Costs take great, bad and awful with Josh Allen en path to AFC East title

It was the Miami Dolphins’ department to lose. And that’s what they did. The Buffalo Bills came away with a 21-14 Week 18 win in Miami, with Buffalo gettingridof 3 turnovers from Josh Allen.

And for the 5th straight season, the Bills are the AFC East champs.

Even after beginning 5-5. Even after getting to 6-6. Even with the Dolphins coming out of the gate shooting with a traditionally respected offense at the start of the season. 

Buffalo showed it’s a long season. The Bills appear to have peaked at the right time. In the wild-card round of the playoffs, Buffalo, now the No. 2 seed in the AFC, will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, while the Dolphins will have to travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs.

For Allen, this videogame was the exactsame story as the rest of the year (and possibly his entire profession). There have constantly been 2 variations of the quarterback. Crazy Good Josh Allen and Crazy Bad Josh Allen. But one quarter of the Crazy Good was enough to clean away the Crazy Bad in this essential Week 18 match.

But before we talk more about Allen’s efficiency. Let’s talk about defense.

Who saw a protective fight coming?

Not I.

The Dolphins have boasted one of the NFL’s most explosive and respected offenses. The Bills likewise sat atop the league in most offensive classifications, especially looking at the 2nd half of the season when they altered offensive planners, promoting Joe Brady.

It felt like a high-scoring videogame in the making. But scoring felt like an outright fight provided all the turnovers (5 overall).

Both defenses have dealt with a significant volume of injuries, both in the videogame and throughout the season. Both defenses have had their low points in the season. But I believe they will both appearance at the movie and see excellent efficiencies, even the Dolphins, whose offense had several possibilities to win however let them down in the 4th quarter. For Buffalo’s defense, Tua Tagovailoa made a handful of turnover-worthy tosses and was fortunate to walk away with simply 2 interceptions. His late-game precision wasn’t what it required to be — nor was his decision-making. Tua must neverever haveactually tossed his last pass of the videogame, an interception from Taylor Rapp who — cautioning: daddy joke inbound — called it a “rapp” on the videogame.

It was unusually symbolic for Tua to collapse in the 4th quarter and Allen to come alive. It was the tale of their seasons. For three-quarters of the year, the Dolphins were the NFL’s most remarkable group to beat. And then it got untidy, with Miami decreasing. Buffalo did simply the opposite: stumbling and bumbling to start the year just to peak and get their act together, even in the face of the mostdifficult stretch in their schedule.

So let’s appearance at Allen’s night, which was as sensationally excellent as it was shockingly bad.

In the veryfirst quarter, Allen missedouton a pass to a wide-open Stefon Diggs, who totally shook cornerback Jalen Ramsey. A pass in-stride would’ve been a long goal. 

Allen lateron missedouton a goal chance at the end of the veryfirst half, with a toss to Ty Johnson brief of the objective line as time ended. McDermott had burned all the Bills’ timeouts — a error in my viewpoint. But Allen required to play with that in mind. He tossed to Johnson at a area where he required to either get into the end zone or the Bills wouldn’t rating points. When Johnson was brief, Buffalo didn’t have time to spike the ball. So they ended the veryfirst half on the 2-lawn line without scoring points. 

“That ball can’t be tossed in the field of play. It’s got to be in the end zone,” McDermott informed NBC throughout the halftime break.

But then there were the takeaways, where the Dolphins madeuseof Allen’s tendency for dangerous play. Take Christian Wilkins’ required fumble and healing. It was a exceptional one-man program, a tip that even defensive dealswith can have a quarterback-like effect on a videogame. Wilkins beat his blocker, assaulted Allen’s hands, knocked the ball totallyfree and held onto it for the healing.

Allen’s initially interception was a miscue inbetween him and receiver Gabe Davis in the endzone, with Allen tossing for one path and Davis running another. In turn, cornerback Eli Apple quickly fielded the ball in the end zone. Something comparable occurred on Allen’s 2nd goal, with the quarterback tossing up a prayer on 4th down — however security DeShon Elliott fielded what was basically a punt from Allen.

It’s not like Allen didn’t have the explosive plays that make him so hazardous in the veryfirst half. He and Diggs were on the verysame page for the rest of the night (except the expensive topple). Diggs completed with 7 captures for 87 backyards and his 36-yard reception was a jaw-dropper with Allen tossing a fadeaway pass and Diggs somehow bodying his protector away for a finger-tip grab. But then Allen’s pass-catchers let him down, simply like he let them down, at times. Allen hit James Cook in the hands for what must’ve been a marvelous goal. Cook’s drop came on the drive at the end of the veryfirst drive that yielded no points.

In that 4th quarter, nevertheless, Allen put together the consent drive when he was 5 of 5 for 64 lawns and a passing goal. It was a piece of excellence, undoubtedly stuck in a mess of his earlier drives. 

Then we saw the strangest side to Allen of all: Game Manager. Not Crazy Josh Allen. 

He was monitoring the ball down. He hurried the ball and dove in bounds to keep the clock running. He snuck the ball up the middle for veryfirst downs. He did whatever he might to win the videogame and safeguard the Bills’ lead, consistingof hurrying for a initially down on third-and-13 — a clutch play that was a huge effort in killing the clock and bringing the videogame to an end.

When Allen couldn’t transform the ball on fourth-and-1 to ice the videogame in the last 2 minutes, the defense stepped up for their QB in a screen of complimentary football. And while the Bills continue to win unsightly, they continue to win — which is why they appearance as harmful as anybody in the field in the AFC. It’s not a quite item in Buffalo. It’s rough. It’s wild. But perhaps it’s enough for them to lastly break their Super Bowl cold breeze.

Prior to signingupwith FOX Sports as the AFC East pressreporter, Henry McKenna invested 7 years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.