Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills needed overtime to get past the Los Angeles Rams, 37-34, on Monday night at SoFi Stadium, with kicker Tyler Bass ending it on a 45-yard field goal. The Bills quarterback finished with 210 passing yards and a touchdown through the air, and he added 121 yards and another score on the ground.
Across the field, Matthew Stafford put up even bigger passing numbers for the Rams, completing 40 of 54 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns in a losing effort. Even so, the Rams could not close it out before overtime, and the Bills improved to 4-1.
Not everything from the night ended with the final score, though. A defensive play late in the second quarter involving safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson has left the Bills with a question that the win did not answer, and it traces back to a flag thrown with the Rams driving near midfield.
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With 2:26 left before halftime, the Rams faced second-and-16 from their own 41-yard line when Stafford’s short pass toward tight end Tyler Higbee fell incomplete. The Buffalo safety then delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit on the defenseless Higbee, drawing an unnecessary roughness flag.
The 15-yard penalty moved Los Angeles to the Buffalo 44, but the drive ended in a punt. The league’s 2026 fine schedule lists $17,911 for a first offense of hitting a defenseless player and $23,882 for a repeat.
The Buffalo defender already has an $11,194 fine from a hip-drop tackle against Detroit in Week 2, and both fouls fall under the NFL’s five emphasized player-safety categories.
Another fine would end any partial refund and require a meeting with league officials and his coaches, while a suspension would only become possible after three such fouls.
Gardner-Johnson, in his first season with Buffalo, has 25 combined tackles, one interception and two passes defensed through five games, including seven tackles against the Rams. He also allowed a touchdown to Davante Adams and briefly left Monday’s game with a lower-body injury before returning.
The Bills will visit the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, with kickoff set for 4:25 p.m. ET.
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