Bills cry, rejoice, honor Damar Hamlin in 'spiritual' victory over Patriots

ORCHARD PARK - The last play the Buffalo Bills had participated in six days earlier was the one where their teammate, Damar Hamlin, made a tackle in Cincinnati, collapsed to the field, went into cardiac arrest, and nearly died.

You can only imagine what was going through their heads Sunday afternoon when they got lined up to return the opening kickoff against the New England Patriots in a game that carried huge postseason ramifications for both sides.

“I think a little bit,” quarterback Josh Allen said when he was asked if it was tough to steady the nerves and control the emotions that were coursing through the veins of every player. “Sitting there, national anthem, I know some guys had some tears rolling down and just a feeling of uncertainty of what it was gonna feel like to go back out there.”

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And then the ball was propelled downfield by Patriots kicker Nick Folk, it came to rest in Nyheim Hines’ arms at the 4-yard-line, and what transpired next was almost too much to comprehend or believe.

Hines started running up the middle, quickly veered to his right when he saw a coverage breakdown, and 14 seconds and 96 yards later, having not even been touched, he was crossing the goal line to complete as stunning a play to start a game - especially given the circumstances surrounding this one - that anyone could ever dare to imagine.

“You want the truth?” Allen said following Buffalo’s pulsating 35-23 victory when he was asked to describe what he and the rest of the Bills were feeling watching that unfold. “It was spiritual, it really was. Bone-chilling. It was special.

“I can’t remember a play that touched me like that, I don’t think in my life, so it’s probably No. 1. I was going around with my teammates and saying ‘God’s real.’ You can’t draw that one up any better.”

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Oh, and Hines wasn’t done. Early in the third quarter, just after the Patriots had grabbed a 17-14 lead to mute what had been an electric atmosphere, Hines took the ensuing kickoff back 101 yards for the touchdown that put the Bills ahead for good.

What? Are you kidding me?

“It was electric,” Hines admitted with a smile. “We’ve had so many prayers and so much support and to be able to start the game off like that, it’s amazing. I even talked to family and friends and I just said, ‘Look, we’re gonna be ready today; our boys are gonna play spirited.’ Just being around all those guys, even though I have not been here (long), it motivated me. That was for (Damar).”

Allen, who did his part to deliver this critical victory with 254 yards passing and three touchdowns, got choked up when he referenced a fact made aware to him by a member of the Bills’ PR staff that the last time the team had returned a kickoff for a touchdown was back in 2019, three years, and three months ago.

As in Hamlin’s No. 3. Further, as Allen pointed out, he threw three TD passes and the Buffalo defense intercepted three of Mac Jones’ passes. And then when offensive tackle Dion Dawkins came into the interview room, he was joined by his daughter who was born, you guessed it, three years ago.

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

“Things like that just don’t happen,” said Dawkins of Hines first’ TD. “And that just shows you that God is real and for that to start that game like that, we were all like … all right, something is scarily weird.”

Added center Mitch Morse: “I mean, not only just from a football perspective. You go out and then you have this kind of shock to the system like that. It was such a tone-setter. You could feel how palpable it was in the stadium. It did feel almost like a … it was so surreal. Really, the trajectory of that was paramount for us and the crowd was into it, the team, it really interjected a lot of energy.

“And then, to see that twice, I think Nyheim, we’ve always known he’s a special returner but that was a career game for him and it couldn’t have happened for us as a team at a better time.”

He’s right about that. The Bills really needed those two touchdowns because the Patriots, who were playing for their postseason lives and needed a win to get in, gave them all they could handle. If not for Hines, New England may very well have pulled an upset that would have potentially been detrimental to the Bills’ Super Bowl aspirations.

The drama was overwhelming throughout the day, and yet it paled in comparison to what was happening earlier in the week in those terrifying two days when no one truly knew whether Hamlin was going to be OK as he lay in a hospital bed, sedated, critical and fighting for his life.

Even after the Bills got such encouraging news on Thursday, then were able to Zoom with Hamlin on Friday which lifted their spirits into a new stratosphere, coach Sean McDermott was wondering how all of it would affect his team once they took the field.

“Going into the game, a lot of unknowns, just not sure how the players were gonna handle it,” he said. “I feel like I had a pretty good control on how I was gonna handle it but you never know, again, just because it was a new situation for us and we were all thinking of Damar and his family.”

McDermott got his answer when he saw Hines racing down the far sideline as the sold out stadium shook to the core in pandemonium.

“We come out with the first play there and it’s kinda surreal watching Nyheim score and then I was more concerned, I guess it’s just coach speak, more concerned about the next play and the ensuing three quarters and how that was gonna be handled there,” McDermott said.

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He was right to worry because after such an explosive start, the concern was whether the Bills would be able to rein in a new wave of emotions and stay focused on the task at hand, which was not going to be any easy one against a desperate Patriots team.

New England quickly tied the score, and after Allen hit Dawson Knox for a TD early in the second, the Patriots tied it before halftime on Jones’ TD pass to Devante Parker.

In the third, Tre White stopped a promising Patriots drive with an interception at the 1, but Devin Singletary immediately fumbled the ball back and New England, though it didn’t punch the ball, went ahead on a 24-yard Folk field goal and there was some nervous tension building in the stadium.

For all of 14 seconds when Hines ripped off his second TD return, which was followed late in the third by Allen’s 42-yard TD pass to John Brown that made it 28-17.

New England cut the gap early in the fourth on Jones 26-yard strike to Parker, but then Allen and Stefon Diggs connected on an enormous play, a third-and-10, 49-yard TD pass with 8:51 remaining that pretty much put it away.

“It was huge,” Allen agreed. “Behind the chains there but just giving 14 a chance 1-on-1 and that’s something maybe I’ve gotten away from a little bit too much. The dinking and dunking is great, but sometimes you gotta let your your dogs be dogs.”

The Bills defense then closed it out as both Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds made interceptions to end New England’s final two possessions.

When the team got back to the locker room, Hamlin, from his hospital bed, FaceTimed them, the perfect end to a perfect day.

“We just broke it down, actually, his voice, so that was cool, too,” Allen said. “He got the game ball as well as our trainers and our training staff. So it’s a good feeling in there right now. No doubt. He said ‘Love y’all boys, Bills on three, Bills on me. 1-2-3 Bills.”

Quite a day indeed.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Josh Allen says Bills opening kickoff against Patriots was 'spiritual'