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One Stat Recap: Buffalo Bills’ defense stands stout in team’s first playoff win since 1995

NFL: AFC Wild Card Round-Indianapolis Colts at Buffalo Bills Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

It didn’t come with the style or flash of their last few victories, but the Buffalo Bills kept their winning streak alive—and notched their first playoff win in decades—against the Indianapolis Colts on Super Wild Card Weekend.

The defense may not have looked impressive on Saturday, but their stats showed an outing that all Bills fans should be happy with. The primary reason to be happy is that the Bills held the Colts to 24 points—4.2 points below their regular-season average. A lot of this can be attributed to the Bills’ defense standing stout in the red zone. The Colts had nine true possessions (not counting the one-play, kneel-down possession before half) on Sunday and five of them entered the Bills’ red zone. On those five red zone possessions the Colts kicked a field goal, scored a touchdown, turned the ball over on downs, missed a field goal, and scored a touchdown. Which means their five trips to red zone resulted in just two touchdowns and 17 total points. Scoring two touchdowns on five trips is good for a red zone touchdown efficiency of 40 percent. The New York Jets had the league’s worst red zone touchdown efficiency this season at 42.11 percent.