'Blacked Out!' Bills' Deonte Harty Reacts to Game-Saving Punt Return TD vs. Dolphins
In a storybook season in which special teams miscues threatened the Buffalo Bills’ season, it was fitting that the unit’s biggest play of the year came through when it was needed most.
On the road, against the vaunted Miami Dolphins, with the AFC East hanging in the balance, a passing offense that so frequently carried Buffalo had fallen short. Receiver Deonte Harty, the man on an island near his own end zone, picked up the slack.
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Deonte Harty (11) returns a punt against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first half at Highmark Stadium.
© Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
First it was the Dolphins special teamers that he made miss, then it was the burst of speed that sent him across midfield, leaving the punter in the rear-view mirror, Harty sped into the end zone with a game-tying score.
The momentum, if you will, had shifted. Immediately, a game that the Bills nearly fumbled in such a familiar fashion was well within their grasp. They didn’t let it slip.
Buffalo’s defense shut Miami out in the second half. Interrupted by a Dawson Knox go-ahead touchdown, the Bills lined up against the fastest offense in football and slowed it to a halt. On the final drive, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was intercepted, and Buffalo took an AFC East title, and the second seed, home with them.
Harty reacted to his standings-shifting play as speechless as the fans that traveled to Hard Rock Stadium.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I blacked out.”
There will be a week to spend praising the Bills for individual performances before a Wild Card Round matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but there’s little doubt Harty is at the center of Buffalo’s late-game ascension.
“Definitely a blessing to go out there and make a play … create a spark,” Harty said.
That spark made Miami kindling and – as winners of five straight – could set the AFC ablaze.
With a mammoth of a quarterback and a defense that stood just as tall, Buffalo is in its healthiest position of the season, at just the right time. The Bills have a 5-6, 170-pound return man to thank.
