The drought is over

People who are passionate about watching sports experience many feelings when they see  their favorite teams play.  They know the feeling of excitement when reaching the playoffs or the feeling of despair when they have been knocked out of contention.

As a Buffalo Bills fan, I am quite familiar with the feeling of despair.  

They were in a 17-year playoff “drought.” In fact, it was the longest playoff drought for any team in all of the four major sports (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.)

Every year a new NFL season begins, my family and I feel excitement at the possibility of the Bills breaking the drought and continuing on to the postseason.  However, at the end of the season, we are always faced with the phrase “There is always next year.” For all of my life, the Bills have not qualified for the playoffs.

That is, until this past Sunday.

After what seems like eons, the Bills broke the drought in what I can only describe as the most “Billsy” way possible.  The Bills needed to win their game against the Miami Dolphins and have one of two scenarios happen: the Baltimore Ravens lose or the Los Angeles Chargers and Tennessee Titans both lose.

All four teams kicked off their games at 4:25 p.m. this past Sunday. As the games played out, it was clear that both the Chargers and Titans would win their games. The Bills did their part in defeating the Dolphins.

For whatever reason, the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Baltimore Ravens game was running about seven minutes behind the other three games. Therefore, the only chance for the Bills to end the drought would be for the Bengals to defeat the Ravens.

All hope seemed lost as the Ravens took a three-point lead against the Bengals by scoring a touchdown with less than two minutes to play. Keep in mind the Bengals were playing for nothing but pride, as they had already been eliminated from playoff contention several weeks prior to the final week of the NFL schedule.   

Cincinnati received the kickoff and would have to go about 60 yards to get into field goal range to tie the game and force overtime. Things could not look more bleak for the Bills. Cincinnati moved the ball by what seemed like inches and not yards, with the clock winding down.

As I was watching this game with my family, we all began to sense that the drought would continue on for another year.  

Then, what seemed impossible happened. With 54 seconds left in the game, facing 4th down and 12 yards to go to pick up a first down on the Raven 49-yard line, Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton dropped back and launched a pass over a leaping Raven defender into the arms of wide receiver Tyler Boyd. Boyd caught the ball and turned toward the left sideline, cut back toward the middle and ran past two Raven defensive backs into the end zone for a touchdown.

Cincinnati 31, Baltimore 27.

The clock finally wound down, and that was the final score.

The Bills players and coaches had been watching the end of the game from their locker room in Miami following their game, and they erupted with joy as Cincinnati’s improbable victory ended the 17-year playoff drought with an incredible play that will always be remembered by players, coaches and fans of the Bills forever.

Now that the Bills are eliminated from the playoffs, it has left me with a different feeling, hope.  There is optimism for next season for the Bills to go even farther in the playoffs.  I am excited for what is to come.