On a night when Josh Allen threw a touchdown pass and scored one on the same play, the strangest sight at snowy Highmark Stadium might’ve actually occurred in the postgame celebrations.

During a live interview for coach Sean McDermott with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, Allen walked by and shouted out his coach: “Coach of the Year,” he proclaimed. But McDermott had a request for his star player; a command, really: “I want to see a snow angel,” he said.

So with cameras rolling, McDermott and Allen both hit the end zone turf for a few flaps of the arms and legs.

“I was just trying to give him some flowers,” Allen told reporters of the exchange. “He was live on TV and any time Coach asks you to do something, you do it. I’m a good soldier. I’m not the biggest snow angel fan because you get cold down there, my toes are freezing right now. I’m just trying to get in the shower. But it was fun.”

For anyone who follows the usual media appearances for the mild-mannered McDermott, it might’ve been startling to see the coach cut loose. But it was that kind of night for the Buffalo Bills, who clinched their fifth consecutive AFC East title with five games still to play after crushing the San Francisco 49ers by a 35-10 score, like a snow plow cruising down Abbott Road.

In the Buffalo media room, McDermott said the gesture stemmed from a halftime chat with practice squad tight end Zach Davidson in the tunnel.

“(Davidson) tapped me on the hip and he said, ‘Hey, we win this game, you gotta do a snow angel,’” McDermott said. “And I said alright, you’ve got it. So I guess I followed through on my promise.”

Allen and his newest receiver produced one of the statistical oddities of the NFL season, not to mention a mystifying highlight and one of many exclamation points on a celebratory night.

In the third quarter with a 21-3 lead, after its defense produced a fourth-down stop, the Bills drove to a 1st-and-goal at the San Francisco 7. Allen threw a short pass behind the line of scrimmage to Amari Cooper, who reached back for a touch catch but was immediately swarmed by defenders. But Cooper saw help coming and pitched it back to Allen, who did the rest.

In just their fourth game together, Cooper and Allen made the kind of quick-thinking, eye-contact play together you might need years of chemistry to produce.

“I was wondering what he was doing over there. Like that doesn’t usually happen when you throw a dart route like that,” Cooper said. “I just saw him, I figured he was over there because he wanted the ball, so I gave it to him.”

So, for those keeping track statistically, Allen recorded both a passing touchdown and receiving touchdown on the play.

“I wish (Cooper) got credited for something there,” Allen said. “An assist or a passing touchdown. I kind of threw a bad ball so I was just kind of chasing it, it was kind of tipped around, he made a heck of a catch. It was just kind of a sticky hand and I just kind of chased the ball just to be there and we made eye contact and he just pitched it and I had to go make a play. It was dope.”

Allen is only the fifth player to pass and score a touchdown on the same play in NFL history. The last was Marcus Mariota in a 2018 playoff game, who actually caught his own pass on a batted ball.

With his 8-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Allen also became the 14th player to record a passing, rushing and receiving TD in the same game, but the first quarterback. The last was a 49er, Christian McCaffrey, in 2022.

McCaffrey appeared on his way to a big night on the lake effect snow-covered field (67 total yards on nine touches) but went down on an early second-quarter run, slipping and suffering a knee injury which reportedly could end his season.

If Cooper’s lateral epitomized the night for Buffalo, another goal-line down did the same for San Francisco. In the third quarter, down 21-3, the 49ers had a chance to get back into the game after a big kick return by Deebo Samuel. But normally sure-handed fullback Kyle Juszczyk got the handoff from the 4-yard line and looked primed to score, but safety Taylor Rapp knocked the ball loose and Christian Benford picked it up for a 43-yard return to midfield. A potential score became a turnover massive swing in field position in a few seconds. There was plenty else for Buffalo to celebrate: a 65-yard James Cook TD run, other scores by Ray Davis and Mack Hollins, a Greg Rousseau fumble recovery on a ball that slipped from Brock Purdy’s hand and the return of Matt Milano, who started at middle linebacker and played a majority of defensive snaps.

The Bills (10-2), winners of seven straight and still unbeaten at home, blew out a team that made last year’s Super Bowl. Now they can take a run at the AFC’s No. 1 seed over the next five weeks, hoping Kansas City will slip up once or twice over the same span.

Left tackle Dion Dawkins ended the night wearing ski goggles on the sidelines after Buffalo pulled several starters. Allen and Sean McDermott ended it by making snow angels. And all the Bills ended the night with fresh hats and t-shirts for their locker room stalls: proclaiming 2024 AFC East Division Championships.