Initial thoughts from the Broncos’ 31-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday at Highmark Stadium:
Tough lessons. The Bills delivered Denver a clinic on how to win in the postseason.
They didn’t flinch after Denver threw an early punch. They didn’t make the big mistake. Their receivers made plays for quarterback Josh Allen when plays were there to be made. Maybe most important: They dominated the pace of the game.
Buffalo racked up 31 minutes of possession in the first three quarters alone. They had at least three first downs on each of their first five drives — two touchdowns, two field goals and a punt — before finally hitting the big play on Drive No. 6, a 55-yard touchdown to Curtis Samuel.
The Broncos didn’t back down, but they failed to execute in any of those areas at the same rate.
Denver had drops by Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin in key spots. Too many penalties. A missed field goal. A slow third-quarter start.
What’s going to sting the Broncos in this game isn’t the final margin. It’s the self-inflicted wounds.
Postseason stampede. Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady entered Sunday committed to running the football and went to work getting right after the Broncos’ vaunted front seven.
They rushed for 128 yards in the first half alone and got James Cook revved up from the opening snap. He carried 13 times for 78 and a touchdown in the first two quarters.
Allen used his legs in his usual, bedeviling way, too.
The Broncos finished the regular season second in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt allowed at 3.9, behind only Baltimore (3.8). Buffalo did not care.
Oregon trail. The Broncos tried and tried to get the ball down the field to Troy Franklin this season. Time and again, it failed. A befuddling trend given Nix and Franklin played two years together at Oregon before both getting drafted by the Broncos.
They finally hit it on their opening possession against Buffalo. Quite a time to make it happen. Nix put a perfect deep ball on Franklin for a 43-yard touchdown to open the scoring Sunday at Highmark Stadium. Not only did it get Denver on the board early and provide a powerful opening punch, it also turned out to be the first rookie-to-rookie touchdown pass in NFL postseason history. If only there had been more of them for the Broncos.
Bright future, big challenges. The Broncos made the playoffs as the No. 7 seed this year and did so well ahead of schedule in their rebuild.
Among other things, Sunday’s Wild Card round loss showed some of the areas where Denver needs to improve this offseason around Nix.
They need playmakers at tight end and running back. They need to get more athletic in the middle of their defense.
But for all of the regular-season success, life in the AFC looks like this for the next decade. The divisional round will feature Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and C.J. Stroud. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, either.
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