Bills report card: With the season on the line, Buffalo beats the Chargers 24–22.
There were 28 seconds left in the game on Saturday night. The Buffalo Bills were holding a 24–22 lead over the Los Angeles Chargers. At that time, a lot of fans were probably thinking of all the bad things that could happen.
In fact, the Bills have a habit of shockingly losing games after winning them.That awful night during Arrowhead Stadium, Bass kicked the ball through the finish zone and not a single precious second was lost.
This time, however, he completed a squib kick that took five seconds, which gave the Bills a good start in their attempt to end the game.
They didn’t have any timeouts left for the next play, so no one in coverage could make the same mistakes the Bills did in Kansas City, where they let Patrick Mahomes finish two big passes that put the Chiefs in position for a field goal that would have tied the game.
That’s because Ed Oliver smashed through Diego guard Jamaree Salyer and sacked Easton Stick, which pretty much ended the game.
“Ten sacks in all, and all of them were big for us at key times in the game,” said coach Sean McDermott.
“I thought we were moving too quickly on early downs.” Early on, I thought they did an excellent task of getting to us, but we had some big sacks when we needed them on some key third downs.
They were all different sizes, but the last one was clearly the biggest. It was meant to kill time because they could only accomplish a few things at a time.
After the Bengals lost earlier on Saturday, the Bills knew what they had to do: win out to get back to the playoffs. It wasn’t easy, but on Saturday night, Buffalo took a step toward their goal.
The Bills were very close to losing to the Chargers. They fell behind 10-0 within the first quarter and then again in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The Chargers scored 13 points off of mistakes. Deonte Harty coughed out a punt return, which led to their only touchdown.
In the second half, Josh Allen’s interception and James Cook’s important fumble were both turned into field goals.
When the Chargers took a 22–21 lead with 5:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Bills’ offense had to start to come alive. Again, Sean McDermott’s team almost lost because of mistakes.
The unit was sent out. Less than three minutes into the game, Allen got the Bills close to making a field goal.
Buffalo had the opportunity to run out the clock to 28 seconds, and Tyler Bass made a 29-yard field goal to give them the lead.
Easton Stick was trying to make a signature drive that would put the Chargers in Cameron Dicker’s wide open range in the last few seconds. However, Ed Oliver quickly sacked Stick, ending the drive without any timeouts.
The Bills lost to the Broncos in Week 10 because they turned the ball over too many times, but this time they won.
At this point in the season, that’s all that matters. With the win, the Bills (9-6) are still very much in the running for the AFC East title and the AFC wild-card spot.
Even though they lost, the Chargers (5-10) were much more competitive than they were in last week’s 63-21 loss against the Raiders under interim coach Giff Smith.
After a season full of changes, Los Angeles only wants to be competitive for the next two weeks.
On Saturday night, Allen did his part by running for two touchdowns and throwing for one. However, it took a 29-yard touchdown kick by Tyler Bass with 28 seconds left for the Bills to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 24–22.
Allen became the second quarterback in NFL history to score 50 touchdowns on the ground. He was also the very first player in NFL history to score 40 touchdowns in four straight seasons.
“It’s hard because a team with absolutely nothing to lose is a dangerous team to play against.” “We worked hard and found a way,” Allen said.
Allen made 15 of 21 passes for 237 yards and one interception. “This is the playoff for us. How we did them didn’t matter; we just had to do them.
The Bills lost the ball three times, which helped the Chargers stay in the lead in their first game under acting coach Giff Smith.
They fired Brandon Smith and Tom Telesco as general manager on December 15, one day after getting whipped 63–21 in Las Vegas.
There were some things the Chargers did that they hadn’t done this season. “They were ready when they got there,” McDermott said.
“I thought our guys got comfortable and spoke up. Some big plays upon third down helped us win. We did well in the red zone.