OCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Arizona Cardinals running back DeeJay Dallas entered the history books Sunday when he became the first player to return a kick for a touchdown under the NFL's new dynamic kickoff format.
With 8:44 left against the Buffalo Bills and the Cardinals having gone down 31-20 just moments before, Dallas fielded a kick from the Bills' Tyler Bass at Arizona's 4-yard line. After breaking through the initial hole, which Dallas described after the game as "tiny," he split two Bills defenders around the 40-yard line and had just two players left to beat.
Arizona cornerback Max Melton got a hand on Bass, who was closing in on Dallas, and running back Emari Demercado ran in between Dallas and Bills safety Mike Edwards, which allowed the returner to go the final 40 yards virtually untouched.
With a trio of Bills closing in on him, Dallas leaped from the 2-yard line into the end zone, becoming the first Cardinal to return a kickoff for a touchdown since David Johnson in 2015.
"That monkey almost got on my back," Dallas said with a laugh after the 34-28 loss. "I was like at the 10. I'm like, 'Oh man. I don't know. I don't know.' But, yeah, the elements, we had the wind pretty well and they kind of hung the ball up, [I] caught it, it wasn't perfect, but the guys upfront made it happen. The rest is history."
Dallas said he was determined to get into the end zone no matter what.
He knew coming into the team's season opener, after all the talk and debate about how to play the new dynamic kickoff on both sides of the ball, that it wouldn't take much to break a big gain -- or a touchdown.
"Yeah, it's almost like Cover 0," he said. "You know if you get past the first line of defense, you're on to the kicker."
After the game, he called his wife and two sons, who were jumping with joy at their father's return.
"It's amazing," Dallas said.