Bills’ balanced offense dominates Broncos in AFC wild-card win

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes, James Cook scored on a 5-yard run and finished with 120 yards rushing, and the Buffalo Bills leaned on a balanced offensive attack in a 31-7 win over the Denver Broncos in a wild-card playoff game on Sunday.

The Bills methodically wore down the Broncos by scoring on six of their first seven drives in building a 31-7 lead in a game where they finished with a 23-minute edge in time of possession.

And Buffalo didn’t flinch after rookie Bo Nix capped Denver’s five-play game-opening drive with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Troy Franklin.

With Buffalo leading 13-7, Allen broke the game open with a 24-yard touchdown pass to sliding running back Ty Johnson in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-1 with 3:06 left in the third quarter.

“I’ve been saying it all year long that Ty Johnson’s the best third down back in football,” Allen said. “The things that he’s able to do for us, the way we communicate, him in the pass game, blocking and running the ball. He does it all. I’m so happy for him, so proud of him. He made a heck of a play. It was fourth down, no point in holding it and taking a sack there. They played man (coverage) and I just gave him a chance.”

On Buffalo’s next possession, Allen completed a 55-yard pass to Curtis Samuel on the first snap of the fourth quarter.

The five-time defending AFC East champion Bills advanced to the divisional round for a fifth straight postseason and will face the third-seeded Baltimore Ravens next weekend.

The Ravens, coming off a 28-14 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday, routed Buffalo 35-10 at Baltimore in Week 4 this season. The outing will mark the second playoff meeting between Allen and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson after Buffalo defeated the Ravens 17-3 in the 2020 divisional round.

“Well, they got after us earlier this year,” Allen said of facing the Ravens again. “So we’ve got a lot of film to watch. It’s a great team. It’s a great quarterback, obviously with Lamar and what he’s able to do. He’s one of the most dynamic, if not the most dynamic, quarterback in the league. He’s so fun to watch. But I’ll be watching their defense this week, so that’s our focus.”

Cook became Buffalo’s first player to top 100 yards rushing in a playoff game since Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas had 158 yards rushing in a 1995 wild-card playoff win over Miami.

Allen finished 20 of 26 for 272 yards and increased his playoff total to 23 passing touchdowns, breaking the franchise record of 21 held by Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.

The seventh-seeded Broncos were outclassed in their first playoff appearance since their Super Bowl-winning season in 2015.

Nix finished 13 of 22 for 144 yards in an outing where Denver punted four times and turned the ball over on downs twice.

And the Broncos attacking defense was kept at bay by an Allen-led attack that was more than content in gaining small chunks of yards on lengthy time-consuming drives.

The Broncos, who had an NFL-leading 63 sacks this season, sacked Allen just twice in a game where the Bills punted once.

Allen had what appeared to be the thumbnail on his throwing hand peeled back in the fourth quarter. He stayed the game to complete the drive, ending with Tyler Bass hitting a 34-yard field goal before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky.

“Oh, it’s good. I’ve just got a little blood there. It’s fine. We’re fine,” Allen said of his thumb.

Trailing 7-3, Cook scored the go-ahead touchdown 2:03 into the second quarter to cap a 13-play, 81-yard drive. All three of Buffalo’s first-half possessions featured 11 or more offensive snaps.

The Broncos had little response in a first half that ended with Denver trailing 10-7 after Wil Lutz banked a 50-yard field-goal attempt off the right upright as time expired. The miss was Lutz’s first since Week 10 when the Chiefs blocked his 35-yard attempt to preserve Kansas City’s 16-14 win.

Lutz had since converted 41 consecutive attempts — 13 field goals and 28 extra points.

Including the playoffs, Buffalo improved to 13-1 at home since a 24-22 loss to Denver on Nov. 13, 2023. The only loss came to Kansas City in last year’s division playoff round. Buffalo is 16-5 all-time at home in the postseason.

The Broncos dropped to 2-7 in the wild-card round, with all seven losses on the road.

Broncos: Backup linebacker Jonah Elliss did not return after hurting his shoulder in the first half.

Bills: CB Taron Johnson returned after being examined for a head injury in the first half. … Rookie RB Ray Davis did not return after being examined for a head injury in the third quarter. Davis was attempting to catch a pass when blindsided by safety Brandon Jones in a helmet-to-helmet hit in the third quarter. Jones was penalized for unnecessary roughness.

Broncos: offseason.

Bills: Host the Ravens next weekend in a matchup of two quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2018 draft.