The Buffalo Bills traveled south to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in a Wild Card playoff game for the second time in head coach Sean McDermott’s tenure. Unlike the last time, however, the Bills prevailed,
winning 27-24 in a hard-fought contest that featured plenty of back-and-forth moments and a wild fourth quarter.
Buffalo took the lead in the first quarter, gave that lead back, then took the lead and held it through the third quarter. After that, there were four lead changes in the final period, with the final lead change being the one that put the Bills on top.
It wasn’t a perfect afternoon, but it was a victorious one for a battle-tested Buffalo team that snapped an eight-game win streak for the upstart Jaguars. Our five players to watch all played a big role in the game, though some played a bigger role than others.
Here’s how our five Bills to watch performed this week against Jacksonville.
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QB Josh Allen
Man alive. Deep into the second quarter, I texted a friend of mine — who was very pleased that Allen scored the first touchdown of the game for Buffalo on the ground — and said that Allen was taking a beating in this one. Well, that’s not exactly what I wrote him, but I digress. Truly, Allen was beaten and battered from the opening whistle. Jacksonville played physically and through the whistle, and they were trying to make sure that Buffalo felt their presence after every play.
Allen just refused to blink.
The reigning NFL MVP completed 80% of his passes on the day, finding open checkdowns time and again against a defense that was all too willing to give him four- and five-yard gains. Then, when it mattered most, Allen was able to find openings downfield.
On the Bills’ first touchdown drive, it was wide receiver Keon Coleman streaking open down the sideline for a 36-yard gain. On the first of their go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter, it was tight end Dalton Kincaid running a slot wheel for a 15-yard touchdown. On that same drive, Allen hit tight end Dawson Knox for a 24-yard gain to convert a 3rd & 4.
Finally, on Buffalo’s game-winning drive, Allen found wide receiver Brandin Cooks for a 36-yard gain to set up the game-winning touchdown. Allen had linebacker Devin Lloyd right in his face, yet he was able to loft a perfect strike to a wide-open Cooks downfield.
It should have been Cooks’ second big gain of the game, but officials inexplicably overturned a catch attempt of his inside of two minutes in the first half. No matter. While the Bills didn’t score on that first-half drive, they were able to score when it mattered most, as Allen led his first career fourth-quarter comeback in a postseason game.
Allen scored two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon, and both were impressive. The first one was a two-yard rush where he had his knee awkwardly twisted after crossing the goal line. The second came after a Herculean effort in the fourth quarter. On 4th & Inches, Allen gained 10 yards on a tush-push — just an absurd play where he drove through the Jacksonville defense with some help from right guard O’Cyrus Torrence. Allen plunged into the end zone on the next play to give the Bills a lead that they would not relinquish.
Allen completed 28-of-35 passes for 273 yards and one touchdown. He ran 11 times for 33 yards and two more scores. He did not commit a turnover. If Allen plays clean football, the Bills are very hard to stop. He took exactly what the Jaguars’ defense gave him, and he made the most of every opportunity.
RB James Cook III
It was a frustrating day for the NFL’s leading rusher. He had a few longer gains, topping out at an 11-yard rush during Buffalo’s first scoring drive in the second quarter. However, Jacksonville’s defense clearly intended to shut Cook down, and they were successful in that endeavor.
Cook carried 15 times for just 46 yards, averaging only 3.1 yards per rush after averaging 5.2 yards per carry during the regular season. Jacksonville allowed just 85.6 rushing yards per game on the ground this season, and Buffalo totaled only 79 rushing yards between Allen and Cook. With running back Ty Johnson out thanks to an ankle injury, neither running backs Ray Davis nor Frank Gore Jr. received a carry, though Gore did record his first career statistic with a six-yard reception.
The Jags’ run defense presented a unique challenge for the Bills, and while Cook was unable to rip off big yardage or dominate the game the way he has for most of the season, he also avoided negative plays, which kept the Bills somewhat close to copacetic even when his runs weren’t as successful as they’d been in 2025. Along with those 46 rushing yards, Cook saw three targets in the passing game, catching two of them for five yards.
TE Dalton Kincaid
For much of the game, I was wondering why the Bills weren’t throwing the ball to their top tight end. Kincaid saw just two first-half targets, and he caught one pass to gain six yards. However, when the Bills needed him most, they went to Kincaid.
On 3rd & 4 when they were trailing 20-17 in the fourth quarter, Allen hit Kincaid for a seven-yard gain to convert the first down. Then, after converting a fourth-down play via the Shnow Plow, the Bills dialed up a fake screen/slot wheel call. The Jaguars’ defensive secondary all bit on the pump-fake for the screen pass, and Allen hit Kincaid for a 15-yard, go-ahead score. The play made me feel pretty smart, as I had told my dad earlier in the game that the Bills were likely setting up that slot wheel with some short, outside looks, so when it happened, I gave myself a little pat on the back.
While Kincaid’s overall numbers were modest — five targets, three catches, 28 yards, and the touchdown — his presence definitely opened up the field for others. Wide receiver Brandin Cooks caught three passes for 58 yards. Wide receiver Khalil Shakir saw 12 targets, and he caught all 12 of them for 82 yards. Wide receiver Gabe Davis, whose knee was absolutely destroyed by safety Andrew Wingard in the fourth quarter, caught two passes for 14 yards.
Buffalo’s offense is a different animal when Kincaid is healthy and in the mix.
DE Joey Bosa
Alright, so it wasn’t Bosa who made the big impact in Jacksonville. I really only noticed him on a handful of plays.
Once, wide receiver Jakobi Meyers absolutely smoked him on a crack-toss, upending Bosa and clearing the way for running back Bhayshul Tuten to pick up a huge gain. The other time, though, he reacted well to an end-around, stretching wide receiver Parker Washington out to the sideline just enough to force the speedy wideout to run out of bounds after a five-yard gain. Bosa’s quick reaction as the backside defender saved a first down for sure, but it might also have saved a touchdown.
He had but one quarterback hit to his ledger during the contest, but his teammate, defensive end Greg Rousseau, was a menace. Groot totaled six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, two quarterback hits, and a pass deflection.
CB Taron Johnson
Buffalo’s nickel corner certainly wasn’t bad — he totaled two tackles on the game and was generally in the right place in coverage — but his day wasn’t the best day from a Bills corner. It was cornerback Tre’Davious White who stole the show in the defensive secondary, tipping three passes, totaling two tackles, and generally smothering his mark on each play.
Johnson was sound in zone concepts, and while he didn’t account for any of the nine pass breakups the Bills had on the day, he was nearly the beneficiary of a couple of tipped passes throughout the afternoon. Parker Washington continued to shine, catching seven passes for 107 yards and a score, but it wasn’t Johnson who allowed all of those catches. Overall, it was a good day for No. 7 in the defensive secondary.
