Josh Allen’s 26-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-2 with just over two minutes left sealed the Bills’ 30-21 win in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday as Buffalo dealt the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season.
Facing the choice of attempting a short field goal or handing the two-time defending Super Bowl champions and quarterback Patrick Mahomes the ball with time to drive downfield for a win, Bills coach Sean McDermott turned the game over to Allen, who first looked to pass, then diced through a Chiefs defense that is among the league’s best against the run.
Allen completed 27 of 40 passes for 262 yards and led the Bills (9-2) with 55 rushing yards.
With the Bills’ defense containing Mahomes, Allen bloomed in the fourth quarter. His 12-yard scoring pass to Curtis Samuel with 12:51 left punctuated a 10-play, 83-yard drive that took just over six minutes off the clock and gave the Bills a 23-14 lead.
But Mahomes led the Chiefs 70 yards in 4:58 to trim Buffalo’s lead to 23-21 on his second touchdown pass of the day — a 1-yarder — to tight end Noah Gray.
Mahomes finished with 196 yards, three TDs and two interceptions on 23-of-33 passing for Kansas City (9-1).
Buffalo has won six straight games this season and the past four regular-season games in the all-time series with Kansas City. The eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs eliminated the Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs in Buffalo in January, though.
A first half that featured four lead changes ended with the Bills leading 16-14 after Buffalo’s Tyler Bass kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired.
James Cook gave the Bills a 6-0 lead just five minutes into the game with a 3-yard scoring run, but the extra-point try was no good.
The Chiefs took a 7-6 lead seven seconds into the second quarter on Mahomes’ 10-yard TD pass to Xavier Worthy.
Buffalo responded immediately, however, using a 6-yard run to the end zone by Cook to grab a 13-7 lead.
–Field Level Media
