ORCHARD PARK — Their opponent was decided by the time the Buffalo Bills reached their locker room.
A 35-8 blowout win over the New York Jets, a Houston Texans win over the Indianapolis Colts and a Los Angeles Chargers loss to the Denver Broncos put the part of the playoff picture that mattered to the Bills into focus.
The Bills knew by time the game started they were going to be seeded sixth or seventh based on Houston’s win and its head-to-head wins over the Bills and Chargers. And it was the sixth seed they earned and the trip to Jacksonville that comes with it.
The Bills will face the AFC South champion Jaguars at 1 p.m. Sunday in the first round of the playoffs, starting a path to the Super Bowl that isn’t likely to travel through Buffalo. And it’s a path that few teams have been able to traverse from start to finish.
Since the NFL expanded the playoff field to 12 teams in 1990, 15 teams have gotten to a conference championship without playing a home game and only four teams have gotten to the Super Bowl. The good news is all four teams won once they got there.
It has gotten even more treacherous since the playoff field was beefed up to 14 teams in 2020. Home teams are 42-18 in the playoffs, with only the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers getting to and winning the Super Bowl without hosting a game.
Already a daunting task for any team, the Bills are 0-5 in playoff road games under coach Sean McDermott, including 0-2 in the wild-card round. But this is the first time since 2019 the Bills have had to play on the road in the first round and just their second road playoff game since 2021.
“That’s where my head is right now — ready to put in the work to get ourselves ready to go to play our best football,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “This time of the year, that’s what it takes. You can’t beat yourself. You have to play good, sound football.”
There’s also a bit of coincidence because Jacksonville is the site of McDermott’s first playoff game as head coach. Six players are left from that game, but it’s not one that’s been widely talked about by fans for either team.
“Blake Bortles, he ran for more yards than he passed,” Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White recalled. “And I still lost, didn’t I?”
Bortles went 12 of 23 for 87 yards — and 88 yards rushing — and a 1-yard touchdown pass with 42 seconds left in the third quarter that proved to be the difference. But Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor went 17 of 37 for 134 yards and an interception, missing the game’s final drive due to a concussion.
Nathan Peterman entered the game in relief with the least surprising outcome — an interception. The Jaguars went to the AFC championship game that season but never went any further before the team was gutted and went through three other head coaches since.
The Jaguars are also a much different team than the one the Bills shellacked 47-10 in Week 3 last season. They are winners of eight consecutive games and own the NFL’s top rushing defense under first-year coach Liam Coen.
But the Bills-Jaguars history has been bizarre, no matter who coached or quarterback either team. The Bills are 2-0 against the Jaguars at home under McDermott and 0-3 everywhere else.
The Bills laid a stinker against the Jaguars in a 2023 London game. They also lost 9-6 to the 2021 Jaguars, then coached by Urban Meyer and on their way to the No. 1 overall pick.