Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott argues a call during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, in Inglewood, Calif.Ashley Landis/The Associated Press
Josh Allen continues to reach milestones in his sixth NFL season, but he’s more concerned about getting the Buffalo Bills back into the playoffs.
Allen did his part Saturday night by rushing for two TDs and throwing for one, but it took a 29-yard field goal by Tyler Bass with 28 seconds remaining for the Bills to escape with a 24-22 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Allen became the first player in NFL history with four consecutive seasons of 40 combined touchdowns and the second quarterback to reach 50 career rushing scores.
“It’s tough because when you’re playing a team with nothing to lose, that’s a dangerous team. We gutted it out and we found a way,” said Allen, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 237 yards with an interception. “This is our playoffs. It didn’t matter how we get them done, just get them done.”
The Bills (9-6) have won four of their last five. Buffalo’s playoff chances got some help earlier in the day when Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati.
Indianapolis and Houston are both 8-6 and hold the tiebreaker over the Bills by virtue of a better conference record. If either team loses, Buffalo would control one of the AFC’s final two spots heading into the last two weeks of the season.
Buffalo fell behind 10-0 early in the second quarter but rallied from a double-digit deficit to win for the fourth time since Sean McDermott became coach in 2017.
The Bills turned the ball over three times to keep the short-handed Chargers in the game in their first outing under interim coach Giff Smith. Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco were fired on Dec. 15, one day after the Chargers were pummeled 63-21 at Las Vegas.
“(The Chargers) were doing some things that they hadn’t shown (this season). They came in well-prepared,” McDermott said. “I thought our guys settled in and responded. We did a good job in the red zone and had some big plays on third down to help us out.”
Cameron Dicker kicked a career-high five field goals and Easton Stick passed for 210 yards for Los Angeles (5-10), which has lost six of seven.
“I think we went into this game thinking it was going to be a heavyweight fight, and we wanted to have a chance at the end for a knockout,” Smith said. “We were going to play it a little close to the vest. Get points on the board and give ourself a chance to win, and that’s the way it went. Came up a little bit short.”
Allen had four completions on the 13-play, 64-yard game-winning drive, including a 15-yard reception by Khalil Shakir on third-and-4 at the LA 28 line with 2:29 remaining. Shakir got up after making the catch and ran to the end zone, and officials signaled a touchdown, but a replay review determined he was down by contact.
“As an offense we want to score a touchdown and put them in an even more difficult situation. Obviously not scoring there allowed us to run down the clock down and they wasted their third and final timeout,” Allen said.
Allen leads the league with 40 total touchdowns (27 passing, 13 rushing). His 2-yard run off right tackle with 38 seconds remaining in the second quarter gave the Bills a 14-10 lead.
Allen had a 1-yard sneak late in the third quarter — his 51st career rushing TD — to make it 21-13. Allen benefited from a late push by running back Latavius Murray.
Gabe Davis, who had not caught a pass in the past two games after having six receptions for 105 yards against Philadelphia, had four receptions for a season-high 130 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to get the Bills within 10-7.
Allen scrambled right and found Davis open downfield. Davis hauled in the pass at the Chargers 19 and beat linebacker Kenneth Murray into the end zone. It was Allen’s second-longest completion of the season.
STICKING WITH IT
Stick, making his second NFL start in place of the injured Justin Herbert, was 23 of 33 passing and rushed for a touchdown.
The fifth-year quarterback directed the Chargers to scores on two of their first three drives. He rolled right and scored from 1 yard out early in the second quarter to give Los Angeles a 10-0 lead.
Stick took advantage of a short field after Amen Ogbongbemiga recovered a fumbled punt by the Bills’ Deonte Harty.
“We were able to get the ball into the end zone and take the lead, that’s the way that you want to play it. We just have to consistently execute better so that we feel better at the end,” Stick said.
THAT’S GRAND
James Cook finished with 70 yards on 20 carries and became the first Bills running back to reach 1,000 yards since LeSean McCoy in 2017.
INJURIES
Bills: LB Terrel Bernard missed part of the first quarter due to a non-contact foot injury. … S Damar Hamlin (shoulder) missed part of the first half but was cleared to return. … RB Ty Johnson (shoulder), S Micah Hyde (neck) and DE A.J. Epensesa (rib) were inactive.
Chargers: WR Keenan Allen missed his second straight game and DB Deane Leonard his fourth consecutive, both due to heel injuries.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
