter account thanked the Bengals, and said they’d be sending them some wings:
Well, hey, if you’re going to end a playoff drought like this, why not do so in style? No one can accuse the Bills of being boring here.
[NFL.com]