DETROIT (AP) Josh Allen threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Diggs late in the first half as Buffalo beat the Cleveland Browns 31-23 on Sunday after the U.S. The NFL moved the Bills’ home games to Detroit as some underfoot snow blanketed Western New York.
The Bills (7-3) scored on all five possessions in the second half and did a better job protecting the ball to avoid their third straight halftime lead.
Cleveland (3-7) rallied within eight to set up an offside pass in the final seconds, but Bills receiver Gabe Davis failed to catch and ran back Taiwan Jones out of bounds.
Huge numbers of supporters from both fan bases were in attendance, chanting “Let’s go to Buffalo!” and barking like dogs.
Buffalo lost its raucous home-court advantage, but the team did its best to bring some familiar sights and sounds to Highmark Stadium, such as blaring train horns and calls to Bills Mafia in crunch time.
Buffalo returns to Detroit to play the Lions on Thanksgiving, off to a slow start after a week disrupted by a winter storm.
Allen found his rhythm on an 11-play, 78-yard drive that took just 1:40 and ended with Allen’s first pass to Diggs.
The Bills scored their first second-half touchdown in four games on a 5-yard run by Devin Singletary. They also blocked Jacoby Brissett’s fourth-and-first-quarter sneak attack at the Buffalo 27 and blocked a field goal in the third quarter while building a 22-10 lead.
With quarterback Deshaun Watson’s 11-game NFL suspension coming to an end, the Browns missed a lot of opportunities to keep their playoff hopes from fading completely.
Brissett’s pass was missed by tight end Harrison Bryant and Pharaoh Brown on a back-to-back pass that gave Cleveland a touchdown and forced it to a 10-3 lead early in the second quarter.
Brissett finished 28-of-41 for 324 yards — two yards shy of his career high — and a season-high three touchdowns. He opened the game with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Cooper with 4:11 left to bring the Browns within 12 , and a 2-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones on the play.last few minutes
The Bills got a needed break when Brissett fumbled at halftime in the second quarter. At that point, Buffalo didn’t start first, leading by 12 yards on 181 yards and trailing 10-3.
Allen went 18-for-27 for 197 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. He has thrown an NFL-high 10 interceptions six times over his past three games and fumbled against Minnesota last week.
Bills running backs Singletary and James Cook each ran for 86 yards, taking pressure off Allen and allowing him to play in the air.
Injuried
Browns: Starting C Ethan Pocic (knee) was out early in the game and was replaced by Hjalte Froholdt.
Bills: DE AJ Epenesa (ankle) was injured in the game.
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Browns: Host Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Bill: Back to Ford Field to play the Lions on Thanksgiving.
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