2023 Long Island EFL AFC Wild Card Game: Miami Dolphins (5-2) at Buffalo Bills (5-2)

Long island EFL · December 24, 2023

LONG ISLAND EFL TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

(Long Island Electric Football League) Written by Coach Joey Pizz, Paddy Brannigan, and Levi Vick.

AROUND THE LEAGUE: The talk around the LIEFL is about the Washington Redskins (7-0). Already league mouth, Johnny-Freeport is calling out the undefeated Redskins saying, "If Viggy looks at his stats he will see that his Redskins didn't play many contenders. His opponents were (16-26). So, if he plays my Falcons, we'll see who is who in the league. I don't see Viggs Redskins winning the Super Bowl, but I do see Gerald Riggs and my Falcons beating the Packers and then the Redskins." But that is not totally true about the teams being contenders. Long Island Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Andrew M. Slawson said, " Washington beat the Giants (3-4) twice 17-6 and 35-31, the Cardinals (2-5) 17-14, the Cowboys (5-2) 14-10, the Seahawks (1-6) 14-10, the Jets (2-5) 14-0, and the Patriots (3-4) 10-7. I would argue that all of the teams are fierce competitors, and if you watched Viggs unleash Tony Green in the season finale, what he did touching the ball five times and scoring five 100-yard touchdowns has never been done in the history of the league! Will Green do the same in the NFC Divisional Championship Game, probably not, but the Redskins to me, have all the tools and the electric football genius behind them coaching in order to win. The guy never talks trash, Viggs comes to dominate on the field. He is not concerned with who he is playing, that never comes into the equation. He is logical, unemotional, and grounded."

Absent as a coach, LIEFL Commissioner Billy O'C said, "Great coaching is when a coach comes to execute a game plan, and he consistently wins. That is Viggs in the game of electric football. Coaches around the country would love his style of play. He will put on a clinic against the Falcons, and his other team, the Green Bay Packers. He said that if he has to play the Packers, Bobby Biggs agreed to play with the Pack. Viggs is a class act all the way. I am not going to miss this game against Miami and Buffalo today!"

Watching how Coach Ed Viggs plays the game, maybe someone can learn from his style. "We have our own legends in the league who have won many tournaments. I am not criticizing, but it's not like some leagues where they don't even put a ball in the runners hands, or they have to touch a piece of foam on the field to make a catch without passing, or calling sweeps, and or having long countdowns before a play even starts. To me that totally interferes with the fast-paced continuity of the play and game. Viggs is hitting guys on the fly with the Tudor kicker/passer from 30,40, 50 yards out in a one-stop league. He is a rare high-skilled coach who is respectful to everyone, even the coaches he beats. He is a master at tweaking his player bases, and he plans so well that he becomes a bigger challenge than the teams he plays with, that's the ultimate compliment when you receive respect from other coaches," said Coach Paddy Brannigan.

Ed Viggs is the kind of man who as a child played up, with the older kids twice his size hitting him, but he never quits. And the greatest part of electric football is that it keeps us connected to our childhood. What does Johnny-Freeport say to all this? Johnny-Freeport said to Brannigan, "Phooey, Viggy is beatable, and Bobby Biggs was all talk too. The guy won four lousy games as a new coach. He ruined the Seahawks this year. I think the Seahawks are one of the best teams in the league, and the guy couldn't even win with Marshawn Lynch?"

The next AFC Wild Card Game today is a colossal division matchup between the Miami Dolphins (5-2) and the AFC East Division Champion Buffalo Bills (5-2), but it also puts Coach Joe Bino in a precarious predicament because Bino coaches both teams. Bino wanted Coch Ed Viggs to coach one of the two teams, but Viggs declined, so next up with all of his teams out of the playoffs is Coach Joe Pizz, a qualified coach. Pizz loves Buffalo. Today will be his game with the Bills. The Dolphins are chasing a seventh Super-Bowl title in this league. The teams of the 70's might get beaten up by these new version of the Miami Dolphins. Miami has won a record 28 playoff games with 8 loses in this league, and they've lost their last four LIEFL Super Bowl's. Coach Bino wants to be the guy who changes that, but Miami has a mountain to climb. Since Buffalo receives the ball first, Miami has to keep the pace and control the clock, but Bino has to play well under pressure.

The talk of the league right now is Coach Joe Bino. We already watched the NFC Wild Card Game Rams toboggle with Coach Joe Bino miscalculating a third down play against the Bears, costing the Rams to advance to the Division Game in their loss to the Chicago Bears yesterday, 35-31. Bino's clock management collapsed once. Is he ready for a high-stakes game like this?

Who's the Boss in town may vary depend on who you cheer for to win this game. The Bills beat Miami for the Division title 13-7, in OT in the season finale, but when it comes to chasing an AFC title, perhaps Buffalo has a score to settle with Miami. Forget about it if anyone thinks that Mercury Morris and OJ Simpson are stoppable. "Although their last game against each other was a defensive matchup, I wouldn't expect this one to be, said Matt Zoo-York," No one will ever forget how the Bills commanded the league in the 2017 playoff Tournament of Champions. The Bills plain and simple, DOMINATED every team including the defending Super Bowl Champion Detroit Lions! Bills superstar OJ Simpson unleashed a Super Bowl journey, never before witness in this league. The Bills beat up everyone as the AFC Wild Card Team. Simpson set the record for all-purpose yards, rushing yards, and touchdowns in a LIEFL Super Bowl with seven! Buffalo will be ready for Miami again!

Miami Dolphins (5-2) (LIEFL Historic Rank #1 163-42 EST. 1972)

Buffalo Bills (5-2) (LIEFL Historic Rank #13 87-85 EST. 1978)

In researching the Bills history a bit in the LIEFL archives saved for each team by our Founder, the first time Buffalo made the LIEFL playoffs was in 1980. After going (2-12) in the 78-79 season, Buffalo competed in wars! They finished 2nd Place in that 1980 season, beating the San Diego Chargers 17-7 in the Wild Card Game. Then they lost to a very tough defensive Denver Broncos team in the AFC Divisional Game 24-14. The Bills did fall to the Dolphins in 1995, 14-13 in the AFC Divisional Game in a battle. And then in 2020, Buffalo lost to Miami again 31-21, in the AFC Championship Game. The Dolphins have done lots of winning in the 60-minute games. Let's see what this one brings!

The difference in this one might be how the #1 kick returner in the AFC Jay Brown performs for the Bills. Brown has 21 touches for 1409 kick return yards with six 100-yard touchdown returns! Is this Buffalo's year?

DOLPHINS HOOK BILLS DEEP TO THE BLUES IN 42-31 THRASHING!

Gametime in the league is a special time, especially in the pressure chase for $3200 dollars is on the line in the LIEFL Tournament of Champions. The coaches chat a little and then a monitor is always present for these BIG Games. We forgot to mention our monitor. This year's monitor is Bobby Biggs. He is the man who will decide the right vs wrong, the catch vs the miss, the tackle vs the missed tackle. Biggs said, "In the good leagues, it is everyone's responsibility to have great sportsmanship and to play fair. We must remove our own bias as a monitor, that's Billy O'C's motto. He is a great commissioner for sure, and he's probably my biggest fan as a coach. After losing my last game, he told me the first year in any league is a learning year, so come back next year and make them pay!" The LIEFL motto is Respect all--Fear none!

On a great opening 70-yard kickoff return by the #1 Kick returner in the AFC Jay Brown, the Bills had to make moves early on to fault the Dolphins defense. Objective One: Get OJ Simpson the all and block. The Bills "Electric Company" led by Marcell Dareus launched Simpson for an 18-yard first down, but the Miami Dolphins defense surged through the Bills front on second down to stop Simpson on the next run, and the Bills struggled from that point on. On Buffalo's next two runs they lost 15 yards. Finally, Buffalo was forced to pass and Coach Joey Pizz connected with OJ Simpson on great pass instead of going for a field goal, but unfortunately Simpson veered right and turned out of bounds, short of the first down. The Bills may have sealed their fate on the play. That's right! Opponents can't afford to make those kinds of mistakes against the great teams. Buffalo turned the ball over to Miami.

Dolphins Coach Bino decided he was going to really work the clock, and with less than a minute left in the first quarter Bino aired it out after Mercury Mars ran for three, 12, and 19 yards, the Buffalo #9 ranked defense in the LIEFL stopped the Dolphins, forcing a third down play at the Miami 35-yard line. Coach Bino brought out his weapons finding receiver Mark Clayton who broke free for a 65-yard touchdown pass into the end zone to give the Dolphins a stunning 7-0 lead, with the first quarter closing on the play!

To kick off the second quarter Jay Brown ran back a speedy 43-yard kick return to set up OJ Simpson. But the Bills Electric Company ran into a wall of Miami Dolphins defenders. On the next three plays, the Dolphins completely shut down the Bills offense, holding them to a field goal! The Dolphins remained in the lead, 7-3. Buffalo certainly has not played their best football thus far.

Miami's turn again. Mark Duper ran back of 50-yard kick return, and one play later the Dolphins found a weakness in the Buffalo Bills defense as Mark Clayton caught another super 50-yard touchdown pass on first down to make the score 14-3 Miami, with 6:25 remaining in the half. The Dolphins came to play today! We don't usually see Miami pass, but Bino has lit the Dolphins offense up to get the best out of them, and he's done a great job against a powerhouse Bills team. Clayton has blazing speed! Bino has a plan!

The Bills need a big play. Jay Brown and the Bills have to start to control the pace of the game, but Miami is doing a tremendous job stopping the Bills from running the ball. On the ensuing kick return Brown exploded for an 80-yard return. On first down the Dolphins denied Bills running back OJ Simpson. Coach Pizz decided to go up in the air, and with two Bills receivers covered running side-by-side with two Dolphins defenders, the risk was high, but Pizz was desperate. Pizz launched the pass anyway and it was an incomplete 30-yard pass attempt to Bills receiver Andre Reed. Buffalo called their first time out of the half. The Bills were totally shut down by the Miami defense, and after the 10-yard loss by the Bills, they earned 10-yards back on a OJ Simpson run, forcing a fourth down field goal from the 20-yard line, Buffalo's second of the game, to make the score 14-6, Dolphins in the lead.

Coach Bino called the first time for the Dolphins with just 58 seconds remaining in the half. On the next play Bino lit the scoreboard up again! On a spectacular pass on first down, Joe Bino hit the bottom of Mark Duper's player base right on the money, so hard it bounced straight up in the air as Duper ran into the end zones for a 28-yard touchdown play to give the Miami Dolphins a commanding lead 21-6, with 20 seconds left to go in the half! Buffalo called their last time out. The coaches are in disbelief here. OJ Simpson seemed to be turning instead of his usual straight forward running. Pizz played around with Simpson's player base to no avail, he's been unproductive with 36 total yards in the game. Pizz will work on this before the second half.

The Miami Dolphins defense has dominated like savages playing on all cylinders. The winner of this game will play at Indianapolis against the Colts. Running out of time in the first half, Bills Jay Brown returned a 58-yarder. The Bills tried to kick a field goal, but Pizz' kick went far left. Miami went into the locker room at the half with a 21-6 lead! In order for Buffalo to come back in this game they have to hold the Dolphins at least once on defense, but more importantly they have to start scoring and get something going. Credit the Dolphins defense, Jason Taylor has been on fire!

... To open the third quarter, the Bills regrouped with a super 45-yard kick return by Jay Brown. Brown has been very steady and productive in this game, running with a vengeance! On first down, OJ Simpson was stopped. Then on second down, Simpson blasted through the Dolphins defense for one yard, bringing the ball to the Buffalo 46-yard line. But on 3rd down, the Bills decided to run again when OJ Simpson exploded to the left side of the Dolphins defense for a 54-yard beautiful touchdown run to get the Bills back in the game 21-12, with 10:45 remaining in the third quarter on a great run by Simpson! Buffalo went for the two-point conversion to make the score 21-14, with the Bills closing in on the Dolphins.

Miami came right back on a 51-yard kick return by Mark Duper. After two runs by Mercury Morris that were stopped by Buffalo, On third down Miami's Larry Csonka bullied his way into the endzone on a 49 yard touchdown reception to give the Dolphins a 28-14 lead, with 1:59 remaining in the third quarter! What a play!

Wow! Jay Brown ran right back down the middle of the field, and then he cut right for a blazing 100-yard kick return! The Bills have shown two fast touchdowns to end the third quarter, and the Dolphins maintain the lead 28-21, but Buffalo is catching up!

Mark Duper and Mark Clayton have been the game changers today. But then add playmaker Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka into the mix and you have a quadruple-threat lethal football team. The Dolphins stormed right back with a 48-yard kick return by Mark Duper. To be sure the Bills knew that the Dolphins were going to dominate, Mercury Morris on first down did an end-around run for 52-yards into the end zone to give the Dolphins the 35-21 lead, with 13:14 remaining in the game! Morris showed some incredible speed on that last play.

All of a sudden the Bills came alive and after a 40-yard kick return by Jay Brown. On this series of play, OJ Simpson found his running game behind the Electric Company with runs of 25, 20, and finally Simpson bombed into the endzone for another 20-yard run to score again for Buffalo 35-28, with 7:19 to go in the game and the Dolphins remain in the lead, 35-28! Better late than never!

The Dolphins starting to lure the Bills deep into the ocean with nowhere to swim, and they ran down the Buffalo defense after a 35-yard kick return, this time by Mark Clayton, who was tackled by Buffalo Linebacker Shane Conlin. We thought Buffalo's had hope. The Dolphins put that idea to sleep fast. Mercury Morris would run twice more for 5 yards, and then he ran for a first down another 11-yards. But on the next play with another run to the right side this time, Morris exploded 49 yards into the end zone to give the Dolphins the 42-28 lead over the Bills! What a game for the Dolphins as they totally impress in the playoffs.

We never ever would have guessed that the Bills would take this kind of a beating, especially after beating Miami in the final week of the season to win the division title 13-7, in OT. With 1:35 remaining in the game the Bills called a timeout. If you ever want to be the great team in the playoffs and win the big game, these Dolphins know just how to do it! Don't forget, this is a rebuilt Dolphins team who have been in the mix for the last four straight seasons after Billy O'C gave away all his runners and rebuilt for the benefit of the league. With seconds to go in the game Buffalo would kick another field goal to make the score 42-31, in a winning rampage by the Miami Dolphins who knock the Bills out of the playoffs in dominant fashion! The Dolphins have a record 30 playoff wins!

The battle-hardened Miami Dolphins (6-2) and Coach Joe Bino played a super game unphased by the pressure. They'll be on the move to take on the tough Indianapolis Colts (7-1) in the Divisional Game! This is a chance for the Colts to make a statement if they want to be an elite team. The four-threat offense of Miami has everyone in the game. Mercury Morris exploded for 11 rushes for 151 yards with two touchdowns on the day! Mark Clayton had two huge touchdown catches for 115 yards, and Mark Duper had five touches for 249 all-purpose yards along with a 28-yard touchdown catch! Larry Csonka had a huge play on a 49 yard touchdown catch! Miami did it all, finishing the game with 20 touches for 599 total offensive yards, with six touchdowns, stunning the Buffalo Bills in this AFC Wild Card Game!

The Buffalo Bills (5-3), finished the game with 508 all-purpose yards, with 423 of the yards coming from Jay Brown, including Brown's 100-yard kick return for a touchdown. OJ Simpson turned it around in the second half finishing the game for Buffalo with 83 rushing yards on 12 total carries, with a touchdown! The game we expected from the Bills was carried away deep in the ocean by the Dolphins in typical Dolphins defensive fashion. Coach Bino said, "I give the game ball to Mark Clayton who is always ready to compete. He ran back five straight 100-yarders in practice, so I knew he wouldn't stutter today. I did my talking on the field and I have to credit Pizz for playing hard. I think the first series of the game became the most important. I know what it feels like when I make mistakes, like in the Rams game, but this time we dominated." Pizz said, "Hats off to Bino. The Bills didn't play to their full potential and, I have to say Miami looks so tough. They just had it their way and took it to us."

42 Miami Dolphins (6-2)

31 Buffalo Bills (5-3)