DENVER (AP) \u2014 Ja\u2019Quan McMillian intercepted Josh Allen\u2019s deep throw in overtime, and Bo Nix led the Broncos into position for Wil Lutz\u2019s 23-yard field goal that sent Denver to the AFC championship game with a 33-30 win over the Buffalo\u00a0Bills\u00a0on Saturday.<\/p>\n
McMillian\u2019s pick\u00a0was Denver\u2019s fifth takeaway of the game \u2014 the Broncos went into the playoffs at minus-3 in turnover differential. McMillian wrested the ball away from Brandin Cooks at the Broncos 20-yard line when a field goal would have won the game for Buffalo.<\/p>\n
The Broncos (15-3) will face either New England or Houston for the AFC title next Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, where top-seeded Denver has won 14 of its past 15 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played a really good football team,\u201d Nix said. \u201cThey played really well tonight. They gave us a great shot on a short week after a tough game last week, so hat\u2019s off to them. We found a way to win again and our defense made stops and I\u2019m just proud of our guys. I\u2019m just proud of this organization. I\u2019m proud of the way we compete, we fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just never out of it and I think that\u2019s just the character piece. It wasn\u2019t always pretty, we had a good lead and they came back and it wasn\u2019t looking good, but the fourth quarter and overtime, we just found a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broncos coach Sean Payton lamented Denver\u2019s sputtering offense and 1-for-4 performance in the red zone: \u201cWe weren\u2019t good in the red zone. But we were good enough when it mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Bills\u00a0(13-6) were flagged for pass interference twice on Denver\u2019s final drive.<\/p>\n
Former Broncos kicker Matt Prater nailed a 50-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in regulation, knotting it up at 30-all. That came after Nix\u2019s 26-yard touchdown throw to Marvin Mims Jr. with 55 seconds left had given Denver a 30-27 lead.<\/p>\n
Allen, who hadn\u2019t turned the ball over in his previous six playoff appearances, threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles. P.J. Locke also picked off Allen.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtremely difficult,\u201d a teary-eyed Allen said afterward. \u201cI felt like I let my teammates down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Bills\u00a0failed once again to reach the Super Bowl with Allen under center even though Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson weren\u2019t standing in his way this time as that trio of franchise quarterbacks all missed the postseason party.<\/p>\n
Payton insisted the game should have ended earlier in overtime when a Denver defender was held in the end zone before Allen escaped from the end zone on second-and-9 from his 8.<\/p>\n
Coming off the first road playoff win of his career, Allen\u2019s first three turnovers helped Denver built a 23-10 lead before he threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Keon Coleman and a 14-yarder to Dalton Kincaid to give Buffalo a 24-23 lead early in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Allen also fumbled the ball at the Denver 23 late in the fourth quarter but right tackle Spencer Brown recovered the loose ball, setting up Prater\u2019s 31-yarder for a 27-23 Buffalo lead.<\/p>\n
Also in the second half, Allen threw an interception when P.J. Locke cut in front of wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who appeared to be wide open for what would have been a 43-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n
The Broncos scored 10 points in the final 22 seconds of the first half to take a 20-10 lead into the locker room, and they got their third takeaway just two plays into the second half on Bonitto\u2019s strip-sack of Allen that was recovered by Malcolm Roach at the\u00a0Bills\u00a017, leading to Lutz\u2019s short field goal to make it 23-10.<\/p>\n
Nix\u2019s 29-yard TD pass to Lil\u2019Jordan Humphrey broke a 10-all tie and then Bonitto stripped Allen of the ball after a long scramble up the middle. Devon Key recovered for Denver with 2 seconds left before halftime and Lutz\u2019s 50-yarder as the half expired made it 20-10.<\/p>\n
The Broncos\u2019 other touchdown in the first half came from an unlikely source. They went ahead 10-7 when Nix threw to tackle-eligible Frank Crum, a second-year pro from Wyoming, Allen\u2019s alma mater. He caught the short pass and tumbled into the end zone for a 7-yard score.<\/p>\n
James Cook ran for 117 yards on 24 carries but lost a fumble.<\/p>\n
When the Broncos lost to the\u00a0Bills\u00a031-7 in Buffalo last playoffs, Payton said, \u201cWe have to figure out how to get these games at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
They did it by leading the league in sacks (68), tying a franchise record with 14 regular-season victories, winning 11 one-score games and having 11 comebacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t ready last year,\u201d Payton said. \u201cBut we were ready today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
Bills: Inactive for the game were two defensive starters: S Jordan Poyer (hamstring) and LB Terrel Bernard (calf). … LB Dorian Williams (neck) got hurt covering the opening kickoff and was taken via ambulance to a hospital. … C Connor McGovern was cleared to return just before halftime after being evaluated for a concussion. … DT Ed Oliver, who just returned to the active roster, went out late in the third quarter with a knee injury. The seven-year veteran was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 28 with a left biceps tear that required surgery. He suffered meniscus damage while rehabbing and had another procedure on Dec. 29.<\/p>\n
Broncos: WR Pat Bryant sustained a concussion on Denver\u2019s initial drive after he caught three passes for 32 yards. … WR Troy Franklin pulled a hamstring in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Bills\u00a0head into another offseason wondering what it\u2019ll take to get to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
The Broncos host their first AFC championship game in a decade, since the \u201cNo Fly Zone\u201d defence that helped them win Super Bowl 50.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER (AP) \u2014 Ja\u2019Quan McMillian intercepted Josh Allen\u2019s deep throw in overtime, and Bo Nix led the Broncos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-416530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}