How to Watch NFL Playoff Game Between Colts and Bills; Gametime, TV and Point Spread
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Frank Reich made a lot of wonderful memories as a player in Buffalo, and he returns there Saturday looking for his first playoff win as a head coach when his Indianapolis Colts take on the Bills in an AFC wild-card game.
Buffalo went 13-3 this season and won the AFC East. The Bills are in the playoffs for the third time in four years, but they haven't won a playoff game since 1995, losing six in a row. They want that streak to end, and they get a chance this weekend when they would usually have a bye. This is the first year that the NFL has expanded the playoffs to 14 teams.
The Colts were the beneficiary, getting the No. 7 seed. They finished 11-5 behind the play of veteran quarterback Philip Rivers, who's in his first year with the Colts after a long career with the Chargers. Rivers is just 5-6 in the playoffs all-time in his career, and ironically, two of those wins came AGAINST the Colts.
Here's how to watch the Indianapolis-Buffalo game on Saturday:
Indianapolis Colts at Buffalo Bills
- WHAT: NFL wild-card playoff game between the No. 7-seed Indianapolis Colts and the No. 2-seed Buffalo Bills.
- WHEN: Saturday, 1:05 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Bills Stadium, Orchard Park, N.Y.
- POINT SPREAD: Buffalo is favored by 6.5 points on Saturday morning, according to the DraftKings.com gambling website. The over/under is at 51.5.
- TV: CBS
- Stream: CBS.com/all-access
- TV Announcers: Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Charles Davis (color commentary), Evan Washburn (sideline)
- RECORDS: Indianapolis (11-5, 5-3 on the road this season); Buffalo (13-3, 7-1 at home this season)
- LAST GAME: Indianapolis beat Jacksonville 28-14 in Week 17 to clinch a playoff spot. Buffalo beat Miami 56-28, winning the AFC East and clinching the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Ironically, the Bills' win over Miami cleared a path for the Colts to clinch the final playoff spot.
- ALL-TIME SERIES: Buffalo leads the series 37-32-1.
- LAST MEETING: The Colts beat the Bills 37-5 in Indianapolis on Oct. 21, 2018. Andrew Luck threw four touchdown passes for Indianapolis and Marlon Mack rushed for 124 yards.
- COACHES: Indianapolis is coached by Frank Reich, who is in his third season with the Colts. He is 28-20 overall and 1-1 in the playoffs. Reich is a former Bills quarterback. Buffalo is coached by Sean McDermott, who is in his fourth year with the Bills and has made the playoffs three times. He's lost first-round playoff games to Jacksonville (2017) and Houston (2019) thus far.
Here are three things to look for in Indianapolis-Buffalo game
1. Can Bills end long playoff drought
The Buffalo Bills have lost six straight playoff games, dating back to a wild-card win over the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 30, 1995. Since Sean McDermott took over in 2017, they've been a team on the rise again though, and they are favored to break that streak on Saturday.
Last year's 22-19 playoff lost as Houston was painful, but it was also the jumping-off point to this year's successful season. Quarterback Josh Allen is turning into a star, and last year's loss was a great learning experience.
"I think the main lesson was not to press," Allen said Tuesday. "I understand the situation we were in. Obviously if I can go back and change things, I would. But I'm glad that they went down the way they went down.
"I was able to learn a lot from it and hopefully I carry that playoff experience into Saturday's game. Indianapolis is a very well-coached team, they have a Hall-of-Fame quarterback [Philip Rivers] on their side, so we've got to do everything in our power to hold onto the ball, to score when we can score and to try to execute the game plan to the best of our ability."
2. Unique homecoming for Frank Reich
Frank Reich is a hero in Buffalo, as a long-time backup quarterback who made some playoff magic for the Bills as well. Now he's looking for his first playoff win as a head coach in the stadium where he cut his teeth.
“Obviously, it’s a special place for Linda and I and our family,” Reich said earlier this week. “Two of our girls were born there, but this is a business trip to your point. Fortunately, I have been back to Buffalo a few times since as a player and as a coach. I feel like I have gotten all of that out of my system. It’s unique because it is the playoffs but – love Buffalo, will always love Buffalo. I will always be a Bills fan, except for this Saturday for sure. I was a Bills fan on Sunday though, and they did us right.”
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Frank Reich was a hero in Buffalo, but he's going there to win his first playoff game as a coach on Saturday.
3. Is the Colts defense up to the challenge?
The Buffalo Bills have been scoring points in bunches lately. They were No. 2 in the league in scoring (501 points, second only to Green Bay) and No. 2 in total yards (396.4 yards per game, second only to Kansas City). They are a huge challenge for linebacker Darius Leonard and the Colts defense
“I feel like for me, there is never any pressure,” Leonard said. “Like coach (Frank Reich) said, when you are the seventh seed everybody expects you to fail, that’s the mindset. Everybody is saying you will fail. I looked at something today, it was pretty crazy that everybody said that the Bills are going to win, everybody is counting us out.
“So we can just go in there and just be us. We don’t have to do anything more, we don’t have to do anything less. We just have to be us, control what we can control – that is playing great fundamental football and hopefully come out with a victory. Pressure? No, pressure, we don’t have any pressure on us. I think we are very relaxed and we just have to step up whenever the play comes.”
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