Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills’ offensive approach, which was successful during the regular season, continued to dominate in their playoff opener.
Whether it was Allen completing a 24-yard touchdown pass to running back Ty Johnson on fourth down, or James Cook rushing for 120 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown run, the Bills displayed a balanced offense in a 31-7 victory over the Denver Broncos in their wild-card playoff game on Sunday.
“I don’t think there was one certain thing over another. We just wanted to come out and execute well,” Allen said. “At the end of the day, we just wanted to come out and play our best football, and I feel like we did that today.”
Allen completed 20 of 26 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns, while the running game contributed 210 yards, allowing Buffalo to control the game. The Bills scored on six of their first seven drives and had a 23-minute advantage in time of possession.
Allen completed passes to eight players, including Curtis Samuel, who essentially sealed the win with a 55-yard touchdown catch on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“I’ll speak on behalf of Curtis. He probably didn’t have the season that he wanted to have,” Allen said about the eighth-year player, who had 31 catches for 253 yards and one touchdown during the regular season.
“But he just continued to work hard, and that’s kind of the mentality we’ve had all year is everybody eats. And today was his day.”
The Bills, who have won the AFC East five years in a row, advanced to the divisional round for the fifth straight season. They will face the third-seeded Baltimore Ravens next Sunday night.
The Ravens, who won 28-14 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, defeated Buffalo 35-10 in Week 4 of this season. It will be the second playoff matchup between Allen and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, following Buffalo’s 17-3 win in the 2020 divisional round.
“This is what everyone’s been waiting for, right?” said coach Sean McDermott. “So it’ll be a nice week and everyone will be looking forward to it, and they’re a great football team. I mean they handled us pretty good the first go around and they’re certainly playing well.”
The Broncos, who made their first playoff appearance since winning the Super Bowl in 2015, struggled after rookie Bo Nix threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to former college teammate Troy Franklin on the opening drive. Nix finished 13 of 22 for 144 yards as the Broncos punted four times and turned the ball over on downs twice.
“This was a special moment for this group. It’s something we can build off of. … Our goals are changing,” Nix said.
Buffalo’s offense, led by Allen, kept Denver’s defense in check, using time-consuming drives that focused on small yard gains. Despite Denver’s defense having an NFL-high 63 sacks this season, they only managed to sack Allen twice. The Bills punted just once in the game.
“Who got punched in the mouth?” Bills edge rusher Greg Rousseau asked, dismissing the Broncos’ early touchdown. “It really was just a message to ourselves. We know who we are week after week, and what we’re capable of and what we’re supposed to do out there. That’s what it’s all about.”
The Bills didn’t force any turnovers, but they kept the Broncos to just two third-down conversions on nine attempts.
One of the key plays came from Cam Lewis, who made a diving tackle to stop running back Jaleel McLaughlin for no gain on fourth-and-2 at the Buffalo 14 early in the fourth quarter.
With the Bills leading 13-7, Allen extended their lead with a touchdown pass to Johnson with 3:06 left in the third quarter. The touchdown was confirmed after a replay review, showing that Johnson secured the ball before his foot touched out of bounds.
“You tell me it’s complete, I’m going to sign up for it every week,” McDermott said. “You guys know that. I trust him and I believe in him.”
On the next drive, Allen threw another touchdown pass to Samuel.
Cook became the first Buffalo player to rush for over 100 yards in a playoff game since Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas ran for 158 yards in the 1995 wild-card playoff win over Miami. Allen also set a franchise record for playoff passing touchdowns, increasing his total to 23, surpassing the previous record of 21 held by Jim Kelly.
