This Saturday the 13-3 Buffalo Bills face the 11-5 Indianapolis Colts at home to start the Wildcard round of the playoffs. The Bills enter the game allowing 6,700 fans in the stadium for the first time all year. The Colts look to spoil the Bills amazing season, as Frank Reich enters the Bills stadium for the first time since 2014 when Reich was an Offensive Coordinator for the then San Diego Chargers, who defeated the Bills 22-10 in that game.
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills look to continue their hot streak into the playoffs where they face a defense that allows 241 passing yards per game. Statistically that will work out well for the Bills and Josh Allen, who has thrown for 300 passing yards 8 times this season. Buffalo is a pass heavy team and can get ahead early in games, like they’ve shown multiple times towards the end of the season. Buffalo will get back former WR1 John Brown for the playoffs, and he’s already made his presence known in the offense totaling 4 receptions for 72 yards and 1 TD in their dominant win over Miami. The team will also look to get it’s underperforming run game going; with Devin Singletary totaling just 156 rushes for 687 yards & 2 TDs, while rookie RB Zack Moss has 112 rushes, 481 yards, and 4 TDs. The Bills defense allows 352 total yards per game, which ranks them the 14th best in the league. The run defense will have to play better if they want to contain the ground game with the likes of Johnathan Taylor & Nyheim Hines. In the last 3 games, Buffalo has averaged 47 points per game, 357 passing yards per game, and a +88 point differential.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts will look to continue their dominant rushing attack, and with Buffalo’s non-existent run defense, they should do that with ease. Johnathan Taylor has had a phenomenal rookie year, totaling 232 rushes, 1,169 yards, and 11 TDs in the regular season. The Indianapolis Colts average 378 total yards per game, ranking them the 10th best in the league. The Colts have a nice group of young receivers that can get the job done behind TY Hilton. Zach Pascal has hauled in 44 receptions for 629 yards & 5 TDs while rookie Michael Pittman has totaled 40 receptions for 503 yards & 1 TD. The Bills corners behind Tre White will have their hands full against this receiving corp. The Colts will be without their starting LT, Anthony Castonzo, as he was put on IR with an ankle injury. That will leave Chaz Green as the starting LT, who has allowed 4 sacks & 2 penalties this season in limited snaps. The Bills defense has totaled 38 sacks & 97 tackles for loss this season.
The last time the Bills & Colts faced each other in 2019, the Bills came out on top 24-16. The Bills will open up as 6.5 point favorites at home over the Colts.