The Buffalo Bills haven’t been in enough games this season to have many heartbreaking losses. That was surely the case against the Miami Dolphins just a few short weeks ago, though.

With the final seconds ticking away, quarterback Josh Allen nearly collected the most dramatic win of any rookie QB this season.

After running up, down, left, right and in a circle, Allen tossed up a prayer. It found tight end Charles Clay in the back of the end zone. The pass was far from perfect, but it bounced off of Clay’s hands and fell incomplete.

Buffalo lost to Miami 21-17.

Time heals and it’s been a few weeks since the game, but it hasn’t fully healed things yet. Allen admitted on Wednesday that the play still hurts.

“It stung. There were just so many missed opportunities in that game: myself turning the ball over, it was two times,” Allen said. “At the end of the day, it’s who makes the most plays and who has the most points on the board. Like I said, we’re looking forward to it.

“I mean I relived it a few times and daydreamed about it,” he added. “It’s one of those plays where it sucks. It’s one of those plays where if you had it, you maybe win the game. We didn’t have it and I look back on it and I should’ve made a better throw, could’ve, should’ve. It didn’t happen that way. That moment was definitely a learning moment.”

For the first time in his young career, Allen will get a chance to avenge a loss. When the Bills (5-10) played the Jets and Patriots earlier this year, Allen missed the first contests against them.

And while Bills-Dolphins is the lone 1 p.m. game with zero playoff implications in Week 17, Allen believes there’s still a lot to gain.

“We for sure want to end on a good note. We want to go into the offseason with a victory and some confidence going into the offseason, still continuing to build that trust and relationship with everybody on this team,” Allen said. “It went by extremely fast and I hate to see the season end so quickly. We’re on Week 17 and we’ve got to continue to learn and grow.”

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott echoed Allen, saying the final 60 minutes of the 2018 Bills will be pivotal in regard to the team’s future.

“Whether we’re playing on a Sunday afternoon for the playoffs, or we’re playing on a Sunday afternoon when we don’t have a chance to get into the playoffs – which is the case this season – I understand that this is part of the climb. This is part of it as you go through it. Not everything is going to be exactly how you wanted it to be, but it’s people who persevere through seasons like this, knowing that this is part of getting things in this organization turned in the right direction and trying to keep it there. That’s a process and so I want to see us come out and play well, I want to see us focus,” McDermott said. “That’s what I’m looking for.”