BUFFALO QUARTERBACK JOSH Allen was near-perfect in guiding the Bills to a 48-20 victory over Miami on Sunday, with the Dolphins’ defeat leaving San Francisco and Philadelphia as the NFL’s only unbeaten teams.
Allen threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as Buffalo’s offense stole the spotlight from a Dolphins squad that had hung 70 points on the Denver Broncos last week.
Stefon Diggs had six receptions for 120 yards and three touchdowns and the Bills defense clamped down to limit the explosive Dolphins offense led by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Meanwhile, Christian McCaffrey ran riot for the 49ers, scoring a career-high four touchdowns in a 35-16 victory over NFC West rivals Arizona that saw San Francisco improve to 4-0.
In another key division matchup, the Eagles improved to 4-0 with a 34-31 overtime victory over the Washington Commanders sealed by Jake Elliott’s 54-yard field goal.
In Buffalo, the Bills scored on eight of their first nine possessions and never trailed on the way to a third straight victory, denying Miami’s bid for a two-game lead atop the AFC East division.
A game that promised plenty of offensive fireworks saw the first five drives produce five touchdowns, with the Bills taking a 21-14 lead.
Buffalo’s defense began to get the measure of Tagovailoa and the Dolphins, piling up four sacks and limiting Miami to six points after halftime.
Diggs’s first touchdown put Buffalo up 21-14 and his second, a 55-yard catch and run that saw him shake off two defenders as he raced up the sideline, took it to 28-14.
Bills Coach Sean McDermott said he wasn’t surprised to see Allen and Diggs setting a tone.
“Big-time players have big-time games in these type settings,” McDermott said.
McCaffrey put on a scintillating show at the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium, gaining 177 yards from scrimmage and scoring on three runs and one catch.
Now with a touchdown in 13 straight games, including playoffs, he broke a franchise record set by the great Jerry Rice.
The mark fell when McCaffrey scored on a one-yard run on the opening drive. On the second he took a lateral pass and leapt over a defender to reach the end zone. He caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy in the second quarter and ran two yards for a TD in the fourth.
The Eagles had to work overtime to remain unbeaten atop the NFC East. Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns.
His 28-yard scoring pass to A.J. Brown with 1:28 left in regulation gave Philadelphia a 31-24 lead, but the Commanders responded with a drive capped by Sam Howell’s scoring pass to Jahan Dotson to force overtime and it needed Elliott’s fourth field goal of the contest to seal it.
“We showed up when it mattered the most,” Hurts said.
The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs held off the New York Jets 23-20 in a surprisingly tight game that made headlines for the appearance of pop superstar Taylor Swift, who has struck up a friendship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 18 of 30 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two interceptions that helped the Jets claw out of an early 17-0 hole to tie the score at 20-20 in the third quarter.
Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, who got the job after four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers was injured in the opening game of the season, ably piloted New York’s fightback, but Harrison Butker’s 26-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter gave Kansas City the lead for good.
A Wilson fumble gave the Chiefs the ball with less than eight minutes remaining and Kansas City ate up the clock with a drive that featured a 24-yard scramble from Mahomes and a defensive holding call on New York’s Sauce Gardner that negated an interception of a Mahomes pass.
In Dallas, the Cowboys handed iconic New England coach Bill Belichick the most lopsided defeat of his career with their 38-3 drubbing of the Patriots.
Dallas cornerback DaRon Bland returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown and the Cowboys’ Leighton Vander Esch ran a fumble back for a score.
Pats quarterback Mac Jones, who was responsible for all three of those turnovers, was benched in the second half of the defeat that left Belichick, who guided the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles, still in search of a 300th regular-season win.
The Patriots’ previous worst defeat under Belichick was a 31-0 loss at Buffalo in 2003.
The rout made for a rough homecoming for former Dallas star Ezekiel Elliott, despite the Cowboys’ video tribute before the game.
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