The Buffalo Bills (12-5) and Josh Allen take the field this Sunday to face the Jacksonville Jaguars (13-4) in the Wild Card round, a matchup where the pressure is on the visitors as they seek to advance to the Divisional Round.

Bills vs Jaguars: Date, time and TV channel for 2026 Wild Card Round

Buffalo player to watch

QB Josh Allen enters the postseason for a seventh straight year, guiding Buffalo to a 7-6 finish despite four road losses. Allen completed 65.7% of his passes, averaged 258 yards per game, and accounted for 33 total touchdowns (25 passing, seven rushing, one receiving). Ball security has been a major strength: just four interceptions and two lost fumbles all season.

Jacksonville player to watch

RB Travis Etienne could be playing his final game in Jacksonville. The fifth-year back is headed for free agency and owns a career-high 13 total touchdowns, but hasn’t eclipsed 100 rushing yards since late September. Facing a defense that has surrendered 150+ rushing yards seven times, Etienne has a prime opportunity to make a statement.

Key matchup

The league’s top rushing offense vs. its best run defense.

Buffalo’s James Cook led the NFL with 1,621 rushing yards (95.3 per game) and now meets a Jaguars unit that didn’t allow a single 75-yard rusher all season. Jacksonville ranked No. 1 against the run for the first time in franchise history, giving up just 85.6 yards per game and becoming only the third team since 2000 to accomplish that feat.

Key injuries

Bills: DT Jordan Phillips joins DT Ed Oliver on injured reserve. LB Terrel Bernard (calf) and rookie CB Maxwell Hairston (ankle) are out. K Matt Prater is questionable with a quad issue. LB Shaq Thompson, RB Ty Johnson, and WR Joshua Palmer are also listed as questionable.

Jaguars: RG Patrick Mekari (back) and LT Cole Van Lanen (knee) are expected to return. Mekari missed the past two games, while Van Lanen exited last week’s contest against Tennessee in the fourth quarter.

Series notes

The all-time series is tied 10-10, though Jacksonville has won three of the last four meetings, including the memorable 2017 wild-card game when Jaguars QB Blake Bortles finished with more rushing yards (88) than passing yards (87).

Stats & trends
Buffalo is 7-7 in playoff games under head coach Sean McDermott, with five losses coming on the road.The Bills have dropped eight straight road playoff games, their longest such skid and the NFL’s second-longest active run.Buffalo went 6-5 when trailing at halftime and erased two double-digit deficits in the fourth quarter this season.Allen was sacked a career-high 40 times and went 3-5 in games with a turnover; he’s 46-10 in turnover-free contests.Cook became Buffalo’s first rushing champion since O.J. Simpson in 1976.Jacksonville is averaging 33.6 points during its eight-game winning streak, the longest in franchise history.The Jaguars are 4-1 all-time in home playoff games.QB Trevor Lawrence joins Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, and Cam Newton as the only players in NFL history with 25+ passing TDs and nine or more rushing TDs in a season.