The Buffalo Bills’ Week 1 victory over the Baltimore Ravens seemed unreal. Their chances of winning were 1.1% at 8:37 in the fourth quarter, as per Next Gen Stats. The fans were leaving the stadium disappointed, as the Ravens were dominating the game. Bills Mafia, whose fanatically devoted fan community was expecting much better this year, wasn’t giving much hope to the season, beginning on a winning note. But you never give in with a quarterback named Josh Allen. That’s what occurred: the Bills pulled off a 41-40 win, turning desperation into euphoria.

The locker room atmosphere reflected the stands. Offensive lineman Dion Dawkins was interviewed by Ryan Fitzpatrick & Andrew Whitworth on the show “Fitz & Whit,” and he stated that by the third quarter, the team was on the brink of collapse. “We’re sitting on the sideline and we see the score… Ravens are kicking our bu–. Okay, Ravens are doing what they do. Derrick Henry is having one of his nights. Okay. He’s having his way, running up the sideline… I think it was the third quarter when Derrick Henry ran to the opposite end zone.”

Even with the pressure building, Dawkins remembered the way that the offensive line attempted to unify. “So, like we’re looking at it and I’m thinking, ‘Guys, just do what we do. Protect the quarterback. Don’t let it be you. Don’t jump into why it’s going bad. Finish the game off.’ In my mind, I was like, ‘We are not about to win. This is crazy.'”

It was a gut-check for Buffalo: their franchise quarterback would need to work a miracle to turn around the fortunes of the game. The feeling of hopelessness persisted, but then along came Josh Allen with a cold, defiant remark that turned everything around. As the Bills took the field again, Allen walked over to his teammates and declared, “We’re still in the game.” Dawkins recalled, “I said, ‘All right, cool. I guess we’re still in the game. All right, come on, let’s keep this thing going.’ And my face froze, though. Like, I definitely froze. Like I said, all right, we’re still in the game. Let’s do it.”

The belief instilled by the quarterback was enough for the team to stage a comeback and crawl their way to a victory. “No matter what age you’re in, no matter you’re a veteran, a young guy, that does something to you as a competitor. When your leader, when your MVP, is speaking up and saying, We’re still in the game. You’d better shut up and just listen. You’re still in the freaking game. Right?” said Dawkins.

That little remark recharged the team’s resolve. The rally was sudden. Buffalo faced a dire situation, trailing 40-25 with under four minutes remaining. On fourth-and-2 from Baltimore’s 10-yard line, Josh Allen targeted receivers in the end zone, but the pass appeared doomed when tight end Dawson Knox deflected it at the three-yard line.

However, the deflected ball bounced backward and fell perfectly into wide receiver Keon Coleman’s hands in the end zone for a touchdown. The fortunate bounce transformed what seemed like a certain Ravens victory into a one-possession game, completely shifting the momentum in the final minutes.

The momentum shifted completely towards them when Ravens’ running back Derrick Henry fumbled the ball on the next drive, the second time in his past 605 carries.

With under two minutes remaining, Allen methodically moved Buffalo downfield with precise passes, converting a crucial fourth down with a stunning scramble that left Baltimore’s defense helpless. Allen’s heroics set up kicker Matt Prater for a 32-yard field goal as regulation time was expiring, sending the kick through the uprights to win the game and electrifying Highmark Stadium.

Head coach Sean McDermott, his coaching staff, and the team were witnessing an improbable win. A win to remember for ages.

Josh Allen’s magic

Even after being behind for nearly the entire game, the Allen-led Bills offense surprised everyone. Allen became the first NFL player in history to have 250+ pass yards and 2+ rushing touchdowns in a single quarter. The fourth-quarter push—16 points within the final two minutes—also had them become the first team to be down by 15 or more points with under four minutes remaining in regulation and win their game.

On the whistle, what was a nightmare became an instant classic. Hope in the locker room changed into heroics at the end of the game, and Buffalo’s Week 1 comeback wasn’t so much a victory as it was a testament to leadership, will, and the unarguable authority of an MVP quarterback.

And in the end, Josh had just one message for the Bills Mafia: ‘‘Have some faith next time.”

It wasn’t Dawkins alone who was under the weight of loss. Running back James Cook admitted on “The Rich Eisen Show,” that he thought the game was essentially lost. “It’s nuts,” Cook admitted. “Like, I ain’t even know, I thought the game was over. We kept fighting, and something happened. And I don’t know what happened. It just… I don’t know, it just clicked. I’m like, ‘hold on’… I looked up, looked down, looked back up, game was over. We was winning.”