The Buffalo Bills beat the Los Angeles Rams 37-34 in overtime on Monday night, in a game that went from sleepy to wild after halftime. Greg Rousseau blocked what would have been the Rams’ game-winning field goal, and Tyler Bass then hit a 45-yarder with 1:55 left in overtime to send Buffalo to 4-1.
It was Josh Allen’s first overtime win of his career, after seven losses including the playoffs, NFL.com noted. The two teams combined for 890 yards, nearly all of it after a first half that produced just 20 points.
How did the Bills beat the Rams in overtime?
It nearly went the other way. On Buffalo’s first overtime drive, Khalil Shakir broke a 57-yard catch-and-run to the Rams’ 22. On the very next play, Rams linebacker Nate Landman punched the ball out of James Cook’s hands and Los Angeles recovered. Matthew Stafford drove the Rams to the Buffalo 30, but on third-and-5 Sean McVay called a handoff instead of a pass, and Harrison Mevis came on for a 48-yard try. Rousseau got a hand on it.
Allen took over from there, running for 19 and 13 yards to set up Bass. “That’s the beautiful thing about football: You get another drive,” Allen said, the AP reported. “You’re hoping someone on defense or special teams can make a play, and that’s what happened. Greg Rousseau made a play.”
Who were the stars of Bills vs. Rams?
- Josh Allen: 121 rushing yards on 10 carries with a touchdown, plus 210 passing yards, a touchdown to Keon Coleman and an interception.
- James Cook: 111 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries, including the go-ahead score with 1:39 left in regulation, but also two fumbles, one lost in overtime.
- Matthew Stafford: 40 of 54 for 383 yards and three touchdowns, leading a 63-yard drive in about a minute and a half to tie it in the final seconds.
- Puka Nacua: a career-high 17 catches for 138 yards and a touchdown, a Monday Night Football record for catches, per ProFootballTalk.
- Davante Adams: two touchdown catches, tying Larry Fitzgerald for sixth-most in NFL history with 121.
What went wrong for the Rams?
The kicking game, again. Mevis missed a 50-yarder in the first quarter before the blocked kick in overtime, and the Bills’ Ray Davis returned the opening kickoff 70 yards. “The kicking game, with our PAT, field goal (unit), not even close to good enough,” McVay said. “It cost us the game tonight.” He also second-guessed himself: “I wish I would have had a better play call and gone for it. … I’m sick right now with myself.”
On Tuesday, the Rams moved on from Mevis and signed kicker Blake Grupe, ProFootballTalk reported. Los Angeles falls to 2-3. Buffalo, 4-1 under first-year head coach Joe Brady, looks every bit like the Super Bowl contender people picked in August.
The BeezLoop Take
This was the best game of the season so far, and it was decided by the least glamorous part of football. The Rams had the better quarterback night and the better receiver night, and lost because they couldn’t make a kick or trust their quarterback on third-and-5.
McVay deserves credit for saying it out loud, but cutting the kicker doesn’t fix the decision to play it safe with Stafford rolling. That one was on the coach.
The open question: if these two meet again in February, which team fixes its weakness first, the Rams’ kicking or the Bills’ fumbles?
Also on BeezLoop: the rest of NFL Week 5, from a 57-yard winner in London to the Giants-Commanders tie.
Sources: Associated Press via Yahoo Sports · NFL.com · ProFootballTalk · NFL (video)
