The second weekend of the NFL playoffs started out just as wild as the wild-card round last week. Quarterbacks Josh Allen and Bo Nix went back and forth in an epic battle that spilled into overtime in Denver.
In the end, the Broncos pulled out a 33-30 win to earn a berth in the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 2016.
Here are my takeaways:
1. With one touchdown drive, Bo Nix arrives
How do you elevate your reputation in a single drive? Second-year Denver quarterback Bo Nix did just that Saturday, rallying the Broncos and outdueling Josh Allen with a touchdown in the final minute of regulation on the way to a 33-30 overtime playoff win.
Nix went 6-for-7 on the final drive, throwing for 67 yards, and how he did it was just as impressive. He hit receiver Courtland Sutton on a third-and-11 play to move the chains, converting another third down with a scramble on his own. His 26-yard touchdown to receiver Marvin Mims was a perfectly placed ball for the lead with 55 seconds left.
The entire AFC saw a playoff picture void of the usual suspects this January — no Patrick Mahomes, no Lamar Jackson, no Joe Burrow. That looked like an opportunity for Allen to finally get to a Super Bowl, but Nix got in the way of that, in just his second career playoff game. Overall, he went 26-for-46 with three touchdowns and one interception.
2. How to lose a game in 10 seconds
The end of the first half couldn’t have gone much worse for Buffalo. In the final minute, the Bills had managed a 10-10 tie on the road, were getting the ball to open the second half and had the Broncos in a third-and-10 situation. But they gave up a conversion and then, worse, a 29-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left in the half.
They weren’t done, as Josh Allen lost a fumble on an open-field scramble with two seconds left, giving the Broncos a chance to steal another three points on a Wil Lutz field goal as time expired. Instead of 10-10, Buffalo trailed 20-10, digging a hole to make things harder in the second half under already difficult circumstances.
3. Turnovers remain tough to overcome
The Bills beat the Jaguars last week in part because they avoided turnovers against a defense that was among the NFL’s best at forcing takeaways.
No such luck on Saturday.
The Bills had five turnovers, including four by Allen, all the more incredible considering that the Broncos forced a total of 14 takeaways in the entire regular season. Only three NFL teams forced fewer.
That put Buffalo at minus-4 in takeaway margin, a nearly insurmountable statistic in the NFL playoffs. In the past decade, teams that were minus-3 or worse were 1-15 in playoff games, the lone exception being the Jaguars’ 31-30 win over the Chargers in the 2022 playoffs.
It’s even crazier for road teams in the playoffs. All time, road teams were 1-85 when minus-3 or worse, the lone win coming from the Oakland Raiders in a 37-31 overtime win over the Colts on Christmas Eve 1977.
4. Joe Brady helped his chances at becoming a head coach
While dozens of out-of-work and out-of-the-playoffs coaches are busy interviewing for openings, Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady helped his own cause with Saturday’s offensive showing.
It’s easy to say you could coach well if Josh Allen was your quarterback, but there was more than that to the Buffalo offense on the road Saturday. Denver came in with the NFL’s No. 2 run defense, giving up just 91 yards per game, and the Bills ran James Cook with confidence. The NFL’s leading rusher ran for 117 yards on 24 carries, and adding in Allen’s carries, they were over 180 yards as a team.
The chess match between Brady’s offense and Vance Joseph’s vaunted Broncos defense was something to see Saturday, and for Buffalo to overcome its turnover issues and find a way to score consistently is a testament to Brady and his playcalling.
5. Denver could have used J.K. Dobbins here
This game is seen as a duel of quarterbacks, but Buffalo had such a strong run complement with Cook moving the chains, and Denver didn’t have that.
With veteran back J.K. Dobbins sidelined with a foot injury, the Broncos didn’t have any consistent running game. Bo Nix was their leading rusher with 29 yards, with Jaleel McLaughlin and RJ Harvey combining for just 41 yards on 10 carries.
That could be a problem next week for Denver. Putting everything squarely on a young quarterback may not be a sustainable strategy.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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