The 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season is the most important of Week 18, with the Bills playing at the Dolphins for the AFC East title.
The 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season is the most important of Week 18.
The 10-6 Bills playing at the 11-5 Dolphins for the AFC East title Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium seemed unlikely a month ago when Buffalo was 6-6 and seemingly having lost its way despite winning the division the previous three years.
The Bills’ season has been as turbulent as the Western New York winters are brutal — with injuries to key starters to the firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey to the reports revealing controversial insensitive comments allegedly made four years ago by head coach Sean McDermott about 9/11, praising the hijackers for their coordination during a team meeting.
Now, here the Bills are playing for their fourth consecutive AFC East title and a No. 2 seed in the playoffs. In a fascinating twist, the Bills also could be eliminated from the postseason with a loss plus the Steelers and Jaguars both winning their games.
A Dolphins loss would drop them to the No. 6 seed and likely would force Miami to have to win three road playoff games to reach the Super Bowl. The Dolphins, who lead the league in points scored, are 7-1 at Hard Rock Stadium. If they win, the Dolphins wouldn’t have to go on the road during the playoffs until potentially the AFC Championship game.
Miami, though, has defeated the Bills just once in the past 11 meetings. And the Dolphins enter this game with their own issues — most recently a 56-19 loss last week at Baltimore. Miami, too, lost at Buffalo, 48-20, in the teams’ first meeting.
