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sports Monday 16 January 2023
Bills hang on for 34-31 wild-card win over Dolphins

By JOHN WAWROW As the AFC's second seed, Bass hit a 33-yard field goal.
AP Sports Writer Buffalo advances to host The Dolphins defense and
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) either the third-seeded Cin- special teams made up for
— Josh Allen shrugged off cinnati Bengals or fourth- an offense that was down
a three-turnover outing by seeded Jacksonville Jag- to its third-string quarter-
throwing two touchdown uars in the divisional round. back in Thompson. Miami
passes 3:11 apart in the Their matchup will be de- rallied to tie the game by
third quarter, and rallying termined after the Bengals taking advantage of two
the Buffalo Bills to a 34-31 host Baltimore on Sunday interceptions and Cedric
win over the injury-deplet- night. Wilson's 50-yard punt return.
ed Miami Dolphins in an A potential Bills-Bengals Thompson, a seventh-
AFC wild-card matchup on matchup would come round pick out of Kansas
Sunday. three weeks after their State, finished 18 of 45 for
Cole Beasley scored the game was canceled when 220 yards with a touch-
go-ahead touchdown with Buffalo safety Damar Ham- down pass to Gesicki, and
a 6-yard catch, and Gabe lin went into cardiac arrest two interceptions. He was Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17), top, loses control of the
Davis extended the lead to and needed to be resusci- making his third career start ball after a hit by Miami Dolphins safety Eric Rowe (21) during
34-24 with a 23-yard TD re- tated on the field. in place of Tua Tagovailoa, the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Sun-
ception in a game where The Dolphins played tough who is still in the concussion day, Jan. 15, 2023, in Orchard Park, N.Y. Associated Press
Buffalo squandered an in a game they entered as protocol and with backup
early 17-0 lead. 13 1/2-point underdogs, ac- Teddy Bridgewater dealing and featured a patchwork tackle Terron Armstead,
"Doesn't matter how we cording to FanDuel Sports- with a dislocated pinky fin- offensive line missing start- meantime, played despite
win, it's if we win, and I'm book. They were down nu- ger. ing left guard Liam Eichen- missing two of three prac-
proud of our guys for play- merous starters and trailed The Dolphins were also miss- berg (hand) and starting tices because of injuries to
ing the way they did," Allen 17-0 with 12:46 left in the ing running back Raheem right tackle Brandon Shell his toe, pectoral muscle,
said. second quarter when Tyler Mostert (broken thumb), (knee/ankle). Starting left knee and hip.q
The Bills defense, which
forced six punts and two
turnovers, then held on to
secure the win when Mi-
ami turned the ball over on
downs on its final posses-
sion.
Rookie Skylar Thompson's
pass on fourth-and-6 went
just off the fingertips of tight
end Mike Gesicki with 2:22
remaining.
Buffalo was able to run out
the clock when Devin Sin-
gletary bulled his way for
a 7-yard gain to convert a
third-and-7.
It was a sloppy game
played between two di-
vision rivals, and the out-
come fitting after Miami
and Buffalo split their reg-
ular-season series in games
decided by a combined
five points. The Dolphins
beat Buffalo 21-19 at Mi-
ami in September, with the
Bills rallying to beat Miami
32-29 last month.
Allen finished 23 of 39 for
352 yards and three TDs,
but also threw two inter-
ceptions, which resulted
in the Dolphins scoring 10
points. He also lost a fum-
ble while being sacked by
Eric Rowe, with Zach Sieler
recovering the ball and
returning it 5 yards for a
touchdown to put Miami
ahead 24-20, just 61 sec-
onds into the third quarter.
"It's a one-week season,
that's it," Allen said. "All that
matters is surviving and ad-
vancing."