What Dane Jackson said to Rasul Douglas, and how backups lifted Bills over Miami Dolphins

Miami Garden, Fla. — With their offense struggling to generate points despite piling up yards in the first half on Sunday night, the Buffalo Bills defense was about to face an injury wave in the most important game of its season. And against one of the NFL’s best offenses.

With the game tied at 7-7 in the second quarter, cornerback Rasul Douglas went down with a knee injury. Eight plays later, the Miami Dolphins took the lead. Dane Jackson, who had gone into the game for Douglas, gave up a big passing play on the drive.

When Jackson came off the field, Douglas was running in place and testing out the knee. He was going to try and go back into the game. But Jackson pulled him aside and assured him that he would step up.

“He really looked me in my face,” Douglas said. “He looked me in my eye and he was like, ‘Sul, if you’re not 100, he was like, ‘I promise you. I got you.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? Go ahead do your thing.’ I got faith in him.”

Douglas knew he wasn’t 100% and didn’t want to put the team in a bad spot by going back out and potentially hurting the secondary. So he trusted Jackson - who’s started plenty of games for the Bills over the past few seasons - to get the job done.

Jackson made two impactful plays on third down in the game. The first was a huge tackle on a 3rd and short that kept Dolphins receiver Braxton Berrios from getting to the first-down marker. The next one was a pass breakup on a pass to Dolphins receiver Cedrick Wilson that forced a punt. The Bills scored the game-winning touchdown on the next drive.

Three key Bills starters went down in the game and didn’t return: Douglas, linebacker Tyrel Dodson, and wide receiver Gabriel Davis. The players who came in when the injuries happened helped lift the Bills to their biggest win of the season to capture their fourth straight AFC East title.

McDermott said Jackson going in and being up to the challenge is just who the player is and has been for the Bills.

“I just love him,” McDermott said. “He’s so blue-collar. He’s such a team guy. He’s never gotten in a bad way when he hasn’t been out there playing. Again, those players are the players that make teams, and that’s where the strength comes from.”

On the Bills’ first scoring drive, Davis left the game with a knee injury after the first play of the team’s second drive. Veteran receiver Trent Sherfield was in at receiver down in the red zone in Davis’s place and made one of the best catches of the season to score the Bills’ first touchdown.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw a pass over the middle and the ball bounced off Andrew Van Ginkel’s helmet and straight up into the air heading toward the back of the end zone. Sherfield was running a quick slant route and adjusted his route to drift to the back of the end zone as the ball traveled in the air off the deflection. He was able to haul in the pass while keeping both of his feet in bounds in spectacular fashion.

All Allen was hoping for as the ball flew through the air was that it didn’t wind up in the hands of a Dolphins defender.

“That’s kind of how the game was going early on, couple of bad rolls early,” Allen said. “But that’s a heck of a catch. Former team that he was on, I know this game means a lot to him. He played a big role, had a couple of huge catches for us, so I’m proud of him.”

Sherfield played for the Dolphins in 2022 and opted to sign with the Bills in free agency. He hasn’t had as large of a role in Buffalo as he did a year ago in Miami as the third option behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. But when his number was called on Sunday, he delivered.

Dodson has been one of the great stories of the Bills’ season, playing in place of Matt Milano since he went out in Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Dodson finished the season as the third-highest-graded linebacker in football with an 89.5 overall grade. Only San Francisco’s Fred Warner (90.1) and New Orleans’ Demario Davis (89.9) were graded higher.

When Dodson went down, McDermott turned to second-year linebacker Baylon Spector. The 25-year-old was up to the challenge, finishing with four tackles and helping hold the Dolphins to no second-half points.

“He was awesome – communication, execution, effort,” said Bills starting middle linebacker Terrel Bernard. “It’s tough to come in there, not getting a lot of snaps even during the week. But that dude prepares like nobody else, and he was ready when his time came, when his moment came, and he went out there and executed and made a ton of big plays. So I’m super proud of him and super happy for him.”

Deonte Harty returned a punt 96 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14 early in the fourth quarter. Safety Taylor Rapp, who plays when the Bills go into their dime defense with an extra defensive back, made a pass breakup and interception on the Dolphins’ final drive to secure the win for the Bills.

Harty and Rapp were under-the-radar free agent pickups the Bills made last offseason. They helped make big plays in big spots on Sunday.

“It speaks volumes of those guys and who they are, their DNA,” McDermott said. “They’re not household names and they haven’t been all season, but they continue to work and they’re ready to go when their number’s called. ... That’s how you win. It’s not always the -- I should say it this way -- the MVP is not always the star, and people want that to be. Josh is a lot, but the MVP is sometimes hidden in the locker room somewhere, and it’s been a different person every week.”

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