Vic Carucci: More mature, composed Josh Allen leads Bills to first playoff win since '95

It was, to the very end, a grind. It was as much, if not more, about survival than triumph.

A year ago, at Houston, the Buffalo Bills allowed themselves to come apart and the result was a sudden and crushing end to the postseason in the AFC wild-card round. On Saturday at Bills Stadium, they kept it together and escaped with a 27-24 wild-card victory against the Indianapolis Colts for their first playoff win since 1995.

What was the difference?

"I think just leadership, probably more than anything," coach Sean McDermott told reporters after his first playoff victory as a head coach after going 0-2 in the postseason since arriving in Buffalo in 2017. "Maturity, professionalism. Yeah, that's what comes to mind more than anything else."

And Josh Allen, more than any player on the team, carried the burden of having to show those traits after his failure to do so did the most to cause the Bills to blow a 16-point lead on the way to a 22-19 overtime loss against the Texans.

On Saturday, he showed the necessary poise that allowed the Bills to not let the game slip away as the Colts trimmed a 14-point deficit to three with about six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The defense came up big, with Micah Hyde's knockdown of a Philip Rivers Hail Mary pass as time expired and a huge goal-line stand in the first half, as did a pair of rookies: Gabe Davis, with clutch catches, and Tyler Bass, with clutch kicking.

But nowhere was the spotlight brighter than on Allen.

After failing to throw for a touchdown and completing only 52% of his throws in his playoff debut against Houston, he bounced back in a big way by mostly maintaining his dominant 2020 form. In allowing the Bills to snap a five-game wild-card losing streak that dated to 1996, Allen passed for 324 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, for a passer rating of 121.6. He also was the Bills' leading rusher with 54 yards and a TD on 11 carries.

Allen became the only NFL player ever to throw for 300-plus yards, have a 70-plus completion percentage and rush for 50-plus yards in a playoff game.

For Allen, who produced the Bills' fifth 300-plus-yard playoff passing performance all-time and first since Doug Flutie's 360 at Miami in 1999, it came down to maintaining awareness of the flow of the game.

"Understanding not to press, not to do too much. That was the only thing that was on my mind," Allen told reporters. "I was staying calm on the sideline. I understood there was still a lot of game left. I was just trying to reiterate that to my teammates, trying to be that leader by example, not trying to get too worked up over the small things."

The Bills will need more of the same next weekend at Bills Stadium, when they play their first divisional-round game since '95. The opponent depends on the outcome of Sunday night's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. If the Steelers win, they will face the Bills. If the Browns win, the Bills will face the winner of Sunday's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans.

The Colts' defense was stout in the first half, limiting opportunities for Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley. But Allen got them going in the second half, with Diggs catching a 35-yard touchdown pass to give the Bills a 24-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. Diggs finished with six receptions for 128 yards, Beasley had seven for 57 yards, and Davis had four for 85 yards.

Allen's effectiveness on his feet wasn't limited to the yards he gained. In the first quarter, with the Bills at the Colts' 3-yard line, Allen began running, but with defenders closing in on him in the backfield, he threw a pass while falling to his right and connected with Dawson Knox for a touchdown to make it 7-3.

The Colts answered with a 1-yard Jonathan Taylor touchdown run. But the game turned late in the first half when the Bills staged a goal-line stand, stopping the Colts on fourth down from the Buffalo 4, and proceeded to drive 96 yards to a five-yard Allen touchdown run. That put the Bills in front, 14-10. They never trailed the rest of the way, even if there were some anxious moments in the final minutes.

"I'm still kicking myself for a couple plays," Allen said.

Perhaps the biggest was when Allen, while being sacked for a 14-yard loss, fought to stay upright and wound up losing the ball. Offensive tackle Daryl Williams recovered, but the mistake pushed the Bills back to their 43. Rather than being in position to expand their lead and minimize the chances of the Colts potentially kicking a tying field goal or scoring a go-ahead touchdown, the Bills were forced to punt, giving Indianapolis the ball at its 14 with 2:30 left.

The Bills then had to sweat out the remaining time.

Allen relayed a conversation he had with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll after the game, as the Bills look to the next round.

"He said, 'This is playoff football. You've got to forget about it, you've got to focus on next week. It doesn't matter what we did. Back to 0-0. Whoever we're going to face, they're 0-0 coming into our house and we've got to prepare and get ready to go,' " Allen said. "Being in that situation we were in last year, taking that experience, understanding that these drives that we have are precious, but it's not the end of the world if we don't get things going right away.

"That's a heck of a football team we just played, make no mistake about it. They came prepared and hungry. They started off with a bang and it took us a second to adjust and catch up to what they were doing."

The Colts' talented defensive front managed to generate steady pressure on Allen, who was sacked twice and hit a half-dozen times. Running backs Zack Moss, before suffering what reportedly is feared to be a season-ending injury, and Devin Singletary each had 21 yards on a combined 10 carries.

"They did a good job of taking away the run, for one," Allen said. "A couple of third downs, third-and-shorts; we've got to find a way to convert on those. They're long, they're fast, side to side. Those linebackers are really good. They really squeeze on some windows extremely fast, get their hands up and make it tougher for the quarterback in the throwing lanes."

A year ago, the sort of challenges the Bills faced from the Colts could have easily caused them to unravel. As with the Texans' Deshaun Watson, the Colts had a quarterback delivering big plays of his own in Rivers, who threw for 309 yards and two TDs.

However, the meltdown didn't happen Saturday. Credit the greater maturity Allen and his teammates have gained in a year, and what they have seen repeatedly from Allen in an MVP-caliber season. "Same old Josh," guard Jon Feliciano said. 

"It was one of those things where there was no panic, but there was definitely a sense of urgency," center Mitch Morse added. "When it comes to situations like that, we understand what we need to do. I think, for us, when things don't go our way as a team or as an offense, it's tough. Emotions are amplified in the playoffs. I thought we had a lot of good stuff there and we learned a lot. Kudos to the guys for kind of bouncing back and putting together a good game."

Kudos, too, to an organizational mindset that starts at the top.

"We understand that whatever's going on in the game, we feel like we've got a chance," Allen said. "That's just based on how we play, how we trust one another, how we care for one another, how we practice. Just the foundation that's been set up by our front office and Terry and Kim (Pegula). It is a family like atmosphere here and we want to do everything in our power not to let each other down."