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Jacksonville Jaguars fall to 24-27 defeat by Buffalo Bills
Catch up with all the action from Jacksonville Jaguars vs Buffalo Bills in the NFL play-offs
Josh Allen delivered Buffalo their first road playoff victory in more than 30 years as the Bills edged the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-24 in Sunday’s AFC wild-card opener.
With linebacker Devin Lloyd closing in, Allen completed a 36-yard pass to Brandin Cooks just before the two-minute warning, setting up the decisive drive.
He then finished it himself with a one-yard touchdown run, with Jacksonville allowing him into the end zone late in the fourth quarter.
On the play before his score, Allen powered forward for 10 yards on a quarterback sneak, refusing to go down as defenders attempted to stop him short of the goal line.
Buffalo, who finished the regular season 13-5, sealed the win when they intercepted a deflected pass on Jacksonville’s final possession.
Allen managed the game efficiently throughout, neutralising Jacksonville’s pass rush by releasing the ball quickly. He completed 28 of 35 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown, added two rushing scores, was sacked only once and avoided turnovers.
That performance proved crucial with NFL rushing leader James Cook largely contained, finishing with 46 yards on 15 carries.
Jacksonville, also 13-5, briefly took the lead with 4:03 remaining but were unable to prevent Allen from engineering the winning response.
The victory ended a long-standing road playoff drought for Buffalo. Under head coach Sean McDermott, the Bills had previously gone 0-5 in road postseason games, beginning with a 10-3 wild-card loss at Jacksonville in 2017.
Prior to Sunday, Buffalo had lost eight straight play-off games away from home since defeating Miami in the 1992 AFC Championship Game.
