🏈 Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos Preview and Prediction - 1/12/25 👀
Prairie roaming giants meet in Bills country for the first time in the playoffs since the 1992 AFC Championship game
The presumptive MVP and the presumptive ROTY runner-up meet in upstate New York on Sunday in what should an entertaining AFC clash. These two teams last met in the playoffs in the 1992 AFC Championship game where the Bills eked out a 10-7 victory to move on to the Super Bowl.
It is the Josh Allen’s world and we are all just living in it. The presumptive MVP (although we don’t necessarily believe that is right) got engaged, has been putting on a show every week, and has the Bills at home in the playoffs yet again. The Bills roll into this one at 13-4 after having dropped their season finale to a tanking Patriots team in a game where both teams rested their starters. This may have been a masterclass in strategy on the Bills part, as the Pats ended up costing themselves the #1 draft pick in the process. Even with a losing taste in their mouth, the Bills enter the playoffs as a super bowl contender with an elite offense and a defense that does enough to keep other teams at a distance while Josh Allens barrels his way down the field. The emergence of James Cook as a high-end running back only adds to the problems that opposing defenses have to scheme for. Josh Allen’s Bills are 4-1 in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, and enter this year full of confidence.
Broncos fans are on top of the world right now as their team has finally turned things around and seemed set up for the future with a head coach and QB combination that could last them a decade if everything goes as planned. Bo Nix entered this season as an afterthought in the rookie QB world, but has emerged a legitimate ROTY contender with his exciting, albeit dangerous at times, style of play. After an 0-2 start where Bo Nix looked erratic, the Broncos went 10-5 the rest of the way to snag the final playoff spot in the AFC, a dream result for a team that has been in the doldrums since the short-lived Peyton Manning era. In addition to their rookie sensation, the Broncos are led by their elite defense, which ranks second in both passing and rushing yards per attempt allowed. Their last time out, in a win or go home game at home against their division rival Chiefs, the Broncos blanked the Chief’s backups 38-0 in impressive fashion. In the past 3 games, Bo Nix has 9 passing TDs and just 1 interception.
Normally we would have a couple paragraphs here to talk about these two team’s injuries, but both of these squads are shockingly healthy, to the point where we don’t even really need to mention any injuries at all! Hoorah!
Weather is always a concern, or at least a factor, in Buffalo, but it should be relatively tame for this one. The temperature should hover around 30 degrees with a slight wind and little to no snow.
The Owl predicts:
Buffalo 31 Denver 20
Josh Allen and Sean McDermott are 4-1 in the Wild Card round together, and we see no reason why this matchup would cause them significant problems as the Bills seem destined to meet Kansas City in an epic pre-Super Bowl matchup yet again. The Denver defense is daunting, but Josh Allen breaks down all trends with his ability to improvise, and we expect that to happen often here. Sean Payton will have some tricks up his sleeve and Denver has enough interesting pieces to make this a game, but Buffalo will be too much for them in the end, and there should be some fireworks in this one.
Consensus odds currently:
Buffalo -8.5 O/U 48