Bills Stay Unbeaten After Rallying Past Chargers in Turnover-Laden Game

The Buffalo Bills won their first two games of the regular season behind a clinic offense. Sunday was a much different story, but despite committing five turnovers and 10 penalties, the Bills hung around and made key plays in the 4th quarter to rally for a 24-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers at the new Highmark Stadium.

The first two turnovers of the game -- a James Cook fumble and a Josh Allen interception -- led to a 10-0 advantage for the Chargers (0-3) by the end of the 1st quarter. Buffalo (3-0) battled back in the 2nd quarter with a Tyler Bass field goal, followed by an Allen touchdown, to tie the game at 10-10 by halftime. After Los Angeles regained the lead with a field goal in the 3rd quarter, its defense forced two more turnovers, giving the Chargers an opportunity to extend its lead. However, Buffalo's defense stepped to the fore; C.J. Gardner-Johnson picked off a Justin Herbert pass, setting up a topsy-turvy, penalty-filled 13-play drive that ended with Allen's second touchdown run of the day. That put the Bills up 17-13 with 7:35 remaining. On the next Charger drive, the Bills forced a turnover on downs and took advantage of a short field with a six-play march culminating with Cook in the end zone, stretching the Buffalo lead to 24-13 with 3:13 left. Los Angeles cut the gap to eight points with a field goal with 1:56 to go, but the Bills recovered the onside kick and ran out the rest of the clock.

After the game, Bills head coach Joe Brady was not happy about the five turnovers his team committed, but he credited his players for sticking together through the adversity...

Joe Brady: players didn't point fingers at each other

James Cook was Buffalo's top offensive player with 24 carries for 154 yards and a touchdown. Josh Allen threw for 204 yards and ran for two touchdowns, but also committed three of the Bills' five turnovers. On defense, Greg Rousseau had two sacks for the third game in a row. For the Chargers, Justin Herbert completed 20 out of 34 passes for 226 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Next week, the Bills will host the New England Patriots in a 1:00 PM kickoff on Sunday.

Photos by the Buffalo Bills