After 25 years the Buffalo Bills have ended their playoff win drought with a 27-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Josh Allen led the charge for the Bills with 324 yards passing and 54 yards on the ground with three total touchdowns, two passing and one rushing. Stefon Diggs was Allen’s favorite target with 6 receptions, 128 yards, and a single touchdown. Cole Beasley logged a team-high 7 receptions out of the slot but only mustered 57 yards. While Buffalo was able to successfully attack Indianapolis through the air, outside of Allen’s 54 rushing yards Zack Moss and Devin Singletary carried the ball a combined ten times for a paltry 42 yards. Defensively, the Bills were able to do enough to slow the Colts down but were not particularly dominant either. Matt Milano led the team with 11 total tackles while the team combined for only 5 tackles for loss.
Indianapolis was able to successfully able to move the ball on the Buffalo defense but at times struggled to turn those drives into points. Phillip Rivers threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns while Johnathan Taylor led the team in rushing with 78 yards on 21 carries and added a touchdown. Michael Pittman led the team in receiving yards with 90 yards on five catches while Jack Doyle led the Colts in receptions with seven receptions for 70 yards and a score. Defensively Darius Leonard led the team with 12 total tackles while Denicio Autry led the team with 1.5 sacks and an additional tackle for loss.
The story of the first half was field position. While the Colts were consistently starting with great field position the average field position for Buffalo was inside their own 10, which played a large part in why Buffalo struggled to score. The Colts were also able to dominate the time of possession in the first half as well, keeping Josh Allen and the Bills’ explosive offense off the field. However, at the end of the first half Frank Reich elected to go for it on the 4-yard line on 4th and goal but failed to reach the endzone. Buffalo was then able to get the quarterback run game working with a quarterback draw and read-option back-to-back which ended up in a Josh Allen touchdown run right before the half, giving the Bills a 14 to 10 lead.
The third quarter was fairly quiet for both teams with a 46-yard field goal by Buffalo being the only points of the third quarter. Indianapolis’ kicker Rodrigo Blankenship did miss a 33-yard chip shot as well. Both running games were ineffective throughout the third quarter. Things got much more interesting in the 4th quarter where the Colts were able to open up the running game and create some big plays. However, the Bills were able to respond with another field goal to push it to an 11-point game with eight minutes left in the 4th. Jack Doyle was a matchup problem on the final three drives for the Colts and it resulted in his only receiving touchdown of the game. However, the Colts were unable to take advantage of a 23-yard sack on the Bills final drive and did not convert on the Hail Mary.
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