Wild Card Weekend: Bills vs Broncos Recap
The Buffalo Bills beat the Denver Broncos 31-7 in their Wild Card matchup on Sunday to move onto the Divisional Round, where they will meet the 3-seed Baltimore Ravens in a highly anticipated rematch.
Denver started the game with a five-play, 70-yard drive ending in a 43-yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix to fellow rookie Troy Franklin (first rookie-to-rookie touchdown in NFL postseason history). They didn’t score another point over the final 57 minutes and 36 seconds.
Buffalo scored six times on their eight drives (1 punt, 1 kneel down to end the game) en route to scoring 31 unanswered points. The 24-point margin of victory is the third largest in Bills postseason history.
Bills vs Broncos Sunday, January 12, 2025
Preview Hits and Misses
Hits
Josh Allen and James Cook were players I had to watch in my preview for the Bills. Allen completed 77% of his passes, had 318 total yards (272/46), two touchdowns, and a passer rating of 135.4. He is now the Bills’ all-time leader in postseason passing touchdowns with 22 and is one of four quarterbacks to have a 135+ passer rating in 3 games in NFL postseason history—the most of any quarterback all time.
Cook had 120 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown. He wasn’t the factor in the passing game I had expected, but he led a rushing attack that wore the Broncos’ defense down. Cook is the first Bills’ running back to eclipse 100 yards on the ground since Thurman Thomas almost thirty years ago.
Misses
Don't get me wrong, I am happy I missed on these players to watch, but I was surprised at the lack of impact they had on the game.
Jonathon Cooper was limited to 3 tackles and 3 hurries on the day. I thought he would be the rusher to break through on the Bills and have some success rushing the passer. His most notable plays were seeing the back of his jersey chasing Allen as he scrambled for first downs.
Pat Surtain was targeted 3 times and gave up 3 receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown. Josh Allen had a perfect passer rating targeting him on Sunday. The 55-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Samuel was the first deep completion allowed by Surtain as the nearest defender in coverage this season, per NextGenStats.
5 Things I Liked
Bobby Babich/Joe Brady - Both coordinators deserve praise for the game plans they had coming into the game and the adjustments they made in the game, leading to a dominating performance. The Broncos' opening scoring drive was 70 yards, taking 2 minutes and 24 seconds. Their following seven drives combined for 154 yards, taking 15 minutes and 53 seconds.
Buffalo had the ball on offense for 41 minutes and 43 seconds (10th highest in playoff history) of game time. They ran 72 plays, racking up 471 total yards on 26 first downs while going 8-15 on third down and 2-2 on fourth down. Everything that Brady called was working, and the offense was executing at a high level.
Ground Attack - James Cook and Ty Johnson kept the Broncos’ pass rush and defense on their heels all afternoon. The duo combined for 164 of the team’s 210 yards on the ground. They averaged 5.1 ypc, a full yard more than the Broncos’ defense’s average on the season. Their effectiveness slowed the pass rush down and caused the defense to adjust by bringing a fifth defender to the line of scrimmage, which opened up the passing game for Allen and the offense.
Linebackers - Terrel Bernard, Matt Milano, and Von Miller had huge games for the Bills defense. Miller had four QB hurries and one hit on the quarterback. Bernard and Milano combined for 11 tackles, 1 TFL, and 1 sack. The duo gave up two receptions for 4 yards and had one missed tackle on the day.
Patience - I was impressed with Josh Allen's patience and taking what the defense gave him. There have been games in the past, especially when the game is close, that he gets bored and takes risks instead of checking it down and finding the open man. It paid dividends in the end as the Bills had five plays of 15+ yards in the second half, two for touchdowns. Allen was 11-14 for 203 yards (69 in the first half). This evolution of the offense makes it nearly impossible to defend.
T Bass - Tyler Bass was perfect on the day when the offense needed it early. Bass nailed all three field goals after drives stalled in the Red Zone and was 2-2 on his PAT attempts. He also forced a touchback in the landing zone and had another kick in the landing zone returned resulting in two drives starting inside the 30 for Denver.
5 4 Things I Didn’t Like
Finishing the Rush - The Bills’ pass rush did a good job creating pressure on Bo Nix and creating chaos in the backfield in the run game. They missed a lot of would-be sacks, though. Nix was pressured on 14 of his 27 dropbacks per Next Gen Stats, the highest rate he has seen all season, but the Bills only had two sacks on the day from Milano and Greg Rousseau. Von Miller had 4 hurries, followed by Rousseau with 3 and Ed Oliver with 3.
Injuries - Alec Anderson, Ray Davis, Taron Johnson, and Cam Lewis all left the game with injuries. Davis did not return and looked serious even though he walked off the field. Anderson returned from his injury after halftime. Johnson and Lewis were both checked for concussions and returned to the game.
Penalties - Buffalo had seven penalties for 45 yards., and six for 30 yards when ignoring the Mack Hollins taunting penalty when the game was out of hand. Five were penalties committed by the offense, four of them pre-snap. These are drive killers. The Bills need to clean these up.
Red Zone Offense - The Bills went 1-5 on red zone attempts with a Cook rushing TD, three field goals, and a kneel down to end the game. That’s not good enough against a team with a potent offense. One of the few things Tony Romo said during the telecast that was spot on was his thoughts on the offense in that area. The Bills were calling running plays on first and second down, leaving one down for Allen to throw or use his legs. That is not enough for your best weapon on offense.
Critical Plays From the Game
The Broncos marched down the field to end the first half and set themselves up for a potential game-tying 50-yard field goal. Sean McDermott had a timeout in his pocket and chose not to use it. Wil Lutz had the distance but put it off the right upright. The Bills enter halftime with a 10-7 lead, and Lutz doesn’t get a second opportunity because McD held the timeout.
Ty Johnson made the catch of the season for the Bills in this game. On fourth and 1, Allen was moving around the pocket for 6.78 seconds before he launched a 24-yard touchdown to a sliding Johnson in the back of the endzone. Johnson covered 67.9 yards on the play, which had a 15.6% competition probability per Next Gen Stats. This put the Bills up 19-7 before a Keon Coleman two-point conversion to make it 21-7. If this pass isn’t completed, Denver takes over from their own 24, down 13-7, with 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter. This touchdown was the backbreaker.
Stat(s) of the Game
BillsBanter Group Chat Quote of the Game
“Wonder if Curtis Samuel is sneaky important today, he wasn’t active with Josh much in December.”
Postgame Quotes of the Game
““Hey, you tell me it’s complete, and I’ll sign up for it every week,” McDermott said of Allen. “Look, I trust Josh, you guys know that. I trust him, and I believe in him. That’s where that is.””
“We never really had an answer to stop their running game”
Postgame Perspective
This was a dominant performance by the Bills all around. The Broncos caught them with their deep shot on the first drive, and everything changed afterward. The defense clamped down, the offense controlled the clock and ran the ball at ease throughout the game, but they wore down the Broncos’ defense to open the passing attack up for the offense. If Buffalo can play like this moving forward, they will be a dangerous football team. The Ravens are a good football team, but a lot has changed since Week 4. Go Bills!
Up Next: Buffalo vs. Baltimore - Sunday, January 19th 6:30 PM
