Bills' Highmark Stadium deserves better farewell than no Josh Allen or AFC East title

This isn't the way Bills Mafia envisioned it.

Sunday will likely - barring a series of illogical upsets — be the final Buffalo Bills game game at old Highmark Stadium. Other than playoff seeding, it will be meaningless. Star quarterback Josh Allen and his aching foot may not even play. And the opponent — the 3-13 New York Jets — will start at quarterback some undrafted rookie named Brady Cook.

It is not the fond farewell that "The Ralph" deserves.

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Way back when the Bills were 4-0 and contemplating a 17-0 run into the postseason, the dream scenario was two home playoff games at the old stadium. Ideally, the final game would be vindication in the form of a victory over nemesis Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs that propelled Allen, Buffalo and the long-suffering Bills Mafia on to California for Super Bowl LX.

It certainly won't be the lasting legacy, but the last memorable play at old Highmark will be Allen woefully missing wide-open receiver Khalil Shakir on a final-play two-point conversion that lost a game to the Philadelphia Eagles and ended a five-year AFC East reign to the New England Patriots.

Josh Allen | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Allen walking to the sideline dejected, leg limping and helmet off in disgust is not the picture-perfect ending we all had in mind. But such is sports. It's not scripted. Nothing artificial.

And, as we noted earlier this week, this Bills' season still has a good chance of winding up in the Super Bowl.

Fond Farewell, Rich Stadium

But the reality is that the next time Allen and the Bills win a meaningful home game it will be in the new stadium across the street. New Highmark is set to open next summer. Old Highmark will soon after be demolished.

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It opened as Rich Stadium, then became Ralph Wilson Stadium, New Era Field, Bills Stadium and finally, in 2021, Highmark. It's been good to the Bills, from the leaps atop tables in the parking lot to the record of 246-163 on the field.

The Bills went 16-3 in the playoffs at the old joint, highlighted by the iconic rally from down 35-3 to the Houston Oilers and three AFC Championship Game wins including the 51-3 thrashing of the Raiders in 1993.

The 53-year-old stadium will take its last breaths Sunday afternoon, likely with Mitch Trubisky handing off to Ray Davis. Fitting that the Bills beat the Jets in the last game at old Highmark. In the first game there on Sept 30, 1973, they also beat the Jets with the help of a running back named O.J. Simpson.

Highmark Stadium | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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