ORCHARD PARK - Don't count the Buffalo Bills out of the postseason party just yet. Thanks to their last-second win over Washington on Sunday, the pesky Bills are still in an improbable hunt for an AFC wild card spot.

Getting to its current 6-6 record, Buffalo has overcome devastating injuries, instability at quarterback, the second-worst offense in the league, and the third-worst defense. And despite losing their opening three games and four of their first five, the Bills amazingly find themselves just a game behind 7-5 Cleveland and Tennessee in the race for the final playoff slot in the conference.

With a game against winless Miami this Sunday followed by a matchup in Cleveland against the Browns, Buffalo has a real opportunity to end a seven-year playoff drought.

“You gotta believe or else nobody else will,” coach Dick Jauron said on Monday, a day after Rian Lindell's 36-yard field goal with four seconds remaining dealt Washington a stinging loss. “As a group we've had faith.”

The numbers are staggering: Buffalo has allowed nearly 1,000 more passing yards than it's accumulated with the quarterback carousel of rookie Trent Edwards and J.P. Losman. They've also been outscored by 90 points overall, allowed opponents to convert nearly 50 percent of their third downs - worst in the league - and have mustered only 188 first downs on offense (second-worst).

Still, Buffalo continues to plod forward.

“It's a credit to our guys,” Jauron said. “They've just hung in there. Our players play hard and with a lot of heart.”

Sunday's last-gasp win over Washington epitomized what the Bills have been about. The Redskins outplayed Buffalo for most of the game and held a 16-14 lead with under a minute to go after limiting the Bills to just four field goals and a safety. But Edwards' key 30-yard completion to Josh Reed with eight seconds remaining began a bizarre chain of events that led to Lindell's winning field goal.

Lindell's initial attempt from 51 yards away split the uprights, but was nullified because Washington coach Joe Gibbs called a timeout just before the snap. Gibbs then illegally called another time-out to ice Lindell, and the Redskins were flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty that moved the ball to the 18.

Lindell calmly booted the winner in a steady rain.

“I believe that they believed they would win that game,” Jauron said. “They did enough things to win it.”

Edwards, meanwhile, improved to 4-1 as a starter, and engineered his first career fourth-quarter comeback.

“The significance of it is greater because he hasn't done it before,” Jauron said. “This should help him as we move on. He doesn't seem to rattle and he likes being out there.”

The Bills also got a big contribution from Fred Jackson, a Division III running back who spent all of last year on Buffalo's practice squad. Jackson finished with 82 yards on the ground and his 54-yard reception late in the fourth quarter helped set up Lindell's 33-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 16-14 with just over 3 minutes to go.

Even though Jauron knows his team needs to get better in order to be one of the 12 teams still playing in January, he's not going to bet against it.

“We can certainly improve, and we'll need to,” Jauron said. “But I feel real good about our guys.”

Notes: Buffalo came out of the Redskins game relatively unscathed. Defensive end Copeland Bryan sustained a knee injury and will be evaluated over the next two days. ... Running back Marshawn Lynch's severely sprained left ankle is improving, but Jauron didn't indicate whether the rookie will be ready to play after missing the last three games. “We're hopeful, but I don't want to overstep it right now,” Jauron said. ... Lindell has made 17 straight field goal attempts, tying Steve Christie for the longest such streak in team history. ... Edwards has won both of his road starts.