NFL playoffs: Allen-led Bills throttle New England Patriots, 47-17

Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox celebrates a touchdown against New England Patriots. 

The lingering sting of being embarrassed on home turf by the New England Patriots didn’t sit well with defensive end Jerry Hughes and the Buffalo Bills.

On Saturday night, the Bills did something about it by erasing any doubt of who now rules the AFC East.

Josh Allen set a team playoff record with five touchdown passes, including two to Dawson Knox, and Devin Singletary ran for two scores in the first half of a 47-17 throttling of the division-rival Patriots in a wild-card playoff game.

Meanwhile, Hughes was part of a defence that ended Mac Jones’ rookie season by intercepting him twice, sacking him three times and limiting him to throwing two mean-nothing touchdown passes in the second half with the game well out of reach.

In defeating the Patriots for the second time in three weeks, Hughes noted he was motivated by how reporters specifically questioned safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde as being embarrassed following a 14-10 loss in December. It was a game in which the Patriots attempted just three passes while trampling Buffalo’s defence with 222 yards rushing to counter wind gusts of 30-plus mph.

“There was a lot of disrespect coming toward our defence. And so we felt like the only way to shut people up is to go out there and play football and let you guys sit and watch and talk,” Hughes said. “And that’s what we’re doing right now, playing football.” 

The margin of defeat was the largest in the playoffs for New England in coach Bill Belichick’s tenure, which began in 2000.

And while the winds were relatively calm Saturday, the Bills were hot in frigid conditions, with a game-time temperature of 7 degrees.

Allen finished 21 of 25 for 308 yards in a game Buffalo became the NFL’s first team in the Super Bowl era to score on each of its seven possessions that didn’t end with a kneel down.

“That sounds like some Pop Warner stuff,” defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said.

No need to remind Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon.

“Shoot, every drive we couldn’t get a stop was frustrating,” Judon said. “It wasn’t only one play. It wasn’t one, single player. It was everything. It was the whole game.” 

The Allen-led offence was so efficient it gained 480 yards offense on just 51 snaps before backup Mitchell Trubisky finished the game with three kneeldowns.

“I think we feel good,” Allen said. “There’s some things that we can clean up and work on. But at the end of the day, we moved on, we’re on to the next one and it doesn’t matter what we did today. It’s what we do next week.” 

The third-seeded Bills advanced to the divisional round to host either the Cincinnati Bengals, who beat the Raiders earlier in the day, or travel to Kansas City, depending on the outcome of the Chiefs game against Pittsburgh on Sunday. A trip to Kansas City would feature a rematch of last year’s AFC championship game, which the Chiefs won 38-24.

In the first game of wildcard weekend, the Cincinnati Bengals held on for a 26-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was the Bengals' first NFL play-off win in 31 years, coming just two years after finishing with the league's worst record.

Joe Burrow led an efficient offence that scored on six drives, including two of his touchdown passes, and rookie Evan McPherson made four field goals as the Bengals finally advanced in the playoffs with a 26-19.

It was a victory three decades in the making for the Bengals (11-7), who hadn’t won in the postseason since 1991. After going from worst to first in the AFC North with a generally young roster, they ended an embarrassing long postseason drought that spanned 31 years and eight consecutive defeats.

The Bengals had to survive a Raiders drive to the 9-yard line, but Derek Carr was intercepted on fourth down by Germaine Pratt.

Helped by some problematic officiating by Jerome Boger’s crew that might have allowed Burrow’s touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd to count when it shouldn’t have, the Bengals also extended a lengthy postseason drought for the Raiders (10-8).

Las Vegas, which won its final four games to squeeze into the playoffs, last won in the postseason in the 2002 AFC championship game.

Cincinnati made it 4 for 4 on scoring drives late in the first half, though with some controversy. Burrow rolled right to avoid pressure and threw from close to the sideline. Play continued despite an erroneous whistle by an official, who thought Burrow stepped out of bounds. Boyd caught the 10-yard pass in the back of the end zone for a 20-6 lead. The play counted, to protests from the Raiders, who cited the rule that the ball should be returned to the previous spot.