The Buffalo Bills are advancing to the next round of the playoffs after a dominant performance over the New England Patriots.
The Buffalo Bills were coming into this game knowing they were playing a team they knew well. This would be the third time they played the Patriots in seven weeks. New England would win the first one but it has been all Buffalo since, including Saturday night in a 47-17 win.
The Bills offense had a historic night as they would score touchdowns on their first seven drives, not counting the kneel down at the end of the first half, which is the first time in the Super Bowl era. In fact, no team had scored on their first five drives in a playoff game and the Bills added two more on top of that.
These are six quick thoughts from the Buffalo Bills big playoff win on Saturday night.
Josh Allen has a nearly perfect game
It was nearly a perfect performance from Josh Allen in what will likely be a career-defining game for him. He finished the game completing 21 of 25 passes for 308 yards with five passing touchdowns and no interceptions. He also added 66 rushing yards on the night.
There was no question that Josh Allen was the best player on the field Saturday night and the New England Patriots for the second straight game did not have an answer for him.
Devin Singletary only keeps getting better
The Buffalo Bills haven’t had much of a rushing attack at points this year but that changed in the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game is notable because the Bills did not have a single rushing attempt in the first half.
However, from that point Singletary has been the team’s featured running back and has answered in a big way. He would finish the regular season with 85 or more rushing yards in three of the final four games and five total rushing touchdowns.
He would continue that trend on Saturday night with 83 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, both of which came in the first half. The Bills have finally found that balance with the play of Devin Singletary and it just showed how good this offense is when they have that.
Offensive Line has played great since Ryan Bates became a starter
One other thing that changed for this offense in the final quarter of the season was the addition of Ryan Bates into the starting lineup. His first start came against the Patriots in Week 16 due to Buffalo dealing with a number of injuries and players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
However, this gave Bates an opportunity and the offensive line as a whole has benefited. The Bills are getting more room on the ground and Josh Allen has plenty of time to throw the ball in the pocket. In fact, this was the fourth straight game that Josh Allen hasn’t been sacked, and the second straight game the Patriots haven’t been able to sack the Bills’ quarterback.
The two biggest concerns for this offense at times this year have been the run game and the offensive line. Both are playing excellent at just the right time and are a big reason the Bills were able to score touchdowns on seven straight drives.
Jerry Hughes, pass rush rattles Mac Jones
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills pass rush is doing a great job getting after the opposing quarterback and while they didn’t have nine sacks like they did last week against the Jets, they made their presence known.
The Bills would finish the game with three sacks with Jerry Hughes, Star Lotulelei, and Boogie Basham each accounting for a sack. It was particularly good to see Hughes get his sack as he has had a relatively quiet regular season but seems to always show up in the postseason.
This was his third straight playoff game with a sack and now has seven sacks in the last five playoffs games with Buffalo.
Jerry Hughes is the first Bill with a three-game playoff sack streak since Bruce Smith’s club-record 5-game streak between 1/9/93 at Pit. and 1/23/94 vs. K.C.
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) January 16, 2022
The Buffalo Bills are going to be playing a very good quarterback next week, either Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow, and they will need a good game from their defensive line pressuring the quarterback.
Micah Hyde, Levi Wallace with key defensive plays
In terms of yards or points, this was not the best performance by the Buffalo Bills this year. However, they made key defensive plays when the team needed them most.
It started on the first offensive drive of the Patriots with Buffalo already up 7-0. Mac Jones was moving their offense down the field, including converting two third downs of 14 and 10 yards. After that second third down conversion, Jones went deep down the left side but Micah Hyde made up incredible ground to come away with the first interception of the game.
The second interception, which Levi Wallace gets credit for but it was Matt Milano tipping the ball up that made the play possible, came on the opening drive of the second half. The Patriots had just got their first point of the game on their final drive of the first half but the Bills would get the turnover, score another touchdown that would extend their lead to 33-3.
It was a great game by the Buffalo Bills defense and they made the plays when necessary.
Buffalo Bills finally put the New England Patriots behind them
For over 20 years, the AFC East went through New England and the Buffalo Bills were never truly competitive. That changed last year as the Buffalo Bills won the AFC East for the first time since 1995.
It seemed like they were set up to start their own streak earlier in the season but New England didn’t go away and even beat them in Week 13 to move back into first place. That game seemed to get this team to turn a corner and Buffalo would finish the regular season with four straight wins and their second straight division title.
However, it didn’t really feel like they put this team, or the history of this rivalry behind them until tonight. The Buffalo Bills came out and left absolutely no doubt who the better team was on Saturday night.
This is not to say that Buffalo is going to have the same run the Patriots did or that the Patriots won’t win any games against the Bills for the foreseeable future. However, there is no question that the AFC East now runs through Western New York as long as Buffalo has players like Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and head coach Sean McDermott.