Bills march into playoffs with emphatic win
Allen sets Buffalo single-season passing record surpassing 4,359-yard mark set by Bledsoe in 2002
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were intent on not easing into the playoffs.
And that left coach Brian Flores and the Miami Dolphins hoping they can somehow back into the post-season.
In a season-ending game in which the Dolphins had far more riding on the outcome, the Bills put an empathic stamp on their breakthrough year with a 56-26 rout on Sunday.
Rather than taking care of their own business by clinching a playoff berth with a win, the Dolphins’ post-season hopes came to an end when the Indianapolis Colts defeated Jacksonville 28-14 in a late-afternoon kickoff.
“We’re just worried about today, that’s where my mind is — our performance today. It’s not on anything other than that,” Flores said. “It wasn’t good enough. Right now, I’m disappointed we didn’t play well today.”
Not even close.
The Dolphins (10-6) didn’t get results they needed to clinch their third playoff berth in 18 years, after Cleveland beat Pittsburgh and Baltimore routed Cincinnati. And the team unravelled in all three phases in being exposed by a Bills team showing no signs of relenting in racking up the second-most points in team history.
After falling behind 3-0 on Jason Sanders 49-yard field goal,
Buffalo responded by scoring four times in the second quarter to build a 28-6 lead at halftime. And the Bills didn’t let up in the second half.
Rather than rely on Cleveland beating Pittsburgh, Buffalo wrapped up the AFC’s No. 2 playoff seed with the win.
“It just shows that this is a different Buffalo Bills football team. We don’t have to get in on anybody’s back,” left tackle Dion Dawkins said. “This is all our doing. And it feels good to kick that front door out and sweep the East.”
Allen threw three touchdown passes and Isaiah McKenzie scored three times, including returning a punt return 84 yards. The defence even got on the scoreboard with Josh Norman returning the first of three Tua Tagovailoa’s interceptions 16 yards for a touchdown.
Allen finished 18 of 25 for 224 yards passing in playing just the first half before being replaced by Matt Barkley. Allen upped his total to 4,544 yards passing, to eclipse the team’s single-season record of 4,359 set by Drew Bledsoe in 2002.
Buffalo matched a franchise record with 13 wins, set in both 1990 and ’91, while also completing its first season sweep of division rivals.
The young, rebuilding Dolphins might have finished with double-digits wins for just the second time in 11 years, but fell well short at Buffalo.
“Nobody wants to get beat like that,” Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard said.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons. Josh Allen, man, is a great quarterback doing some great things with the guys he’s got around him,” he added. “I feel like we’ve got something here. Everybody believes in Flores.”