ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen needed just six plays to lead the Bills 70 yards for an opening-drive touchdown before taking a seat in his preseason debut, and Buffalo routed the Denver Broncos’ backups 42-15 on Saturday.
Allen completed all three attempts for 45 yards, capped by a 28-yard touchdown to Gabe Davis in showing he and new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey are on the same page. Backup Case Keenum continued the scoring by closing out the first half overseeing three touchdown drives.
Acquired in a trade with Cleveland this offseason, Keenum bounced back from a sloppy preseason debut by finishing 16 of 18 for 192 yards and a perfectly placed 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end O.J. Howard.
Zach Moss rounded out the first-half scoring with a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, while Duke Johnson scored on 2- and 8-yard runs in the second half.
Buffalo extended its preseason winning streak to 10 games. The run is the NFL’s second-longest active streak behind the Baltimore Ravens, who have won a league-record 21 straight, and play at Arizona on Sunday.
The Broncos took a step back after an encouraging 17-7 preseason-opening win over Dallas, while resting Russell Wilson and many of their starters for a second straight week. Denver’s Brett Rypien finished 22 of 26 for 191 yards and a 1-yard touchdown to Eric Saubert with 10:55 remaining.
COWBOYS 32, CHARGERS 18
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — KaVontae Turpin became the first player in nine seasons to have kickoff and punt return touchdowns in the same game as Dallas beat Los Angeles.
Turpin signed with the Cowboys on July 28 after garnering MVP honors in the United States Football League this past spring. Before Turpin, the last player to run back a punt and kickoff in the same game — preseason, regular season or playoffs — was Detroit’s Jeremy Ross on Dec. 8, 2013, against Philadelphia. Victor Bolden of the San Francisco 49ers was the last player to have a kickoff and punt return during the same preseason in 2017.
After a 22-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins gave the Chargers (0-2) a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter, Turpin returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.
Dallas (1-1) had a 29-10 lead at halftime after a pair of touchdowns in the final minute of the second quarter. That included Turpin’s 86-yard punt return.
Cooper Rush and Will Grier each directed first-half TD drives for the Cowboys, while Rico Dowdle and Malik Davis each had rushing scores.
Easton Stick played the first half for the Chargers and connected with Joshua Palmer on a wide receiver screen for an 18-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Chargers a short-lived 10-7 advantage.
CHIEFS 24, COMMANDERS 14
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes led two similar touchdown drives and Kansas City defeated Washington in a preseason game.
The first one was a 12-play, 87-yard drive in 5:28, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jody Fortson. The second was a 12-play, 82-yard drive that took 5:25 and was capped by a 7-yard touchdown to Fortson.
Mahomes finished 12 of 19 for 162 yards. In two preseason games, Mahomes has played three series and led three touchdown drives.
Washington starter Carson Wentz played three series and finished 6 of 9 for 64 yards.
Commanders backups Taylor Heinicke and Sam Howell led touchdown drives. Heinicke led an 11-play, 84-yard drive, capped by a 9-yard TD to Cam Sims just before halftime. Howell led a 93-yard drive in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 17-14.
STEELERS 16, JAGUARS 15
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Kenny Pickett’s second preseason performance was as impressive as his first, and it came against better competition. Pittsburgh’s rookie quarterback was 6 of 7 for 76 yards and a touchdown in a victory at Jacksonville.
Pickett, who threw two second-half TD passes while working with backups last week against Seattle, was on the field much earlier against the Jaguars. The former Pitt standout, who will likely start the season as Mitch Trubisky’s backup, has completed 19 of 22 passes for 171 yards in the preseason, with three touchdowns and no turnovers.
Trubisky was 5 of 8 for 60 yards, ending three drives with two punts and a missed 53-yard field goal. Mason Rudolph’s 1-yard TD pass to rookie Tyler Snead on fourth-and-goal from the 1 put the Steelers ahead for good with 1:07 remaining.
The Jaguars dominated early, with second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence leading four drives that crossed midfield. They ended with a missed field goal, two makes and a turnover on downs. Lawrence completed 14 of 21 passes for 133 yards, including a perfectly placed 14-yarder to Marvin Jones after which Lawrence playfully wagged his index finger at a defender.
Christian Kirk, who signed a four-year, $72 million contract in free agency, had five receptions for 54 yards in his Jaguars preseason debut.
LIONS 27, COLTS 26
INDIANAPOLIS — Godwin Igwebuike’s 2-yard scoring run gave Detroit a late lead and the defense stopped a 2-point conversion attempt in the final minute to hold on for a victory in a preseason game.
Igwebuike’s tiebreaking score came with 4:03 to play. He had seven carries for 32 yards.
But most of the attention was focused on quarterbacks David Blough and Tim Boyle.
Blough got the starting nod one week after his late turnover cost the Lions a win and rebounded nicely. He threw a 5-yard TD pass to tie the score at 13 as time expired in the first half and finished 16 of 22 with 76 yards and one interception while rushing three times for 18 yards.
Boyle took over in the second half and threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Tom Kennedy on Detroit’s first series to make it 20-13. But Sam Ehlinger connected with a wide-open Dezmon Patmon, who rolled over and stretched the ball across the goal line for a 50-yard score to make it 20-20.
TITANS 13, BUCCANEERS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rookie Malik Willis threw the first touchdown of his NFL career and Tennessee beat Tampa Bay in its exhibition home opener.
It was the second straight start for the third-round draft pick out of Liberty, who is competing to be Ryan Tannehill’s backup. Willis was sacked three times while playing a series into the third quarter. He ran five times for 42 yards with a long of 24 yards to set up the first field goal and was 7 of 17 for 80 yards passing with a 75.6 passer rating. He capped Tennessee’s final drive of the first half by finding fellow rookie Chig Okonkwo with a 6-yard pass for the first TD of both their pro careers.
Veteran Ryan Succop, trying to hold off Jose Borregales, sneaked a 52-yard field goal over the crossbar late in the third quarter for the Bucs.
With Tom Brady out for a second straight preseason game in his personal break from the Bucs, Blaine Gabbert started and played the first two series going 3 of 5 passing for 13 yards. Kyle Trask finished the game and threw for 105 yards. But he was intercepted just before halftime for a second straight week.
RAIDERS 15, DOLPHINS 13
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played in just two series in his preseason debut as Miami fell to Las Vegas.
It was the first look at Tagovailoa in the Dolphins’ new system after the team brought in former 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel as the new head coach. Playing with most of his starters, Tagovailoa was 6 of 8 for 58 yards.
Jarrett Stidham led the Raiders on a touchdown drive on the team’s first possession and completed 7 of 10 passes for 80 yards and was sacked once. The score came on a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Zamir White, who could be the Raiders’ No. 1 option to back up starter Josh Jacobs. Jacobs did not play.
Skylar Thompson threw for Miami’s only touchdown — a 19-yard connection with fellow rookie running back ZaQuandre White in the fourth quarter.
49ERS 17, VIKINGS 7
MINNEAPOLIS — Nate Sudfeld led a 14-play, 79-yard drive for a go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter and San Francisco beat Minnesota in a preseason game featuring mostly backups.
Sudfeld started and went 13 of 17 for 102 yards in the competition with rookie Brock Purdy to back up starting quarterback Trey Lance. JaMychal Hasty caught the touchdown toss from Sudfeld and rookie Danny Gray hauled in a 2-point conversion after a busted coverage by Minnesota.
It was largely a sloppy performance for both teams after nearly all the projected first-team players were held out. The teams were coming off a week of joint practices. There were four combined turnovers, three by Minnesota, with three fumbles — with each team losing one. San Francisco averaged 4.6 yards per play and the Vikings were held to 3.9 yards per play in their first home game with Kevin O’Connell as head coach.
Vikings rookie Ty Chandler had 19 yards rushing, including a 3-yard TD.