In arguably the greatest, most exciting and electrifying game in NFL playoff history, the Buffalo Bills suffered the highest highs and the lowest lows in a matter of 13 ticks of the clock, until the lights and all power suddenly went out on them and their 2020-2021 season.
“Thirteen Seconds” will go down in tragic Bills history and infamy with “Wide Right” and “Home-Run Throwback.” The hierarchy is arguable.
The stars were aligning perfectly for the Bills, particularly when the Cincinnati Bengals upset the Tennessee Titans on Saturday.
The coaching blunders, however, at the end Sunday very likely cost the Bills the game and home-field advantage in the AFC Championship Game. Again, the Bills seemed to beat themselves with unforced errors.
People are also reading…
There is no need to rehash them all here; all available mud has already been slung.
But the blame game will carry on for months, if not forever. As will the arguments over the playoff overtime rules, until they are changed, and which might come this offseason.
The Bills are both snake charmers and snakebit — fantastic and futile — the GOATS or the goats, depending on the 21st or 20th century’s definition of the word.
They pulled off a heart-stopping miracle and then spontaneously combusted. They went on a magic carpet ride and then pulled the rug out from under us. The led us to the mountain top and then dropped over the edge.
Thankfully for Buffalo, the team and the community, 25-year-old quarterback Josh Allen is a bona fide unicorn superstar. In two weeks of playoff football, he became a national treasure. And Josh is as genuine, as likeable, as humble, and as goofy as he is truly great.
Bills Mafia and Buffalo will likely be his home for his entire career, which is pretty much the only solace one can take from the sudden death/sudden heartache of "13 Seconds."
Big props must be given to Allen’s counterpart and friend, Patrick Mahomes, and the Kansas City Chiefs, who made numerous miraculous plays of their own, and which made the game an instant classic. They made the plays at the end to win and the Bills didn’t.
For the Bills, the offensive numbers, again, are sick. The Bills had 16 possessions in the postseason and scored 12 touchdowns.
Wide receiver Gabriel Davis had the greatest playoff pass-catcher game in NFL history, with eight catches for 201 yards and four TDs, and we forget the ridiculous catch and toe-drag-swag he made earlier that was an inch from another immaculate reception.
On defense, Tre’Davious White and his speed were sorely missed for the first time since his season-ending injury in November. But it was also the first time since Tre went down that the Bills faced a team with speedy receivers and a quarterback who can get it to them.
Levi Wallace cannot keep up with Tyreek Hill, and did not.
To be a Bills fan takes a lot of guts, because they will inevitably be ripped out of you. The franchise brings us the greatest gifts and the grossest gaffes. Nobody circles the wagons or the drain like the Buffalo Bills and their raucous, rowdy, faithful fanatics.
Bills Mafia is the toughest breed, with the softest hearts, and will be back even stronger next season. That is what it means and takes to be a Bills fan.
But this one hurt. This one will leave some scars that will likely never go away, at least until the Bills hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
It’s coming.
Go Bills.