Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The stage is set for the Buffalo Bills, as they get set to begin a hopeful run to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans this February.
It all starts next weekend in the AFC Wild Card Round with a matchup against the Denver Broncos at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. The game is set for a 1 p.m. EST kickoff on Sunday, Jan. 12.
The Bills went into Sunday afternoon's tilt with the New England Patriots knowing their positioning in the AFC Playoff picture, after securing the No. 2 seed in the conference the week prior against the New York Jets.
All that needed to be determined on Sunday was who the Bills would face in the Wild Card Round as the 7-seed in the AFC.
Heading into the weekend, it came down to three teams for the final playoff spot in the conference: Broncos, Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals.
All the Broncos needed was a win or tie over the Kansas City Chiefs' backups in Denver, while the Dolphins needed a win over the Jets and a Broncos loss. Meanwhile, the Bengals needed both the Broncos and Dolphins to lose, as well as a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.
Despite the Bengals putting some pressure on the Broncos with a win over the Steelers, Denver took care of business handily on Sunday, dominating the Chiefs' backups in a 38-0 walloping at Empower Field at Mile High. The win also eliminated the Bengals and Dolphins from playoff contention.
This will be the second time the Bills and Broncos will meet in the playoffs, with the only other time coming during the 1991 season. That matchup came in the AFC Championship Game in Orchard Park, as the Bills managed to punch their ticket to a second-straight Super Bowl with a 10-7 win over the Broncos.
The Broncos enter the AFC Wild Card Round matchup after finishing the 2024 season at 10-7 under the leadership of head coach Sean Payton and rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
After finishing 8-9 in 2023, the Broncos moved on from veteran quarterback Russell Wilson and elected to draft Nix with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft out of the University of Oregon.
Despite a sluggish start to his rookie season in Denver, the 24-year-old ended up starting all 17 games as a rookie, completing 65.2% of his pass attempts for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.
Overall, the Broncos offense has shown flashes of success throughout the season, and really started to pick up steam towards the end of the regular season. Despite finishing 22nd overall this season in both passing yards and total yards per-game, Denver ended up being the 10th highest-scoring offense.
Defensively, the Broncos are near the Bills, in terms of total yards per-game. Denver averages 330.8 yards per-game (15th) on the defensive side of the ball, while Buffalo averages 341.5 yards per-game (18th). Also like the Bills, the Broncos are a "bend, but don't break" defense, averaging just 19.4 points per-game, which is the fifth-best rate in the league. Buffalo averaged 21.6 points per-game this season on defense, which ranked 12th overall in the league.
The most recent matchup between the Bills and Broncos came last season in a "Monday Night Football" showdown in Orchard Park. While it was an uglier affair, the Broncos ended up earning a 24-22 victory at Highmark Stadium thanks to a last-second field goal from kicker Wil Lutz, after the Bills were flagged for a 12 men on the field penalty.
Related
Here is a complete look at the Super Wild Card Weekend schedule in the NFL:
Complete coverage of Sunday's AFC Wild Card Round matchup between the Bills and Broncos begins at 7 a.m. EST on WGR. You can hear all the play-by-play action beginning at 1 p.m. EST with Chris Brown, Eric Wood and Sal Capaccio on the call.