Josh Allen’s late sneak ends Bills’ road playoff drought in 27-24 win at Jaguars

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Josh Allen took the snap on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, glanced at a Jaguars defense that barely tried to stop him and drove his legs anyway.

He surged over the goal line with 1:04 remaining, capping a bruising, 10-yard quarterback sneak and giving the Buffalo Bills a 27-24 lead that finally buried a 33-year road playoff drought. One snap later, a tipped pass from Trevor Lawrence landed in the arms of rookie safety Cole Bishop, and an EverBank Stadium crowd of more than 70,000 went silent.

Bills break through away from home

In a wild-card game that swung four times in the fourth quarter and tied an NFL playoff record for lead changes in a single period, Buffalo escaped with its first postseason victory away from home since the 1992 AFC Championship Game in Miami. The result advanced the Bills to the AFC divisional round and ended a resurgent Jacksonville Jaguars season on a single ricochet.

“It feels good. Feels good,” Allen said. “At the same time, it just means we get another game. We’re going to play for each other, we’re gonna fight to the very last second, and you saw that here today.”

Allen completed 28 of 35 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores, including the decisive 1-yarder that Jaguars defenders clearly allowed in an effort to preserve clock. Lawrence threw three touchdown passes for Jacksonville but also two interceptions, including the final one that effectively ended the game.

For Buffalo, which had lost eight straight road playoff games over three decades and was 0-5 away from home in the postseason under coach Sean McDermott, Sunday’s win marked a long-awaited breakthrough.

“We were aware of what the talk was,” McDermott said of the franchise’s road playoff history. “But at the end of the day, the game is decided between the white lines, and our guys knew that.”

A fourth quarter of lead changes

Buffalo led 13-10 entering the fourth quarter after trading field goals in the third. The Bills extended that advantage early in the final period when Allen found tight end Dalton Kincaid in the end zone, pushing the lead to 20-10 and momentarily quieting a crowd that had watched Jacksonville win eight straight entering the playoffs.

The Jaguars answered quickly. Lawrence leaned on second-year receiver Parker Washington and running back Travis Etienne Jr. to move the ball, eventually cutting the deficit to 20-17 and then taking a 24-20 lead on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Etienne with 4:03 remaining.

The 10-play, 77-yard march showcased why Jacksonville’s offense had been one of the league’s most productive in Liam Coen’s first season as an NFL head coach. It also set the stage for Allen’s response.

After the ensuing kickoff, Buffalo took over at its own 34-yard line with 3:58 to play and no margin for error. Facing third-and-1 near midfield, Allen dropped back and lofted a deep shot to veteran receiver Brandin Cooks, who hauled in a 36-yard completion down the right sideline to the Jaguars 20.

Three plays later, on fourth-and-inches from the Jacksonville 11, the Bills kept the ball in Allen’s hands again. He powered through the middle of the line and refused to go down, churning his legs and being pushed from behind until he reached the 1-yard line.

“He’s a warrior — that type of competitor, it just goes through the whole team,” McDermott said.

On the next snap, Jacksonville’s defense effectively conceded the touchdown, staying upright instead of diving at Allen’s legs, in a calculated move to leave time on the clock. Allen crossed the goal line with little resistance, giving Buffalo a three-point lead after Matt Prater’s extra point.

Coen defended the decision to prioritize clock over a goal-line stand.

“You’re always weighing the situation,” Coen said. “With the time, the timeouts, where we were in the game, we felt like getting the ball back in Trevor’s hands with a minute and a chance to go tie or win was the best call.”

The Jaguars got that chance, but it lasted one play.

Starting from his own 23-yard line with just over a minute left and no timeouts, Lawrence looked over the middle for receiver Jakobi Meyers. Veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White, playing his first postseason game since returning from serious injuries, got his hand on the pass. The ball popped in the air and fell to Bishop at the Jacksonville 35.

“It was awesome,” Allen said. “To get (White) back and get him back in a Bills uniform and making plays for us when we need it the most, that’s Tre.”

Buffalo knelt three times to run out the clock.

Numbers, decisions and what comes next

The ending was particularly jarring for Jacksonville given how effectively its offense had moved the ball for most of the afternoon. The Jaguars outgained the Bills 359-340 and averaged 6.6 yards per play to Buffalo’s 5.5. Etienne and rookie back Bhayshul Tuten combined for 118 rushing yards on just 14 carries, and Jacksonville finished with 154 yards on the ground at 6.7 yards per rush.

Lawrence completed 18 of 30 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns — to rookie Brian Thomas Jr., Washington and Etienne — but the two interceptions and a failed fourth-down attempt in scoring range earlier in the game loomed large.

“You’ve got to live with it,” Lawrence said of the final throw. “It’s life. You don’t get do-overs. I know that we left everything out there. It sucks that we don’t get to keep playing because it’s a special group.”

Coen, who led Jacksonville to a 13-4 record and an AFC South title in his first season after inheriting a four-win team, praised his quarterback’s season and resolve.

“Such a competitor,” Coen said of Lawrence. “He definitely carried us at times this year. We’re not in this position without him.”

The loss stung a fan base that had embraced the turnaround under Coen and watched its team transform into one of the league’s most explosive offenses. It also unfolded against the backdrop of a $1.4 billion renovation project at EverBank Stadium, where local officials and the franchise have pushed for a long-term plan to keep the team in Jacksonville.

For the Bills, the setting added another layer of symmetry. McDermott’s first playoff game as Buffalo’s head coach came in the same stadium in January 2018, a 10-3 wild-card loss to the Jaguars that underscored the team’s limitations on offense and on the road.

Since then, Buffalo has become a regular postseason participant but remained dogged by the idea that it could not win away from Orchard Park in January. The franchise’s last road playoff win had come on Jan. 17, 1993, when Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed led the Bills past the Miami Dolphins to reach their fourth straight Super Bowl.

Allen, the 2024 NFL most valuable player, entered Sunday’s game with some of the most prolific passing numbers in recent playoff history but without a signature road comeback victory. His performance against Jacksonville — 80 percent completion rate, no turnovers, perfect 3-for-3 red zone efficiency by the offense — offered a different kind of statement.

Buffalo’s plan emphasized quick throws to the slot and underneath routes designed to blunt Jacksonville’s pass rush. Receiver Khalil Shakir caught 12 passes for 82 yards as Allen repeatedly took what the defense allowed. When the Bills needed a big play late, they turned to Cooks downfield, then to Allen’s power running on fourth down.

Jacksonville’s approach drew more scrutiny. Despite the success of Etienne and Tuten on the ground, the Jaguars leaned heavily on Lawrence’s arm in the late stages. Local questions about run-pass balance intensified after the final drive ended on a pass into traffic on first down.

Coen acknowledged that decisions would be examined but said he believed the aggressive mindset fit the identity he wanted for his team.

“We’re going to continue to be who we are,” he said. “We’re going to look hard at everything, but we’re not going to shy away from trusting our guys.”

Buffalo’s defense, which lost veteran safety Jordan Poyer to a hamstring injury at halftime, relied on younger defensive backs down the stretch. It was that reshuffled secondary — White returning from injury, Bishop in his second season — that produced the game’s decisive play.

“When your quarterback’s taking hits and still getting up and your defense is making plays like that at the end,” McDermott said, “it gives your whole team belief.”

A week later, the Bills’ postseason run would end with a 33-30 overtime loss at Denver, a game in which Allen turned the ball over four times. That result complicated any notion that Buffalo’s road and late-game issues were solved.

In Jacksonville, though, for one fourth quarter, the Bills were the team that made the last play, not the team on the wrong end of another January heartbreak. And for the Jaguars, after a season that suggested a new era of contention, the lesson was as sharp as the deflection that ended their year: in the modern NFL, a breakthrough and a what if can be separated by a fingertip.