Josh Allen passed for two touchdowns and rushed for two and the Buffalo Bills rallied from a 14-point deficit to post a 34-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in the season opener for both teams in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Allen completed 18 of 23 passes for 232 yards and touchdowns to Mack Hollins and Khalil Shakir. Allen added 39 yards on nine carries while Greg Rousseau had three sacks and a forced fumble.
Allen said after the game he expects to have X-rays on his heavily taped left hand confirm he won’t miss any time. He landed on the hand on his 6-yard rushing score in the fourth quarter.
Kyler Murray was 21-of-31 passing for 162 yards and one touchdown and had 57 yards on five rushes for the Cardinals. DeeJay Dallas returned a kickoff for a touchdown, James Conner rushed for a score and Michael Wilson had a scoring reception.
Arizona first-round pick Marvin Harrison Jr. had just one catch for 4 yards in his NFL debut.
Buffalo started slow but began recovering from its 14-point deficit just before the end of the first half when Allen scored on a 7-yard keeper with 19 seconds left. That left the Cardinals with a 17-10 lead.
The Bills knotted the score on their first drive of the third quarter when Allen tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Hollins with 9:51 left in the period.
Nearly four minutes later, Rousseau sacked Murray and forced a fumble, and teammate Dorian Williams recovered at the Arizona 21-yard line. Five plays later, Allen hit Shakir on an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Bills a 24-17 lead with 2:37 left.
The Cardinals moved within four on Matt Prater’s 31-yard field goal with 13:32 left in the contest.
Buffalo responded with a 10-play, 70-yard drive to make it 31-20. Allen capped it with a 6-yard run in which he leaped over Arizona star Budda Baker, landing on his hand as he reached the end zone with 8:44 remaining.
But the Cardinals were quickly re-energized as Dallas returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Conner tacked on a 2-point scoring run to pull within three.
Tyler Bass kicked a 39-yard field goal to give Buffalo a six-point lead with 1:56 remaining.
Arizona’s last gasp ended from the Bills’ 29 when Murray’s fourth-down throw was incomplete to Greg Dortch down the left sideline with 26 seconds to play.
The Cardinals opened the game with a 13-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Murray’s 5-yard scoring pass to Wilson.
Arizona later led 10-0 on Prater’s 29-yard field goal three seconds into the second quarter.
The Bills got on the board with Bass’ 37-yard field goal with 9:47 left in the half. But the Cardinals pushed their lead to 17-3 on Conner’s 3-yard run with 2:40 remaining.
–Field Level Media
