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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."
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