Bills head to playoffs with No. 2 AFC seed
The Bills have played well enough this year to have next weekend off in most seasons. This isn't most seasons.
Despite finishing with the AFC's second-best record, the Bills (13-3) will be forced to host a playoff game on wild-card weekend after finishing off the regular season with a 56-26 demoliton of the Miami Dolphins. They finished with the most points since scoring 54 against Kansas City in 2008.
Incredibly, the win also moved coach Sean McDermott into third place on the team's all-time list with 38 at the end of his fourth season. Only Marv Levy (112) and Lou Saban (68) have more.
Because the NFL this season decided to add a playoff team to each conference for a total of seven, it means only the top team in each conference gets a first-round bye.
In the AFC, that one team is of course defending Super Bowl champ Kansas City, which came into the final weekend with a 14-1 record and owned the tiebreaker over the Bills anyway by beating them in October.
But McDermott isn't complaining. That would be wasted energy that all needs to be spent on the Indianapolis Colts, coached by a man who is near and dear to the Bills Mafia, Frank Reich.
Reich's Colts (11-5) earned the seventh and final playoff seed after beating Jacksonville, 28-14.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen tossed three touchdown passes in the first half before giving way to Matt Barkley. But historic damage had already been done.
Allen in 2020 set Buffalo season records for passing yards, touchdown passes, completions and completion percentage.
But he's aware it will mean nothing if the Bills can't capitalize in the postseason.
"This all means nothing," Allen told BuffaloBills.com. "It gave us a chance that we wanted. Now we gotta go take it."
