ORCHARD PARK – Former Buffalo Bills standout Kyle Williams had barely left the field Sunday afternoon after leading the pregame charge and firing up a sellout crowd at Highmark Stadium, one that really didn’t need it, but happily accepted it.
The place was electric when the Broncos took the field for their first possession, and there wasn’t a soul in that stadium that expected what was about to 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 masses and sent an added shiver through the place on an already chilly but manageable 32-degree day. Wait, what just happened?
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In that moment, some of the speculation about how Denver might be a sneaky upset possibility in this AFC wild-card game started bubbling ever so briefly.
“When plays like that happen, you’ve got to have a short memory,” cornerback Taron Johnson said. “We did a good job with that today. They didn’t get much after that.”
The Broncos certainly did not. In fact, they got nothing. The Bills developed an effective case of amnesia, forgot all about that breakdown, and went on to dominate the Broncos and their up-and-coming rookie quarterback Bo Nix during a 31-7 beatdown.
“Who got punched in the mouth?” edge rusher Greg Rousseau said with a smile. “They had an explosive, but I feel like from the jump, we was dominating. We was playing physical, and we’ve got to keep that going. It really was just a message to ourselves. Like, we know who we are week after week and what we’re capable of and what we’re supposed to do out there.”
This Buffalo defense is not as impressive as past Sean McDermott units, not with the personnel it deploys nor the statistics and rankings it compiled during the regular season. But in this game, against an offense that had been playing very well in the second half of the season, it was the sometimes maligned Bills defense that rose up on a day where Josh Allen and his buddies on offense had managed just 13 points midway through the third quarter.
“Listen, we’re not here to satisfy no one’s feelings or anything like that,” said DT DaQuan Jones. “We ain’t trying to justify the media or anyone else’s perspective about us. We know who we are, and we’re gonna go out there and play our style of football every time.”
Here’s how I graded the Bills’ performance:
PASS OFFENSE: A-
It was a bit of a struggle early in the game as the Broncos were doing a nice job making things difficult for Allen with their pressure and coverage and he had just 69 yards passing in the first half. But thanks to the success of the running game, things eventually began to open up in the pass game and Allen was on point, finishing 20 of 26 for 272 yards with two TDs.
The 24-yard TD to Ty Johnson on a fourth-down play was absurd, while the 55-yarder to Curtis Samuel was the product of an excellent play call by Joe Brady and then execution by both Allen and Samuel to complete the game-breaking 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 made his usual array of clutch plays with six catches for 61 yards.
The line battled against a blitz happy defense and while Allen was sacked twice, he also had enough time to make some of the big completions he had, particularly that fourth-down throw to Johnson where he had 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, did the Bills ever run it. James Cook had 90 yards in the first half and finished with 120 and a touchdown, Johnson had 44 tough yards, and Allen was his usual dynamic self as he finished with 46.
The Bills’ line took advantage of some of Denver’s aggressiveness to create creases and Cook continually hit them, both between the tackles and on a few plays where he was able to bounce outside. In all, there were 41 rushing plays not counting three Mitch Trubisky kneel downs, and the Bills averaged five yards per attempt.
Their relentless attack yielded 14 first downs via the rush and that was the main reason why Buffalo had a whopping 41 minutes, 43 seconds time of possession. The Bills were also excellent on possession downs, 8 of 15 on third down and 2-for-2 on fourth down.
PASS DEFENSE: B+
There appeared to be a breakdown in communication on Troy Franklin’s 43-yard TD reception from Bo Nix. He flew through the secondary and was wide open behind safety Taylor Rapp when he hauled in the perfectly thrown the ball on the fifth play of the game.
From that point on, Nix threw for 101 yards and never put another point on the scoreboard. Of course, not having the ball didn’t help in that endeavor, but when he did, the Broncos couldn’t get anything going. They had four possessions where they did not get a first down, and of their 13 first downs, nine came on two possessions, one of which did not produce 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 zero passes defensed – but the coverage was good enough in spots, particularly 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 rush 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 with several blitz calls, but it held up pretty well at the point of attack and stuffed several Denver runs up the middle which helped to put Nix into some difficult down-and-distance situations.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A-
There was one breakdown as the Bills got schooled on a well-conceived fake punt in the second quarter as Denver punter 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 he produced six touchbacks on seven kickoffs, keeping the ball away from Mims who is a dangerous return man.
Sam Martin punted only once and it was a beauty, a 45-yarder on which gunner Mack Hollins flattened Mims at the 15.
On returns, with Brandon Codrington sidelined, Ty Johnson had two kickoff returns for 59 yards, and Shakir returned two punts for 30 yards including a dazzling 23-yarder.
COACHING: A
Outside of the breakdown on Denver’s only TD, Bobby Babich’s defense played very well. Granted, his guys were only on the field 18 minutes, but the Bills did a nice job limited the Broncos in both the run and pass. It was impressive how quickly and easily they turned the page after the early TD and then pitched a shutout the rest of the way.
On offense, Brady cooked up another solid game plan, leaning into the run even though the Broncos ranked third in the NFL in stopping the run. There were a few moments where he went a little too run heavy, but he corrected some of that in the second half with a more diverse attack which helped Allen get rolling.
On special teams, there’s always something, right? The Bills got caught on the fake punt and that’s often the type of thing that can really hurt you, especially when playing an inferior opponent. But the defense bailed them out by ultimately forcing a second punt.
As for Sean McDermott, he stayed aggressive on fourth down, and I thought one of his best moments came early in the fourth quarter. The Bills went up 28-7, but then were terrible on defense for four straight plays. He called timeout to stem the momentum, and after that, the Broncos did not get another first down, failing on fourth down, and that effectively ended all hope for Sean Payton’s team.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. 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
