Buffalo Bills defense, Stefon Diggs lead Buffalo to AFC title game (Observations)

Orchard Park, N.Y. — The game was billed as a showdown between elite young quarterbacks, but it was the Buffalo Bills defense that put on a showcase performance to vault the franchise into its first AFC championship game since 1994.

The Bills and Ravens played to a 3-3 tie through 30 minutes, but the Bills’ offense came alive to start the third quarter. The defense clamped the door shut on the Ravens when cornerback Taron Johnson scored on a pick-six that went for 101 yards on the next series.

Buffalo advances to the next round after a 17-3 victory on Saturday night at Bills Stadium. The Bills will play the winner of Sunday’s AFC divisional game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cleveland Browns.

Here are five instant observations from the Bills’ landmark win.

Bills defense continues to have Lamar Jackson’s number

Last season the Bills held Jackson to just 40 yards on 11 carries in a Week 14 regular season game. This time around Jackson managed just 34 yards on nine carries one week after he racked up 136 yards on the ground, including a 48-yard touchdown run. The defensive plan was the same as last season: stay in your rush lanes on the defensive line and try and contain Jackson as much as possible.

Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes was outstanding. Hughes has two sacks and two tackles for a loss to lead the defensive onslaught against Jackson. Trent Murphy had been a healthy scratch for weeks but was activated with Darryl Johnson unable to go with a knee injury. Murphy had one key play where he tracked down Jackson as he tried to evade the pocket and get out for a run.

The Bills really kept Jackson from getting any momentum going with his legs. Jackson left the game after the last play of the third quarter on a hit delivered by Murphy and middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Jackson was running back toward his own goal line and tried to throw it away but was called intentional grounding. Jackson ran to the locker room and didn’t return because he was entered into the league’s concussion protocol. The Bills played primarily nickel package on defense all season with cornerback Taron Johnson on the field. They went to a base 4-3 look with AJ Klein as the third linebacker in this game and it worked to stop Jackson.

Taron Johnson with more heroics

Before Jackson went out of the game, he had the Ravens on the doorstep of getting Baltimore back in it down seven points. On a third and 9 in the red zone, Jackson went back to pass and threw it over the middle of the field near the goal line. Two Buffalo defenders were in the area and Johnson located it, intercepted it and ran it back 101 yards to give the Bills a two-score lead. Tre’Davious White got out and blocked Jackson to help facilitate the run back. Johnson had a 51-yard pick-six against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football in Week 14. The interception runback tied an NFL postseason record.

When things aren’t working, go to Diggs

All season Bills quarterback Josh Allen has talked about his relationship with Stefon Diggs. He tells his All Pro receiver to get open and he’ll get him the ball. The Bills offense couldn’t sustain any drives in the first half and were just 1-for-6 on third down. The Ravens weren’t even putting a lot of pressure on Allen because of his ability to beat the blitz all season. They missed on a few deep shots in the first half and Allen looked determined to get it to Diggs in the third quarter. He caught a 20-yard pass on second and 16 and then a 3-yard touchdown pass on a short screen near the goal line. Diggs had the full attention of Baltimore’s elite cornerback trio of Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, and Jimmy Smith. He was matched up with all three at different points in the game and wound up making plays to win the game. He finished with eight catches for 106 yards to lead all receivers in the game. Diggs and James Lofton are the only two receivers in Bills history to go over 100 yards in back-to-back playoff games.

Josh Allen, Brian Daboll and the run game

Allen was a bit erratic in the first half as he was dealing with the wind and a Baltimore defense that changed things up and played mostly zone coverage. The man-heavy defense of Don “Wink” Martindale wasn’t pressuring as much as to try and confuse Allen. The Bills missed on a few deep plays but they also decided not to run the ball in the first half. Devin Singletary had just one carry for three yards in the first half and the Bills were trying to attack solely through the air. That changed in the second half when they started to get their second-year back involved. He finished with just seven carries for 25 yards but there were some important runs in there that helped get the chains moving on what wound up as the game-winning drive. Daboll has been outstanding this season but it was defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier whose stock shot through the roof after his defense’s performance. Frazier has a head coaching interview with the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Game Summary

Score: Bills 17, Ravens 3

Total net yards Bills: 220

Total net yards Ravens: 340

Team passing Bills: 188 yards

Team passing Ravens: 190 yards

Team rushing Bills: 32 yards

Team rushing Ravens: 150 yards

Penalties: Bills 2 for 11 yards | Ravens 8 for 59 yards

Time of Possession: Bills 23:51 | Ravens 35:33

Box Score

Up next: AFC Conference Championship, opponent and game time to be determined. CBS postseason NFL bracket here.

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