For the first time since 1995, the Buffalo Bills are AFC East division champions.
A dominant showing from the Bills in a 48-19 victory over the Broncos on Saturday in Denver clinched the franchise’s first division title in a quarter-century, with two games still remaining on the 2020 regular season schedule.
The game was back-and-forth in the first half, despite the Bills being noticeably the better team. A muffed punt by Andre Roberts in the first half gave Denver a chance to get back in the game and hang with the Bills the whole way. However, Buffalo did a good job bouncing back from, maybe, the only negative play in the entire afternoon, and completely put Denver away in the second half.
Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and the Bills offense put on an absolute show, scoring the most points in a game this season and the most by the Bills in any game since 2010. The defense contributed to the scoring as well, registering a touchdown for a second-consecutive week.
Even the run game, with Zack Moss and Devin Singletary, despite not being used most of the afternoon, did a nice job in the fourth quarter to keep the clock moving and keep the ball in Buffalo’s possession. Singletary also put a nice bow on the game with a 51-yard dagger of a touchdown run in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, just one play after Melvin Gordon III scored for Denver to cut the score to 41-19.
The Broncos were a bit depleted in the secondary, missing five cornerbacks, which the Bills took advantage of. Denver’s pass rush and front-four group is still among the best in the NFL, but the Bills did a great job against that unit, allowing Allen to be sacked just once.
Saturday’s win over Denver will be remembered for a long time, considering the significance of the victory for Buffalo. However, I don’t think this will be the last time that Bills fans see a game like this, and have this much fun watching it.
The offense continues to evolve. The defense keeps getting closer to its old form as the weeks have gone by.
It’s official - if the division title isn’t proof already, the Bills are good and they’re here to stay for a while.
Here are three quick observations from the division-clinching victory over the Broncos on Saturday:
1.) Allen and Diggs are both on the path to superstardom
Allen and Diggs have been incredible in 2020, there’s no other way to say it. The addition of Diggs this past offseason and the jump Allen has made in his third year have brought the Bills offense into a new era, one that features a lot points.
One would be hard-pressed to find a quarterback-wide receiver duo that has as much chemistry in their first year together as Allen and Diggs do. With the connection has also come success, and a lot of it.
Both Allen and Diggs are having historic seasons at their respective positions in relation to the franchise’s history.
Diggs’ first catch of the game on Saturday was his 101st of the season, breaking the Bills’ single-season record previously held by Eric Moulds.
Allen threw his 30th touchdown pass of the year on Saturday, becoming only the second Bills quarterback to do that in a season. Allen also became the second quarterback in team history to throw for 4,000 yards in a season; and his 359 passing yards marked the seventh time he’s thrown for over 300 yards this season, tying a franchise record.
Diggs is arguably on the best run of his career right now. After finishing with a game-high 11 catches for 147 yards on Saturday, Diggs has recorded double-digit catches in each of the last three games, something he’s never done previously during his time in the NFL.
It’s not only Diggs, though.
The entire Buffalo receiving corps has been elevated by Allen’s evolution and the arrival of Diggs from the Minnesota Vikings via trade. Jake Kumerow became the 13th Bills player to catch a touchdown pass this season with his 22-yard grab in the second quarter, tying an NFL record.
Cole Beasley recorded eight catches on Saturday for 112 yards, good enough for his fifth 100-plus receiving yards game this season. In his second season with the Bills, Beasley now sits at 950 receiving yards on the year, just 50 away from the first 1,000-yard season of his nine-year career.
Denver’s defense was missing five cornerbacks, so yes, the Bills should’ve had a good passing performance on Saturday. But, this is what good teams do, we say it all the time, they bury the teams they’re expected to bury.
This offense has shown throughout the season that it can put up points on any team, and that opponents now need to worry about being able to keep up with the high-scoring Bills.
2.) The Bills defense keeps trending upwards
I’m not going to lie to you, this was my second takeaway from last week’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers as well. But, from where this defense was at the beginning of the season and to see where it is now, it’s relieving but also exciting.
Ever since coming back from the bye week, the Bills defense has seemed to take bigger and bigger steps closer to returning to its dominant form from prior seasons. For the second consecutive week, the Bills defense forced a turnover; something the group didn’t do much of earlier in the season.
In the third quarter, cornerback Tre’Davious White knocked the ball out of Broncos quarterback Drew Lock’s hands, leading to defensive end Jerry Hughes’ scoop-and-score touchdown return. While the secondary didn’t record an interception this week, White and fellow corner Levi Wallace both made excellent pass break-ups during the game on third downs to force Denver to punt.
Denver punted the ball six times on Saturday, with four coming after three-and-out drives. The Bills also did a good job on Denver’s young quarterback, who threw a career-high four touchdowns last week against the Carolina Panthers. Lock completed just 20 passes on 32 attempts for 132 yards and a touchdown against Buffalo, totaling just 33 passing yards in the entire second half.
The only negative for the Buffalo defense had to deal with a short field following Andre Roberts’ muffed punt. The Broncos scored their first touchdown of the game on that drive, which started just 35 yards from the end zone in Buffalo's end of the field.
Overall, it was another solid performance from a group that has only gotten better as the season’s gone on, which is promising to see. Not every team the Bills face from here on out will have the same offense as Denver, though; in fact, most, if not all, will be better.
Seeing the defense come into its true and best form down the stretch should bode well for the postseason.
3.) How cool is this? The Bills are division champions!
Okay, this isn’t really a takeaway, but it’s still an observation.
As a 24-year-old, this is totally new, but so, so cool. I wasn’t alive in 1995 to see the Bills’ last division title. My whole life as a Bills fan has been the drought, and then these last few years of “the process.”
I’m glad to have been a part of this process, even if it’s taken much longer than the one Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane started four years ago when they arrived in Buffalo.
There’s something about rooting for a team that doesn’t win, that doesn’t have that sustained success for such a long time, that when the team does start to win and find that success, it makes it that much more special.
Myself, and an entire generation of Bills fans have waited our entire lives to see this happen. The generations that came before us have had to wait for over two decades to get back to the glory they once felt in the 1990s and years prior. I know that this 48-19 win in Denver means a lot more to a lot of people than just a division title and win No. 11 on the season.
Saturday’s game didn’t just clinch the AFC East for the Bills. It was also another example of the Bills showing that they’re a team that’s ready to compete and be one of the premier organizations in the NFL for years to come.
All year, this group has had chances to let ghosts of former Bills teams haunt them like in previous seasons, and it hasn’t happened. Every somewhat of a low point the Bills have hit this season they’ve bounced right back from, and even gotten better as a result. More evidence that they’ve become accustomed to doing what good franchises do at the end of the day, and that included pilling up wins.
It’s a little frightening to admit now, but I have real expectations for this team. I didn’t have expectations heading into the Wild Card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017. I had little expectations prior to the playoff game against the Houston Texans last season.
This year though, this team looks to be for real. The Bills have hung with the good teams, beaten up on the bad ones, and have put together a campaign that nobody from my generation, or younger, has ever seen.
Again, I’m a beginner still when it comes to watching a winning football team, and I don’t want to get too ahead of myself and say it’s “Super Bowl or bust” for the Bills this season, but this just feels like a special group.
No matter how far the Bills get in the playoffs this year, this group has already shown this season its taken a step forward as a franchise.
The Bills are a consistent winner. They’re 2020 AFC East champions. Buffalo will host a playoff game this postseason! And I believe postseason wins are what’s next to come.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just riding the high right now of this incredible night. Bills fans, let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 25 years to feel joy like this. After this game, with how this team looks right now, my gut is telling me that we won’t have to.