The Bills win their first playoff game in 25 years, a breakdown
What Happened
The Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts face off in a tightly contested AFC Wild Card playoff game. With the Bills leading 27-24 late in the fourth quarter, the game comes down to a crucial sequence in the final minutes. In a pivotal moment, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen fumbles the ball after taking a sack, putting the Colts in prime scoring position. However, the Bills recover the loose ball, narrowly avoiding a potentially game-tying scenario. Veteran Colts quarterback Philip Rivers leads his team down the field, setting up a critical 4th-and-1 situation. The Colts convert, keeping their drive alive with under a minute remaining. Rivers continues to march the Colts offense downfield, but on 4th-and-10 with the game on the line, a potential game-tying completion is ruled down by contact. Replays show the ball may have come loose, potentially resulting in a Bills recovery and victory, but the call on the field stands. This controversial decision looms large, as the Colts are forced to attempt a last-second Hail Mary pass, which is swatted down by Bills defensive back Micah Hyde to seal the 27-24 win. The victory marks the Bills' first playoff triumph in 25 years, ending their long postseason drought. As the final seconds tick away, the Bills sideline erupts in celebration, with head coach Sean McDermott and players like Josh Allen expressing their joy and relief. "It's been a long time coming," says Allen, who finished the game with 324 passing yards and two touchdowns. "This is just the start for us." The hard-fought victory over their AFC rival Colts sets the stage for the Bills' continued playoff push. After years of disappointment, the long-suffering Bills fanbase can finally revel in the team's return to the postseason and their first playoff win in a quarter-century.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe buffalo bills won their first
playoff game in 25 years but it got a
bit
dicey at the end we're at three minutes
50 seconds left and josh allen is gonna
take a
sack for a big loss just joking he
fumbles this ball
luckily his own team recovers because
had the colts recovered
they would have been on like the 44 yard
line
and a field goal ties it but look here
we go you get the strip right there and
then another extra little spin
at the bottom just to keep it away from
allen's hands and then this
dude i mean if he falls on it we're
looking at a much
crazier end to this game instead lineman
for the bills i don't know his name a
lot of you probably do you're probably
upset i don't know it but he
grabs it smothers it hugs it and loves
it stands up shows it off for his mom
says there you go ref
allen's scared shitless he's like oh my
god that was bad eventually the bills do
have to punt
colts get the ball river's doing the
damn thing going down
field we got a fourth and one coming up
basically game on the line
and they get it a minute left and the
kicker is getting acquainted with the
ball saying let's go tie this baby
up rivers is gonna put us in field goal
position second and ten a lot of grass
in front of them but the throw
was just way too wide so philip rivers
doesn't get it but he does try to get
the penalty
on you know just roughing the
quarterback you got to watch your elbows
there 9-7
got to watch the elbows fourth and 10
game on the line again this is the play
that
could have caused a lot of controversy
if the bills hadn't won
because they ruled it a catch and down
and 21
poyers excited as all hell flexing
now this went to review and they said
he was touched wall down so his knee is
down there but no one's touching him
and i don't understand what they're
looking at that i'm not seeing because
right now his knees down but that left
hand
isn't touching his back and now the knee
clearly separates i'm gonna go backwards
a little bit so the knees down
now the knee clearly separates from the
ground
and the hand is still not touching when
the hand touches
it's pretty clear just his two feet are
on the ground
so i thought this was definitely a
fumble and the bills were going to be
excited and win the game
even from this angle you can check out
the right foot
that's not touching we know the hand's
not touching i don't know what they saw
to rule it the way they did this is what
the ref said after review
the ruling on the field stands buffalo
is not charged to time out as the replay
official
stopped the play now buffalo not being
charged a timeout also looms pretty
large because this play would have put
the colts basically in field goal range
to tie the game up phil rivers like what
the hell is going on now
what's up they're like well they called
timeout we told them they had one
timeout left and they're like all right
let's use the damn thing
call timeout right before the snap that
could have changed the end of this game
a lot
we got three plays in the last four
minutes three minutes i could have
changed a lot now they got to go a hail
mary that kid says
bring it on river scoots back
tosses it up but i think hyde is his
name just
smacks it down bills win their first
playoff game in 25 years
way up there slams it down no interest
in catching it
i'm just gonna smack that baby to the
ground
bill's win i wish we had a full stadium
of bills fans he goes
double point coach also goes double
point straight to the heavens above
this kid no pointing just jumping whew