DENVER BRONCOS

Denver Derailed: Buffalo Bills stampede past Broncos in playoffs

Jan 12, 2025, 2:00 PM

The Denver Broncos’ playoff hopes came crashing down in Buffalo on Sunday, where the Bills delivered a 31-7 drubbing thanks to an unstoppable rushing attack.

Led by a steamrolling from James Cook, the Bills ran for 212 yards—leading to an insane 41:43 time of possession. While Denver’s offense came out with a roar scoring right away, they spurted after. The Broncos didn’t collect a first down in the third quarter and didn’t score following the opening drive. Meanwhile, the Bills punted the ball just once. There were a few twists and turns in the contest but the result left little doubt about who deserved to advance to the Divisional Round.

The Broncos defense, which struggled down the stretch failed them. The team’s magic, largely in beating non-playoff teams, dried up against the AFC’s second seed. And little mistakes were magnified by an experienced Bills group.

The Broncos started with the ball and Bo Nix proved to be nails out of the gate. Hitting Courtland Suttong on a third down to extend the opening drive, the quarterback allowed the team to score. That they did, with Sean Payton dialing up the deep ball to Troy Franklin, connecting for 43 yards and an early 7-0 lead. The touchdown was the first rookie-to-rookie scoring connection in the playoffs in NFL history.

And the highlights ended there for the Broncos. The Bills responded quickly, moving down the field fast. They picked up a fourth down via a tush push but the defense held to a field goal for a 7-3 lead. The Broncos went three-and-out with their second drive. The Bills then grueled down the field for a 13-play drive over 7:35 of game time that went for 86 yards and was capped by a James Cook touchdown to take a 10-7 lead. After just two drives, led by Cook, the Bills were already over 100 rushing yards—the most on the ground that quick in an NFL Playoff game in nearly a decade.

The Broncos briefly found life on the following possession, striking with a fake punt where Riley Dixon hit Marvin Mims on fourth down. But Denver wound up punting a few plays later, which was downed by Mims at the one. The Bills chewed the clock and then punted, giving the Broncos a chance at the two-minute warning to take the lead before the half. The quick-moving Broncos got all the way down to Buffalo’s 32 before time wound down. That’s where Will Lutz set up for a 50-yarder in hopes of a tie going into the break, it doinked off the right upright keeping the Bills ahead.

The Bills took the second-half kickoff and marched down the field but the Broncos defense again held in the red zone to keep the team in the contest. The Bills got another field goal to extend the lead to 13-7.

The Broncos responded by going three and out again. And that’s where things started to get ugly for the Broncos. The Bills again drove to the edge of scoring range but again the Broncos got a stop. On fourth-and-one Buffalo, who was 16/19 on fourth-and-short during the season, went for it. Josh Allen bought time and threw a rocket to Ty Johnson at the back of the end zone to take a 21-7 lead thanks to a two-point conversion. The touchdown was a bit controversial as Johnson straddled the backline of the field.

And again the Broncos, who were now desperate went three-and-out. To start the fourth quarter, Allen struck Curtis Samuel for a 55-yard touchdown and insurance at 28-7. The Bills added a garbage time field goal while the Broncos couldn’t score even with the defense sagging off.

Nix finished with 144 yards on 13-of-22 passing with a touchdown—adding 43 yards on the ground, while the Broncos running game outside of Nix had a meager 36 yards. Denver’s offense only managed first downs on four of their eight drives. Compared to 120 yards just from Cook and the Bills punting just once.

The Bills will now host Baltimore next week in the postseason. The Broncos season comes to an end, but they finally quelled their playoff drought and found their franchise quarterback in Nix. It’s a good stepping stone for Denver while Buffalo hopes this was just a first leap toward a title.

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