Buffalo Bills vs. Indianapolis Colts: Keys to victory in Wild Card round

Win the First Half

Heading into this Wild Card matchup against the Colts, the Bills defense will have a tough time game planning for a specific strength to take away from the Colts on offense. As mentioned before, this Colts team is extremely well rounded, they don’t do any one thing spectacularly but instead, do many things adequately.

In regards to what is most threatening to the Bills, it has to be the Colts ground game, primarily because of the Buffalo Bills’ weaknesses more than the Colts’ strengths. The Bills have been great this year defending against the pass, but just mediocre against the run. With that being said, the Bills have certainly been showing a much more consistent effort in slowing down opposing running attacks.

Although the Bills have been improving in this area, the Colts offense is highlighted by a great offensive line led by guard Quenton Nelson and an up and coming rookie running back in Jonathan Taylor. Taylor certainly did not start the season contributing as many had expected, but he has finished the season with plenty of momentum heading into the wildcard round. Since Week 11 Taylor has not had a game averaging under 4 yards per carry and has seven rushing touchdowns in the same span of games.

If the Bills want to mitigate the effects of this Colts rushing attack, they will need to win the first half convincingly. This should force the Colts’ game script into utilizing their passing game to chip away at their deficit. Subsequently, this forces the Colts to use what is their perceived weaker point on offense against what is the Bills’ stronger area on defense.