Florida’s Miami Gardens — Josh Allen’s left hand had blood on the fingers, cuts on his flesh, and a half-smile on his countenance, but most of all, he was extremely relieved.
This man, a mountain of a quarterback, has the heart of a heavyweight prize fighter. And with it, the relentless punching mindset of that slugger.
Allen launches a huge shot, is pushed down, responds furiously, behaves erratically, makes poor choices, exposes himself, lands massive bombs, receives one or more punches to the chin, and yet manages to continue fighting.
Josh is that, according to Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott. “He would not be turned away. He is that person. That’s his style of play.
The Bills have won the AFC East division for the past four years running. Coach McDermott has done that for four years running. That makes it four years in a row for Allen, the enormous man.
But this one was different; every other week, it felt like the season was close to end and the players were up against it. It was harder and more demanding.
And here are the Bills, leaving the comforts of Florida early on Monday morning to return home in time for this Sunday’s home playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the bitter cold of Western New York.
Like the season, Sunday night’s game vs the Miami Dolphins was extremely close and filled with anxiety and fear.
The Bills made it here somehow. They made it this far somehow. They defeated the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, 21-14, for whatever reason.
“That’s what we do,” stated Allen, who on any given Sunday during the NFL season is capable of defeating his opponent, his team, or himself.
That’s what makes him one of the greatest football players ever. In the NFL, not many players are like him—so big, so strong, so full of energy, and prone to the kind of errors that are frequently devoid of context.
He lacks Patrick Mahomes’ level of smoothness. He lacks the electrifying and unstoppable quality that MVP Lamar Jackson most likely possesses. He doesn’t always pass with the same accuracy as Tua Tagovailoa.
Rather, he is a massive amalgam of all three of them, unbreakable from a distance, and each year, just one or two losses away from reaching the most important spot in February.
For the Bills, the season may have started with the motto “Super Bowl or Bust.” But that changed with time after some early setbacks. It then turned into a survival game. Then it was just a matter of getting to the following week and the week after that.
And now, with all the AFC playoff teams—aside from the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens—seemingly flawed, they go into next week as favorites to defeat Pittsburgh at home and advance.
In the victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday night, Allen turned the ball over three times; if the Dolphins’ defense had been a little more coordinated, that number could have reached four or five. The Bills then get to play with a third-string quarterback in Pittsburgh.
The Dolphins, who are completely destroyed by injury, will go to Kansas City to play Mahomes in the bitter cold. Nobody is afraid because this isn’t anything like the Chiefs Super Bowl teams and the Dolphins don’t just happen to beat good teams.
The young Houston Texans take on the Cleveland Browns, led by the aging Joe Flacco as quarterback, in the AFC playoff game that no one will really want to see. Neither team looks like a serious contender.
The Bills appear to be the most improved of the six AFC teams that will play next weekend. On any playoff weekend, though, they are the kind of squad that is so formidable that they can defeat both their rival and themselves.
Going over Sunday night, Allen stated, “I cost us a lot tonight.” “In the first half, I gave up three points on one drive and another three points on another drive. I’m not allowed to do that.
“I must become more intelligent. I have to improve.”
“We didn’t blink (tonight),” he said in reference to the Bills, which rung true on Sunday night. Although we didn’t, we could have.
Someone by the name of Deonte Harty scored the Bills’ lone touchdown of the season on a punt return. And they defeated Miami thanks to an unexpected touchdown catch off a deflected throw by Trent Sherfield Jr., which was his only touchdown of the year.
That may have been the reason, following the victory, Coach McDermott congratulated his team, his owners, the Western New York supporters, the improbable heroes, and God. All of these people most likely contributed to the Bills earning a home playoff game in addition to making it to the postseason. He claimed that defeating the Dolphins required all three phases. Subsequently, he discussed roughly five or six stages, mentioning staff people who weren’t in Miami.
Although he had to give their names, Allen took sure to acknowledge all the relevant contributors as well.
However, it was noteworthy that he was making an effort to collaborate with his diva wide receiver, Stefon Diggs. Allen is astute enough to realize that the Bills need Diggs and him working together, not against one another, to survive this season.
Allen ignored the cuts on his left hand as blood dribbled from the fingers. He remained engaged in combat. He continued to fight.
Fighters perform this action, match after match. The National Football League quarterback Josh Allen plays.
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