5 takeaways from the Bills’ 27-24 playoff win vs. the Colts

Five takeaways following Buffalo Bills’ Wild Card win, 27-24, vs. the Indianapolis Colts.

In a natural Buffalo Bills manner, things got interesting.

But all that matters in the end was a win when the final whistle went. The Bills made that happen on Saturday, as Buffalo kicked off the NFL’s Wild Card weekend with a 27-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Some sloppy play mixed in with some big ones from both teams created a great show from the neutral standpoint. Not exactly the case for those in western New York, but the victory will be savored nonetheless.

With that, here are five takeaways from the Bills’ win over the Colts:

Bills quarterback Josh Allen. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Another slow start for Bills

The Bills haven’t had a problem with slow starts all that much this season. But as of their last two games now, it was. In Buffalo’s season finale against the Miami Dolphins, of all 56 points scored, none of them up went up on the board in the first quarter. Against the Colts, it was a pure lack of possession issues, but early problems still lingered around for Buffalo.

In the first half, the Colts had the ball for almost 10 minutes more than the Bills. Indy’s time of possession was 19:41 to Buffalo’s 10:19. Helping the Bills there was three of their first five drives on offense going down as three-and-out drives.

Another big problem attributing to this struggle for the Bills was a tough time with field position. Combined, the opening half saw the Bills’ average drive start at their own eight-yard line. That’s not the end all, be all, but that does make things a bit tougher. Returner Andre Roberts took one kick out of the end zone as a part of that problem. He didn’t get back to the 20, but the same thing continued even when the Bills defense forced a punt.

Somehow though, the Bills did escape the first half with a lead. Miscues by the Colts played a huge part in that, from their turnover on down near Buffalo’s goal line, to penalties by Indianapolis’ defense keeping the struggling Bills offense on the field.

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