On the first day of ‘Super Wild Card Weekend’, Josh Allen led the Buffalo Bills to a 27-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts and secured their first play-off victory in 25 years.
In a game that went down to the final throw, Josh Allen continued his All-Pro season as he compiled 324 passing yards, 54 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. His lone mistake came at the end of the game when a fumble gave the Colts an outsider’s chance.
Buffalo hung on and stopped the Colts ‘Hail Mary’ attempt on the final play – reversing the fortunes of last season’s Wild Card where the Bills gave up a 16-point lead to the Houston Texans. The difference between 12 months ago and this year was star wide receiver Steffon Diggs. Diggs finished the game with six catches for 128 yards and a touchdown.
Indy will be kicking themselves for coming up short after dominating the first half. Michael Pittman dropped a fourth-down attempt in the end zone at the tail end of the first half, keeping the score at 10-7. The Bills then drove the ball 91 yards in one minute and 30 seconds to take the lead and they stayed ahead for the rest of the game. The Bills await the results of Sunday’s games to see who they face next.
The Los Angeles Rams downed division rivals Seattle Seahawks 30-20 in the second game of Wild Card weekend.
In a crazy affair Jared Goff – despite having thumb surgery just two weeks ago – came into the game in the first quarter after his original replacement, John Wolford, exited the game in an ambulance after a hit by Jamal Adams. Wolford returned to the locker room after the game and was deemed to be okay.
LA sprinted out to a 20-10 lead at half and pulled away in the second thanks to a suffocating defence that only allowed 28 net yards on its first five possessions in the second half.
The main star for LA was Cam Akers. Seattle had no answers for him on defence. Akers had the second most scrimmage yards, 176, by a rookie in a single play-off game in the Super Bowl Era. The Rams must await the outcome of the only NFC matchup on Sunday as the Chicago Bears visit the New Orleans Saints.
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers survived the Taylor Heinicke show to topple the Washington Football Team 31-23.
Tom Brady threw a 36-yard touchdown to Antonio Brown to become the oldest player to throw a postseason touchdown, but he was not the star attraction. Just hours before kick-off, Washington announced that their quarterback Alex Smith was unable to play in the game due to an injury he suffered in week 17. Backup QB Taylor Heinicke, unknown to everyone, blew any and all expectations out of the water.
Heinicke, who had previously played in the XFL, completed 26-of-44 passes for 306 yards and a touchdown. His fearless dive from four yards out to the pylon set the internet ablaze and helped make this a close contest to the final minutes. However, the star power of the Bucs was enough to fend off the NFC East champions.
Tampa also await the outcome of the Bears/Saints game to see who they face in the divisional round.
By Charlie Parker
