Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another — shrugging off an injury to his throwing shoulder — and the Buffalo Bills held on to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18 on Thursday night.
After a week of questions about his low-energy approach and Buffalo’s slow-starting offense, Allen came through for the Bills (5-3) and threw for 324 yards on 31-of-40 passing. He was listed on the Bills report with a right shoulder injury and was checked into the blue medical tent in the second quarter, but remained in the game.
Gabriel Davis had a career-best nine catches for 87 yards and a touchdown, and rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid scored his first career TD on a catch of 22 yards.
Buffalo’s defense limited the Baker Mayfield-led Buccaneers offense to less than 200 yards of offense through three quarters and 302 total. And Bills punter Sam Martin contributed by landing three punts inside Tampa Bay’s 10.
Mayfield tried to rally Tampa Bay (3-4) late. He threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans, followed by a 2-point conversion to Cade Oton, to get the Buccaneers within six with 2:44 left. But it took Tampa Bay 17 plays and 7:21 to march 92 yards for that score.
The game ended with Mayfield’s Hail Mary attempt from his own 45 fell between several players in the end zone. The Buccaneers have lost three in a row and four of five since opening 2-0.
Buffalo built a 17-10 lead at halftime and never trailed again. That was seven more points than the Bills had combined in the first half of their previous three games, two of which they lost.
Having a lead took the pressure off a defense missing three key starters.
Mayfield finished 25 of 42 for 237 yards and two touchdowns, including a three-yarder from Chris Godwin, who was closest to Mayfield’s final throw when it fell untouched to the turf. Running back Rachaad White led the Bucs with seven catches for 70 yards and had nine carries for 39 yards.
Tampa Bay’s defense was missing both defensive tackles. Vita Vea was ruled out with a groin injury and Logan Hall hurt his groin during pre-match warmups.
Allen took advantage and topped 300 meters for the 23rd time in his career.
His TD run was the 43rd of his career, tying Steve Young for second-most all-time among quarterbacks. And he now has 199 combined passing and rushing touchdowns, tying Hall of Famer Dan Marino for second-most among quarterbacks in their first six seasons.
Allen said Tuesday that he may be partially responsible for Buffalo’s slow-moving offense after making a conscious decision last month to hold his emotions in check. Allen called it a “low-positive” approach and acknowledged that he may have gone too far in lowering his energy levels.
The only thing subdued about Allen was his touchdown celebration after his 13-yard scoring run. Allen stood in the left corner of the end zone in front of a cheering crowd and casually walked onto the sideline after being congratulated by several teammates.
On the play before his TD run, Allen was sacked on the sideline, and that hit sent him to the medical tent to have his shoulder examined. He returned in time for Buffalo’s next drive, but threw an interception when his pass went off the fingers of Antoine Winfield Jr. was deflected and was caught by defensive lineman William Gholston.
The Buccaneers scored two plays later on Mayfield’s pass to Godwin, tying the game at 10.
Allen then led Buffalo on a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by the quarterback rolling right and throwing across his body and finding Kincaid open over the middle.
Everything the offense seemed to lack over the past three weeks seemed to be corrected. The Bills changed their rhythm by going up-tempo at times to keep the Bucs off balance. And Allen attacked the center of the field, something he was afraid to do in his previous two outings.