Entering Sunday, the Buffalo Bills had not won a road playoff game since 1992, and Josh Allen had never led a game-winning drive in the postseason.
Both of those streaks are now over.
The Bills scored an upset victory Sunday, knocking off the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-24 in a back-and-forth bout in Florida. Allen led a nine-play, 66-yard drive to put Buffalo ahead for good with 1 minute and 4 seconds left in the game.
On the Jaguars’ following possession, Trevor Lawrence threw an interception on the drive’s first play, ending any hopes of a comeback.
Allen was the story — and was sensational — in a game Buffalo entered as a slight underdog. In addition to never leading a game-winning drive in a playoff game, Allen walked onto the field Sunday 0-4 on the road in his postseason career.
And in the first half, Allen took a beating from the physical Jacksonville defense. He needed to be checked for a concussion after one play, seemingly hurt his knee after a touchdown run, and also jammed his finger on a teammate’s helmet for good measure.
None of it ultimately mattered. Allen finished the game 28 of 35 for 273 yards and one touchdown, surrendering only one sack. He also ran the ball 11 times for 33 yards and two scores, including the game-winner.
“Feels good,” an understated Allen told reporters after the game. “Same time, just means we get another game.”
Allen’s stellar effort was summed up in one play on the Bills’ go-ahead drive. On a first and 10 near midfield, Allen was staring down a free rusher when he uncorked a perfect pass to Brandin Cooks down the field, even as he absorbed a massive hit. The 36-yard completion put Buffalo in scoring position, and Allen found the end zone five plays later.
Allen outdueled Lawrence, who finished the regular season as one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league. Lawrence led Jacksonville to nine straight wins before Sunday, and in his last six games had 19 total touchdowns and only one interception.
Buffalo’s defense, however, limited Lawrence to only 207 yards and also intercepted him twice. The turnovers played a key role, as the Bills won despite averaging fewer yards per play (5.5 to 6.6), rushing for fewer yards (79 to 154) and committing more penalties (seven to two).
Conversely, Allen and the offense capitalized on their opportunities. Allen converted multiple fourth-down attempts via quarterback sneak, and led scoring drives after Lawrence’s first interception as well as a Jaguars turnover on downs in the second quarter.
While Allen has almost always been great in the postseason, he has struggled to get over the hump in large part due to other great quarterbacks in the conference.
Allen has never made the Super Bowl despite leading his team to the playoffs in each of the last six seasons before this one. In the last five years, Allen has only lost postseason games when the opposing quarterback was Patrick Mahomes (four times) or Joe Burrow (once). The last three losses to Mahomes also came by a total of only 12 points.
In his playoff career before Sunday, Allen led all quarterbacks with at least 10 starts in touchdown-to-interception ratio, total yards per game and total touchdowns per game. As great as he’s been, Buffalo has been unable to break through, echoing the team’s run of four straight Super Bowl losses in the early 1990s.
On Sunday, Allen showed he could will his team to victory even with a middling defense, a rushing attack not at its best, a pedestrian receiving corps and a hot signal caller on the other side. With Mahomes, Burrow and even Lamar Jackson all watching this postseason from home, this could be the year Allen’s greatness is finally the deciding factor for Buffalo.