You never know when it will be your turn to be the hero, your moment to ignite a championship-hungry football city.
But everyone is allowed to dream, everyone can be seen doing a David Tyree Helmet Catch or a Malcolm Butler end zone interception.
And on a cold, windy night in Buffalo, it was Taron Johnson who lived his dream and helped Josh Allen go one step further to truly begin his legacy of Jim Kelly.
It was Taron Johnson who intercepted Lamar Jackson for a 101-yard pick-six that sent the Bills to their first AFC Championship in 27 years with a 17-3 victory over the Ravens.
It was Taron Johnson who made 6,700 Bills mob fans, some of them bare-chested, sound more like 67,000 fans.
It was Taron Johnson, a third-year cornerback out of Weber State whose young career had been plagued by injuries, who made the biggest play of his life in the biggest game of his life.
“They always tell us,‘ Look at the quarterback’s vision, he’ll take you where the ball is, especially in the area, ’” Johnson said.
Jackson looked at Mark Andrews. He ended up chasing Taron Johnson in vain.
“I grabbed the ball and looked down a little bit, but then I looked up and saw a lot of green grass on the right side,” Johnson said.
Therefore, he had an important decision to make. “After I grabbed it, I definitely thought for a second that maybe I should kneel down,” Johnson said. “Right now, he was saying to me, ‘Okay, he’s a person I have to get over, and he’s number 8 on the other side.'”
Johnson went straight to the AFC Championship game.
“I saw Lamar coming, I slowed down a bit to leave Tre [White] stand in front of me, just to help me, ”Johnson said.
Marv Levy, who saw it all from his Chicago home, had been very impressed with Allen’s rise to the elite in his third season.
“I guess just his behavior,” Levy told The Post. “He listens well, he learns, he stays cool even when something doesn’t go right for him.”
For a while, for half a half, Allen didn’t go much for Saturday night.
Then, in the first position of the second half, he found Stefon Diggs with a 3-yard touch-yard pass that turned into Bills 10, Ravens 3.
Then came Lamar Jackson.
And in the blink of an eye, it was Lamar Jackson.
Jackson had converted a third and a 13 in the middle of the field with a 15-yard fight before Jerry Hughes, with Marquise “Hollywood” Brown open to what would have been the empathetic touchdown, pressed Jackson on a low throw.
Then came Taron Johnson.
Lamar Jackson, third and scorer of the 9th, threw a dart for Andrews in the end zone and the next thing he knew was that he was chasing Johnson uselessly in his 101-yard selection.
All of Buffalo exploded.
It was Jackson’s first red zone interception after throwing 49 career TDs.
It was the second interception of Johnson’s career and the pick-six.
Sometimes it’s a night for the Bruce Smiths and the Ray Lewises.
Or a Taron Johnson.
A 5 foot 11 and 192 pound corner that plays bigger than him.
And at that moment it was over.
Jackson fell to his end zone after a bad time and headed to the locker room at the end of the third quarter with a concussion after landing on his head.
Tyler Huntley, an unwritten free agent from Utah who had pitched five career passes, didn’t lead the Ravens all the way back. Instead, he was tearing down a wide Hollywood Brown downhill field.
There were nights when Jim Kelly didn’t do it alone either, and all that matters in the city is that he follows the Chiefs-Browns winner.
Allen was not intercepted, he did not throw any pick-six, he acted as he had been here before.
Neither of the two quarterbacks had impacted the game with their wonderful legs and a tricky wind had jeopardized the passing and shooting games.
Josh Allen is 60 minutes from a Super Bowl. All Buffalo will believe he can bring his bills there. Thanks in large part to Taron Johnson, it may be Jim Kelly.