The divisional round of the NFL playoffs kicks off here in just a couple hours live from Denver where the Buffalo Bills will take on the 1-seeded Broncos, who are also coming off a week’s rest with having the bye week advantage. The Bills took down Jacksonville last Sunday, who was the 3-seed and quite frankly, a tougher matchup for Buffalo than Denver should be.
In last Sunday’s win over the Jaguars, wide receiver Khalil Shakir was the go-to guy for Josh Allen. Shakir led the team in targets (12) and caught every single pass that came his way for 82 yards. Brandin Cooks and Dalton Kincaid were tied for the second most targets (5).
Now granted, Shakir’s targets came off of short yard passes but they were crucial ones to move the chains for the Bills. If he drops one or two of them, there’s a chance that the Bills may not have scored when they did.
Shakir joined former Bills running back Thurman Thomas as the only two Bills to record 10+ receptions in a playoff game, per the Bills’ PR team. Now going into today’s game, Shakir can join more elite company that is extremely limited if he catches 10+ catches again.
Khalil Shakir has chance to become more impactful for Bills vs. Broncos
According to the Bills’ PR team, if Shakir can record 10+ catches again, he will join Steve Smith Sr. and Travis Kelce as the only players to have 10+ receptions consecutive playoff games in the same postseason.
Buffalo is heading into this game with limited wide receiver options. They won’t have Gabe Davis, Tyrell Shavers, or Joshua Palmer who are all out for the rest of the season with injuries. Shakir has been Josh Allen’s go-to guy for awhile now, and now that Buffalo is even more limited at wide receiver, Shakir could see his production increase a lot against Denver.
Kickoff from Mile High is at 4:30PM EST and the Bills will look to punch their ticket to their second consecutive AFC title game.