We’re another day closer to the Buffalo Bills playing a home playoff game, and the Bills enter another postseason as Super Bowl favorites. The Bills will have a hard road to the Super Bowl this year, starting with the red-hot Denver Broncos, who enter the playoffs with a 10-7 record. This is the healthiest the Bills have been entering the playoffs in quite some time. And with all hands on deck, the Bills are -8.5 point favorites in this game, according to Fanduel, with the O/U for this game set at 47.5. So, let’s take a look at two Broncos weaknesses the Bills need to attack.
The passing defense
Despite having arguably the league's best cornerback in Pat Surtain Jr, the Broncos' secondary has been underwhelming this season. Fox Sports ranks them as the 19th unit in the league. Teams have been able to attack fellow corner Riley Moss and Safety duo Brandon Jones and PJ Locke with ease.
This week, the Bills should have a fully healthy wide receiver room, along with rookie Keon Coleman, who’s getting his feet back under him after coming back from injury. Through the last three games that Josh Allen played in, Allen totaled 698 yards, five passing touchdowns, and one interception. After having a week off, Allen and the offense hope to keep this great stretch going.
The short passing game
The Broncos have seen a lot of success with deep passes that it seems like Bo Nix has forgotten to work in some short/mid-range throws. The speed Denver has in their wide receiver room can’t go unnoticed, as we mentioned earlier this week, and has led to Nix looking for the deep ball most of the time. Their top three receivers, Sutton, Vele, and Mims have combined for 44 deep targets this season. Tight end Adam Trautman hasn’t been much of a factor this season, totaling 188 yards and two touchdowns on 18 receptions.
The Bills do a great job of keeping everything in front of them in their zone defense. If they can keep Denver’s wide receivers from sprinting down the field, Bo Nix will struggle to find success.
The Bills’ front seven is getting much healthier this week with linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard back at practice, allowing Buffalo to be able to take the short game away from Nix and force him to look elsewhere.
