Buffalo Bill may be buried in Colorado, but the Buffalo Bills buried the Broncos in Buffalo. It was a fast, fun start when the Broncos opened with a stunning drive for the game’s first touchdown. A 43-yard touchdown pass into the end zone from Bo Nix to fellow schoolmate Troy Franklin silenced the exuberant Buffalo crowd. And for a moment, there was a glimpse into what it would feel like for a Broncos team to dominate in the playoffs once again. But that’s as far as the offense would go, as the Bills posted 31 unanswered points in the 31-7 rout of the young Denver Broncos.

The Broncos’ defense also stood firm to open the game, holding the Bills to a field goal on their opening drive for the 7-3 first-quarter score. The dominant Broncos defensive front and the dominant Bills offensive line canceled each other out in the first half. Both quarterbacks took two sacks in the game. With a chance to tie the score on the first half’s final play, a Will Lutz field goal attempt hit the right upright and bounced out from 50 yards, sending both teams to the locker room with a 10-7 Bills lead.

After scoring just 2:36 into the game, the Broncos would never score again for the remainder of the day. The time of possession was just as lopsided as the score. Even though each team had the ball for eight possessions, the Bills had the ball for a total of 41:43 compared to the Broncos 18:17.

A punishing rushing attack by the Bills ate up much of the clock in the game for Buffalo.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed in the finish to the season,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said after the game. “We tip our hats to Buffalo. The things we felt we needed to do on the road to win, we didn’t do nearly well enough. Time of possession was heavily tilted in their favor. We struggled consistently whether it was third downs or running the football. We never really had an answer to stop their running game.”

As has been the case for the entire season for the Broncos, the rushing game was absent. Yet again, Bo Nix was the Broncos’ leading rusher in the game with 43 yards on 4-carries. The Broncos did not have a running back to rush for a hundred yards the entire season. Javonte Williams had seven carries for 29 yards, and Jaleel McLaughlin ran for a negative two yards on two carries.

On the contrary, the Bills running game got their momentum going early by running back James Cook, who finished with two touchdowns. By halftime, Cook had registered 78 yards and a touchdown, and Josh Allen added another 35 yards on the ground. The Bills would finish with 211 rushing yards compared to the Bronco’s 79 yards in the game.

All three phases of the game failed the Broncos in the season’s final game. The special teams Marvin Mims and Wil Lutz led were far from special. Lutz had one field goal attempt in the game, which hit the upright. Marvin Mims, whose spectacular plays helped get the Broncos into the playoffs, had one punt return for zero yards to go with two receptions for 15 yards in the game.

The game’s highlight was the first possession, on the Nix-to-Franklin connection for the opening score. Both rookies from Oregon became the first rookie combination to score a touchdown in NFL playoff history. Nix talked about the game after that play.

“We just didn’t have the ball a whole lot after that,” Nix said. “It was kind of a strange game. We got in a good rhythm early. Got the ball immediately, went down and scored and then felt like the ball was tough to get the rest of the time.”

With the season over, the Broncos were one of six teams eliminated in Super Wildcard Weekend. Also, from the AFC West, the Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Houston Texans. Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers finished with an identical record as the Broncos lost to the Baltimore Ravens. The remaining team from the AFC West is the two-time, defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. They will take on the Houston Texans on Saturday at 2:30 PM MT.

(See the Broncos - Bills Playoff Photo Gallery at www.SportsReportNet.com)

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