NFL play-offs: Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals win on wildcard weekend
- Published
Best plays from Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen's demolition of the New England Patriots
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The Buffalo Bills condemned Bill Belichick to the biggest play-off defeat of his coaching career as they beat the New England Patriots 47-17.
The Bills have watched Belichick lead their divisional rivals to six Super Bowl wins in 22 years at New England.
But they outclassed the Pats on Saturday, leading 27-0 by the half en route to week two of the NFL play-offs.
In the first game of wildcard weekend, the Cincinnati Bengals held on for a 26-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
That was the Bengals' first NFL play-off win in 31 years, coming just two years after finishing with the league's worst record.
The Bills reached last year's AFC Championship game and retained the AFC East title this season but the manner of Saturday's win has sent a message to the rest of the NFL.
The temperature at kick-off in Buffalo was -16C but fourth-year quarterback Josh Allen was on fire, making five touchdown passes as the Bills got into the end zone on each of their first seven possessions.
Allen, 25, found Dawson Knox for two touchdowns, either side of a vital Micah Hyde interception that denied the Pats an almost certain touchdown, before Devin Singletary ran in two more as the Bills led 27-3 at half-time.
Mac Jones became the first rookie quarterback to feature in the play-offs for the Patriots, in their first post-season game without Tom Brady since 1998.
And although the Pats claimed two touchdowns after half-time, Allen passed for three more, completing 21 of 25 passes for 308 yards while rushing for 66 yards.
Bengals deny Raiders at the death
Ja'Marr Chase had nine catches for a game-high 116 receiving yards and three carries for 23 rushing yards
In this season's first play-off game, Cincinnati had home-field advantage after winning the AFC North division for the first time in six years.
The Raiders were playing just their second play-off game since losing Super Bowl 37 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003 and led through an early field goal.
But quarterback Joe Burrow, who has led Cincinnati's transformation since being selected first in the 2020 draft, threw touchdown passes to CJ Uzomah and Tyler Boyd as the Bengals gained a 20-13 lead at half-time.
Cincinnati's second touchdown should not have stood, though, as the whistle was blown after Burrow's pass and before Boyd's catch, for the quarterback stepping out of bounds.
Although it was blown incorrectly, as Burrow was still in play, the down should have been replayed.
However, the Raiders still had a chance to fight back at the death, only for Derek Carr's throw towards Zay Jones with 17 seconds left to be picked off by Germaine Pratt on Cincinnati's two-yard line.
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