Buffalo Bills 32-29 Miami Dolphins: Tyler Bass field goal clinches fourth straight AFC playoff spot for Bills | NFL News

Buffalo Bills secure fourth straight AFC playoff berth with late victory over Miami Dolphins in snowy Orchard Park; Tyler Bass kicks decisive field goal as Josh Allen throws for four touchdowns and leads the Bills’ rushing stats

Tyler Bass kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired to defeat Miami Dolphins 32-29 and send Buffalo Bills into a fourth straight AFC playoff spot.

Story of the Game

Buffalo players used their hands to wipe snow to the side and clear an open spot for Bass before he calmly knocked the ball through the uprights to cap a dynamic 15-play, 86-yard drive for the Bills (11-3), who have now won five successive games.

Josh Allen completed 25 of 40 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 77 yards for Buffalo. Dawson Knox had six receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown, while Quintin Morris, Nyheim Hines and James Cook also caught scoring passes.

Tua Tagovailoa was 17-of-30 passing for 234 yards and two touchdowns for Miami (8-6), who have now lost eight of the last nine meetings with the Bills. Jaylen Waddle had 114 receiving yards and a touchdown and Tyreek Hill had nine receptions for 69 yards and a score for the visitors.

Raheem Mostert rushed for 136 yards and Salvon Ahmed had a scoring run.

Buffalo took over at their own seven-yard line with 5:56 to play and navigated a path downfield despite deteriorating conditions. A key play on the drive was a third-down pass interference call on Miami’s Kader Kohou that gave the Bills a first down at the Dolphins’ 13-yard line.

Bass held his nerve to settle the game in favour of Buffalo as snow swirled around Orchard Park

The expected snowfall during the game did not occur until the fourth quarter but there was a brief delay with 8:18 left in the first half due to fans tossing snowballs onto the field.

The Dolphins trailed 21-13 at halftime but moved ahead on two third-quarter touchdown throws by Tagovailoa.

First he connected with Waddle on a 67-yard scoring pass, but an ensuing two-point conversion throw was incomplete. It was Hill’s turn later in the quarter when he caught a 20-yard scoring pass to give Miami a 26-21 lead with 2:30 left.

Early in the fourth quarter, Jaelan Phillips notched a strip-sack of Allen with Dolphins team-mate Christian Wilkins recovering at the Buffalo 47. Five plays later, Jason Sanders kicked a 47-yard field to give Miami an eight-point lead with 11:56 left in the game.

Allen threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Knox to pull Buffalo within 29-27 with 9:02 to play. The Bills went for two points and Allen kept the ball and leaped and narrowly stretched the ball over the goal line before losing it. It was initially ruled no good but overturned on a replay review.

Allen threw touchdown passes to Morris, Hines and Cook in the first half. The four-yard throw to Cook came as time expired in the second quarter.

Stats leaders

Bills

• Passing: Josh Allen, 25/40, 304 yards, 4 TDs
• Rushing: Josh Allen, 10 carries, 77 yards
• Receiving: Dawson Knox, 6 catches, 98 yards, 1 TD

Dolphins

• Passing: Tua Tagovailoa, 17/30, 234 yards, 2 TDs
• Rushing: Raheem Mostert, 17 carries, 136 yards
• Receiving: Jaylen Waddle, 3 catches, 114 yards, 1 TD

What’s next?

Tom Brady takes on Joe Burrow for the very first time in the NFL as two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL go toe to toe on Sunday, live on Sky Sports NFL.

Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-7) welcome Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) into town – kick-off at 9.25pm – with the New York Jets (7-6) also hosting the Detroit Lions (6-7) in a key clash for playoff spots, with this one getting under way at 6pm. The Sunday night triple-header rounds off with the Washington Commanders (7-5-1) hosting the New York Giants (7-5-1) in an NFC East divisional battle with huge postseason implications for the two wild card hopefuls – kick-off at 1.20am on Monday morning.

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