Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills kept their Super Bowl dreams alive with a 31-7 win over the Denver Broncos, setting up a blockbuster divisional round matchup against Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens.
This beckons a meeting between Allen and Jackson, two of the NFL’s MVP frontrunners. Jackson threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 81 yards to lead Baltimore to a 28-14 wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. night.
Allen was similarly dominant on Sunday, going 20 of 26 for 272 yards and two scoring strikes to Ty Johnson and Curtis Samuel. Meanwhile, James Cook starred on the ground, accounting for 120 of Buffalo’s 200 total rushing yards as the Bills dominated the Broncos ahead of Sean Payton’s schedule, scoring 31 unanswered points after giving up a touchdown on the game’s opening drive.
For Bo Nix, it marked the end of a stellar rookie campaign for the first-round pick, who led the Broncos to a 10-7 finish and their first playoff berth since winning Super Bowl 50 at the end of the 2015 campaign.
The Bills and Ravens will now meet again after Baltimore pulled out a resounding 35-10 win in Week 4 of the regular season. Derrick Henry rushed for 199 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
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Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills extended their lead on a touchdown catch by Ty Johnson just inside the end zone.
statistics leader
Denver Broncos
- passing: Bo Nix, 13/22, 144 yards, 1 TD.
- rush: Javonte Williams, 7 carries, 29 yards.
- transmission: Courtland Sutton, 5 catches, 75 yards.
Buffalo Bills
- passing: Josh Allen, 20/26, 272 yards, 2 TDs.
- rush: James Cook, 23 carries, 120 yards, 1 TD.
- transmission: Curtis Samuel, 3 catches, 68 yards, 1 TD
Nix, the first rookie quarterback in Broncos history to start a playoff game, made a decisive statement on the opening drive, connecting with Troy Franklin on a post route for a 43-yard touchdown to put Denver on top.
Amid some nervous energy in the early exchanges, the Bills responded by focusing on their ground game, but were limited to a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Bass at the end of the ensuing 12-play drive.
Denver went on a quick 3-and-out and Cook rushed for a 5-yard go-ahead touchdown, capping a 13-play, 81-yard drive in 7 1/2 minutes, during which eight plays were scored. They got Buffalo to 100 rushing yards in just two minutes of the second quarter.
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The Denver Broncos got their first offense against the Buffalo Bills with an early 43-yard touchdown catch by Troy Franklin.
Payton rolled the dice moments later when he called a fake punt to convert on fourth-and-8 from the Broncos 43, and Riley Dixon mimicked the kick and instead floated a 15-yard strike to Marvin Mims Jr. Four plays later we saw Dixon and Mims connect impressively again to force a punt down from the Bills’ 1-yard line.
The Broncos could have gone to half level, but Wil Lutz’s 50-yard field goal attempt was denied when it hit the post as time expired.
Bass added to Buffalo’s lead early in the third quarter with a 27-yard field goal, but Allen was left dazed after officials missed what appeared to be a clear pass interference penalty on Patrick Surtain II behind the end zone on the previous third. -And goal opportunities.
It didn’t matter for long as the Bills’ defense forced another three-and-out to pave the way for Johnson’s 24-yard touchdown catch.
Allen thought about running on 4th and 1 and slid to his right to make an incredible catch, twisting his body and keeping his feet inbounds on the slide before firing a downfield pass that had Johnson in his hands. . The Bills took a 14-point lead at 21-7 when Allen picked off Keon Coleman for the 2-point conversion.
It was two touchdowns in 3 1/2 minutes early in the fourth quarter when Samuel zigzagged downfield for a 55-yard touchdown catch and run that Buffalo’s speedy receiver caught deep. before going back inside and running home.
Bass iced the game with a 34-yard field goal, limiting a seven-minute, 14-play clock-chewing drive to five minutes and allowing the Bills to take Allen in place of Mitchell Trubisky in consideration of next weekend’s showdown with the Ravens.
Allen prepares for Jackson crash
Bills quarterback Josh Allen: “They (the Ravens) got behind us earlier this year. We’ve got a lot of film to watch. It’s a fun time with a great quarterback. What Lamar can do, he’s one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the world. “He’s so fun to watch, even if he’s not the most dynamic in the league, but we’ll be watching their defense this week… that’s our focus.”
Ndamukong Suh on Sky Sports NFL: “We’ll really see who the MVP is. That’s the bottom line: which quarterback is going to go up, or which of these defenses is going to go up.”
Jason Bell on Sky Sports NFL: “I love watching this guy (Allen). It doesn’t matter to him. He got off to an aggressive start and then struggled a little bit before taking control of the game. That’s why we congratulate him.
“Good quarterbacks figure out what you’re trying to do and capitalize on it. Then when they have to make a play, they organize you. And that’s what he did. When things fell apart, he made the play.
“You knew he had command of things. We felt it, and I know Denver felt it on defense. He made it happen.”
Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter: “I want to be able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. The best thing I’ve seen from this Bills team is they’ve run the ball and made their identity known without letting the Broncos back in.”
What’s next?
The Bills will now host the Ravens in the divisional round next weekend, while CJ Stroud’s Houston Texans, the lowest remaining seed in the AFC, will face the defending champion and No. 1 seeded Kansas City Chiefs.
Wild Card Weekend concludes Monday night with the Minnesota Vikings taking on the Los Angeles Rams in the early hours of Tuesday starting at 1 a.m.
Super Bowl LIX will be broadcast live on Sky Sports NFL from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9.
