Orchard Park, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills hit harder in a heavyweight slugfest against a frisky Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that gave Buffalo headaches all afternoon.
However, the Bills overcame three costly turnovers and rode quarterback Josh Allen’s electric performance to a 44-32 win to improve to 7-3 on the season.
The Buccaneers are the third team this season to rush for more than 200 yards against the Bills, finishing with 203 for the game. Buffalo’s offense kept the Bills in the game throughout, finishing with the highest single-game point total of the season.
Here are a few instant observations from Buffalo’s win.
Josh Allen chaos
Allen had Bills fans riding an epic roller coaster on Sunday, showcasing some inexplicable decisions and highlight-reel plays on his way to a six-touchdown performance.
Allen had two interceptions in the first half. The first happened as he faced an unblocked blitzer bearing down on him in his own end zone. As he fought through the would-be safety, he tried a shovel pass to a crossing Joshua Palmer, but the pass was intercepted.
Allen completed just 50% of his passes through three quarters and had a few head-scratching misses. He had Khalil Shakir wide open in the second quarter, but threw it about five yards too far. Allen also missed a wide-open Reggie Gilliam in the fourth quarter on what would have been a two-point conversion.
The bad throws were concerning, but Allen fought through the rough start to provide some scintillating plays. He found Tyrell Shavers for a touchdown in the second quarter. Shavers was the Bills’ best receiver in the game, providing a spark to a struggling passing game. Allen threw for three scores and added two more on the ground. He set the NFL record for most career games (11) with at least three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. Allen is also the only NFL player in history to have three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in a game twice in his career.
Return game roller coaster
The Bills entered Sunday’s game ranked 31st out of 32 NFL teams in average drive start (own 28.5), forcing Allen and the offense to deal with long fields consistently. Buffalo signed veteran returner/wide receiver Mecole Hardman this week in part to spark their special teams return units--and that’s precisely what he did.
Hardman and running back Ray Davis combined for 219 kick return yards on their five returns in the game, averaging over 43 yards per return. Hardman took the first Buccaneers’ kickoff of the game for 61 yards to set up the Bills’ first touchdown. Tampa Bay directed everything to Davis the rest of the way, but he also kept breaking tackles and helping to set up the offense. Three of the Bills’ eight possessions started in Tampa Bay territory.
The lone mistake by Hardman came in the third quarter when he opted not to call for a fair catch and subsequently fumbled the ball after getting hit on the punt catch. Tampa Bay went 43 yards for the touchdown on the ensuing drive.
Cole Bishop continues to flash
The Bills and Buccaneers were battling in the third quarter, with Buffalo reeling a bit after the Hardman turnover. They trailed by five points late in the quarter when Baker Mayfield, who played well on the road against the Bills’ defense, tried to hit Emeka Egbuka when Bills safety Cole Bishop came flying into the play to make a diving interception.
Bishop had an interception last week against the New England Patriots and continues to have a breakout second half for Buffalo. He had a lockdown showing in coverage against the Kansas City Chiefs when he forced four pass breakups in the game against Patrick Mahomes in Week 9.
Bills run game invisible again
Getting yardage on the ground was going to be tough all game against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers run defense that’s allowed just 907 rushing yards in nine games this season. Everything was hard between the tackles for James Cook when offensive coordinator Joe Brady tried to get the toss game going. At one point in the fourth quarter, Cook was averaging about two yards per carry.
Brady pivoted away from the run game and found a way to get Cook going in the passing game. Allen found Cook for a beautiful 25-yard touchdown on a perfect design to get Cook into space down the left sideline. Cook finished with 66 yards receiving and 105 all purpose yards.
Keon Coleman benched
Bills coach Sean McDermott seemed tired of answering Keon Coleman questions earlier this week when fans began questioning the second-year player’s effort in a blowout loss to the Dolphins last week.
Coleman reportedly missed a Friday team meeting, and McDermott decided to make the 22-year-old a healthy scratch for the Buccaneers game. The Bills elevated Gabe Davis off the practice squad and signed veteran Mecole Hardman. Palmer also returned from injury to help spark Buffalo’s passing game.
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