The Buffalo Bills helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers make it a little too close for comfort.
But in the end, the Bills had a dominant enough showing to secure a 24-18 home win over the Buccaneers at the Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York on Thursday Night Football. Josh Allen led the way for the Bills, airing it out for 324 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for a TD as well.
After scrambling for a 13-yard touchdown and finding rookie Dalton Kincaid on a 22-yard TD strike, Allen led the Bills to a 17-10 halftime lead.
They'd add to that immediately in the second half when Allen authored a nine-play, 75-yard drive, punctuating it with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Davis to extend the Bills' lead to 24-10.
With the Bills leading comfortably in the fourth quarter, their defense committed an illegal contact penalty and face mask penalty to throw Tampa a life line on two separate 4th down possessions. That would help pave the way toward a 24-yard touchdown strike from Mayfield to Mike Evans, ending a 17-play, 92-yard drive. The Bucs would tack on a successful 2-point conversion to pull within 24-18 with 2:44 left in the game.
They'd even get the ball back with 21 seconds left, though their chances for a wild comeback would end in an incomplete hailmary attempt from Mayfield into the end zone, where wideout Chris Godwin might have had a chance to haul in the miracle pass had he turned around a second earlier.
Nevertheless, Allen was stellar in leading the Bills as he spread the ball around efficiently to his receiving corps. Khalil Shakir had six receptions for 92 yards and Davis totaled nine catches for 87 yards and one touchdown. Stefon Diggs had nine receptions for 70 yards and Kincaid recorded five receptions for 65 yards and one TD.
With the victory, the Bills improve to 5-3. The Buccaneers fall to 3-4, having lost three straight games.
Here's how the entire Bills-Buccaneers' game went.