Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills traveled south to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in a Wild Card playoff game for the second time in head coach Sean McDermott’s tenure. Unlike the last time, however, the Bills prevailed, winning 27-24 in a hard-fought contest that featured plenty of back-and-forth moments and a wild fourth quarter.
Buffalo took the lead in the first quarter, gave that lead back, then took the lead and held it through the third quarter. After that, there were four lead changes in the final period, with the final lead change being the one that put the Bills on top.
It wasn’t a perfect afternoon, but it was a victorious one for a battle-tested Buffalo team that snapped an eight-game win streak for the upstart Jaguars. Our five players to watch all played a big role in the game, though some played a bigger role than others.
Here’s how our five Bills to watch performed this week against Jacksonville.
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QB Josh Allen
Man alive. Deep into the second quarter, I texted a friend of mine — who was very pleased that Allen scored the first touchdown of the game for Buffalo on the ground — and said that Allen was taking a beating in this one. Well, that’s not exactly what I wrote him, but I digress. Truly, Allen was beaten and battered from the opening whistle. Jacksonville played physically and through the whistle, and they were trying to make sure that Buffalo felt their presence after every play.
Allen just refused to blink.
The reigning NFL MVP completed 80% of his passes on the day, finding open checkdowns time and again against a defense that was all too willing to give him four- and five-yard gains. Then, when it mattered most, Allen was able to find openings downfield.
On the Bills’ first touchdown drive, it was wide receiver Keon Coleman streaking open down the sideline for a 36-yard gain. On the first of their go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter, it was tight end Dalton Kincaid running a slot wheel for a 15-yard touchdown. On that same drive, Allen hit tight end Dawson Knox for a 24-yard gain to convert a 3rd & 4.
Finally, on Buffalo’s game-winning drive, Allen found wide receiver Brandin Cooks for a 36-yard gain to set up the game-winning touchdown. Allen had linebacker Devin Lloyd right in his face, yet he was able to loft a perfect strike to a wide-open Cooks downfield.
It should have been Cooks’ second big gain of the game, but officials inexplicably overturned a catch attempt of his inside of two minutes in the first half. No matter. While the Bills didn’t score on that first-half drive, they were able to score when it mattered most, as Allen led his first career fourth-quarter comeback in a postseason game.
Allen scored two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon, and both were impressive. The first one was a two-yard rush where he had his knee awkwardly twisted after crossing the goal line....
