INGLEWOOD, Calif. - As Harrison Mevis was lining up for what certainly felt like the death blow for the Buffalo Bills, tight end Dawson Knox stood on the sideline ready to go back on the field.
And no, he wasn’t talking about going out to catch up with a few Los Angeles Rams in the weekly lovefest that takes place when the final point has been scored, or the clock runs out.
“I had my helmet buckled and I was ready to go on the field,” Knox said Monday night after one of the wildest, and if we’re being very honest, fortunate victories in recent Bills’ lore, a 37-34 overtime survival at SoFi Stadium. “You have to prepare for the case that you're going to go back on the field. That's what we were prepared to do, that's what everyone was ready to do.”
OK, let’s take Knox’s word for it because that’s the mindset of a professional athlete. As coach Joe Brady said, “We watch situations across the NFL every week, and until that clock hits zero, you keep playing.”
Still, the reality of the situation was that it was not looking good for the Bills when the ball was snapped, holder Ethan Evans put it on the ground, and Mevis’ right foot made contact with the ball with 4:16 left in the extra period.
But then it was immediately clear that something was amiss. The ball entered the air space with a wobble to it, and that’s because Buffalo’s 6-foot-6 linebacker, Greg Rousseau, was able to leap up and get his hand on the ball and it fluttered toward the goal post and fell underneath the cross bar.
No good, new life for the Bills, and that was all Josh Allen needed. He ripped off huge scrambles of 13 and 19 yards to position the ball at the LA 27, and Tyler Bass came on to take his crack at ending the game, and unlike Mevis he succeeded, drilling the walk off 45-yarder.
“That's football,” Allen said. “You can be down and out one play, the next play you're on top of the world, and again, that's just how it rolled for us today. It's awesome. That's who T-Bass is. We trust him implicitly to go out there and drill a kick to win a game. It feels pretty good.”
The Bills improved to 4-1, and that keeps them a game ahead of the Patriots in the AFC East as they head into a week on the West Coast to prepare for Sunday’s game at Las Vegas.
Here are some of my observations from a wild and crazy night:
Greg Rousseau saved the day
This was not a great game by Rousseau or anyone on the overmatched and overwhelmed Buffalo defense as they gave up 33 first downs, 454 yards and 34 points.
There was zero resistance by the pass defenders, partly because the pass rush could not affect Matthew Stafford because he was getting rid of the ball so quickly with underneath throws to Puke Nacua and his other weapons. Oh, and the Bills’ defensive backs couldn’t cover anyone, least of all Nacua who set a career high with 17 catches.
However, in the games’ biggest moment, it was Rousseau who stood tall - literally - and batted away the Rams’ chance at victory, a stunning play that could prove to be a huge one in the standings by season’s end because it turned almost certain defeat into victory.
“We all were doing our job, and I get credit for it, but it’s not a one-person play,” Rousseau said. “Just turning my shoulders and just getting my hands up, and it was a longer kick so it made it easier to hit it. But shout to my teammates, though.”
James Cook nearly cost the Bills the game
Cook had another excellent performance as he ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns, but his fumbling issues are a major problem.
He nearly cost the Bills a victory in Houston when he fumbled late in the fourth quarter deep in Buffalo territory, only to be rescued by O’Cyrus Torrence. He fumbled in the third quarter of this game, and Torrence again bailed him out.
But in overtime, with the Bills already in scoring position at the Rams’ 22, Nate Landman poked the ball out and there were no Bills to save him as Landman made the recovery.
At that moment, it felt like Cook had just lost the game because Buffalo’s defense stood zero chance of preventing the Rams from driving for a score. Sure enough, the Rams did indeed move into position but Rousseau foiled it, and when he blocked that kick, ESPN caught Cook on camera looking stunned that he was off the hook.
“Very disappointed, could have just changed the game,” Cook said. “Just gotta hold on to it, man. Work on it each and every day, but can't be down on myself, we got the victory. That's why it's called a team sport. So just keep chopping and keep fixing on it.”
Josh Allen was back to being Superman
Josh Allen cannot be stopped 🏃@BUFvsLAR on ESPN
— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2026
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/ha3oxH1VpL
Last week in the loss to the Patriots, Allen rushed for just four yards, the ninth-lowest total in his 132-game regular season career. Monday, Allen donned the cape and shredded the Rams for 121 yards, the second-highest of his career, topped only by the 135 he had against Miami in his 2018 rookie season.
And the Bills needed every one of those yards because the passing game - minus receivers DJ Moore and Joshua Palmer - struggled all night and Allen completed just 12 passes, though they went for 210 yards thanks to four explosive completions that totaled 154 of those yards.
“That's just the way the game rolled,” Allen said. “It's a really good secondary, it's a really good defense.”
Allen has said that he wants to be more judicious with his mad dashes because at 30 years of age now, he knows he has to start limiting the punishment he takes. But all that went out the window because he knew he had to run if the Bills were going to win.
“Listen, when it's there, it's there, but I don't want to make a living in that,” he said. “I understand that, but I do know how much of a backbreaker that can be on a defense when you feel like you're in pretty good coverage, and the D-line felt like they were getting into good spots. Was just feeling like there was some room to maneuver in (the pocket), and just finding ways to keep the chains moving there, especially late in the game.”
The pass defense was egregious
Allen attempted just 19 passes, making this just the ninth time in his career in games that he started and played the entire way where he did throw 20 times. All by himself, Nacua was targeted 24 times by Matthew Stafford, and why not? The Bills couldn’t cover him all night.
It was laughable at times how easy Stafford and Nacua were hooking up and the reason was obvious: Rookie Davison Igbinosun played 50 coverage snaps, Damar Hamlin and practice squad call up Anthony Kendall played 28 each, and Max Hairston — who lost his starting job to Igbinosun — played 13.
Right now, none of those four are starter-worthy players and they were helpless as Stafford completed 40 of 54 attempts for 383 yards and three TDs.
“Obviously a lot to clean up, but first and foremost we needed to stop the run,” Brady said. “That’s a running football team when they’re at their best.”
Yeah, they are, but the Rams made the decision very early on to not even worry about running because they knew they could throw at will and Buffalo was powerless to stop them.
“They obviously passed the ball for a lot, but we didn’t give up the explosive passes on a consistent basis,” Brady said which was partly true because there were five completions of at least 21 yards. “We had some injuries in the secondary and guys didn’t blink. I think 40-for-54, that’s obviously a lot of passes. (Nacua) got 24 targets. That’s more attempts than we had for the game.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills fortunate to beat Rams and 4 other takeaways from improbable win
