Bills beat Broncos backed by stellar running back performances

ORCHARD PARK, NY – The Buffalo Bills handled the Denver Broncos with a 31-7 win in the wild-card round and much of the team’s offensive damage was done on the ground.

“You got to have it upfront and it starts at the line of scrimmage in the run game and then you go from there,” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott. “It’s a full team affair right there in terms of that run game.”

The Bills rushed for 210 yards, 10 yards shy of the team’s season-high of 220 against the San Francisco 49ers.

Lead back James Cook led the way with 23 carries for 120 yards and one touchdown. Of Cook’s output, 78 yards came in the first half when the team had only mustered 69 passing yards. On the team’s lone first-half touchdown drive, the Bills ran for 67 yards, Cook accounted for 38 of those yards.

“James Cooker,” said Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins. “You know my analogies right? I mean he’s a chef, right? You gotta be able to make chicken parm and you gotta be able to make mac-and-cheese. You gotta know how to do both.”

Ty Johnson was the team’s change-of-pace back, carrying the ball nine times for 44 yards. More impressively for Johnson, however, was his 24-yard touchdown reception on fourth down in the third quarter.

“Feel like they they played pretty good coverage on some of our underneath routes,” Allen said. “I just extended, Ty did what Ty does and, made a heck of a play for us.”

“Jimbo does Jimbo things,” Ty Johnson said. “He had a full head of steam and knew what he needed to do on the job, and obviously Josh had to scramble a few times, I just come in to do my job a little bit.”

Josh Allen paced the backfield with another 46 yards on eight carries.

“Jimbo ran the ball hard,” Allen said. “All of our backs run the ball hard, and then you incorporate some of the quarterback run stuff and I think that that really messes with the defense. They were in really good position sometimes and our guys just made plays.”

“When you can get them moving side to side and different looks and guards pulling, tackles pulling, centers pulling. It just gives them a bunch of different things to look at and look and see and it makes them maybe a little hesitant,” Allen said. “But again, credit to our guys and our offensive staff. But our line played their tails off today.”

The Bills will host the Ravens in the Divisional Round next week.