The Vikings get an improbable 33-30 overtime win over the Bills in the game of the year
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The 2022 Vikings like to do things the hard way. They made Sunday their most difficult win so far in the game of the year.
In a game reminiscent of the Chiefs-Bills playoff game in January, Sunday’s game in Buffalo between the Vikings and Bills wasn’t over until it was over. It came after the fat lady warmed up the vocals several times for both teams.
The Vikings finally secured the unlikely victory on Patrick Peterson’s second interception of Josh Allen in the end zone with 1:19 left in overtime. It gave Minnesota a miraculous 33-30 win.
It was Allen’s fourth red-zone interception in the last two weeks.
The Vikings moved to 8-1, while the Bills fell to 6-3 with their second straight loss.
The last two minutes were absolutely crazy.
Minnesota was deadlocked with 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter when the Bills stopped Kirk Cousins inches from the end zone on fourth down, leaving the Bills with a 27-23 lead. But Allen fumbled the exchange on the next snap, and Eric Kendricks recovered in the end zone for the Vikings with 41 seconds left.
That gave Minnesota a 30-27 lead, but the Vikings left the Bills with too much time.
Buffalo went 69 yards in five plays, needing just 39 seconds. The drive included a 20-yard reception by Gabe Davis that was not called when the Bills got to the line. Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino said the play should have been stopped and turned into an incompletion on review.
Instead, Tyler Bass’ 29-yard field goal with two seconds left sent the game into overtime.
The Vikings looked like they were going to take the overtime kickoff and win it by a touchdown when Justin Jefferson, one of the stars of the day, caught a 24-yard pass from Cousins to the Buffalo 2-yard line on third-and-10.
However, the Vikings had to settle for a 33-yard Greg Joseph field goal.
The Bills then reached the Minnesota 20, where they faced a second-and-10, and Peterson made an easy interception of Allen.
The Bills came close to pulling away a couple of times, but Minnesota would not go quietly into the night.
Buffalo led 27-17 with 10:42 left and faced a fourth-and-two from the Minnesota 7. The Bills decided to go for it in hopes of putting the game away, but Allen rolled right, bought time and found no one open , threw a ball up in the end zone that Peterson picked off.
Peterson returned it 39 yards to the Minnesota 34 before Allen tackled him. Allen remained on the field as team medical personnel rushed to him. He eventually walked off the field and returned to the game when the Bills got the ball back.
Allen entered the game with an injured elbow.
The Vikings went 66 yards in 13 plays with running back CJ Ham scoring on a 3-yard run with 4:34 left. Joseph missed his fourth PAT of the season, leaving the Vikings behind 27-23.
Then the Bills ended up passing it back to the Vikings with 3:26 left, giving Minnesota a chance to win it.
Pulling the magic out of his helmet, Jefferson made an all-time miraculous catch for a 32-yard gain on fourth-and-18 on the first snap after the two-minute warning. He caught the ball over Cam Lewis, who looked like he was going to intercept it, and with one hand somehow managed to secure it before hitting the ground.
Jefferson then had a 14-yard reception and, with less than a minute remaining, caught a 6-yard pass on third-and-goal that was originally ruled a touchdown. It was overturned on replay, setting up a fourth-down play that looked like it was the game.
The Bills celebrated as if they had won it after the replay upheld the on-field ruling that Cousins did not cross the plane with the ball.
But that was hardly the end.
It ended with the Vikings being the team that celebrated when it was officially over.
Jefferson caught 10 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown, while Stefon Diggs had 12 receptions for 128 yards for the Bills.
Cousins completed 30 of 50 passes for 357 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Allen was 29-of-43 for 330 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, while rushing for 84 yards on six carries.
Cook had 119 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings.
