Alaina Getzenberg is a staff writer who covers the Buffalo Bills and the NFL. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. You can follow her via Twitter @agetzenberg.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills were well aware of the outside noise.
There were question marks and discussions being held online and on TV leading up to the Bills’ divisional round game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday concerning how this defense would perform against quarterback Lamar Jackson, running back Derrick Henry and the rest of the Ravens’ offense.
The Bills’ defensive players used that to help fuel their performance. While the Ravens’ offense was able to get in a second-half groove, the Bills, helped by some Ravens miscues, were able to do enough to secure a 27-25 win to advance to the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs. This will be the team’s second AFC championship appearance in the past 30 seasons.
“Our guys heard it all — they heard it all week long. We’re not big enough, we’re not strong enough. Not talented enough. Whatever it is, they heard it,” coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t do the social media things, but I think most of those guys do. And look, we did, I think, in the first half a pretty darn good job. Second half, [Henry] got rolling a little bit. And he’s going to pop some runs, I mean, when he gets that momentum, he’s hard to stop. So, but even there, we could have done some things better, and I think fundamentally, so when we just look at this game, it came down to fundamentalism in football. And we talked a lot about that.”
The Bills held Henry to 84 rushing yards compared to 199 yards in the Ravens’ 35-10 Week 4 win, with the availability of linebackers Terrel Bernard and Matt Milano and nickel cornerback Taron Johnson important for this unit after all three missed the first meeting. The Ravens’ offense rushed for 176 yards on 20 carries, and the Ravens did have nine runs of 10-plus yards.
The Bills were aided by multiple drops and miscues by the Baltimore offense, most notably on tight end Mark Andrews’ dropped 2-point conversion attempt, but the defense also took advantage, coming away with three takeaways against a team that had 11 turnovers all regular season. The Bills’ offense was then able to get in position to score touchdowns on three of four first-half possessions, in addition to the unit not turning the ball over.
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The Bills have gone 21 straight games including playoffs without losing the turnover battle, tying the longest such streak in NFL history (the Rams also did it from 1952 to ’53).
“We don’t listen to the outside noise, but everyone was saying this and that about us and that we didn’t have enough talent, weren’t good enough to be in these positions and, our guys just continue to work hard and we’re internally driven,” quarterback
Tim McManus, ESPN Staff WriterJan 19, 2025, 03:20 PM ET
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Tim McManus covers the Philadelphia Eagles for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2016 after covering the Eagles for Philadelphia Magazine’s Birds 24/7, a site he helped create, since 2010. You can follow him on Twitter @Tim_McManus.
PHILADELPHIA — Running back Saquon Barkley is not the only dangerous player in the Philadelphia Eagles’ run game.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts broke off a 44-yard run on Philadelphia’s first possession to stake the home team to an early lead over the Los Angeles Rams in their divisional-round playoff game Sunday. Kicker Jake Elliott missed the extra point to make it a 6-0 advantage.
Operating from the shotgun, Hurts faked a handoff to Barkley before finding a seam on the right side of the formation. He escaped a leg tackle before racing down the sideline for the score. It was the longest run of his NFL career.
Barkley went off for a franchise-best 255 rushing yards Week 12 against L.A. He understandably has the Rams’ attention in the rematch, but the Eagles have other options.
Everything that happens in sports has additional context when viewed from a sports betting perspective. From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the sports news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.
Our betting buzz file, with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others, aims to provide fans a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation.
Key links: Sports betting home | NFL odds page |College football odds page| ESPN BET
Jan. 18: Kansas City Chiefs’ cover problem might not matter in playoffs
Doug Greenberg: For over half of the 2024 regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs did not look like the back-to-back Super Bowl champion juggernauts everyone expected them to be: The Chiefs were winning almost every game but weren’t doing so in convincing fashion.
From Weeks 1 through 14, Kansas City went 4-9 against the spread, which included an ATS losing streak of seven games from Weeks 8 through 14. The team’s eight outright victories without covering the spread tied for the most in the Super Bowl era, according to ESPN Research.
Patrick Mahomes is the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era with a straight-up winning record (35-24) in games where his team does not cover (minimum five games); just behind him is the great Roger Staubach (32-33).
The Chiefs are nine-point favorites against the visiting Houston Texans to kick off the NFL divisional round, a fascinating number given that KC has not covered a spread this large all season: The Chiefs are 7-0 SU but 0-7 ATS when laying at least six points this season, the longest such streak in the Super Bowl era.
And yet, despite all the ATS inadequacy from the regular season, Kansas City has been gaining steam in the betting markets, as the game opened at a consensus Chiefs -7.5, but by Saturday morning, all major sportsbooks had come up to at least -8.5, with ESPN BET getting up to -9.5.
The sportsbook reported 68.2% of money backing KC’s spread compared to 57.3% of the tickets, with other major books similarly reporting positive handle splits supporting the Chiefs. FanDuel’s trading team says that the early action had been “surprisingly” more split than expected, but the book will still “be cheering for the Texans.”
There’s some logic behind the money. Besides Kansas City (7-10), there was only one other playoff team that had a losing ATS record in the regular season — the Texans, who also went 7-10 against the number.
The Chiefs’ championship pedigree is also likely playing a role in attracting big money. Dating back to 2022, KC has covered the spread in six straight playoff games, tied for the fifth-longest such streak in the Super Bowl era. The 2022 team that won it all was similarly poor ATS in the regular season.
Mahomes always seems to step up his game in the postseason, as his 13-5 ATS record is the third-best among quarterbacks with at least 10 playoff starts since 1966; only Jim Plunkett (8-2) and Eli Manning (9-3) have been better.
Travis Kelce also elevates come January, posting higher receiving yards per game in the playoffs compared to the regular season every year since 2020. He has gone over his receiving yards prop in 13 straight playoff games, and his number for Saturday is set at 49.5 (juiced to -135) on ESPN BET, his lowest in any playoff game in that span.
Essentially, even though the Chiefs garnered an underperforming reputation throughout the regular season, the betting public is ready to back them in full force now that their playoff run has arrived.
“It’s the same old song and dance for the NFL,” BetMGM trading manager Christian Cipollini said via email. “The sportsbook needs the underdogs to cover and is hoping for one of the dogs to win outright to break up parlays.”
The other juggernaut
At ESPN BET, the Chiefs’ moneyline represents the second-most selected bet in parlays, behind the Detroit Lions’ moneyline.
On Saturday night, Detroit begins its quest to bring home the franchise’s elusive first Super Bowl with a showdown against the red-hot Washington Commanders. As of Saturday morning, the Lions are 8.5-point favorites at ESPN BET and have been getting plenty of support from the betting public market-wide.
Between the explosive offenses and Detroit’s banged-up defense, sportsbooks and bettors alike are expecting fireworks, as the game’s 55.5-point over/under — up from 54.5 at open — is the highest total in any playoff game since Super Bowl LV (2020) between the Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It’s nothing new for this iteration of the Lions, who have played in the five highest-total games in the NFL this season, including Saturday’s contest; the previous four games have seen an even split in overs vs. unders at 2-2.
Jan. 14: Bettors fade Ohio State as CFP title game spread moves toward Notre Dame
A “steady stream of action” on Notre Dame has caused the spread in the CFP title game to move toward the Fighting Irish with less than a week to go until kickoff. Rich Storry/Getty Images
DJ Bien-Aime covers the Houston Texans for ESPN. He joined ESPN in July of 2022 after covering the New York Jets. He’s a former athlete who finished his college career at Louisville. You can catch DJ on ESPN Radio on his show, “Talkin’ Texans.”
HOUSTON — The Texans on Thursday listed running back Joe Mixon as questionable with an ankle injury ahead of their divisional-round playoff matchup Saturday against the Chiefs.
Mixon did not practice Thursday after being limited in Wednesday’s practice.
This isn’t the first time he has had ankle issues. Earlier in the season he missed Week 3 through 5 after suffering an ankle injury in Week 2 against the Bears. He returned for a matchup against the Patriots in Week 6.
