Tommy Doyle #72 of the Buffalo Bills celebrates with the fans after scoring a touchdown against the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter in the AFC Wild Card playoff game at Highmark Stadium on January 15, 2022 in Buffalo, N.Y.Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images
Josh Allen passed for 308 yards and five touchdowns as the third-seeded Buffalo Bills dominated the visiting New England Patriots 47-17 in an AFC wild-card matchup on Saturday night in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Allen (21-of-25 passing) guided the Bills to touchdown drives on their first seven possessions, a first for any team in a postseason game in the Super Bowl era. Devin Singletary rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns for the Bills. Allen added 66 yards rushing.
“We were ready to play. A lot of preparation went into this one,” Allen told the CBS broadcast in a postgame interview. “We just kept the momentum rolling all day today.”
Buffalo will face either Kansas City or Cincinnati in the divisional round next weekend.
Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones went 24-of-38 passing for 232 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in his first playoff start. Kendrick Bourne had seven catches for a team-high 77 yards and two TDs for New England.
New England was playing its first playoff game without Tom Brady as quarterback since a loss at Jacksonville in the wild-card round on Jan. 3, 1999.
It was the first playoff meeting between the AFC East rivals since a then-Boston Patriots team earned a 26-8 win at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo on Dec. 28, 1963, in a divisional round game. The teams split their two regular-season meetings this season.
Allen led the Bills to touchdown drives in each of their four first-half possessions as Buffalo built a 27-3 halftime lead. It marked the largest halftime deficit for the Patriots in coach Bill Belichick’s tenure.
Jones was intercepted on the Patriots’ opening drive of the second half. On the next drive, Allen hit Emmanuel Sanders on a 34-yard bomb for another touchdown to make it 33-3 at the 8:48 mark of the third.
With the game already in hand, Jones tossed a three-yard pass to Bourne for the QB’s first postseason TD with 4:12 to go in the third.
Allen added a 19-yard scoring pass to Gabriel Davis and a one-yard TD toss to Tommy Doyle in the fourth quarter as the Bills ran up the score. Jones added another four-yard TD toss to Bourne late in the fourth.
Buffalo marched 70 yards on nine plays on the game’s opening drive to score as Allen found Dawson Knox for an eight-yard TD with 9:45 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing drive, Jones drove the Patriots to the Bills’ 34-yard-line before his pass intended for wideout Nelson Agholor was intercepted by Micah Hyde in the end zone for a touchdown.
Allen and Knox connected again for an 11-yard touchdown with 40 seconds left in the quarter to make it 14-0.
Singletary had a pair of TD rushes in the second quarter, scoring on a three-yard rush with 7:20 on the clock and again on a 16-yard scamper with 1:53 remaining.
Nick Folk’s 44-yard field goal six seconds before halftime put New England on the board.