Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills kept their Super Bowl dream alive with a 31-7 win over the Denver Broncos to set up a tough divisional round matchup against Lamar Jackson's Baltimore Ravens.
It looks like a meeting between two of the NFL's top prospects in Allen and Jackson, with the latter throwing 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 scores on Ty Johnson and Curtis Samuel. Meanwhile, James Cook starred on the ground as he accounted for 120 of Buffalo's 200 total yards as the Bills held Broncos Sean Payton ahead of schedule with 31 unanswered points after giving up a touchdown on the game's opening drive.
For Bo Nix, it marked the end of a scintillating rookie campaign for the first-round pick, who led the Broncos to a 10-7 finish and their first playoff berth since they won Super Bowl 50 at the end of the 2015 campaign.
The Bills and Ravens will now meet again after Baltimore dominated 35-10 winners in Week 4 of the regular season, with Derrick Henry rushing for 199 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
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Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills extend their lead with a touchdown caught inside the end zone by Ty Johnson
Statistics leaders
Denver Broncos
- Scrolling: Bo Nix, 13/22, 144 yards, 1 TD
- haste: Javonte Williams, 7 carries, 29 yards
- Receiving: Courtland Sutton, 5 catches, 75 yards
Buffalo Bills
- Scrolling: Josh Allen, 20/26, 272 yards, 2 TDs
- haste: 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, made an emphatic statement on the opening drive when he unleashed a dime to connect with Troy Franklin on another drive for a 43-yard touchdown to put Denver ahead.
Amid some nervous energy in the early exchanges, the Bills responded by focusing on their ground game but were limited to just a 26-yard field goal from Tyler Bass at the end of their 12-game drive.
Denver quickly followed with a three-and-out before Cook rushed for the go-ahead five-yard touchdown to cap a 13-play, 81-yard drive lasting seven and a half minutes, during which eight plays were run to push Buffalo to 100 yards two minutes into the second quarter.
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The Denver Broncos struck first 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 faked the kick and instead ended up firing a 15-yard strike to Marvin Mims Jr. Then, four plays later followed, though, to see Dixon and Mims combine admirably again to bring down a penalty on the Bills' one-yard line.
The Broncos could have been at half level but were denied when Wil Lutz's 50-yard field goal attempt hit the post as time expired.
Bass added to Buffalo's lead early in the third quarter with a 27-yard field goal, though Allen was flustered after officials missed what looked like an obvious pass interference penalty against Patrick Surtain II in the back of the end zone in the previous third — and a field goal opportunity.
It wouldn't matter for long, as the Bills defense forced another three to pave the way for Johnson's 24-yarder.
Allen was thinking about going on fourth-and-1, sliding to his right before launching a pass down the field with Johnson in hand to make a spectacular catch as he contorted his body and managed to keep his feet within bounds on the slide. . The Bills then took a 14-point lead at 21-7 as Allen picked off Keon Coleman for the two-point conversion.
It was two touchdowns in the span of three and a half minutes when Samuel zigzagged down a 55-yard touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter, where Buffalo's speedy receiver made a deep grab that ended before dropping back inside and racing home.
Bass iced the game with a 34-yard field goal to cap seven minutes of a 14-game clock-chewing game with five minutes to play, allowing the Bills to subtract Allen in favor of Mitchell Trubisky in light of facing the Ravens next weekend.
Allen prepared for Jackson's struggle
Bills quarterback Josh Allen: “They (the Ravens) went after us earlier this year. We have a lot of film to watch. It's a great time, with a great quarterback. What Lamar can do, he's one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the world.” “The league – if not the most dynamic, is fun to watch but I'll be watching their defense this week… that's our focus.”
Sky Sports NFL's Ndamukong Suh: “We're really going to see who the best player is. That's what it comes down to. Which quarterback is going to step up, or which one of these defenses is going to step up.”
Jason Bell from Sky Sports NFL: “I love watching this guy (Allen). It doesn't matter to him. He started strong, then struggled a little bit, before he took over the game. That's why we celebrate him.”
“Great quarterbacks identify what you're trying to do and capitalize on it. Then when they have to make a play, they clean you up. And that's what he did — when things were falling apart, he made a play.
“You knew he had it under control. We felt it, and you know Denver felt it when he played defense. He made it happen.”
Phoebe Scheckter from Sky Sports NFL: “You want to be able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. The great thing you see with this Bills team is they didn't let the Broncos come back, they ran the ball and let their identity be known.”
What's next?
The Bills will now host the Ravens in the divisional round next weekend, while C.J. Stroud's Houston Texans will face the defending champion and No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs as the lowest remaining seed in the AFC.
Wild Card Weekend ends Monday night when the Minnesota Vikings take on the Los Angeles Rams from 1 a.m. into the early hours of Tuesday.
Super Bowl LIX takes place Sunday, February 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, live on Sky Sports NFL Channel.
