鈥?Amid the dancing and screaming and hugs and high-fives in the Buffalo Bills’ locker room
Denzel Ward Browns Jersey , defensive tackle Kyle Williams watched his two young sons climbing around in his stall.“What do you think, boys?” Williams shouted. “Where are we going? The playoffs?! Yeah!!”His sons are only 6 and 4. For their dad and most Buffalo fans, Sunday was a long time coming.The Bills snapped the longest current non-playoff drought in North American pro sports, making the postseason for the first time since 1999. They avoided elimination by beating Miami 22-16, and clinched an AFC wild-card berth minutes later when Cincinnati rallied past Baltimore.The Bills watched the dramatic finish of the Bengals game on locker room TVs, and then erupted.“Everybody went crazy,” said Williams, who is in his 12th and perhaps final season with the Bills. “I’ve been a wreck for 10 to 15 minutes.”His voice choked with emotion, and he wasn’t the only one.“Well I started crying, if that’s a good reaction …” former Bills running back Thurman Thomas said in a text to The Associated Press.Buffalo (9-7) will travel to face Jacksonville and former Bills coach Doug Marrone on Sunday. Marrone resigned as Bills coach three years ago Sunday.The Bills’ joy was tempered by the loss of 1,000-yard rusher LeSean McCoy with a right ankle injury. He was carted off the field in the third quarter, and was in a walking boot and tears after the game.“Hopefully it’s not as bad as it seemed,” quarterback Tyrod Taylor said.The frustration of a disappointing season got the best of the Dolphins (6-10) with 6:21 left, when receiver Jarvis Landry, running back Kenyan Drake and offensive lineman Jake Brendel were ejected following a fight . Landry was cited for disrespecting an official, and Drake for throwing his helmet 20 yards in anger. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called against both teams.The undisciplined Dolphins, who came into the game with the second-most penalties in the NFL, had 14 for 145 yards.Meanwhile
Davante Adams Jersey Youth , for the Bills, 17 seasons of frustration ended.“The locker room is electric, man,” said guard Richie Incognito, who finished a season above .500 for the first time in his 11-year career. “We have been working so hard for this. So much has been said about it. And now the monkey is off our back. We’re in the postseason, and we’ve got new life.” Buffalo punctuated the memorable victory with a 1-yard touchdown run by Williams for the first score of his career.“I thought, ‘Try not to screw it up. They’re not going to call it again if I screw it up,'” he said.He and his teammates celebrated with choreographed back flops in the end zone.“I was a little surprised at the touchdown celebration,” Taylor said. “I was the only one who wasn’t aware of falling down.”Golf great Jack Nicklaus wore Bills gear and a smile watching from the stands as his grandson, tight end Nick O’Leary, caught Taylor’s 26-yard touchdown pass.The Dolphins scored a touchdown with 1:56 left and recovered the ensuing onside kick, but Jordan Poyer’s interception sealed the win.Taylor went 19 for 27 for 204 yards and one score. In six games against Miami, he has 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions.For the Dolphins, the season finale had the feel of an exhibition game, with thousands of empty seats and David Fales giving a lengthy, unimpressive audition as a potential backup quarterback in 2018. Miami was eliminated a week ago and will sit out the playoffs for the eighth time in the past nine years.“I guess it’s a little perplexing,” defensive end Cameron Wake said.REVERSALA 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown by the Bills’ Preston Brown was negated by a replay review. Instead, the Dolphins kept possession
Tre'Davious White Jersey Youth , and Landry scored on a 1-yard reception on the next play, when the fight broke out.MIAMI QBSMiami starter Jay Cutler took three snaps before he was replaced by Fales, a sixth-round draft pick by the Bears in 2014. Fales, who came into the game with only two career completions, went 29 for 42 for 265 yards with one score and one interception.“Jay was great as far as saying, ‘Just let him go. Let him play a full game,'” coach Adam Gase said.INJURY REPORTBills: McCoy was hurt when he carried up the middle. After being tackled, he pounded the turf with his fist as trainers attended to him. He had 10 yards on 11 carries to finish with 1,138 yards rushing, and added 448 receiving on a team-high 59 catches. … RT Jordan Mills (ankle) was helped off the field late in the second quarter.Dolphins: LB Kiko Alonso suffered a neck injury.UP NEXT: Buffalo will play a postseason game for the first time since losing at Tennessee in the Music City Miracle game in January 2000.“Obviously the Bills have achieved something they haven’t done in a while,” Bills owner Terry Pegula said. “If we get a win next week, that’s what it’s all about.”AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Orchard Park, New York contributed to this report. Dustin Byfuglien busted out his dance moves for a little celebration of his latest big goal, which may have caught many people by surprise.
Not his teammates.
”He’s so loose before games,” Winnipeg center Bryan Little said. ”He’s a joker, definitely the prankster on the team. It’s strange for me to see him talking to you guys in front of the camera. It’s like, `That’s not who I know.”’
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Byfuglien is making a big impression on the NHL playoffs on both ends of the ice as the Jets have muscled their way to within one win of Winnipeg’s first berth in the Western Conference Final. Timely goals
Michael Gallup Youth Jersey , rugged defense, leadership – it’s all part of his game. He dropped jaws during the second-round series against the Predators by literally manhandling two Nashville players, one in each hand.
His journey back to the postseason has been a long one, but the 33-year-old Byfuglien has made Winnipeg his home and is a key reason the Jets are Canada’s last surviving team this postseason. The last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup was Montreal in 1993, and the 25-year drought is a painful one in the home of hockey.
Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler considers Byfuglien a ”great equalizer” and unlike anybody else in the NHL.
”Having him on our team gives us an advantage no matter who we play,” Wheeler said. ”That’s the type of player he is and from Game 1 of the playoffs, he has just dominated. You can’t stop it.”
Byfuglien is making the most of his deepest postseason run since helping Chicago win the Stanley Cup in 2010,
Not only has he been a strong counter to Nashville by outplaying a group often considered the NHL’s best top four defensemen, Byfuglien is leading all defensemen this postseason with four goals. He’s also tied with Boston’s Torey Krug for most points with 12 while skating an average of 26 minutes, 25 seconds a game.
Byfuglien started the Jets’ rally in Game 3 against Nashville from a 3-0 deficit by scoring the first goal and his tying goal prompted his little dance. He wound up with the game-winning goal in Winnipeg’s 6-2 victory Saturday night that put the Jets on the verge of clinching only their second series – all this postseason.
”What makes him unique is he can, I don’t know if `take over’ is right, but he can make an impact in a game in just about every single way possible,” Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. ”He can defend, he can play real physical, nobody wants to drop the gloves with him, and then there’s an offensive side, it’s a perfectly placed shot, quick hands
Joe Namath Jets Jersey , all the other things that he can do offensively.”
And Chicago gave all that potential up in 2010. Byfuglien switched from defense to forward for the Blackhawks and scored three game-winning goals in a sweep of San Jose in the Western Conference finals for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final since 1992. He had a hat trick against Vancouver in the conference semifinals.
But the Blackhawks were strapped for salary cap space after contract extensions for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith on top of pricey deals for Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell. Byfuglien was traded away to the then-Atlanta Thrashers, a franchise that relocated to Winnipeg in 2011.
”There’s only one Dustin Byfuglien, and you want him on your team,” Little said. ”You can’t imagine what it would be like playing against him. There’s only one of him. You can’t really compare him to anyone out there.”
Winnipeg has become home to Byfuglien. The town is just 115 miles as the crow flies from where he grew up in Roseau, Minnesota. Since the franchise moved to Winnipeg, Byfuglien married, and has three children. The Jets rewarded him in February 2016 with a five-year, $38 million contract to make him a key piece of the Jets’ future.
He just isn’t a big talker. Asked where his dance came from in Game 2, Byfuglien said he didn’t know.
He sure is talking to his teammates, trying to share his experience from that 2010 Cup run and offering advice on how to handle what they hope is a two-month run.
”We’ve obviously talked as a group,” Byfuglien said. ”It’s not going to be an easy ride. It’s just take one game at a time, one shift at a time, and just believe in each other.”
Having Big Buff around certainly provides a confidence boost,
”Any time he’s on the ice, it’s dangerous,” Little said.
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