It's a gameplan that the Denver Broncos have done before, most recently against the Las Vegas Raiders a bit earlier in the season. Denver has a huge task in front of them, as the Buffalo Bills can play like a juggernaut most weeks, primarily thanks to Josh Allen.
And for the rest of the week leading up to the game, all that Broncos fans can expect to hear is how Josh Allen can simply will the Buffalo Bills to victory. And while the team may lose thanks to Allen playing his tail off, what if the Broncos win?
Much of the playoff chatter in the AFC has been that 'this could be the Bills' year' since the Kansas City Chiefs are nowhere to be found, but the Broncos sport the best home-field advantage in the NFL. With the extra time to prepare, Denver could put forth their best effort of the season, especially on offense. It is reasonable to think that the defense does play well, but the wild card coming into this game might just be the offense. Well, the gameplan this team needs to put forth is honestly quite obvious.
The Denver Broncos need to run the ball and shorten the game against the Buffalo Bills
In Week 14, the Denver Broncos were in Las Vegas and played the Raiders. If you remember back to that game, the team came out and had multiple drives of 10 plays or more, milking the clock a ton and shortening the game from their perspective.
Most notably, Denver ran for 152 yards, which was their third-highest mark of the regular season. Sean Payton clearly wanted to establish the run in a big way, and this has to be an obvious point of emphasis for the Divisional Round. Fortunately, Buffalo is sporting one of the worst run defenses in the NFL, and it would be malpractice if the Broncos did not take advantage of that.
Denver being able to establish the run early is only going to wear the Buffalo defense down. Running the ball well also opens up the passing attack, and it keeps drives alive. Another benefit here is keeping Josh Allen off the field, and this has to be another motivating factor.
Josh Allen can change the entire course of the game with just a few plays. The Broncos have to take time off the clock as much as possible and keep Josh Allen off the field, while also taking advantage of a subpar Bills' run defense.
If Denver can do this, they could run away with this game in the second half.