Miracles everywhere in Buffalo

The Vikings and Bills played the game of the century in Buffalo and somehow Minnesota made one more great play than Buffalo

---

By Matthew Coller

BUFFALO — A man in a No. 17 jersey walked up to me and screamed “JOSH IS PLAYING.”

News spread through the Buffalo Sabres’ arena that Josh Allen would be active for the Buffalo Bills against the Minnesota Vikings, adding some extra energy to a packed venue. With about one-third of the place filled with Boston Bruin fans for a Saturday night tilt, every shot on goal drew a roar.

To say the Sabres have struggled for a long time would be like saying that the winters in Buffalo have some flurries. In a city where kids are fitted for skates when they leave the womb, it’s rare that their downtown arena is ever full. Years ago you couldn’t get a ticket. They went to the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back years and Ryan Miller jerseys were everywhere. But after that team came apart, the Sabres never recovered. They tore it apart, tanked on purpose and then never landed their Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2011.

That’s why many of the folks in the arena who weren’t cheering for Boston had Josh Allen jerseys on.

Before Allen there was darkness. In 2017, Tyrod Taylor got them back to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. Before that it was Kyle Orton, EJ Manuel, Ryan Fitzpatrick, JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb, Drew Bledsoe and a bunch of other randos along the way. Doug Flutie was the last Bills quarterback you could believe in — and he lost both playoff games he appeared in.

Jim Kelly was the last Josh Allen. Some people were wearing No. 12s too. But most of the jerseys are new. Obviously this isn’t a bandwagon town, it’s a believe-in-them town. And there was so little to believe in before this. One of the most popular unis at one point was the punter Brian Moorman. Great guy but… the punter.

Along the highway from the airport, there’s a row of fence that seems to travel the entire distance with you. I don’t remember anything except maybe an American flag hanging off it. Now it’s all Bills signs, most with some message about Allen.

He wasn’t supposed to start on Sunday. He hurt his elbow against the Jets last week and the city’s heart stopped. Folks tried to talk themselves into backup Case Keenum being OK for a while but I’m surprised they didn’t shut down schools to mourn.

Suddenly the weaknesses on the roster looked so much more glaring. Their star cornerback Tre White has been out, so has safety Jordan Poyer. Why did they draft two running backs in the last three years? What happened to their offensive line from two years ago? WE NEED ANOTHER COLE BEASLEY, a man yelled to a bartender next to me on Saturday afternoon.

A few games without Josh shouldn’t cause panic, right? Oh, but it does. Not for his future — they are confident in that — but the AFC East is more like AFC Beast. A few losses in a row could cost them in a competitive AFC race and this was supposed to be their year. They acquired Von Miller. They were 13 seconds away from the AFC Championship last year. This is 1992 all over again, baby. Allen’s UCL injury made them feel vulnerable. They remember the Sabres. How close they were, how it came apart, how it never recovered, how opposing teams’ fans own their stadium.

That certainly wasn’t the case Sunday. This was no Washington. Buffalo fans don’t give up their tickets, especially when they find out midway through a rainy Saturday that JOSH IS PLAYING.

On my way to the stadium, I noticed Stefon Diggs on a billboard. Remember when people said the Vikings were sending him to Siberia? Maybe if Kyle Orton was playing QB. When Josh Allen is here, this is Paris.

Getting closer to the stadium, it started sleeting. A nice touch added to the gray skies and icy winds. Every lawn is a tailgate/parking lot. Kids in No. 17s are directing traffic and everyone has a firepit. Parking is $15. You won’t find that at SoFi Stadium. A sign in someone’s lawn says, “This is it.” Boy it feels that way.

During pre-game warm-ups, Allen was nowhere to be seen. Nobody breathed. When it finally led the team out, there was a sigh of relief rather than a cheer.

Before kickoff the team now has a “legend” direct the crowd to repeat the famous Marv Levy line: “Where would you rather be than right here, right now?” Today’s legend is Lee Evans. It’s not easy to find legends if they didn’t play from 1988-1994. But man when they said “right here, right now,” it had everyone’s entire heart in it.

Allen’s second pass of the game had zip. Now it’s on. Two teams with aspirations of going deep in the playoffs. The Vikings are here to prove they can play with a team that was favored to win the Super Bowl and they’ll do it at (mostly) full strength.

The Vikings took the field and Buffalo’s famous train whistle blasted. Kirk Cousins, in sleeves, called timeout because of the noise. Dalvin Cook was tackled in the backfield on second down and the crowd erupted louder than you’d expect for an interception.

But Justin Jefferson isn’t intimidated by atmospheres. He played in the SEC. On third down, Cousins found Jefferson open over the middle. He dodged a tackle and went for 46 yards.

Two plays later, Cousins flung the ball up into the brisk air and Jefferson came down with a touchdown. Silence. Imagine if they had given away Diggs to Buffalo and hadn’t gotten Jefferson in return.

If anybody back in Minnesota thought that one touchdown was going to be enough against this team, they were wrong. The Bills returned the ball to midfield and then Allen found Diggs for a completion. The play was capped off by 15-yard penalty on Eric Kendricks for a horse-collar tackle (which appeared questionable). Devin Singletary dodged Patrick Peterson for a first down and then pushed his way into the end zone to tie the game early.

Already the game felt like it should have been a primetime start.

And Primetime Kirk almost showed up on the next drive. Guard Ed Ingram stepped on his foot and he flung the ball backward. Cook recovered but it put the Vikings behind the sticks and they punted away.

It started snowing with 6:13 remaining in the first quarter. Goosebumps. Where’s John Fecenda? (Buffalo native, by the way).

Josh Allen’s passes cut through the snow, hitting Gabriel Davis and Diggs for first downs. On third-and-long in the red zone, he took off, ran into a pile and pushed it for a first down. The crowd started screaming M-V-P, M-V-P.

Singletary ran in for his second touchdown. A man in front of the press box turned around and gave us a thumbs up.

This ain’t no Taylor Heinicke, folks.

The Vikings got the ball back, shook in a way that they haven’t been since Philadelphia. Cousins overthrew KJ Osborn right into the hands of corner Christian Benford.

If there was ever needed a reminder why the Vikings signed Za’Darius Smith, it came next. He blasted through the Bills’ offensive line and tipped a pass that was nearly intercepted by Cam Bynum. Diggs turned into a corner and knocked the ball away and the Bills were held to a field goal. OK, game’s still on.

Suddenly the flags on top of Highmark Field (which will always be Rich Stadium to me) kicked up. The swirling winds have arrived. A blast of snow followed.

That didn’t deter the former Michigan State quarterback. After Kene Nwangwu’s biggest kick return of the year, Cousins hit Jefferson for a third-down conversion and then found KJ Osborn on a swing pass for a first down inside the 5-yard line. TJ Hockenson then broke up a potential interception by committing pass interference and a floating pass to Hockenson was broken up in the end zone, so the Vikings settled for a field goal. The Bills and their beat-up secondary had to feel pretty good about the result.

Matt Daniels’ special teams unit made another impact play with a kickoff that befuddled the Bills. They started in their own end but the impact of a kickoff is mitigated by a quarterback who can do anything. Allen escaped an Eric Kendricks pass rush and fired a first down pass. Then he hit a 15-yard bullet to tight end Dawson Knox. But Singletary fumbled on a routine running play and Bynum returned it for 40 yards, putting the Vikings right back in the game. The snow stopped.

But the Vikings failed to make the Bills pay. On fourth down, Kevin O’Connell surprisingly dialed up a pass play and Benford broke it up, putting the ball back in Allen’s hands.

And legs.

Allen instantly ran for 25 yards after dodging a Za’Darius pass rush. Allen to Diggs. Allen to Davis. In an eyeblink the Bills were right back in scoring position. Allen faced pressure on the next play, threw as he was hit and blazed a pass right into Diggs’ hands.

Fade pass to Davis, touchdown. Shout song. Miscues get punished by Super Bowl contenders.

Do you see why these people all have No. 17 jerseys?

The Vikings got the ball back to start the second half with a chance to ruin the ALLEN IS PLAYING party. Narrator: They did not. Cousins threw another stunningly bad interception. The big board showed dudes dancing without shirts.

The Vikings weathered the storm and forced a punt but a rare holding penalty on Christian Darrisaw negated the next drive.

Another mistake turned costly in a situation where the Vikings couldn’t afford to give Allen any more opportunities. On third-and-5 late in the third quarter Za’Darius Smith jumped offside. Punished again. An 11-yard completion to Diggs and 22-yard pass to Dawson Knox set up a field goal that moved the ESPN win probability meter to above 95% in Buffalo’s favor.

Dalvin Cook would have something to say about that. Buffalo’s great but everything on Sunday screamed that they are not perfect. Cook, who had 13 yards on six carries to that point, exploded for an 81-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to close the gap to 27-17. Win probability back to under 90%. Plenty of game to play.

And then the moment came — the mind-blowing, how-the-bleep-did-he-just-do-that play, this-is-why-they-are-different moment. On third-and-15 with the final seconds of the third quarter, Allen rolled out and seemingly had no options. He waited, waited, and then a flipped the ball in Diggs’ direction. It wasn’t a Miracle catch but the superstar receiver leaped up and grabbed the ball with one hand for a massive, momentum-changing catch. It wasn’t really that much of a revenge game but he decided to get his anyway. Even Cris Carter tweeted about it.

Just when you thought Allen had done enough, he rolled around on another third down and found Gabriel Davis for a 22-yard first down. This man is playing hurt. Allen followed up with a 16-yard pass to Diggs. A friend from Buffalo texted me, “RIP Kirk fans after watching this.”

What a roller-coaster of emotions for everyone. Allen’s next play showed his one weakness: Trying to do too much. The superstar QB rolled to his right and threw an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by Patrick Peterson, who ran it back to the 35. Again, somehow the Vikings were still alive. Had they simply run Allen, the game might have been on ice (or snow).

Overhead the skies cleared. Sun out in the fourth quarter. Even the weather was all over the place. The Vikings converted a fourth down. Christian Darrisaw left the field with an apparent injury, leaving inexperienced Blake Brandel alone at left tackle. The Vikings converted another fourth down to TJ Hockenson, into Buffalo territory.

Suddenly Cousins turned into Allen. A comeback here and they might start hanging No. 8 signs on the highway. The Vikings’ QB rolled out and delivered to Adam Thielen for a first down and then ran for 15 yards to the goal line. CJ Ham, in perfect fullback environment, slammed it in for a touchdown. But the ever-questionable Greg Joseph hit the upright, splitting the difference for two franchises known for wide left and wide right.

The Bills came so close to last bit of magic from Allen-Diggs but Harrison Smith broke up a deep pass on third-and-15, giving Cousins a chance to go win the game. You would have never imagined they would have this chance when Buffalo went up 17. This is the Vikings. Every game has been like this.

One of the reasons the Vikings are never out of the game is Justin Jefferson. Again he came through with an answer to Diggs’ catch earlier in the game with a shocking reception to convert fourth-and-19. Did anyone else think, “Sideline, Jefferson, unbelievable?” The Win Probability meter jumped 21% on one catch.

Jefferson did it again, making another grab at the goal line.

In a level of madness that only the Vikings and Bills’ franchises could produce, a Bills player jumped offside on a failed fourth down. Then Kirk Cousins’ sneak failed to get into the end zone. You could hear Orchard Park’s cheers in Toronto.

And those cheers instantly turned to screams of horror. Allen muffed the snap, the Vikings jumped on the ball and scored a touchdown. Somebody make up a Miracle-related nickname. Screw the Win Probability meter, it knows nothing. What are the odds of two failed QB sneaks in a row?

If you thought Allen was out of it, oh, you were out of your skull. The Vikings gave him enough time to drive the field. The modern John Elway looked every bit the part, finding pass after pass and somehow getting receivers out of bounds. He drove 69 yards in 39 seconds and the Bills tied the game. 30-30.

We have flights to catch, Josh.

The Vikings won the toss. It seems like they’ve won every toss this year, of all kinds.

Guess what happened in overtime? After two quality runs by Cook, Jefferson made another wild grab on the sideline for a first down to bust into Bills territory. Buffalo’s defense has been one of the best in the NFL this year but nobody has ever had an answer for Jefferson. Who ever thought someone would enter Moss territory as far as being unstoppable?

The best play the Bills made on Jefferson all day came next…when they tackled him before the ball arrived and committed pass interference, bailing the Vikings out of a second-and-22.

Jefferson had one more magic act in his bag of tricks. On third down with the Vikings in field goal range, he was completely covered and reached over a Bills defender for a first down inside the 5-yard line.

Cousins took a sack when the left side of the O-line broke down and the Vikings kicked a field goal to go up 33-30. Oh look, the overtime rules that would have ended this thing back when Brett Favre….nevermind.

Three minutes, 35 seconds to go. Number 17 with the ball. Here we go.

Allen started by breaking free for a first down run. And then he ran again, and escaped Danielle Hunter, who runs like a 4.6 40-yard dash. First down Buffalo inside the 40.

Inside the 20, Allen looked around, looked around, and threw the ball right to Patrick Peterson again in the end zone.

You may not ever see a more insane game in your entire life.

Vikings fans, where would you rather be than right here, right now?

---

Check out our deal from SotaStick: 15% off with the code PurpleInsider: