The good news for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday is they were able to survive an unexpected scare from the Miami Dolphins to advance to the AFC Divisional Round thanks to a 34-31 win.
The bad news it should have never been a game and their overall performance was very shaky. It is enough to at least create some concerns for what they are capable of this postseason.
While it is true that there is never a bad playoff win, this was not your normal postseason matchup.
The Dolphins were the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, playing with a third string quarterback, and watched as Jaylen Waddle (one of their top playmakers) dropped an early pass and then left with an injury.
The Bills were sizable favorites, and for good reason.
And they nearly blew it.
The biggest reason why: turnovers.
Superstar quarterback Josh Allen threw two interceptions and lost a fumble that was returned for a Miami touchdown.
As good as Allen is he sometimes seems to either get bored during games and see what he can do, or just gets completely careless with the ball. That leads to turnovers, and when he turns the ball over the Bills tend to struggle.
Had they played a better team on Sunday? It might have cost them and a potential Super Bowl season would have been flushed down the drain.
And they got a LOT of help from Miami. The Dolphins were too reliant on Skylar Thompson to throw the ball. They turned the ball over themselves. And they also did a horrible job of managing the clock with multiple delay of game penalties.
That sort of stuff is not going to happen against a better team (meaning any other team in the playoffs) with its regular starting quarterback.
The Bills should not apologize for winning because playoff wins are hard enough to get. But they should also not be satisfied or think this sort of effort is going to get them to the Super Bowl.
Or even the AFC Championship game.
