Orchard Park, NY – Josh Allen led the Buffalo Bills to the Miami Dolphins 4-yard line with eight seconds left before halftime on Saturday night.
Allen had another set of downs and probably had two shots to try for six points, but when he came back to pass, his instincts kicked in. He started all the way to his left and took several steps across the field before deciding to break out of the pocket.
By the time he reached the touchline, there was only one second left on the clock. So he scanned the end zone one last time and gave a pass prayer to rookie running back James Cook. After dropping the ball, he slid onto the grass, lay there for a while, closed his eyes, and waited to hear if Bills Mafia cheered.
Bills coach Sean McDermott said Allen was “very lucky” to hear cheers. Cook caught the ball and fell to the ground to secure the touchdown and an eight-point lead for the Bills at halftime. Buffalo lost the lead in the second half, but Allen held his team back with two scoring drives in the fourth quarter. The Bills won on a 25-yard field goal from Tyler Bass at the end of regulation, 32-29.
McDermott said Allen’s improvisation on the touchdown pass late in the second quarter to find Cook was important for the Bills.
“Yeah, go down to 0:00 on the clock and throw a touchdown, right? He’s lucky he threw a touchdown pass right there,” McDermott said. and me — I probably would have punctured his tires, maybe, after the game. He’ll learn from this one. And maybe I’ll learn a little bit too.
Part of the roller coaster ride with Allen is the spectacular plays he manages to make in the weakest situations. McDermott has learned to let Allen be himself in the big moments because he usually finds a way to make a winning play.
Allen finished with 381 total yards and four passing touchdowns against the Dolphins, almost single-handedly keeping the Bills in the game as their defense struggled to stop Miami’s running game. Leslie Frazier’s group also conceded some explosive plays in the passing game.
But no matter how much offense the Dolphins were able to muster against the Bills, Allen responded at every opportunity. When pitching to Cook, Allen said he knew it would be a really good play or a really stupid play.
“I threw it away and in my head I’m like I know I’ve wasted too much time,” he said. “I know zero seconds on the clock and I just slide on the floor and lay there and waited for the cheers. Thank goodness the cheers came because you need to have points before halftime. I shouldn’t have put myself in this situation but again I found a way to make a game.”
Cook was one of three Bills players to catch his first touchdown pass of the season. Backup tight end Quintin Morris caught Allen’s first touchdown pass and running back Nyheim Hines, who was acquired via trade from the Indianapolis Colts before the deadline, brought in the number two.
Allen set the tying score at Dawson Knox stealing by three Dolphins tacklers on a quarterback run that went for 44 yards.
“I just relied on the angle I was running from and found a way through,” Allen said. “That’s really all it was, I felt like Forrest Gump.”
Allen became just the third quarterback in NFL history (Russell Wilson and Michael Vick) to record three career games with 300+ passing yards and 75+ rushing yards. Allen also tied Dan Marino for the most career touchdowns (171) in a player’s first five seasons in the NFL.
Knox finished with six catches for 98 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Nothing about Allen’s game is unexpected for the Bills at this point.
“It’s not even surprising at this point,” Knox said. “You’re just like, oh, there’s Josh who’s Josh again. He’s the best quarterback in the league, the best football player in the league. So whenever you have him in your team, you have a chance to win.
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