Christian Benford returned a fourth-quarter interception for a touchdown as the Buffalo Bills kept pace in the playoff chase by rallying from a late 10-point deficit in the snow for a 39-34 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Orchard Park, N.Y.
Down 28-25 with less than six minutes remaining, Benford scored when he blitzed off the edge, made a leaping pick of Joe Burrow’s lob and dashed 63 yards for Buffalo’s first lead at 32-28.
AJ Epenesa picked off Burrow’s next throw, and Josh Allen hit Jackson Hawes on fourth down for a 3-yard score to lift Buffalo (9-4) to its fifth win in the past seven games.
Allen completed 22 of 28 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed nine times for 78 yards, including a 40-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
Burrow completed 25 of 36 passes for 284 yards with four scores and two interceptions for Cincinnati (4-9), who lost ground in their AFC North playoff push. Chase Brown scored a pair of TDs, and Tee Higgins had six catches for 92 yards and two TDs.
The Bengals had a hot start as a snow flurry started. They converted four third downs and cashed in when Brown finished with a 5-yard rumble.
Buffalo answered with Matt Prater’s 26-yard field goal, but the Bengals kept up their march as Burrow tossed a 21-yard score to Higgins, who toe-tapped into the end zone’s side for a 14-3 lead with 13:33 remaining in the first half.
Allen tossed an 11-yard TD pass to Khalil Shakir then had a two-point conversion to Dawson Knox (six catches, 93 yards) to trim the deficit to 14-11.
Cincinnati had the half’s final response when Burrow found Brown, who hauled in a diving 10-yarder that was originally ruled short of the goal line but was overturned for a 21-11 advantage.
In the third quarter, the Bills struck first with 9:20 remaining when Allen fired a 5-yard scoring strike to Dalton Kincaid to pull within 21-18. They appeared to be headed for a first lead late in the quarter but James Cook fumbled into the end zone and Oren Burks recovered.
Burrow connected on a 12-yard TD pass to Mike Gesicki, making it 28-18 with 8:44 remaining in the game, but Allen answered with a career-long 40-yard TD run just more than a minute later.
Trailing 39-28, Cincinnati saw Burrow find Higgins from 25 yards for his second TD, but Allen was able to run out the clock after a 17-yard run on third down.
–Field Level Media
