Bills receiver Diggs enjoys a career year

The Buffalo Bills have put an end to a number of team droughts during the 2020 NFL season. 

Going 13-3 to finish as the second seed in the AFC playoffs, that’s Buffalo’s highest playoff seeding since 1993.

The Bills won their first AFC East Division title since 1995. Facing the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL Wild Card playoff round, Buffalo is playing host to an NFL postseason game for the first time since 1996. The Bills will be seeking their first playoff win since 1995 when they tangle with the Colts.

A key component to Buffalo’s success this season has been a first year Bills player. Acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings, Stefon Diggs posted an accomplishment this season that none of the NFL’s all-time great wide receivers can boast of achieving. 

Diggs led the NFL in receiving yards, accumulating 1,535 yards on 127 receptions. He’s the first player in NFL history to lead the league in receiving yardage in his first season with a team. 

The 27-year-old wideout also led the NFL in yards per game (95.9). As well, his 127 receptions were 12 better than the second-place finisher in the league, DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals. 

Diggs caught 20 passes this season that went for 20 or more yards. Both his receptions and yardage totals were new Bills franchise single-season records. Eric Moulds (100 catches, 1,368 yards) had held both marks since 1998.

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Allen a fan

The arrival of Diggs gave Bills quarterback Josh Allen a deep threat to pair with solid possession receivers Cole Beasley and John Brown.

Diggs caught at least 10 passes in five games this season. He snared a trio of touchdown passes from Allen during a 38-9 rout of the New England Patriots. Diggs went over 100 yards in receptions in seven out of 16 games.

“He's one of the best, if not the best guy in the league, but I have supreme confidence in him,” Allen told SkySports.com.

“All he wants to do is help his team win football games. He's a competitor and we have very similar mindsets. I love the guy. He goes out there and competes his tail off and I'm just super blessed that we traded for him.”

The Minneapolis Miracle

Diggs is perhaps best remembered for being the recipient of what’s now known as the Minneapolis Miracle.

Trailing the New Orleans Saints 24-23 in an NFL Divisional Round playoff game on 24th January 2018 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis with 10 seconds to play, on the last play of the regulation time, Vikings quarterback Case Keenum threw a desperation 27-yard completion to Diggs at the New Orleans 34-yard line. 

Saints defensive back Marcus Williams missed the tackle, springing Diggs loose to run down the right sideline for what turned out to be a 61-yard touchdown and a 29-24 Minnesota victory.

“Nobody thought we could do it,” Diggs told Reuters at the time. “They counted us out all the time. I don’t stop playing until the clock turns zero.”

It was the first game in NFL playoff history to end on a game-winning touchdown as time expired in the fourth quarter.

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Unhappy In Minnesota

The Bills dealt a first-round draft pick to the Vikings in exchange for Diggs, and he was delighted that they did. In an interview during a broadcast of NFL Sunday Night Football late in the 2020 season, Diggs expressed how unhappy he’d been in Minnesota.

“(The Vikings) were kind of gearing towards a run-heavy (offense) at that time,” Diggs said. “I didn't know it going in. I didn't know it was going to be that way. They only would allow me to do so much. In my eyes, it wasn't going to be in the best interest of my career."

Diggs felt that the Vikings coaching staff and management misled him about the direction in which the team’s offensive game plan was heading.

"People were kind of, I'm not going to say peeing on me and telling me that it's raining, that's a little bit harsh,” Diggs said. “But once you don't have trust with the person, it's hard to do business."