When we talk about the Buffalo Bills, we run the risk of feeling a sense of déjà vu. But it’s the same story over and over again, and it’s the same defined X-factor that dictates the Super Bowl narrative.
Discourse has historically portrayed football as the ultimate team game, where the mantra of “everyone is needed” prevails, and no individual determines the fate of a championship. But if the Bills win, and if they are denied a championship, it will be because of Josh Allen.
No team in the playoffs has been so dependent on one player, and no player in the playoffs has been able to elevate those around him or control the game better than the Bills’ quarterback.
For the better part of five years in the postseason, he kept getting punched in the mouth by the Kansas City Chiefs, yet he always comes back for more. On Sunday, he was battered and bruised by a relentless Jacksonville Jaguars defense, but stood still to stomp on the searing Liam Cohen fire.
Who else but Josh Allen would run the winning touchdown with a minute left? The Bills won 27-24, clinching a spot in the divisional round of the playoffs.
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Highlights of the Wild Card Weekend game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars during the 2025 NFL season.
Sky Sports NFL’s Neil Reynolds said: “He was out with a head injury, a hand injury and a knee injury in a wild game in the first half.”
“When I was a kid, it was like a game called ‘Operation’ where you got rid of all the bone fragments.”
With 2 1/2 minutes left and the Bills trailing 24-20 from their own 40-yard line and facing a free rusher in the face, Allen summoned his trademark heroics, cutting through the din inside Everbank Stadium with a 36-yard heave on his back foot to Brandin Cooks.
Four plays later, he lined up ready for a simple quarterback push to fourth-and-1, instead picking up a piece of cake and eating it while taking a Jaguars defender with him for a 10-yard gain. The result was inevitable, as the reigning MVP scored the winning touchdown with one minute remaining.
The game ended shortly after Cole Bishop intercepted Trevor Lawrence, sending the Bills to face the top-seeded Denver Broncos.
“This is Josh in the playoffs. He’s an unbelievable leader for our team, our organization. That toughness really rubs off on our team,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott told Sky Sports NFL.
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Phoebe Scheckter speaks with winning Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott after their win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars’ defense, led by Anthony Campanile, went toe-to-toe with Buffalo, the league’s best rushing unit, and the No. 1-ranked rushing attack, holding Allen and James Cook to 79 yards. They had maimed, injured, and harassed Allen all day long, but importantly, they hadn’t knocked him out.
“In terms of team toughness, it drips off of him,” McDermott later told reporters. “When your quarterback is that type of warrior and that type of competitor, from a leadership standpoint, that transmits through the entire team.
“But we have to get him as healthy as possible for next week. That’s not something we take lightly. Overall I thought he took some hits today, but at times we protected him well.”
Allen, who entered the playoffs with a foot injury that had been bothering him since late December, suffered a scare Sunday when he was examined for a head injury after landing hard on contact with multiple Jags defenders huddled around the ball.
He then slammed the fingers of his right throwing hand into the helmet of guard Osyrus Torrence, causing him to jump in pain and then repeatedly clenching his fist to shake off the discomfort. Allen then hunched over for a 2-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter and appeared to hyperextend his knee as he gingerly limped to the sideline for further treatment.
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Josh Allen’s big push led to a touchdown and the Buffalo Bills defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Maybe it was the adrenaline. But that’s likely due to the quarterback’s unparalleled determination to overcome his deserved playoff heartbreak and make this year his own.
“Josh Allen is just unbelievable,” Sky Sports NFL’s Jason Bell said. “You talk about the big moments of the game, and we said it would come in the fourth quarter.
“Can Jaguars stop his Superman moment? Can you be his Kryptonian? No.
“He was very calm in the huddle. He had the big play on his back and executed it brilliantly!”
“It’s when you get hit. Are you going to get back up when you’re hurt? Are you going to get back up when you’re tired? Are you going to have the strength necessary to move forward and take the steps necessary to perform at a high level?”
“He does it over and over again. He picks himself up and guess who’s watching it? His teammates. So when they’re looking at each other and it’s our quarterback, he can do it, we can do it too, that’s what makes this team.”
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s best plays of the 2025 NFL regular season.
Allen finished the game by completing 28 of 35 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown, and had two rushing scores on the ground as Buffalo went 0-4 over Orchard Park under McDermott and earned its first career playoff road win.
There will always be an argument that he is the most valuable player in football. It’s all up to Buffalo as they hope to quell their Super Bowl woes, write up the mistakes of their four-game losing streak from 1990 to 1993, and finally cross the line previously blocked by Patrick Mahomes. It shouldn’t be like that, but it happens. And I feel like he wants it to be in his hands.
The reaction in the locker room among Bills players was more muted than that of Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears or Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers. They could certainly afford to have a celebration Sunday night, but their expectations loom beyond wild-card weekend.
“Now we have a chance to do it again,” Allen said.
“It feels good. It feels good. At the same time, it means we get one more game.”
Watch every game of the NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl I from Levi’s Stadium live on Sky Sports NFL
