Taron Johnson lost his job this season.
You’re forgiven if you don’t remember that, but it happened. Back in Week 6 against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills benched their third-year nickel cornerback in favor of Cam Lewis.
Johnson, though, was called upon again after Lewis suffered a wrist injury. And, boy, has he answered. First was a 51-yard pick-six against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 14 on "Sunday Night Football." That gave the Bills a 9-7 lead and swung the momentum in what ended up being a 26-15 victory. As it was, that would have been one of the best plays of the season.
Until Saturday, that is.
With the Bills holding a 10-3 lead against the Baltimore Ravens in the third quarter of an AFC divisional-round playoff game at Bills Stadium, Johnson made one of the team’s biggest plays in the last quarter-century.
People are also reading…
The Ravens had third-and-goal from the Bills’ 9-yard line, threatening to tie the game. Quarterback Lamar Jackson dropped back and surveyed the field. With good protection, Jackson had time, then fired to his left, intended for one of this favorite targets, tight end Mark Andrews.
Johnson, though, was there. He made an interception in the end zone, but instead of taking a knee for a touchback, he took off. At first, it looked like a shaky decision. But then Johnson kept going … and never stopped. He raced all the way to the other end zone – with fellow cornerback Tre’Davious White serving as the lead blocker – a 101-yard pick-six that sent Bills Mafia into hysterics.
"They always tell us look at the vision of the quarterback," Johnson said in his postgame press conference. "He’s going to take you to where the ball is, especially in zone. That’s something we practice every day. Just execution really."
Johnson said that his initial thought was to take a knee in the end zone, but he saw open field ahead so he decided to try to return it.
"That’s exactly what I was thinking," he said. "I caught the ball and kind of looked down, but then I looked up and saw a whole bunch of green grass to that side of me.
About halfway through the return, he said the magnitude of the play started to come into focus. Johnson’s interception return for a touchdown tied Green Bay’s George Teague (Jan. 8, 1994 at Detroit) for the longest in postseason history. It’s also the Bills’ first postseason defensive touchdown since Jeff Burris had a 38-yard pick-six on Dec. 28, 1996, against Jacksonville.
“I tell Taron he’s the best nickel in the league and I believe that in my heart," safety Jordan Poyer said. "That play changed the game. It gave us the momentum and the confidence."
"We just ate off of that play," added left tackle Dion Dawkins.
Quarterback Josh Allen said Johnson's play was "franchise-altering."
“Taron Johnson’s play just changed the game. Unbelievable," he said. "That will be remembered for a really long time.”
Indeed it will. It gave the Bills the breathing room they needed in what ended up being a 17-3 win. With it, the Bills have returned to the AFC championship game for the first time since 1994, when they beat the Kansas City Chiefs to make their fourth straight Super Bowl appearance.
There’s a chance of a rematch. If the Chiefs beat the Browns on Sunday, the Bills will head to Kansas City. If Cleveland wins, the Browns come to Buffalo at 6:40 p.m. next Sunday for a spot in the Super Bowl.
"We’re excited," Johnson said. "It’s not done yet. We’re not done yet. We’re trying to get to the big show."
2. Jackson left the game with a concussion. The reigning NFL MVP was hurt on the final play of the third quarter. An errant snap by Patrick Mekari sent Jackson scrambling to recover the ball, which he did at the Ravens’ 8-yard line. Under heavy pressure, Jackson threw the ball away, resulting in an intentional grounding. On the play, he was hit by Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and defensive end Trent Murphy, with his head slamming off the turf. Jackson quickly went to the Ravens’ locker room, and it was announced a short time later that he was being placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol and would not return to the game. The Ravens then turned to Tyler Huntley, who was called up from the practice squad. "Anytime he goes down, you know he's feeling something," Andrews told reporters after the game.
3. Murphy returned to the lineup. The veteran defensive end has only been active once since the bye in Week 11 and that came in a relatively meaningless Week 17 game. Murphy, however, was active because defensive end Darryl Johnson Jr. was out. Johnson, a second-year veteran, did not practice all week because of a knee injury suffered against Indianapolis in the wild-card round.
Murphy, who has the fifth-highest salary-cap hit on the team, has drawn praise from the coaching staff for how he’s handled being inactive on a weekly basis.
“It’s extremely difficult when you’ve got some skins on the wall and you’ve had success in our league, but Trent has been terrific throughout this whole process,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said last month. “He knows how this business works. He knows that in a snap of a finger he could … be having to go out and help us win games. So, he’s staying on the ready, preparing like he always has, like a pro. But his attitude has always been great.”
Murphy finished with one tackle, which went for a 4-yard loss.
4. Stefon Diggs had another monster game. The Bills’ No. 1 receiver finished with eight catches for 106 yards and one touchdown. In doing so, he joined James Lofton as the only Bills to ever have back-to-back 100-yard receiving games in the same postseason. Diggs also became the first Bills player to have touchdown catches in back-to-back games since Thurman Thomas did it in 1996, and is the first player in the NFL to have at least 100 yards and a touchdown in two consecutive playoff games since Demaryius Thomas did it in 2014. Allen had 206 yards passing, with 106 going to Diggs.
5. A penalty sealed things. Facing a fourth-and-1 from their own 19-yard line, the Bills were set to punt the ball away at the 2-minute warning, content to let their defense close things out against a backup quarterback. As it turned out, though, that wouldn’t be necessary. Ravens linebacker Malik Harrison crashed into Bills punter Corey Bojorquez, drawing a flag for running into the kicker and giving the Bills a first down. That allowed Allen to run the clock out with three kneeldowns.
6. Gabriel Davis suffered an ankle injury. The Bills’ rookie wide receiver came out briefly in the first quarter after failing to haul in a touchdown reception on a third-down play. The Bills announced that Davis was questionable to return, but he was back in the game before the quarter ended. Davis, however, finished the game without a catch on four targets.
7. The 6,700 in attendance got loud. For the second straight game, the team was allowed to have a limited number of fans in the stands, and for the second straight game, those fans made themselves heard. The Ravens started to go backward in the second quarter, starting when defensive end Jerry Hughes sacked quarterback Lamar Jackson for a 9-yard loss on first down. A holding penalty drawn by Bills defensive tackle Vernon Butler Jr. pushed the Ravens back to a second and 24 from their own 6-yard line. At that point, the crowd was at its full-throated loudest, resulting in back-to-back false start penalties by the Ravens.
8. T.J. Yeldon got the call. With rookie running back Zack Moss lost for the rest of the season because of an ankle injury suffered last week against Indianapolis, Yeldon was active for just the fourth game this season.
With Yeldon active, the Bills elected not to use rookie undrafted free agent Antonio Williams, who was called up from the practice squad Saturday. Yeldon’s first carry didn’t come until the fourth quarter. He finished the game with two carries for 4 yards.
9. The rest of the Bills’ inactive players were: Rookie quarterback Jake Fromm, linebacker Tyrel Dodson, offensive lineman Jordan Devey and veteran tight end Tyler Kroft. Rookie cornerback Dane Jackson was also inactive. Like Williams, he was promoted from the practice squad Friday.
10. Talk is heating up of the Bills possibly losing both their coordinators. According to a report before Saturday’s game from NFL Network, the Houston Texans will interview Frazier for their head coaching vacancy Sunday. Frazier, 61, is a serious candidate for the job, according to the report. He previously served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, leading them to the playoffs in 2012.
Additionally, a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has emerged as perhaps the favorite for the head-coaching job with Los Angeles Chargers. Daboll, who interviewed with Los Angeles last week, is one of nine candidates to have done so. According to Schefter, the Chargers are “plotting the next steps in their process.”
Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco is a 1991 graduate of St. Francis High School. Daboll was two years behind, graduating from the school in Athol Springs in 1993.
