Allen and Bills get back on track in Detroit
The Buffalo Bills got their groove back in the Motor City.
Josh Allen threw a goahead, 5-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs late in the first half and Buffalo beat the Cleveland Browns 31-23 on Sunday after the NFL moved the Bills’ home game to Detroit due to several feet of snow blanketing western New York.
“Back on track,” Diggs said.
The Bills (7-3) avoided blowing a third straight halftime lead by scoring on all five of their possessions in the second half and doing a better job protecting the ball.
Perhaps escaping snowpacked homes — with the help of Bills employees, friends and strangers — will prove to be pivotal for a Super Bowl-contending team that was in a relative slump.
“When you go through a shared experience like this, it can bring a team closer together,” coach Sean McDermott said.
Cleveland (3-7) rallied within eight points, setting up an onside kick in the final seconds that Bills receiver Gabe Davis failed to grab and running back Taiwan Jones knocked out of bounds.
“We’re in search of a win and which way we can get it,” coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I know these guys are putting in the effort. We just have to finish football games, and it’s really frustrating.”
Buffalo lost its raucous home-field advantage, but the team did its best to bring some of the sights and sound familiar at Highmark Stadium, such as a blaring train horn and calls for Bills Mafia to get loud at key moments.
Plenty of supporters from both fan bases attended, chanting “Let’s Go Buffalo!” and barking like dogs.
“It was a cool atmosphere,” Bills safety Jordan Poyer said.
Buffalo, which will return to Detroit to play the Lions on Thanksgiving, started sluggish after a week disrupted by a winter storm.
“We easily could’ve folded and allowed it to be an excuse for us,”
Allen said.
The star quarterback threw some errant passes early before regaining his touch on an 11-play, 78yard drive that took just 1 minute, 40 seconds and ended with Allen’s first pass to Diggs.
“We got into a good rhythm,” McDermott said.
The Bills scored a second-half touchdown for the first time in four games on Devin Singletary’s 5-yard run. They also stopped Jacoby Brissett’s sneak on fourthand-1 from the Buffalo 27 and blocked a field goal in the third quarter while building a 22-10 lead.
The Browns, who have lost six of seven games, missed many opportunities to get back on track with quarterback Deshaun Watson nearing the end of his 11-game NFL suspension.
Brissett finished 28 of 41 for 324 yards — two shy of his career high — and a season-high three touchdowns.