Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes in the first half and the Buffalo Bills scored on each of their first five drives in a 47-10 win over a misfiring Trevor Lawrence and the unraveling Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night.
Allen went 22 of 28 for 247 yards in the first 30 minutes alone, with completions to nine receivers. He only attempted two passes after halftime, finishing 23 of 30 for 263 yards before Mitchell Trubisky replaced him.
And Allen spread the wealth, completing touchdown passes to Dalton Kincaid, Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir and Ty Johnson. James Cook opened the scoring with a six-yard run.
Buffalo’s defense, meanwhile, limited the Jaguars to 70 yards, five first downs and a field goal in five first-half possessions. The game was essentially over when Allen completed a 16-yard TD pass to Johnson 19 seconds before halftime.
Safety Damar Hamlin contributed to the rout with his first career interception. He easily picked off Lawrence’s overthrown pass intended for rookie Brian Thomas Jr. Five plays later, Allen completed a 27-yard TD pass to Shakir, who caught the ball at the 22 and broke two tackles running up the right sideline for the score.
Hamlin’s interception came some 21 months after he went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field in a game at Cincinnati, which was also played on a Monday night.
“We all know my last [Monday night] game and how that game went,” said Hamlin, now a starter after spending last season serving in a backup role. “So to be able to come all the way back from that, and have a special moment, it’s all God.”
The four-time defending AFC East champions are off to their first 3-0 start since 2020 and the third since coach Sean McDermott took over in 2017. They have topped 30 points in each game this season.
The Jaguars, meanwhile, are in free fall. They last opened 0-3 in 2021 under coach Urban Meyer, who was fired before the end of the season. Jacksonville’s latest defeat comes a week after Lawrence expressed his frustrations by saying “We suck right now” following an 18-13 loss to Cleveland.
Washington Commanders 38–33 Cincinnati Bengals
Rookie Jayden Daniels threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score in a remarkably efficient performance, and the Washington Commanders stunned Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals 38-33.
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Daniels finished 21 of 23 for 254 yards, with the No 2 overall draft pick setting an NFL rookie record for completion percentage in a single game at 91.3%. The Commanders (2-1) scored on every possession except for kneel-downs at the end of each half and have not punted or turned the ball over in their last two games.
Neither Washington nor Cincinnati punted or turned it over, the first time that has happened in the Super Bowl era.
Burrow threw for 324 yards and three scores, but the Bengals (0-3) simply couldn’t keep up. Cincinnati are off to their worst start since dropping their first 11 games on the way to a 2-14 finish in 2019.
Daniels’ first career touchdown pass was a one-yard toss to eligible tackle Trent Scott to start the second half, the second straight game in which the Bengals gave up a TD to a lineman. And Daniels stayed in the pocket, took a hit and connected brilliantly with Terry McLaurin from 27 yards out with 2:10 remaining for the game-sealing score.
In the first half, Washington got rushing touchdowns from Brian Robinson Jr, Austin Ekeler and Daniels. McLaurin had four receptions for 100 yards.
