Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills kept their Super Bowl dream alive as they beat the Denver Broncos 31-7 to set up a blockbuster Divisional Round matchup against Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens.
It beckons as a meeting of the NFL’s two MVP frontrunners in Allen and Jackson, the latter of whom 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 as he finished 20 of 26 for 272 yards and two scoring strikes to Ty Johnson and Curtis Samuel. James Cook, meanwhile, starred on the ground as he accounted for 120 of Buffalo’s 200 total rushing yards as the Bills steamrollered Sean Payton’s ahead-of-schedule Broncos with 31 unanswered points after surrendering a touchdown on the opening drive of the game.
For Bo Nix it marked the end to an otherwise glittering 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 had been dominant 35-10 winners in Week Four of the regular season, with Derrick Henry rushing for 199 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
Stats leaders
Denver Broncos
- Passing: Bo Nix, 13/22, 144 yards, 1 TD
- Rushing: Javonte Williams, 7 carries, 29 yards
- Receiving: Courtland Sutton, 5 catches, 75 yards
Buffalo Bills
- Passing: Josh Allen, 20/26, 272 yards, 2 TDs
- Rushing: James Cook, 23 carries, 120 yards, 1 TD
- Receiving: Curtis Samuel, 3 catches, 68 yards, 1 TD
Nix, the first rookie quarterback to start a playoff game in Broncos history, delivered an emphatic statement on the opening drive when he unleashed a dime to connect 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 with an emphasis on their ground game but were limited to just a 26-yard field goal from Tyler Bass at the end of their ensuing 12-play drive.
A swift three-and-out followed for Denver before Cook scurried in for a five-yard go-ahead touchdown to cap a 13-play, 81-yard drive lasting seven-and-a-half minutes, during which eight plays were runs to lift Buffalo to 100 rushing yards two minutes into the second quarter.
The Denver Broncos strike first against the Buffalo Bills with an early 43-yard touchdown which was caught by Troy Franklin
Payton rolled the dice moments later as he dialled up a fake punt to convert on fourth-and-eight from the Broncos 43, Riley Dixon feinting the kick and instead winding up to float a 15-yard strike to Marvin Mims Jr. They elected against following suit four plays later, though did see Dixon and Mims link up impressively again to down a punt at the Bills’ one-yard line.
The Broncos could have gone into the half level but were denied when Wil Lutz’s 50-yard field-goal attempt struck the goalpost as time expired.
Bass added to Buffalo’s lead at the start of the third quarter with a 27-yard field goal, Allen, though, bemused after officials missed what appeared a clear pass interference penalty against Patrick Surtain II at the back of the end zone on the previous third-and-goal opportunity.
It would not matter for long, the Bills’ defense forcing another three-and-out to pave the way for Johnson’s 24-yard touchdown catch.
Allen had thought about taking off on the run on fourth-and-one, sliding to his right before firing a pass downfield with Johnson on hand to make a stunning grab while contorting his body and managing to keep his feet in-bounds on the slide. The Bills then made it a 14-point lead at 21-7 as Allen picked out Keon Coleman for the two-point conversion.
It was two touchdowns in the space of three-and-a-half minutes when Samuel zig-zagged downfield for a 55-yard touchdown catch-and-run at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Buffalo’s speedy receiver making the grab on a deep over before cutting back inside and racing to the house.
Bass iced the game with a 34-yard field goal to cap a seven-minute 14-play clock-chewing drive with five minutes to play, allowing the Bills to take out Allen for Mitchell Trubisky in view of next weekend’s Ravens showdown.
Allen braced for Jackson clash
Bills quarterback Josh Allen: “They [the Ravens] got after us earlier this year. We’ve got a lot of film to watch. It’s a great time, with a great quarterback. What Lamar is able to do, he’s one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the league – if not the most dynamic. He’s so fun to watch. But I’ll be watching their defense this week… that’s our focus.”
Sky Sports NFL’s Ndamukong Suh: “We are really going to see who the MVP is. That’s what it comes down to. Which quarterback will step up, or which one of these defenses will step up.”
Sky Sports NFL’s Jason Bell: “I love watching this guy [Allen]. It just doesn’t matter with him. He was off to an aggressive start, and then he struggled a little bit, before he just took over the game. That’s why we celebrate him.
“Great quarterbacks identify what you’re trying to do and they capitalise on it. Then when they’ve got to make a play, they clean you up. And that’s what he did – when things were breaking down, he made a play.
“You knew he had command of things. We felt it, and you know Denver felt it playing defense. He made it happen.”
Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter: “You want to be able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. What’s great to see with this Bills team is they didn’t let the Broncos back in, they ran the ball and let their identity be known.”
What next?
The Bills will now host the Ravens in the Divisional Round next weekend, while CJ Stroud’s Houston Texans will take on the defending champion and No 1-seeded Kansas City Chiefs as the lowest remaining seed in the AFC.
Wild Card Weekend concludes Monday night when the Minnesota Vikings face the Los Angeles Rams from 1am in the early hours of Tuesday.
Super Bowl LIX takes place on Sunday February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, live on Sky Sports NFL.
