SEATTLE (AP) — Cam Akers rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown, Darious Williams returned Russell Wilson’s
interception 42 yards for a score, and the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks 30-20 in the NFC
wild-card playoff game Saturday.
The best defense in the league during the regular season carried its dominance into the playoffs — even
while missing unanimous All-Pro tackle Aaron Donald for much of the second half. No team was better at
limiting yards or points than the Rams (11-6) and they continued to torment Wilson and the Seahawks
(12-5).
Seattle’s quarterback was under a siege from the defensive front and a secondary that minus one play
never let DK Metcalf or Tyler Lockett break loose. Donald, before leaving with a rib injury, and Jalen
Ramsey were superb. But so were other role players such as Troy Reeder, Jordan Fuller and Leonard Floyd.
Floyd had two of the Rams’ five sacks. Two of the others belonged to Donald. The Rams allowed just 278
total yards and 11 first downs.
Williams’ interception was his third of the season against Wilson after picking him off twice in Los
Angeles in November. He jumped a wide receiver screen intended for Metcalf and returned it untouched to
give the Rams a 13-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
Akers added a 5-yard TD run just before halftime for a 20-10 lead. It proved enough with a Seattle
offense that was disjointed and confused nearly from the start.
Wilson had one of his worst playoff performances. He was 11 of 27 for 174 yards. Wilson connected with
Metcalf on a pair of TDs: 51 yards in the first half off a broken play, and a 12-yard TD with 2:28 left
to make the score more respectable.
The Rams pulled off the upset without a healthy quarterback for more than three quarters of the game.
John Wolford started for the second straight week, but suffered a neck injury when he dived head first
in the first quarter and was hit in the helmet by Jamal Adams’ shoulder. Wolford was taken to a local
hospital as a precaution.
BILLS 27, COLTS 24
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo earned its first playoff victory in a quarter century when Josh Allen
threw two touchdown passes, scored another rushing, and Micah Hyde batted down Philip Rivers’
desperation pass for a win over the Indianapolis Colts in a wild-card game.
Buffalo snapped an 0-6 postseason skid by winning its first playoff game since a 37-22 win over Miami on
Dec. 30, 1995. And it came in the Bills’ first home playoff game in 24 years, with a limited number of
6,700 fans in attendance for the first time this season.
Allen finished 26 of 35 for 324 yards, with a 5-yard touchdown to Dawson Knox and a 35-yarder to Stefon
Diggs.
The game wasn’t decided until the final play, when Rivers faced fourth-and-11 from the Buffalo 47. Rivers
heaved a deep pass for T.Y. Hilton, who was surrounded by defenders in the right side of the end zone.
Hyde broke through the crowd of bodies, leaping up and batting the ball to the ground.
It just so happens, Hyde was one of three Bills defenders that failed to do the same thing in allowing
DeAndre Hopkins’ 43-yard leaping catch in the final seconds of Arizona’s 32-30 win over Buffalo on Nov.
15.
Buffalo (14-3) has won seven in a row since that loss.
Rookie kicker Tyler Bass accounted for the decisive points by hitting a 54-yard field goal to put Buffalo
up 27-16 with 8:08 remaining.
The Colts (11-6) ended a season in which they won 11 games for the first time since 2014, and reached the
playoffs for the second time in three years under coach Frank Reich.
Rivers finished 27 of 46 for 309 yards and had his career playoff record drop to 5-7.
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