While scoring Buffalo’s first touchdown of Sunday’s playoff win at Jacksonville, Bills quarterback Josh Allen got twisted up after he crossed the goal line. He seemed to injure his knee.
He was checked out on the sideline and didn’t miss a beat.
“It was more of a precautionary thing. Just got rolled up on,” Allen told reporters after the 27-24 win. “And they wanted to take a quick look. But we’re all good.”
Allen’s mindset is that he’s all good, even when he isn’t. That’s how he handled the foot injury he suffered against the Browns last month.
Coach Sean McDermott seemed to imply some level of concern, telling reporters as to Allen, “We’ve got to get him as healthy as we can . . . for next week.”
And so it makes sense to watch the injury report in the coming days. Not that it will keep Allen from playing in the divisional round, even if he shows up on one or more of the three daily disclosures with a new injury.
There’s another important factor at play. With the winner of Monday night’s Texans-Steelers game due to play next Sunday, the Bills will play the Broncos on Saturday if the Patriots beat the Chargers tonight, and the Bills will face the Texans-Steelers winner on Sunday if the Chargers win.
That extra day could make a big difference.
Jaguars Clips
The Buffalo Bills are moving on to the divisional round of the playoffs, and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ season is over.
The Bills beat the Jaguars 27-24 after a wild back-and-forth fourth quarter that continued a thrilling wild card weekend in the NFL.
The game had four fourth-quarter lead changes, tied for the most in the fourth quarter of any NFL playoff game, ever. In the end, however, Trevor Lawrence threw an interception with 54 seconds left and the Jaguars out of timeouts, and that let the Bills just kneel out the clock to win it.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran for the game-winning touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 1:04 remaining, following a remarkable nine-yard quarterback sneak he ran on the play before. Allen finished with 33 yards and two touchdowns rushing, and also completed 28 of 35 passes for 273 yards, with a touchdown and no interceptions.
Lawrence had his moments, completing 18 of 30 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns, but his two interceptions were killers.
Now Allen will lead the Bills into the next round, in pursuit of his first Super Bowl.
The Bills are back on top in a back-and-forth battle in Jacksonville.
Josh Allen hit Dalton Kincaid for a 15-yard touchdown pass that gave the Bills a 20-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
It’s been a great weekend of wild card playoff action, with every game having fourth-quarter lead changes. The Bills and Jaguars have already traded the lead twice in the fourth quarter today.
The Bills did have some bad news before the touchdown, as receiver Gabe Davis took a hard hit to his left leg and had to be helped off the field. Davis was carted to the locker room with a left knee injury. Davis suffered a season-ending left knee injury in Jacksonville last season, and it appeared that he may have done so again.
Now it’s time for Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars to take their shot at another fourth-quarter lead change.
Wild card weekend continues to be wild.
Every game so far this weekend has had at least one fourth-quarter lead change, with the latest coming when Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington caught a touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to give the Jaguars a 17-13 lead over the Bills.
Bills safety Jordan Poyer has been ruled out for the rest of the game with an injury, and the Jaguars have been picking on his replacement, rookie Jordan Hancock.
Now it’s time for Bills quarterback Josh Allen to show what he can do, as the Bills attempt a fourth-quarter comeback of their own.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is having a good game today in Jacksonville, but he’s taking a beating in the process.
Allen had already been checked and cleared for a concussion when he led the Bills on a 10-play, 92-yard drive that ended with Allen himself running for a two-yard touchdown in the second quarter. On that drive, Allen hit his throwing hand on a teammate’s helmet, and he appeared to injure his knee on the touchdown run.
But Allen went into the medical tent only briefly before he emerged looking ready to go.
Late in the second quarter, Allen is 11-for-12 for 110 yards, plus 12 yards and a touchdown running, as the Bills lead 10-7.
Jaguars backup running back Bhayshul Tuten is making a big impact today against the Bills.
Tuten saw his first action today on the Jaguars’ third possession, when the Jaguars gave him the ball on three straight plays, and he picked up 20, 14 and 13 yards on those three runs.
That set up the Jaguars deep in Bills territory, and Trevor Lawrence found Brian Thomas Jr. in the end zone for a touchdown that gave Jacksonville a 7-3 lead.
Buffalo kickoff returner Ray Davis fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Jacksonville’s Devin Lloyd recovered, and the momentum has shifted very much in the Jaguars’ direction.
Bills kicker Matt Prater is healthy.
Prater, who has been dealing with a quad injury for the last month, looked good in the first quarter today, making a 50-yard field goal to give the Bills a 3-0 lead.
That field goal was set up by Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence throwing an interception directly into the hands of Bills linebacker Shaq Thompson. It was a bad throw by Lawrence, who has been playing well of late.
On the play before Prater’s field goal, Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran the ball and was tackled hard, and he went into the medical tent afterward. He was cleared after a concussion check, however, and was soon out of the tent and on the bench, not needing any medical attention.
Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington also went to the locker room for a concussion evaluation and has not been cleared to return.
That situation bears monitoring, but for now the Bills are in good shape with an early lead.
Buffalo kicker Matt Prater has been dealing with a quadriceps injury, but the Bills are confident he can go today in Jacksonville.
Prater, who was listed as questionable, is active — and is the only active kicker for the Bills, who decided not to call up Mathew Wright from their practice squad.
The Bills’ inactives are LB Terrel Bernard, S Darnell Savage, RB Ty Johnson, CB Maxwell Hairston, OT Tylan Grabel, TE Keleki Latu and DT Larry Ogunjobi.
The Jaguars are mostly healthy heading into the playoffs, but offensive tackle Cole Van Lanen is inactive with a knee injury. The Jaguars’ other inactives are WR Dyami Brown, TE Hunter Long, DL Emmanuel Ogbah, DT Mason Smith and RB Deejay Dallas.
As of Thursday, when Simms and I taped the weekly picks podcast, the Bills were 1.5-point favorites for Sunday’s wild-card game at Jacksonville.
The line has moved by three points on DraftKings, with the Jaguars currently 1.5-point favorites.
The shift acknowledges the fact that the Jaguars are the more accomplished team this season, with the better record and higher seed. And it suggests that the sharps are showing up and betting for the Jaguars, ignoring the whole “smaller market” thing and acknowledging that the Jags are a legitimate contender.
They’re also at home, which is significant given the Bills’ experience with road playoff games. The Bills have lost eight straight postseason games away from Orchard Park. Their last playoff road win came in the 1992 AFC Championship.
Also, Bills quarterback Josh Allen is 0-4 on the road in the postseason. Three losses have come at Kansas City. The other happened at Houston, in a 2019 wild-card game.
On Sunday, Allen gets a chance to win a playoff game on the road in a postseason field that doesn’t include Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, or Lamar Jackson. Previously, the betting public narrowly believed Buffalo could pull it off. As of Saturday night, the sentiment has flipped.
The Bills won’t have wide receiver Joshua Palmer with them on Sunday in Jacksonville.
Palmer, who had previously been listed as questionable with an ankle injury, has been downgraded to out, the Bills announced on Saturday afternoon.
Palmer played in 12 games with eight starts during the regular season and had 22 catches for 303 yards.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen has not had a great group of wide receivers this season, and losing Palmer won’t help. Allen’s wide receivers on Sunday against the Jaguars will be Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Tyrell Shavers, Brandin Cooks and Gabe Davis.
