My Buffalo Blues: Super Wild Card Weekend

The dust has settled, the smoke has cleared, and the snow has rolled into Buffalo as the Bills ran right through the Patriots, 47-17, on Super Wild Card Saturday. The win sends the Bills to a rematch with Kansas City and sends the Patriots to the offseason with plenty of issues to address.

New England, their fans, and plenty of doubters found out the hard way that Buffalo’s, and specifically Josh Allen’s, issues with the cold were greatly exaggerated. Not only did the Bills show up and show out, but they also had arguably their best game of the whole season in the subzero temperatures.

Josh Allen was a man possessed and he had the best game of his career on Saturday night. He finished the game 21/25 for 308-yards passing, 5-TDs, and 66-yards rushing to round it out and didn’t get sacked once. It was as close to a perfect game as is possible and magic was in the air on the game’s opening possession. He connected with Stefon Diggs on the first play of the game to set the tone. Three plays later he scrambled for 26-yards down to the NE 31-yard line. Within a few plays, Buffalo had established that they were going to do whatever they wanted. After a designed Allen run for 15-yards, he made one of those special plays to find Dawson Knox for the game’s first touchdown on an absolutely ridiculous throw to the back of the end zone.

Allen scrambled to his right, slipped a tackle like he was popping a coat off his shoulders, and floated the ball to the perfect spot where only Knox had a chance. According to Knox, after the play, Allen told him he was trying to throw it away but there was a lot of touch on the ball if that was the case. It pays to be good and lucky, preparation and opportunity collided there for the TD.

If I were the Pats, I would have never wanted to play this game from behind but they won the toss and elected to defer, so they got what they asked for. Trailing right away, New England tried to establish a run game but Bills’ defensive coordinate Leslie Frazier wasn’t about to let that happen. He sent the Bills out in a 4-3 instead of their conventional nickel defense to send a message that there would be no run game for the Pats to fall back on. Damien Harris got two carries for 3-yards on the opening drive as the Bills forced Mac Jones into throwing situations. They had moved the ball with a couple of big, chunk plays but there’s a reason the Bills wanted to force Mac Jones to throw.

On 1st & 10 from the Bills’ 34-yard line, Jones went deep left to Nelson Agholor, who had a step on cornerback Levi Wallace, and he made a pretty good throw but Micah Hyde saw it all the way and put his ball-hawking skills on full display. It would have been one thing to fly across the field and deflect that ball but he got his hands on it, pinned it to his head, and came away with the interception. Football is a game where momentum is huge and Hyde’s interception was a gravitational moment.

The Bills took over on the touchback and Allen went to work once again, going 8-yards on 10-plays in five minutes. Allen displayed wonderful patience and, thanks to greatly improved offensive line play, was able to keep his eyes upfield and diagnose the coverages. He ended up going 5-for-7 on the drive for 62-yards and found Knox again, this time on a slant up the middle, for the TD. The Bills have so many offensive weapons, you have to pick your battles and Buffalo was winning those exchanges early.

By the time the Buffalo defense forced a quick 3 & out by the Pats, the offense had barely any time to sit down. However, it didn’t matter. Up two scores, it was time to make sure the run game was going and force NE to defend a number of different fronts. The Bills had already brought in the extra lineman as eligible on the earlier drives, but they did it again twice on this possession and used that look later with great effect. Devin Singletary has been playing his best football since Thanksgiving and he had 5-carries for 21-yards and the TD to cap the drive. Tyler Bass would miss the extra point, but it was 20-0 and the Pats were a long way from home.

New England would punt again in just five plays and pin the Bills at their own 11-yard line. It was as good of a situation as NE could have hoped for and Buffalo still made them pay. Allen hit the Pats-killer Isaiah McKenzie for 19-yards to get some breathing room and then found his #1 Diggs up the sideline for a monster 45-yarder (above). A couple of plays later and Singletary would show the depth of his talent on a 16-yard TD run to put an exclamation on the drive. At that point, the game was already long out of reach. New England’s field goal at the end of the half was more confirmation of surrender than it was a ray of light.

Mac Jones started the second-half festivities with another interception, tipped by Matt Milano and caught by Levi Wallace, and whatever hope that first-half field goal had provided was quickly snuffed out. Buffalo would score another TD six plays later, with Allen finding Emmanuel Sanders, behind the defense, with a fantastic throw moving to his left. After the game, Allen expressed his joy in getting Sanders his first post-season TD in 14-career playoff games.

The route had been on but it only got worse from there. New England finally got into the end zone on their next drive, with Kendrick Bourne showing how he evolved into the Pats’ #1 WR. Bourne would bring in the TD catch on the nicely-run corner route and he was honored to receive the “dildo toss” that was once reserved for the likes of Tom Brady. My official position is to denounce throwing objects onto the field (but if you’re going to throw something it might as well be a dildo directed at the Patriots).

You would think maybe the Bills would ease up at that point, up 33-10 with just over 4-minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, but thankfully they kept their collective foot on the throttle. Buffalo would respond with another masterful drive. Nine plays and 77-yards later, Allen found Gabriel Davis on possibly my favorite throw of the night for the 19-yard TD. The sinker he threw on this inside route was just filthy and I wish I had a good picture of it here. Low enough so the nearest defender had no shot at the ball, but high enough where Gabe could still catch it and run the rest of the way for the score, it was gorgeous. I talked with some other Bills fans after the game that said Allen’s ball placement wasn’t perfect on the night, but I’d go back and look at these throws a second and third time and maybe reassess.

New England would punt again, down 40-10 and that would open the door for the eligible lineman Tommy Doyle to catch his first TD. The Bills had brought him into some eligible formations earlier in the game and I promised I would get back to it. We also saw this getting ironed out during the later stages of the Jets game as Allen looked for Dion Dawkins (iirc) on a similar play. Buffalo was salting the earth with this garbage time score to make it 47-10.

The Pats would score again, to Bourne in short-yardage again, to make it a 47-17 so they had more to show for their efforts at least, but it was a moot point by then. After the ensuing kickoffs, Mitch Trubisky would lead the team onto the field for the final kneel-downs.

It was a great day for Bills fans and every other football fan around the world that’s been held hostage by the Patriots’ dominance for more than 20-years. Veterans like Jerry Hughes and Star Lotulelei stepped up along with their younger defensive studs like Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. Harrison Phillips and Ed Oliver continue to be a force along the interior defensive line and, of course, the secondary has no fear. It’s a great time for football in Buffalo.

Performance Grade: A+

My ideal road to the Super Bowl always led back to Kansas City, so I’m glad that score will get settled next week. I know a lot of people would have preferred the home game against the Bengals, but the showdown with the Chiefs was inevitable. Step one was beating them in the regular season to instill confidence in the offseason improvements, step two is getting revenge for last year’s AFC Championship game. I can’t wait! Go Bills!!