3 questions the Bills answered with Wild Card win over Broncos

All things considered, the Buffalo Bills played one of their best all-around games of the season on Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, taking a 31-7 wild-card win over the Denver Broncos to set up a Divisional Round showdown with the Baltimore Ravens.

In the early going, it seemed as if the Bills were in for a shootout as the Broncos took a 7-0 lead just 2:24 into the game, with Bo Nix and former Oregon teammate Troy Franklin connecting for a 43-yard touchdown.

But it was all Buffalo from there.

With the offense clicking on all cylinders and the defense stifling Denver the rest of the way, the Bills scored 31 unanswered points en route to victory, marking the fifth consecutive year that Buffalo has earned a win in the Wild Card Round.

While the second-seeded Bills were obviously the favorites here, things weren't supposed to be this easy. But Buffalo certainly made things look that way. And in doing so, they answered a few questions that should help them in their highly anticipated rematch with the Ravens.

Yes, Josh Allen made yet more history in the Bills' win over the Broncos

As Josh Allen has made all sorts of league and franchise history throughout this campaign, one might wonder if the NFL MVP candidate did so in Buffalo's victory over Denver. And the answer is yes on both fronts.

With 46 rushing yards on Sunday, Allen now has 609 in his playoff career, giving him the NFL playoff record for the most career rushing yards by a quarterback.

The previous record holder, none other than Lamar Jackson, set a new mark just one day earlier, reaching 602 career yards by gaining 81 yards on the ground in the Ravens' wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, that brings yet another interesting race into play when Buffalo and Baltimore square off this Sunday.

Coming into the weekend, the record belonged to Steve Young, who rushed for 594 yards in 22 postseason games with the San Francisco 49ers.

With a pair of touchdown passes, Allen now has 23 in the postseason, making him the Bills' all-time leader in that category. Jim Kelly threw for 21 in his 17 playoff games with Buffalo.

No, Buffalo doesn't need Allen to be Superman to win big

It's no secret that Allen is the straw that stirs the drink when it comes to the Buffalo offense. And from an overall standpoint, he had yet another strong outing, completing 20 of 26 passes for 272 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and adding the aforementioned 46 yards on the ground on eight carries.

But unlike in some of the Bills' other wins (or losses) this season, Allen didn't have to put the team on his back and attempt to do everything by himself. Instead, offensive coordinator Joe Brady utilized the talents of running back James Cook more on Sunday than he had in any game all year.

With a historic performance of his own, Cook ran the ball a season-high 23 times against the Broncos for a season-best 120 yards, making him the first Bills running back to hit the century mark since Thurman Thomas rushed for 158 against the Miami Dolphins in the Wild Card Round in 1995.

What makes the performance all the more impressive is that Denver allowed just 96.4 rushing yards per game during the regular season, the third-fewest in the NFL. Cook will face an even more challenging test against the Ravens, who gave up the fewest yards on the ground at 80.1.

The strategy to go to the ground more obviously paid off in terms of controlling the clock, as Buffalo held the football for nearly 42 minutes, a strategy Brady may want to duplicate against Baltimore in an attempt to keep Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry off the field as much as possible.

Yes, the Bills' defense can make stops on third down

One of the big questions coming into this game is whether the Bills could slow down the Broncos' offense, which had averaged 387.7 total yards per game in the previous three weeks.

The answer was a resounding yes, as Buffalo gave up just 224 yards on Sunday, 70 of which came on that first drive. So, that's certainly good news heading into a game where they'll face a Ravens offense that averaged 424.9 yards per game during the regular season, the most in the league.

Denver certainly doesn't have the firepower that Baltimore does, but it's a good sign nonetheless.

Breaking things down a bit further, one of the biggest issues the Bills' defense has faced this season is getting opposing offenses off the field on third down, ranking 29th in the league in that aspect.

But Bobby Babich's unit was superb in that regard against the Broncos. Denver converted its first third-down attempt of the game on that opening drive but went just 1-for-8 the rest of the way.

As the Ravens were the third-best team in converting on third down during the regular season, doing so 48.2 percent of the time, what the Bills did on Sunday had to be a nice confidence booster.