Top 3 Things We Learned

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Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Broncos | Wild Card Weekend

Jan 12, 2025 at 06:51 PM

Alec White

Content Coordinator

The Buffalo Bills took down the Denver Broncos 31-7 in the Wild Card round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs.

Here's what we learned:

1 — Unlocking the explosive plays

Buffalo had a quick awakening to begin its Wild Card game as the Broncos soared down the field on the opening drive with a 43-yard pass from rookie QB Bo Nix to rookie WR Troy Franklin.

A testament to their patience and determination, Buffalo ripped off the next 31 points in the game, each score coming at different stages.

The Bills entered the playoffs as the top team in the league in second half scoring, averaging 16.6 points per game. Buffalo scored 21 points over the final two quarters in Sunday's 31-7 win, Buffalo's largest margin of victory in the postseason since their 2021 Wild Card win over New England.

"I thought our players played extremely well, especially in the third and the fourth quarter," said HC Sean McDermott. "Played good, complementary football. Took care of the ball, the line of scrimmage was the way it needed to be for us to win, and that's an important facet for us every week."

The Bills had just three possessions in the first half and got mixed results. A field goal and a touchdown run by RB James Cook gave the Bills the lead but Buffalo was unable to close the half with a score after QB Josh Allen was sacked by Broncos DE Zach Allen to force the Bills into a 3rd and 21.

Buffalo was unable to generate explosive plays in the first half, recording just one play of 15 yards or more.

"First three drives, field goal, touchdown, punt, I believe. That was the first half, and it just felt like it was quick. But we were sustaining drives, and the drives that we didn't sustain, we felt like we were shooting ourselves in the foot," Josh Allen said.

Buffalo unlocked the explosive play in the second half, totaling five plays of 15+ yards, two of which were touchdowns.

Facing a 4th & 1 from the Denver 24-yard line, Allen lined up in an empty shotgun with five pass catchers on the field, a drastic shift from Buffalo's typical 'Snow Plow' 4th down call. In a play only he can make, Allen bought time in the pocket, avoided defenders and threw a shot to the end zone.

RB Ty Johnson, who broke off his initial route to go across the field and follow Allen, made an incredible diving catch in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. Johnson managed to both secure the catch, with his hand sliding underneath the ball, and avoid going out of bounds.

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"I knew I caught it," Johnson said. "The only thing I was looking at was if my feet were out or anything like that. But I knew I caught it. I had full confidence in that, but it was just to make sure the feet were in."

After Johnson's score and a two-point conversion from Allen to rookie WR Keon Coleman, the Bills led 21-7. Buffalo hadn't lost this season when leading by more than two scores, but kept their foot on the gas.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Allen hit WR Curtis Samuel for a 55-yard touchdown with the wide receiver out running several Broncos defenders for the house call.

On 3rd and 6, Samuel ran a deep crossing route from right to left working against All-Pro corner Patrick Surtain II, beating the CB in coverage, then made him miss in open space and ran in it for six. According to Next Gen Stats, the pass was the first deep completion allowed by Surtain as the nearest defender in coverage this season. It was also Samuel's longest touchdown reception of his career.

"I'd be the first one to say, I'll speak on behalf of Curtis, he probably didn't have the season that he wanted to have. He was dealing with a few things early on and during the middle of the year, but he kept grinding, kept being quiet, and stayed focused, and I've never lost any sort of trust in him," Allen said.

Allen completed all four of his deep passes for 139 yards & 2 TDs. He now leads all QBs with 23 completions and 791 yards on passes of 20+ air yards in the postseason since entering the league in 2018.

Connecting on the explosive plays and sustaining drives were key in the Bills win. Buffalo racked up 471 yards of offense, were 8 of 15 (53%) on third down and 2 of 2 on fourth down.

2 — Getting off the field

The Bills defense entered the postseason ranked 29th in third down stop percentage; a neutral observer wouldn't have assumed as such on Sunday. Denver converted their first third down of the game, but after that they went one for their next eight attempts.

DT Ed Oliver told reporters postgame that he and the rest of the defense are aware of the noise surrounding their third down woes and run defense coming into the playoffs.

"When you challenge us like that, they talk about every time we lose, people run for a lot of yards. Hey, we hear the noise. We just use it as fuel," he said.

Nix found WR Courtland Sutton on 3rd and 8 on the opening series to get to midfield. Nix connected with Franklin for the long score shortly after.

"When plays like that happen, you've got to have a short memory. We did a good job with that today. They didn't get much after that," said DB Taron Johnson.

As Johnson said, Buffalo locked down defensively after the score. The Broncos recorded 70 yards on their first drive. Their next five possessions combined for just 100 yards with four drives ending in a punt and one with a missed field goal before halftime.

"It was a big message but at the end of the day, we've got to do it again. We did what we did and moved on. At this point, it's about doing it again," Johnson said of the team's defensive success.

Johnson briefly left the game to be evaluated for a concussion after a head-to-head collision with Broncos RB Javonte Williams. Johnson returned in the first half and finished the game with five tackles.

"It was more my neck. I'm sore, but I'm fine," he said.

3 — James Cook's 100-yard game

Bills RB James Cook led all players in Sunday's game in scrimmage yards, carrying the ball 23 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Cook became the first Bills player since Thurman Thomas in 1995 to go over the century mark.

Cook and Allen played their part in getting the ground game going early. Buffalo had 100 yards rushing over their first two series.

"We weren't getting as much in the pass early, I mean, they lead the league in sacks coming into the game. So we knew it was going to be tough," McDermott said."I thought our offensive line and it's the O-line, the tight ends are blocking in there, the receivers are blocking. It's a full team affair right there in terms of that run game."

Cook's 23 carries marked a season high. He put all of his skills on display, showing quick burst to the outside and also his power with runs up the middle, including a gain of 15 yards where Cook kept his legs churning while the offensive line pushed him ahead for extra yards.

"I was telling (Cook), I was that's a big boy run right there," RT Spencer Brown said. "Super proud of him. He's been doing well all year and hopefully he can keep doing it for us."

Buffalo went over the 200-yard mark on the ground for just the fifth time in the team's postseason history and first time since 1995. Allen recorded over 40 rushing yards for the 6th time in his last eight playoff starts.

"Our offensive line did a great job of getting looks that we liked and taking advantage of it. And they moved guys off the ball today. Jimbo ran the ball hard. All of our backs run the ball hard. And then you incorporate some of the quarterback run stuff and I think that really messes with the defense," Allen said.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Bills utilized 6+ offensive linemen on 22.2% of their offensive plays against the Broncos, their 3rd-highest rate in a game this season.