Bills

 

Bills boost playoff chances with late victory vs. Chargers

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- The  Buffalo Bills defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 24-22 to keep their bid for the playoffs alive and well at SoFi Stadium on Saturday.

The Chargers, playing their first game since firing coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco last week, got five field goals from Cameron Dicker and briefly took the lead late in the fourth quarter. But a  Tyler Bass field goal with 28 seconds left sealed the win for Buffalo.

The victory moved the Bills to 9-6 on the season with two crucial games to play against the  New England Patriots and  Miami Dolphins. The Chargers dropped to 5-10.

It was far from pretty, and the team that destroyed the Dallas Cowboys six days ago was hard to find in this Bills performance. But, the Bills did just enough to get a needed victory despite a variety of mistakes and the defense allowing Chargers backup quarterback  Easton Stick to put together four straight field goal drives in the third and fourth quarters.

The defense, which held the Chargers to just one touchdown, came up big. Additionally, a critical stop at the end of the game -- which has been a problem for the defense this year -- and the offense converting longer drives into touchdowns were the difference. Though  Josh Allen reached single-season milestones with his passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns in the game, he didn't put together one of his better performances, completing 15-of-21 passes for 237 yards.

There's work to be done for a Bills team with sights set beyond making the playoffs, but it was a game they had to win and did.

Describe the game in two words: Underwhelming performance. After a blowout win against the Dallas Cowboys, the Bills put together a less than stellar outing against a Chargers team that has struggled on defense and had a backup quarterback starting.

Sell on a breakout performance:  Gabe Davis. This isn't to say this wasn't a big game for Davis (four receptions, 130 yards and a touchdown), but there is just not any precedent to him continuing this success over consecutive games. Coming into this game, Davis did not have a reception in three of the last four games (with a six reception, 105-yard performance vs. the Philadelphia Eagles in between). If he can use this as an opportunity to string big games together, that would be significant for the offense.

Troubling trend: James Cook being unreliable with the football. The second-year back had a breakout performance last week against the Cowboys, but he fumbled twice versus the Chargers, losing one of them in the fourth quarter, and has dropped likely touchdown catches twice in the last month. His only other fumbles of the season came against the Broncos, but ball security and consistency with the football are becoming an issue.

Pivotal play: Allen's 57-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gabe Davis in the second quarter. While the game remained close, the play was key to get the Bills offense going. The one-play drive came on the fourth drive of the game for Buffalo and more than doubled any net yardage they had accomplished on a single drive prior to that. The pass by Allen traveled 38 air yards downfield, his longest such touchdown of the season.

Bills 24, Chargers 22 | Final score, game highlights + stats to know

Running back Leonard Fournette got his first carry as a Buffalo Bill, running up the middle for a 3-yard gain. The former LSU Tiger finished the night with five carries for 15 yards after being activated for the first time since the Bills signed him to the practice squad.

Key mistakes cost the Bills throughout the game, but they did enough at the end to escape with the win.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Cook fumbled on the Bills 31-yard line to put the Chargers in scoring position down just two points.

Before Harty fumbled in the first quarter, Christian Benford had an interception deep in Chargers territory but was called for defensive holding, which negated the turnover.

Allen's interception led to a successful field goal from L.A., cutting Buffalo's lead to just a point in the middle of the third quarter.

On the following drive, defensive tackle Poona Ford's first sack of the season came at an opportune time, forcing the Chargers to settle for a field goal after they drove down to the Buffalo 16-yard line. Buffalo answered with a 75-yard touchdown drive capped off by Allen's second touchdown of the game to create more breathing room for the Bills.

Penalties killed positive plays throughout the game. Early in the fourth quarter, consecutive calls against Spencer Brown and Mitch Morse negated what would have been first down plays. Instead of progressing towards the Chargers end zone, the Bills found themselves backing up towards their own.

On third-and-23, Allen was sacked for the first time of the night to force their fourth punt, giving the Chargers back the ball with a chance to take the lead. Yet another penalty forced Sam Martin to punt from the back of the Bills end zone.

Martin bailed out the offensive penalty problems by booming a 58-yard punt. The punter helped the Bills control the field for much of the game, pinning the Chargers inside their own 10-yard line twice and inside their 15 once out of his four punts.

The Bills improve to 9-6 on the season and are currently sixth in the AFC ahead of a full slate of key games among the rest of the conference on Sunday.

• Josh Allen's second half rushing touchdown was the quarterback's 50th in his six-year career. Allen trails O.J. Simpson for the second-most in team history
• His touchdown pass gave him 27 on the season, the fifth-most in a single season by a Bills quarterback
• Allen's three total touchdowns made him the first ever player in NFL history to record 40+ total touchdowns in four consecutive seasons. He also extended his streak of games with two or more offensive touchdowns to 14 straight games
• Stefon Diggs' five receptions surpassed Eric Moulds and Peerless Price for the fourth-most catches by a Bill in a single season
• With 70 rushing yards, James Cook reached over 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career. Cook is the first Bill with 1,000 or more rushing yards in a single season since LeSean McCoy in 2017
• Ed Oliver's pair of fourth quarter sacks extended his career season-high to 8.5 sacks
• 
  
  
  
  

Buffalo survives scare, takes step toward playoffs with narrow win

The Bengals' loss earlier Saturday made the objective clear for the Bills: winning out means a return to the playoffs. It didn't come easily, but Buffalo took a step toward that goal on Saturday night.

The Bills narrowly survived a scare from the Chargers, falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter and later falling behind again deep into the fourth quarter. 

Once again, turnovers nearly derailed Sean McDermott's team. The Chargers scored 13 points off of turnovers, scoring their only touchdown after Deonte Harty coughed up a punt return and turning both a Josh Allen interception and pivotal James Cook fumble into field goals in the second half.

The Chargers took a 22-21 lead with 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, putting pressure on the Bills' offense to show signs of life. The unit delivered. Allen had the Bills into field goal range within less than three minutes of game time, and Buffalo was able to run the clock all the way down to 28 seconds when Tyler Bass sent a 29-yard field goal through the uprights for the lead.

Easton Stick was hoping to put together a signature drive and get the Chargers into Cameron Dicker's expansive range in the final seconds, but without timeouts, a sack by Ed Oliver quickly blew up the drive.

The game mirrored the Bills' Week 10 loss to the Broncos, with turnovers coming back to haunt Buffalo, but this time, they prevailed. That's all that matters at this stage of the season, and the victory means the Bills (9-6) are very much alive in the AFC East while controlling their fate in the AFC wild-card race.

The Chargers (5-10) were formally eliminated from playoff contention with the loss, but their competitiveness under interim coach Giff Smith was markedly better than it was in last week's 63-21 loss to the Raiders. As an offseason of change approaches, competitiveness is all Los Angeles can ask for over the next two weeks.

50! Josh Allen produces his 50th rushing touchdown | Bills at Chargers

osh Allen and the Bills avoided a bad loss to the  Chargers with their playoff hopes on the line

The Buffalo Bills were in trouble late on Saturday. But they r allied for a 24-22 win to avert disaster against a last-place Chargers team that just fired its head coach and lost starting quarterback Justin Herbert to a season-ending injury.

It was a third straight win for the Bills to improve to 9-6 and gain ground in the AFC playoff race after the Bengals dropped to 8-7 with a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier in the day. The Chargers threatened to play spoiler when Cameron Dicker's fifth field goal of the day gave Los Angeles a 22-21 lead with 5:26 remaining. But the Bills drove 64 yards for a go-ahead Tyler Bass field with 28 seconds left that turned out to be the game winner.

The Bills face the New England Patriots next week before a season-ending showdown with the AFC-East leading Miami Dolphins.