ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott stated the obvious after the No. 2 seed Bills defeated the No. 7 seed Denver Broncos 31-7 in the wild-card round Sunday to move on to the divisional round, where they will host the No. 3 seed Baltimore Ravens next week.
"I mean, this is what everyone's been waiting for, right," McDermott said.
The Bills will be coming off a commanding performance versus the Broncos. The offense scored 31 straight points and finished only two drives without points -- one punt and the end of the game -- led by a strong performance from quarterback Josh Allen, who was 20-of-26 for 272 yards and two passing touchdowns. The rushing attack went for 210 yards, including 46 by Allen. The defense limited the Broncos and rookie Bo Nix to 2-of-9 on third down.
The matchup that now awaits the Bills has been much anticipated as a possibility since the playoff seeding was finalized, with the game featuring the favorites for MVP -- Allen led the odds over Lamar Jackson in the regular season -- and the first-team All-Pro quarterback (Jackson) and second-team All-Pro (Allen). The showdown will be a rematch of the Week 4 meeting that the Ravens won 35-10.
"It'll be a nice week, and everyone will be looking forward to it, and they're a great football team," McDermott said. "They handled us pretty good the first go-around and they're certainly playing well, well-coached. [Ravens coach John Harbaugh] won a Super Bowl and comes from great pedigree, so it'll be a big challenge for us."
In that first matchup, the Ravens got up to a 21-3 lead after a Derrick Henry 87-yard touchdown run on Baltimore's first possession and the Bills couldn't recover. The Bills did not have starting linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard and nickel corner Taron Johnson for that game.
The opposite happened against the Broncos on Sunday.
Denver scored an opening-drive 43-yard touchdown on a pass from Nix to Troy Franklin to go up 7-0, but the entire Bills team responded and didn't look back.
"It's 58 more minutes left in that game," cornerback Rasul Douglas said. "You can't harp [on] two minutes, you know what I mean? You have a bad day for four minutes. You say you had a whole bad day? You got 23 more hours and some change to change it. So, that's how we look at it."
The Broncos had only 102 passing yards that were not part of that touchdown pass, and only one of four second-half drives went for more than four plays. An offense that came in having given up three sacks on the season (tied for third fewest) allowed two, and Nix was pressured on 13 of 27 dropbacks (48%), the second-highest rate he has faced in his career. Nix was 6-of-9 for 90 yards with a touchdown, the two sacks and a scramble against the pressure, but for the Bills, it was their best percentage this season.
Against his former team, Von Miller had a season-high six pressures, while the rest of the Bills' defense had seven.
"It really was just a message to ourselves," defensive end Greg Rousseau said. "We know who we are week after week and what we're capable of and what we're supposed to do out there. That's what it's all about. We're not worried about sending a message to anybody; we just know we've got to go out there and execute, win games."
The win marked the Bills' seventh of the season by 20 or more points -- two more than any other team, including playoffs -- thanks in part to the rushing attack led by James Cook and the team's offensive line. Cook finished with 23 carries for 120 yards -- the most by a Bills player in a playoff game since Thurman Thomas in 1995 against the Miami Dolphins -- and one touchdown. The Bills finished with a time of possession of 41:43, which is the fifth-highest in a postseason game over the past 20 seasons.
While the win was emphatic, the Bills have made the team's goal clear from the start. Douglas said this team has yet to peak, and to get to that point? Douglas said, "Just keep playing." The next test is coming quickly.
"I'mma enjoy the win first, but I love playing good on good football," left tackle Dion Dawkins said. "We have a lot of competitors on our team, and when juggernauts come into town or when we go to their spot, the intensity is up. And I love it. I love when the intensity is high, but we'll see 'em in a week. They're a good team and we look forward to it."