Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills are coming off a hard-fought win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card Round of the AFC playoffs. The Denver Broncos, meanwhile, are coming off a bye week after earning the AFC’s one seed via a 14-3 regular season. Buffalo’s injury report reads like a CVS receipt. Denver’s injury report reads like a Hemingway novel.
The bell tolls for both teams this weekend, as a trip to the AFC Championship Game awaits either Denver or Buffalo. And while the sun also rises after a loss, each team would much prefer the sound of victory to the fury that follows defeat.
The general premise of this article series is to name five individual players who will impact Buffalo’s upcoming matchup. This week, I’m breaking the rules. Here are the Bills players and positional groups that will have the biggest impact on this weekend’s matchup at Mile High.
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QB Josh Allen
Easy. Buffalo’s quarterback continued his exceptional postseason play last week, completing 80% of his passes, totaling over 300 total yards and three touchdowns, and going without a turnover in Buffalo’s 27-24 victory. Allen was decisive and precise in his reads, his throws were accurate and crisp, and he was able to create time and space with his legs, which gave him extra yardage rushing and passing.
Allen also proved his toughness, as the Jaguars’ plan to hit him hard early and often was unable to end Allen’s afternoon. He may be on the injury report with multiple issues this week, but he’s good to go.
I’m less concerned with Allen’s physical status than I am with his mental status once the game begins. The Broncos are a man-heavy defense, but teams that have broken their tendencies against the Bills this year and played more zone when Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady have expected man are the ones that have given the Buffalo fits. If Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph can disguise his coverage to look like man when he’s playing zone, it’s going to make Allen hold the ball longer than he wants to against a truly elite pass rush.
Allen has to be ready to diagnose Denver’s defense and know where his hot receivers are at all times. He has to be the same guy he was last weekend, which is a player who was content to take four yards on 1st & 10, and not the guy who wanted to throw a 40-yard score on every play.
If Allen keeps Buffalo’s offense ahead of the chains and ensures that every possession ends in a kick of some kind, then the Bills should be in good shape.
RB James Cook III
Also easy. Buffalo must be able to run the ball in order to maximize their potential on offense. Especially in a game where the Bills’ already-poor receiving corps has been decimated by injuries, the running backs are infinitely more important than they already are. Cook had a tough time finding room against Jacksonville’s...
