Buffalo dominates the Broncos in all three phases

ORCHARD PARK – Former Buffalo Bills star Kyle Williams had barely left the field Sunday afternoon after taking the lead before the game and cheering on a sellout crowd at Highmark Stadium that didn’t really need it but happily accepted it .

There was tension as the Broncos took the field for their first possession, and no one in the stadium expected what would happen on Denver’s fifth snap of the day.

Rookie wide receiver Troy Franklin got behind the defense and caught a 43-yard TD pass that silenced the crowds and sent an added chill through the arena on an already chilly but manageable 32-degree day hunted. Wait, what just happened?

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At that moment, there was briefly some speculation that Denver could pull off an upset in this AFC Wild Card game.

“When plays like this happen, you have to have a short memory,” cornerback Taron Johnson said. “We managed that well today. They didn’t achieve much after that.”

The Broncos certainly didn’t. In fact, they got nothing. The Bills developed an effective bout of amnesia, completely forgot about the collapse, and then dominated the Broncos and their rising rookie quarterback Bo Nix in a 31-7 victory.

“Who got hit in the mouth?” edge rusher Greg Rousseau said with a smile. “They were explosive, but I felt like we dominated from the jump. We played physical and we have to keep that up. It was really just a message to ourselves. We know week in and week out who we are, what we’re capable of and what we’re supposed to do out there.”

This Buffalo defense isn’t as impressive as Sean McDermott’s previous units, either in the personnel it employs or the stats and rankings it put up during the regular season. But in this game, against an offense that had played very well in the second half of the season, it was the sometimes-maligned Bills defense that rallied, on a day when Josh Allen and friends were in the middle of the offense They only scored 13 points in the third quarter this season.

“Listen, we’re not here to satisfy anyone’s feelings or anything like that,” DT DaQuan Jones said. “We don’t try to justify the media’s or anyone else’s view of us. We know who we are and we’re going to go out there and play our style of football every time.”

Here’s how I rated the Bills’ performance:

Pass offense: A-

It was a bit difficult early in the game as the Broncos did a good job making it difficult for Allen with their pressure and coverage and he only had 69 yards passing in the first half. But thanks to the success of the running game, the passing game eventually started to open up, and Allen was on point, finishing 20 of 26 for 272 yards with two touchdowns.

The 24-yard touchdown to Ty Johnson on a fourth-down play was absurd, while the 55-yard touchdown to Curtis Samuel was the result of an excellent play call by Joe Brady and subsequent execution by Allen and Samuel to make it happen decisive move to complete the score. Allen had four completions of 24 yards or more, including a 35-yarder to Dalton Kincaid and a 25-yarder to Dawson Knox, while Khalil Shakir completed his usual series of clutch plays with six catches for 61 yards.

The line struggled against a blitz-happy defense and although Allen was sacked twice, he also had enough time to make some of his big completions, particularly the fourth-down throw to Johnson that required him to extend the play.

RUN OFFENSE: A+

One of the best ways to slow down a great pass rush, which Denver certainly has, is to run the ball and – wow – have the Bills ever run it? James Cook had 90 yards in the first half and finished with 120 yards and a touchdown, Johnson had 44 strong yards and Allen was dynamic as usual and finished with 46 yards.

The Bills’ line took advantage of some of Denver’s aggressiveness to create goal lines, and Cook continually beat them, both between the tackles and on some plays where he was able to jump outside. There were 41 total rushing plays, not including three tackles by Mitch Trubisky, and the Bills averaged five yards per attempt.

Their relentless attack resulted in 14 rushing first downs and that was the main reason Buffalo had a whopping 41 minutes and 43 seconds of possession. The Bills were also excellent on possession downs, going 8-of-15 on third down and 2-for-2 on fourth down.

PASS DEFENSE: B+

There appeared to be a communication breakdown on Troy Franklin’s 43-yard TD reception by Bo Nix. He flew through the secondary and was wide open behind safety Taylor Rapp when he hauled in the perfectly thrown ball on the fifth play.

From that point on, Nix threw for 101 yards and didn’t put another point on the scoreboard. Of course, not having the ball didn’t help this endeavor, but when it did, the Broncos couldn’t get anything going. They had four possessions on which they did not score a first down, and of their 13 first downs, nine came on two possessions, one of which did not result in a score.

Courtland Sutton made a few plays, five catches for 75 yards, but there was almost nothing from anyone else. There wasn’t much standout play in the secondary – the Bills had no passes defended – but the coverage was good enough in spots, especially on third down, as the Broncos were just 2 of 9. Rousseau had a 14-yard sack and Matt Milano was credited with one for zero yards when he chased Nix out of bounds.

RUN DEFENSE: A

Denver is not a good rushing team and that was the case in this game. Nix had four scrambles for 43 yards, but RBs Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie combined for 11 carries and 35 yards.

Buffalo’s defensive line didn’t generate much pass rush, even on multiple blitz calls, but it held up fairly well at the point of attack and stuffed several Denver runs up the middle, which helped put Nix in some difficult down-and-distance situations. to bring situations.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-

There was a glitch when the Bills learned a well-conceived fake punt in the second quarter when Denver’s Riley Dixon completed a 15-yard pass to Marvin Mims. Otherwise it was a nice day for the kicking teams.

Tyler Bass made three short field goals, two extra points and had six touchbacks on seven kickoffs, keeping the ball away from Mims, who is a dangerous returner.

Sam Martin punted just once and it was a beauty, a 45-yarder where shooter Mack Hollins picked off Mims at the 15.

On returns with Brandon Codrington out, Ty Johnson had two kickoff returns for 59 yards and Shakir had a punt for 30 yards, including an impressive 23-yarder.

COACHING: A

Aside from the mishap on Denver’s only touchdown, Bobby Babich’s defense played very well. Granted, his guys were only on the field for 18 minutes, but the Bills did a good job limiting the Broncos in both the run and the pass. It was impressive how quickly and easily they turned things around after the early touchdown and then pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

On offense, Brady put together another solid game plan and went for the run, even though the Broncos ranked third in the NFL in stopping the run. There were a few moments where he ran a little too hard, but he corrected that in the second half with a more diverse attack that helped Allen get going.

There’s always something on special teams, right? The Bills were caught fake punting and that’s often the type of thing that can really hurt you, especially when you’re playing against an inferior opponent. But the defense saved them by eventually forcing a second punt.

As for Sean McDermott, he stayed aggressive in the fourth period and I think one of his best moments came early in the fourth quarter. The Bills took a 28-7 lead, but then were terrible on defense for four plays in a row. He called a timeout to stem the momentum, and after that the Broncos failed to get another first down, failing on fourth down, effectively ending all hopes for Sean Payton’s team.

Sal Maiorana has been covering the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as a full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books on the team’s history. He can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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