BILLS’ LONG
Buffalo holds off Indy in wild-card thriller to grab first
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.— Quarterback Josh Allen and safety Micah Hyde teamed up to make the Buffalo Bills’ losing past history.
Now do you Bill-ieve?
In a season in which the Bills busted numerous slumps, Allen became Buffalo’s first starter in a quarter century to win a playoff game.
And Hyde ensured the Bills wouldn’t endure another second-half collapse as happened last year in a wild-card loss to Houston, or last-second touchdown.
With Buffalo the AFC East champions for the first time since 1995 and hosting their first playoff game since ‘96, Allen threw two touchdown passes and scored another rushing in leading the Bills to a 27-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts in a wild-card game Saturday.
Hyde batted down Philip Rivers’ desperation pass as time ran out in helping Buffalo snap an 0-6 postseason skid by winning its first playoff game since a 37-22 win over Miami on Dec. 30, 1995.
The past was very much present in Allen’s mind when reflecting on how Buffalo squandered a 16-0 third-quarter lead in a 22-19 overtime loss to Houston in his first career playoff appearance.
“Obviously we started off a little slow and we were able to get into a rhythm late. Made enough plays to win,” Allen said. “It’s new territory for myself, but it just gives us a chance to play next week.”
The end of the game was so stunning, in which the Bills nearly squandered a 24-10 fourth-quarter lead, safety Jordan Poyer was still having difficulty trying to put the result in perspective.
“I haven’t had time to celebrate and take it in, but this is awesome for the Bills organization, the city, to be able to play a home game and get a victory,” said Poyer, in his fourth season in Buffalo. “Since 2017, we’ve been working at this, but a day like today, to come out on top, we worked so hard.”
Hyde’s pass defense eased memories of the Bills giving up DeAndre Hopkins’ leaping 43yard touchdown catch in the final seconds of a 32-30 loss at Arizona on Nov. 15. Buffalo has won
seven straight since for its longest winning streak since 1990.
And the win came with a limited number of 6,700 fans in attendance for the first time this season.
Allen finished 26 of 35 for 324 yards with a 5-yard touchdown to Dawson Knox and a 35-yarder to Stefon Diggs, which led to the fans chanting “MVP! MVP!” to celebrate the first Buffalo player
to lead the NFL in catches and yards receiving.
The Colts (11-6) ended a season in which they won 11 games for the first time since 2014, and reached the playoffs for the second time in three years under Frank Reich.
Rivers finished 27 of 46 for 309 yards and had his career playoff record drop to 5-7 in completing his first — and potentially last — season with the Colts as he ponders retirement.
Losing doesn’t get any easier for the 39-year-old, who has reached the conference championship just once in 2008.
“Shoot, it’s hard to go back 12 years ago to think how I felt in the locker room after that championship game,” Rivers said, referring to the Chargers’ 21-12 loss to New England. “It’s always emotional. But is it more emotional when you’re about to be 40 and you’re not sure if you’ve been in your last huddle? Heck yeah.”
The game wasn’t decided until the final play, when Rivers faced fourth-and-11 from Buffalo’s 47. Rivers heaved a deep pass for T.Y. Hilton, who was surrounded by defenders in the right side of the end zone. Hyde broke through the crowd of bodies, leaping up and batting the ball to the ground.
Rookie kicker Tyler Bass accounted for the decisive points by hitting a 54-yard field goal to put Buffalo up 27-16 with 8:08 remaining.
The Bills, however, didn’t make it easy, with Allen nearly losing a fumble at midfield when sacked for a 23-yard loss by Denico Autry on first down from the Indianapolis 37. Offensive lineman Daryl Williams, however, recovered.
The Colts responded with a seven-play, 75-play drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass to Pascal. After Bass upped Buffalo’s lead to 27-16, the Colts scored less than two-minutes later. Rivers hit a wide-open Jack Doyle for a 27yard touchdown and Doyle caught a 2-point conversion.
“It doesn’t matter how it looks,” Allen said. “It’s the playoffs. It’s win or go home and we got it done.”
The Colts were limited to a touchdown and field goal in the first half after having all five drives cross midfield and enjoying a nine-plus minute edge in time of possession.
Tev
isn’t going to let Lindor get anywhere near free agency the way the Dodgers did the same thing with Mookie one year ago, when they got him from the Red Sox when Betts was the same age — 27 — that Lindor is now. Lindor is going to be a Met for a long time. He is going to be the best time the Mets made it to the Series? That remains to be seen. Is this all a sure thing? This is sports. There are no sure things. Just put it this way: The Mets are a lot better bet this week than they were last week.
Seventeen years ago next month the Yankees made the trade for in his
Carlos Carrasco comes to Mets via trade, and while Francisco Lindor is headliner, the righty adds depth and leadership to rotation. prime, and you know what the whole world thought at the time, that the rest of baseball was going to be afraid to come out of the clubhouse, especially in October, for the next decade or more. Rodriguez was a shortstop then, too, even if he was about to move over to third because shortstop belonged to at Yankee
Stadium.
The Yankees played in one World Series with Alex Rodriguez in pinstripes, in 2009, the last one they won. He put amazing numbers into the books, no doubt. But we’ll never know how much baseball drugs had to do with that.
The next trade as consequential was for Cespedes, by Sandy Alderson, at the Trade Deadline of ’15. This isn’t about what the Wild Boar of St. Lucie became. This is what he was then, which is one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. At the time
his manager, said, “There aren’t many guys with as much talent for this game as (Cespedes) has.”
You can say the same thing now about Frankie Lindor, known as Mr. Smile for good reason. Only he is better than Cespedes, more polished, more fun to watch. When you can buy a ticket again to watch a big-league game, you will be more than happy to buy a ticket and go watch Lindor play at Citi Field.
This isn’t about the Mets showing the Yankees up, or about which team feels as if it owns New York right now, or any of that. This isn’t about Cohen and Alderson firing a shot across the Yankees’ bow, even though that is exactly what they’ve just done. This is about the Mets having a young player with this kind of skill set again. was something to see when he was young at shortstop. He wasn’t Lindor. It won’t take long for everybody to know that he is in town.
After the deal was announced the other day, I asked Alderson if he was done with mergers and acquisitions.
“Who knows?” was his answer, at a time when is sure still out there, and so is