Josh Allen tossed five touchdown passes, and the Buffalo Bills built a 27-0 first half lead in rolling to a 47-17 victory over the New England Patriots in a AFC Wild Card Playoff game at Highmark Stadium in Buffalo, New York on Saturday night.
Buffalo (11-6) took the opening kickoff and quickly marched 70 yards on 11 plays, culminating in a Allen to Dawson Knox eight yard touchdown pass. The big play of the drive was a 26 yard run by Allen. New England made some big plays in response including a 30 yard pass from Mac Jones to Hunter Henry, and a Jones scramble run for 16 yards on a 3rd and 10 at midfield. The next play though, Jones went for the endzone to try to hit Nelson Agholor and Micah Hyde made a great diving interception on a ball that was just under thrown. The Bills totally took over after that as Allen took that turnover and hit Knox again for an 11 yard TD for a 14-0 lead after one quarter. It was 20-0 when Devin Singletary found the endzone on a three yard run halfway through the second, and later made it 27-0 when he added a 16 yard scoring run with 1:53 left in the first half. The Patriots finally cracked the scoreboard when Nick Folk hit a 44 yard field goal in the closing seconds.
New England had the ball first in the second half, but Levi Wallace got the second interception of Jones on a tipped ball on an intended pass for Henry near midfield. Buffalo continued to pour it on as Allen got touchdown pass number three on the night on a 34 yarder to Emmanuel Sanders. The Patriots found the endzone for the first time on a Jones to Kendrick Bourne three yard TD pass with four minutes left in the third quarter, and then a four yard Bourne score from Jones with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Allen also tossed scoring passes to Gabriel Davis of 19 yards and a short one yarder to Tommy Doyle.
Jones finished 24-38 passing for 232 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, as New England ends their season at 10-8 earning a six seed in the AFC Playoffs. The rookie out of Alabama finishes his first season with 3,801 yards passing with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The run game, which dominated in a 14-10 win at Buffalo in Week 13 with 222 yards, only managed 89 yards on 20 carries in playing from behind all night. Bourne had seven catches for 77 yards and both touchdowns, while Jakobi Myers added six receptions for 40 yards. Devin McCourty had six tackles to lead the defense. Allen was 21-25 passing for 308 yards and five touchdowns. He is the first Buffalo quarterback to throw for five TD passes with no interceptions in a playoff game. He would also add 66 yards rushing on six carries. Singletary had 16 rushes for 81 yards and a pair of scores. Knox was huge with five catches for 89 yards and the first two touchdowns of the night. Tremaine Edwards had six tackles. Buffalo scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions, with the eighth and final possession just kneeling and killing the clock. A Kansas City win over Pittsburgh on Sunday would send the #3 seed Bills to Arrowhead Stadium to face the #2 Chiefs next weekend in the Divisional Round. Since 2019, New England is now 4-10 in games after Week 13 including now a pair of defeats in the Wild Card Round.
