NFL Playoffs 2025: Previewing Broncos vs. Bills Wild Card matchup

The Buffalo Bills enter the playoffs as one of the best teams in the NFL. An explosive offense, a strong defense, and a possible MVP in Josh Allen. If they're not the AFC's favorite to make the Super Bowl, they're certainly one of the top two.

And yet, they find themselves trapped in the Wild Card round, facing a Broncos team that no one wants to see, with a quarterback coming into his own and one of the league's best defenses.

Can the Bills get their Super Bowl dreams off to a good start? Or will the NFL's ultimate runners-up come up short once again? Let's break it down.

Bills' Offense: Josh Allen, Josh Allen, and Josh Allen. The quarterback put together an MVP-caliber campaign, completing 63 percent of his passes for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and just six interceptions, while running for 531 yards and another 12 scores. Allen is playing football at an absurd level right now, elevating this team and running the offense with ruthless efficiency.

He's doing it by spreading the ball around; 10 different Bills have at least 150 receiving yards, and eight have at least two touchdown catches. Expect to see a plethora of different looks and a wide variety of players catching the ball here.

The James Cook-led run game is also efficient, posting the ninth-most rushing yards in the NFL this season, while scoring more touchdowns on the ground (32) than any other team in the sport. They had the second-highest scoring offense in the league for a reason. This team can and will score on pretty much anyone, in any weather, and they have enough weapons they utilize that they're nearly impossible to fully stop.

Bills' Defense: Buffalo's defense this season is solid, but unspectacular. They rank 12th in points allowed, and fail to crack the top 10 in either rushing or passing defense. They're pretty middling at getting to the quarterback, ranking 18th in the league in sacks, with a respectable 8.9 percent hurry rate. They blitz on less than 20 percent of their snaps, though, relying on their secondary to slow passing games down.

Make no mistake, though: this team's primary goal is to outscore you, and they've shown time and time again that they're more than happy to get into a shootout with their opponents.

Path to Victory: Spread the ball around, keep doing what you're doing on offense. Force the Broncos to run the ball, and take away Bo Nix's ability to make plays with his arm. Don't let the Broncos hang around in this one, step on their throat early and handle business.

Broncos' Offense: Head coach Sean Payton's offense did not have an auspicious start to the season, but the Broncos have found their stride in the back half of the year. They averaged 32.5 points per game in the latter half of the season, thanks in large part to Bo Nix's emergence as a passer.

Nix threw 29 touchdowns on the year, and almost half of them went to either Courtland Sutton or Marvin Mims, who combined for 14 touchdowns. Sutton is Nix's favorite target, racking up 1,081 yards and eight TDs on his own. This is not a terribly big play offense, though; they rank 26th in yards per completion, and just 19th in air yards per attempt. They move the ball in small, manageable chunks through the air, by and large.

Much like the passing game, the run game also operates in chunks. Unfortunately for the Broncos, those chunks are much smaller and more frustrating. None of the three backs (Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin or Audric Estime) looked much like a fully functional NFL starter this year, so Payton and company decided to rotate them. The result is three moderately incompetent running backs working together to hide the fact that none of them look like viable rushing options. Expect to see a healthy dose of Nix on the ground as well.

Broncos' Defense: If you want to know how the Broncos got here, look no further than their defense, which is one of the league's best. They have the third-best scoring defense in the league, giving up just 18.2 points per game.

They accomplish this feat with an absolutely terrifying defensive front that excels at getting to the quarterback. Nick Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Zach Allen, and John Franklin-Myers all have at least seven sacks, with outside linebacker Jonah Elliss adding another five. They lead the league with 63 sacks, and are second in quarterback pressure percentage. They rank fourth in knockdown percentage, and sixth in quarterback hurries on the year. This team is at their best when they're getting to the quarterback.

But make no mistake: they're good when the ball is in the air, as well. Patrick Surtain II might be the best corner in football this season, and he can lock down even the best receivers.

Their run defense ranks third in the league in both yards and touchdowns allowed. And once you're in the red zone, you should brace to settle for a field goal; they have the third best touchdown percentage allowed in the red zone of any team in the NFL this year at just 46.94 percent.

Path to Victory: Hold onto the ball and exploit Buffalo's vulnerable pass defense. Get to Josh Allen early and often, and try to slow the Bills' mighty offense to give your slower, more methodical one time to work and keep you in the game. You probably don't have the firepower to hang with Buffalo in a shootout, so let your defense do the work to keep you in this game and hope Bo Nix has enough to get the win at the end.

The Verdict: The Bills should be seen as a Super Bowl favorite, and with good reason. They're playing great, aggressive football, especially offensively, and they have far too many weapons to hope to stop all of them. The Broncos probably have the best chance of any team in the AFC of slowing their offense down, but it's hard to see a path to an upset win here for Denver.

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