The Athletic has live coverage of Bills vs. Broncos from the NFL playoffs divisional round.
Last Saturday’s playoff football slate was pure delirium, a two-piece firecracker with pounded drums and grated cheese. This Saturday renews the appointment TV energies. It also reintroduces the NFL’s top seeds to roaring home stadiums.
Our window opens with Josh Allen trying to scale the mountains. His Buffalo Bills visit the Denver Broncos, lying in wait with their world-class pass rush. Then we go west to welcome the “12th Man” in fluorescent green. The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers face off for a third time this season, putting Christian McCaffrey against the league’s No. 1 scoring defense. All systems go for divisional-round action.
NFL divisional playoff guide (Saturday)
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GameTime (ET)TVStreaming
Bills at Broncos
4:30 p.m.
CBS
49ers at Seahawks
8 p.m.
Fox
CBS and Fox are free over the air. CBS also streams on Paramount+, and Fox also streams on Fox One.
Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos
Bills (13-5, No. 6 seed): The trip to Duval was stressful, then successful. Buffalo knocked off the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 27-24 nail-biter to reach the divisional round for a sixth straight year. Allen rumbled for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:04 on the clock, right after his initial heroics were ruled just short upon review. Cole Bishop then landed the game-sealing pick off Tre’Davious White’s pass deflection. As Dion Dawkins waxed poetic on the Jags’ in-stadium pool, the Bills floated to their first road playoff win since the 1992 season.
Sean McDermott’s team now shifts from humidity to high altitude. Colder weather should call for more James Cook, the league’s leading rusher who got bottled up last weekend. Khalil Shakir is solid in the slot, and he caught all 12 of his targets in Jacksonville. After a quiet fall, Greg Rousseau comes in with five sacks in his last four games. While there’s a lot of talent in the lineup, the floodlights glow upon Allen most of all as he pursues a Super Bowl breakthrough.
Broncos (14-3, No. 1 seed): The AFC’s top seed is unprecedented at the line of scrimmage. Denver’s defense paced the league in sacks, and its offensive line tied for fewest sacks allowed. Per NFL Media, the Broncos’ plus-45 sack differential is an all-time single-season record.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph draws a true challenge in Josh Allen, who plays like a rocket launcher-snowplow hybrid. But the Broncos create turbo pressure from all angles. Nik Bonitto (14 sacks) and Jonathon Cooper (8) zip off the edge as 3-4 linebackers. John Franklin-Myers (7 1/2) and Zach Allen (7) cave in protection from the front. All-Pros Pat Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga lurk behind them in the secondary.
That stacked group makes life easier for second-year quarterback Bo Nix. So does left tackle Garett Bolles, who garnered first-team All-Pro honors and was the top-rated pass blocker on Pro Football Focus. Nix is trailed by rookie burster RJ Harvey. He throws to two massive wideouts, Courtland Sutton (6-foot-4) and Troy Franklin (6-foot-3).
While the shifty QB settles in for his second career playoff game, Sean Payton bids for history. No head coach has won the Super Bowl with two different franchises. Payton, who led the New Orleans Saints to a title 16 years ago, is trying to become the first.
Broadcast: Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are in the booth, while Tracy Wolfson is the sideline reporter. It will “all come down to this” at least once. Nantz, in particular, has a flair for calling Allen stampedes:
“WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EFFORT. INDESTRUCTIBLE.” – JIM NANTZ pic.twitter.com/3iyUvclvOf
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 11, 2026
Last matchup: It was Jan. 12, 2025, a wild-card game in Orchard Park, N.Y. Nix started his playoff tenure with a first-drive touchdown strike to Franklin … and then the Bills scored 31 straight points. Allen’s final passing line: 20-for-26, 272 yards and two TDs.
Playoff history: This is the teams’ third postseason pairing. In addition to last season’s thumper, Buffalo also beat Denver in the 1991 AFC Championship Game. That one was much closer at 10-7. Jim Kelly threw two interceptions, but John Elway was done in by a pick-six from Carlton Bailey. Broncos kicker David Treadwell missed three field goal tries.
Bills at Broncos odds
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
49ers (13-5, No. 6 seed): Kyle Shanahan’s squad upset the defending champions last Sunday, and it tries to slay the conference giant six days later. The Niners approach the fight with indestructible vibes, like a “James Bond” character made of nuclear pasta. They hung with the Philadelphia Eagles even after George Kittle tore his Achilles. Then Brock Purdy threw a touchdown to McCaffrey with less than three minutes left, and Eric Kendricks made the final fourth-down stop deep in 49ers territory for the road win.
The San Francisco defense held up despite zero takeaways and one QB pressure. It surrendered touchdowns early in the first and second quarters, then gave up six points in the last seven series. Lead corner Deommodore Lenoir was thrown at eight times and allowed just 47 yards. The wounded “no-name” front seven showed outsized heart.
With Kittle on ice, Purdy can turn to electric gadget Jauan Jennings (what a dimer) or the physical Demarcus Robinson (111 yards and a TD in the wild-card round). Fellow wideout Ricky Pearsall, who was sidelined the past two games, has been dealing with a knee injury but said he intends to play Saturday. As it seems, Shanahan can scheme open looks for any eligible receiver.
No matter where San Francisco ends up going, it won’t go quietly. Every silver lining’s got a touch of gold and crimson.
Seahawks (14-3, No. 1 seed): The host has the profile of a traditional title favorite. Seattle wrapped its regular season at No. 3 in points per game and No. 1 in points allowed. It was second in net yards per dropback on offense and defense. According to NFL Media, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the first league-leading receiver on a top-seeded team since Jerry Rice with the 1994 Niners — who won Super Bowl XXIX.
Sam Darnold no longer sees ghosts, though he was added to the injury report Thursday with an oblique injury. He said he expects to be “ready to go” Saturday in his first playoff start for Seattle, a sentiment echoed by head coach Mike Macdonald.
Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is opening space for his QB through outside-zone rushing and play-action sets under center. Darnold completed 73.5 percent of his passes, at high volume, when targeting Smith-Njigba, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet combined for almost 1,800 ground yards in 17 games, and Seattle as a whole scored at least 30 points eight times.
The Seahawks defense fielded three All-Pros: Leonard Williams anchors the whirring D-line, Ernest Jones is a complete playmaker at linebacker, and Devon Witherspoon puts clamps on opposing WR1s. Macdonald has been wall-to-wall brilliant in his second season in Seattle. Let’s see what he dials up in his playoff debut.
Broadcast: We get Kevin Burkhardt on narration and Tom Brady in analysis. Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi report from the field. Jennings and McCaffrey got this booth duo to its platonic ideal last Sunday, with Burkhardt revved into overdrive as Brady yelped in shock:
TRICK PLAY!! 🚨
TOUCHDOWN 49ERS! 😱
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/bhhRmh5szb
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 12, 2026
Last matchup: Their previous showdown is why Saturday goes down near Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Exactly two weeks prior, these teams met in their regular-season finale. The Niners took their home turf with six consecutive wins, then scored just three points in Week 18’s constricted loss. The Seahawks defense gave up 173 total yards and held steady on third downs — San Francisco’s offense went just 2-of-9 on its attempts. With the 13-3 victory, Seattle earned the NFC West title, No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Much has changed in momentum and personnel, but the 49ers did win the Week 1 matchup at Lumen Field. McCaffrey turned 31 touches into 142 scrimmage yards, and the visitors claimed a late lead on Purdy’s impressive TD flick to Jake Tonges.
Playoff history: Like Bills-Broncos, Saturday marks the third postseason head-to-head meeting between the two rivals. Shanahan’s Niners bested Pete Carroll’s Hawks in a 2022 wild-card melee; San Francisco had 505 yards of offense and won 41-23. In the 2013 NFC Championship Game, a dispute was had, a pass was tipped and a classic was minted:
49ers at Seahawks odds
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