Buffalo Bills: Bills keep playoff hopes alive, beat Dolphins at home

ORCHARD PARK, NY – DECEMBER 17: Jordan Poyer (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /

The Buffalo Bills clicked on all cylinders Sunday afternoon as they beat division rival and fellow playoff pushing Dolphins in New Era Field.

The game was dominated by the Buffalo Bills for the most part despite looking like struggling to hold on in the end.

The victory closes out the 2017 season at home for the Bills. They finish with an elite 6-2 home record.

16. 59. 24. 16. Final

Tyrod Taylor played arguably his best game of the year for the Bills.

LeSean McCoy‘s push for 10K yards for his career came to fruition as he was able to achieve the milestone early in the game, he celebrated with his teammates.

Shady was not done there he scored two of the Bills’ touchdowns and helped paved the way to win.

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One of the few things left on Shady’s list of things to accomplish in his career is a Super Bowl Ring. He says he wants to do that in Buffalo with the Bills.

Going back to Tyrod, he silenced his haters once again. Along with his rushing TD, he threw one of his better games.

Once he got going he took a lot more chances and showed confidence that he could make more throws, he did.

He was clicking with many different wide outs, especially on the first drive of the game. The Bills opened up the game with a TD for the first time since 2016.

Tyrod took more chances and made accurate throws under pressure showing improvements in the two weakest aspects of his game.

As for the Dolphins, they struggled mightily in the first half and then some. Jay Cutler, like I predicted, played awful.

He was rattled by the Bills’ D early and is not mentally strong enough to recover, something he has struggled with his whole career.

Cutler ended the game with three picks. His final pick was the last nail in the coffin as Tre’Davious White intercepted him on the first play after the Fins luckily recovered an onside kick.

The pick set up victory formation and all but officially ended the Dolphins’ playoff hopes.

Perhaps though, the tone of the game was set even before kickoff.

Long-time Bill, Fred Jackson and his family “led the charge” as the team came out of the tunnel. Every Bills fan knows what “Freddy” means.

The Bills clicked on all cylinders. The offense only looked inept at times, but played what I thought was their best game in a while. They used Shady perfectly in the passing game, used Charles Clay well, and Tyrod was in a groove.

Buffalo’s defense looked elite, just like it did in September and October. They generated turnovers, made solid one try tackles, adjusted to Kenyan Drake early, and rattled the Dolphins offense.

Kyle Williams, a stalwart Buffalo Bill, shared a special moment with the fans after the game. Whether or not he is retiring at the end of the year is not confirmed. The moment, however, did seem like he played his last game in Buffalo.

The biggest takeaway for the Bills in this game is that through all the November struggles, they still currently sit as the 6th seed in the AFC Playoffs.

If the season were to end today, the Bills would play former head coach Doug Marrone and the Jaguars in the Wild Card Round.

But, the Bills still have two games left. Both on the road and both division games.

Instead of digging into every scenario that needs to happen for the Bills to make the playoffs and end the drought, let us keep it simple with these few things to note:

The Bills do not need to win out to make the playoffs
If the Bills do win out, they will essentially make it
They cannot clinch nor be eliminated from the playoffs after Week 16’s game vs New England
Week 17, the Bills will kickoff in Miami technically still alive in the playoff race

Instead of talking about how a Titans win vs the Rams helps the Bills more than not, use the above criterion to stay excited and hope the rest takes care of itself.

The Bills also need to realize a few things.

The Buffalo Bills have not made the playoffs since the 1999 season. They have zero playoff wins this century, and the Bills Mafia is desperate to watch this team play a meaningful game in January.

In 2017 the Bills are “hit or miss.” We don’t know what Bills team will show up on game day.

However, it has them this far. They are alive in the playoff race and are guaranteed at least a .500 record.

Next week, the Bills travel to the suburbs of Boston to play the lucky-fated Patriots.

It is not a win Buffalo necessarily needs, but it is for sure a win they want.

Playoff season is in the air.

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