The Buffalo Bills beat the Los Angeles Rams 37-34 in overtime on Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium.
The sharpest detail is the ending Josh Allen had waited his whole career for, because this was the first overtime win of his career after he started 0-7 in overtime games.
Twenty Points In The Fourth, Then Overtime
Regulation did not look like it would be enough for Los Angeles until the fourth quarter changed the game completely. The Rams scored 20 points in the fourth, and Kyren Williams scored on a one yard run with five seconds left in regulation to tie the game 34-34. A game Buffalo appeared to control was suddenly level, with overtime deciding a Monday night game that had already been tied four times, with the lead changing hands six times.
Overtime then turned on special teams, twice. Greg Rousseau blocked Harrison Mevis’s 48 yard attempt on the Rams’ overtime possession, keeping Los Angeles off the board. Tyler Bass finished the job at the other end, kicking the winning 45 yard field goal with 1:55 left in overtime. In a game full of touchdowns, the two plays that settled it were a blocked kick and a 45 yard field goal.
Allen Gets The Win That Kept Escaping Him
Allen threw for 210 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown, a dual threat line that kept Buffalo moving even when the passing game was contained. James Cook ran for two touchdowns for Buffalo, which improved to 4-1. Across from them, Matthew Stafford threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns for Los Angeles, now 2-3, with Davante Adams catching two of those touchdowns.
Allen was honest afterward about what this particular result meant to him personally:
“I haven’t been a fan of overtime games in my career, so we get the first one. We’ll take it.” Josh Allen to Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter, via ClutchPoints
A 0-7 record in overtime is a strange mark for a quarterback of Allen’s level, and it had become part of his story in close games. For other primetime finishes in this launch, see Panthers Hold Off Lions In Primetime and Buccaneers Upset Cowboys For First Win, two more Week 4 and Week 5 night games decided late.
By The Numbers
- Final score: Buffalo Bills 37, Los Angeles Rams 34 in overtime, Monday Night Football on Oct. 12 at SoFi Stadium
- Tyler Bass kicked the winning 45 yard field goal with 1:55 left in overtime
- Greg Rousseau blocked Harrison Mevis’s 48 yard attempt on the Rams’ overtime possession
- Los Angeles scored 20 fourth quarter points; Kyren Williams tied it with five seconds left in regulation
- Josh Allen: 210 passing yards and a touchdown, 121 rushing yards and a touchdown; first overtime win of his career
- Matthew Stafford threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns; Buffalo improved to 4-1, Los Angeles fell to 2-3
The back and forth shape of the game explains why the finish felt so large. Four ties and six lead changes mean neither team ever owned the night for long, and Stafford’s 383 passing yards kept Los Angeles dangerous even while Buffalo’s ground game, led by Cook’s two touchdowns and Allen’s 121 rushing yards, controlled long stretches. A game like that usually turns on which quarterback gets the last clean possession. Thanks to Rousseau’s blocked kick, Allen got it, and Bass, from 45 yards, made sure the first overtime win of the Allen era finally arrived.
Buffalo’s Monday Night Statement
For southern Ontario readers, Buffalo is the home market NFL team in every practical sense, and a Monday night classic like this is the game the region talks about on Tuesday morning. The Bills are 4-1, they survived a 20 point fourth quarter against them, and they won the kind of game, overtime on the road, that had always gone the other way for their quarterback.
There is a standings value and a belief value here, and the belief value may be larger. Allen’s overtime record is now 1-7 instead of 0-8, a small change in the standings column that removes a real talking point about this team in the biggest moments. Buffalo did not play a clean finish. It gave up the tying touchdown with five seconds left, then blocked a kick, then drove for Bass and his 45 yard winner. Winning ugly in overtime, on Monday night, is still winning, and for this quarterback it had never happened before.
