Rams outlast Bills comeback effort for 44-42 victory

In a high-level offensive game between two teams, the Rams were able to outlast the Bills on Sunday afternoon to come away with a 44-42 victory.

Los Angeles had a 38-21 with 18 seconds left in the third quarter, but Buffalo mounted a strong comeback effort in the fourth. It took until the final snap for the Rams to secure the victory with a punt that allowed time to expire.

According to the Fox broadcast, it was the second game all-time with at least five passing touchdowns, five rushing touchdowns, and zero turnovers. The last such game was in 1965 when the Chiefs beat the Broncos 45-35 in Week 15.

Josh Allen became the first player to ever have three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in the same regular-season game.

But that wasn’t enough for a victory.

The Rams put together their best offensive performance of the season, with Matthew Stafford passing for 320 yards with two TDs — one to Puka Nacua and the other to Cooper Kupp. The club started 10-of-11 on third down before finishing 11-of-15 in the category.

Kyren Williams rushed for 87 yards with a pair of touchdowns. The Rams also got a blocked punt returned for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Nacua was the star, however, catching 12 passes on 14 targets for 162 yards. Among his best plays, he had a stellar toe-tapping catch along the sideline that helped power a scoring drive.

He also had Los Angeles’ last touchdown that gave the club enough to win. Coming out of the two-minute warning on third-and-5, Stafford hit Nacua with a screen pass for a 19-yard touchdown. Kupp had a key block on the play to spring his fellow wideout.

But the game wasn’t over, as the Bills needed only 54 seconds to get back into the end zone. Buffalo had fourth-and-15 and Los Angeles’ defense kept the drive going with a pass interference penalty. Another pass interference in the end zone put the ball on the L.A. 1-yard line with just over a minute to go. The Bills tried to sneak Josh Allen into the end zone but got stuffed and used a timeout to stop the clock.

Needing a touchdown and a field goal, that was a critical decision by Sean McDermott because it meant that the Bills had to use an onside kick after Allen put the ball in for a 1-yard score.

Up by two points, Rams running back Ronnie Rivers recovered the onside kick. Williams took three carries, allowing the clock to run down to seven seconds. And Ethan Evans put a high punt in the air that took more than seven seconds, allowing the clock to run out.

Allen had another stellar game, adding to his MVP campaign. He finished 22-of-37 for 342 yards with three touchdowns while rushing for 82 yards on 10 carries with three TDs.

Khalil Shakir had five catches for 106 yards with a touchdown while Amari Cooper caught six passes for 95 yards.

Not only were there no turnovers in the contest, there also were not any sacks.

Now at 7-6, the Rams will have a quick turnaround to play the 49ers on the road on Thursday night.

The 10-3 Bills will have another tough road matchup next week when they visit Detroit to play the Lions. They also will not gain any ground on the Chiefs in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed this week.