Buffalo Bills vs Los Angeles Rams Match Player Stats: The Day Josh Allen Played a Perfect Game and Still Lost

Some performances deserve their own chapter in football history. Not because the player’s team won — but because what happened on the field was so rare, so staggering, that the final score almost feels like a footnote.

December 8, 2024 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California gave us exactly that kind of afternoon. Josh Allen threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns, then rushed for 82 yards and three more touchdowns. Six touchdowns total. Not one turnover. Not one quarterback sack. And the Buffalo Bills lost, 44-42.

If that feels impossible to process, you are not alone. The Los Angeles Rams won the highest-scoring game of the entire 2024 NFL season, and they needed every second of it just to survive one of the most extraordinary individual performances the sport has ever seen.

Let’s walk through exactly what happened — and more importantly, what the numbers actually mean.

Table of Contents

Key Facts

Category	Detail
Date	December 8, 2024 (NFL Week 14)
Venue	SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
Final Score	Los Angeles Rams 44 – Buffalo Bills 42
Bills Record	10-3 (7-game win streak snapped)
Rams Record	7-6 (moved above .500 for first time in 2024)
Josh Allen (BUF) Passing	22/37, 342 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs
Josh Allen (BUF) Rushing	10 carries, 82 yards, 3 TDs
Josh Allen Total TDs	6 (NFL record — first ever with 3 pass + 3 rush TDs)
Matthew Stafford (LA) Passing	23/30, 320 yards, 2 TDs
Kyren Williams (LA) Rushing	29 carries, 87 yards, 2 TDs
Puka Nacua (LA) Receiving	12 catches, 162 yards, 1 receiving TD, 1 rushing TD
Cooper Kupp (LA) Receiving	5 catches, 92 yards, 1 TD
Khalil Shakir (BUF) Receiving	106 yards, 1 TD (51-yard catch)
Combined Total Yards	902 (zero turnovers, zero sacks)
LA Time of Possession Advantage	17 more minutes than Buffalo
LA Third Down Efficiency	11 of 15
Allen’s Fantasy Points	51.88 (ESPN standard — all-time single-game QB record)
Rams’ 1st Win Over Bills Since	2012 (first at home since 1983)
TV Broadcast	Fox

How This Game Even Happened

Before we get to the individual performances, it helps to understand what each team was carrying into this matchup.

The Bills had been on a tear. They came into SoFi Stadium riding a seven-game winning streak, having already clinched the AFC East title a week earlier by thrashing the San Francisco 49ers in a snow game at home. They were 10-2, Josh Allen was a genuine NFL MVP front-runner, and everything looked like it was pointing toward a deep playoff run.

The Rams were in a very different spot. They were 6-6. They had been dead last in the NFL in third-down conversion rate across the previous three weeks. They needed a win badly to stay relevant in the NFC West playoff race.

On paper, this was supposed to be a rough afternoon for Los Angeles. Nobody quite expected what actually happened.

Josh Allen’s Historic Performance

Let me be clear about what Allen did, because it deserves to be stated plainly before anything else.

He became the first player in NFL history — in the regular season — to score three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in the same game.

Before this afternoon, no quarterback had ever done that. Not Dan Marino. Not Tom Brady. Not Peyton Manning. Not Patrick Mahomes. Allen stood alone in that record book as the final whistle blew, even as he walked off the field on the losing side.

He completed 22 of 37 pass attempts for 342 yards and three touchdowns through the air — to Khalil Shakir (51 yards), Ty Johnson (41 yards), and Mack Hollins (21 yards). On the ground, he carried the ball 10 times for 82 yards and ran in three more scores, including a 1-yard plunge with just one minute left in the game that brought Buffalo within two points and had the entire stadium holding its breath.

What made it even more remarkable: he did all of this without his top pass catchers. Dalton Kincaid and Keon Coleman were not available. Allen was working with his backup options on a day when the Bills desperately needed help from everywhere.

His total of six touchdowns also produced 51.88 fantasy football points on ESPN’s standard scoring — the single highest score by a quarterback in a single game in fantasy history. That number breaks a record that many people thought would stand for years.

And yet. He lost.

Allen kept it honest in the locker room afterward. He said he hated losing, regardless of the margin. He pointed to three phases of the game — offense, defense, and special teams — and said none of them held up well enough. He refused to hide behind his own numbers. That kind of honesty, from a player who just set a record nobody else in NFL history had set, says something genuine about who he is.

What the Rams Did to Win

Here is the part that tends to get lost in all the understandable attention paid to Allen’s historic night: the Rams played an outstanding football game.

Matthew Stafford completed 23 of his 30 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns. His completion percentage — 76.7% — was near perfect. He made smart decisions. He went through his reads. He managed the pocket. And when the game was on the line in the final minutes, he made the two biggest throws of the afternoon.

Los Angeles held the ball for 17 more minutes than Buffalo. They ran 18 more offensive plays. They converted 11 of their 15 third-down opportunities — remarkable for a team that had been the NFL’s worst at exactly that situation in recent weeks. The Rams completely dominated time of possession, and that was not an accident. It was a plan: keep Allen on the sideline, keep the ball moving, and trust that the lead would hold.

The formula worked, barely.

Puka Nacua: The Best Game of His Young Career

If Allen was the story everyone talked about, Nacua was the player who actually decided the outcome.

Twelve catches. One hundred and sixty-two yards. Two touchdowns — one on a four-yard rushing score and one on the 19-yard reception with 1:54 left in the game that gave Los Angeles a nine-point cushion they ultimately needed. Nacua also had a breathtaking diving catch in the first half that many called one of the best individual grabs of the 2024 season.

His bubble screen touchdown in the fourth quarter deserves special mention. Stafford found him on a short pass to the right side. Cooper Kupp threw a well-timed block that opened the lane. Nacua then ran 19 yards to the end zone, making it 44-35 and effectively ending Buffalo’s realistic chance of a comeback.

Afterward, Nacua talked about the feeling of the Rams connecting on all cylinders. He had seen enough earlier in the season when things weren’t clicking. This afternoon, things were very much were.

His 12 catches also came on 14 targets — he was simply the safety net Stafford returned to all day. That’s what it looks like when a young receiver earns a quarterback’s full trust.

Kyren Williams: The Quiet Force

People remember the touchdown passes. They often forget the runners who make those games possible.

Kyren Williams carried the ball 29 times. That is a heavy workload, the kind usually reserved for teams trying to grind out a slow win over a weaker opponent. The fact that the Rams gave him that many touches against one of the league’s best defenses, in a game that turned into a 44-42 shootout, tells you something about how committed Sean McVay was to his game plan from the opening whistle.

Williams finished with 87 yards and two touchdowns — a three-yard plunge to open the scoring in the first quarter and a seven-yard run in the third quarter that pushed the Rams to a 31-14 lead. Those early and midgame scores were the ones that put Buffalo in a perpetual hole they were always trying to climb out of.

Williams combined with Nacua and Kupp to give Los Angeles a genuinely complete offensive performance across three distinct skill positions. That kind of balance is hard to defend, even for a Bills team that had been playing some of the best football in the AFC all season.

Cooper Kupp and the Art of Timing

At this stage of his career, Cooper Kupp is not the explosive deep threat he was in his record-breaking 2021 season. He has evolved into something different — a precise route runner with exceptional hands who wins on timing, footwork, and veteran IQ.

His five catches for 92 yards in this game included a 17-yard touchdown catch with 18 seconds left in the third quarter that pushed the Rams to a 38-21 lead. It was a clinical catch in traffic, thrown to a spot that only Kupp could get to cleanly. That particular touchdown felt like it might break Buffalo’s spirit.

They recovered. But it wasn’t easy.

Kupp’s block on Nacua’s late touchdown also deserves credit. The block was the technical difference between a modest gain and a game-clinching score. He didn’t need his name in the box score for that moment to matter.

The Plays That Decided Everything

Three moments in the final five minutes of the game deserve their own explanation, because each one shifted the entire outcome.

The first was Sean McVay’s decision to go for a fourth-and-5 near midfield while the Rams were clinging to a three-point lead with under four minutes left. Instead of kicking, McVay trusted Stafford. Stafford found wide receiver Tutu Atwell for 11 yards and a first down that kept the clock moving. Had that play failed, Buffalo would have had the ball with time to win. McVay gambled. It worked.

The second was Nacua’s 19-yard touchdown reception. With the two-minute warning past, Stafford hit him in stride on a pick play and Nacua turned upfield and scored. The extra point was missed, but the nine-point lead suddenly felt enormous.

The third was what happened on the Bills’ final drive. Allen got the offense down the field, benefiting from two pass interference penalties, and reached the Rams’ one-yard line with 1:06 left. He dove for the end zone on first down — and linebacker Omar Speights stuffed him short. The Bills burned a timeout they couldn’t afford to lose. Allen scored on the next play to make it 44-42. Then the onside kick didn’t bounce their way, and the Rams ran out the clock.

That’s how thin the margin was. One stuffed run, one failed onside kick, and history was written.

The Special Teams Twist

Before any of that fourth-quarter drama, a special teams play in the second quarter quietly shifted the game’s direction.

Bills punter Sam Martin lined up near his own end zone. Rams linebacker Jacob Hummel came untouched off the edge and blocked the kick. Tight end Hunter Long scooped the ball up at the 22-yard line and ran it into the end zone. It was Long’s first NFL touchdown, and it made the score 17-7 in Los Angeles’s favor.

The Rams hadn’t blocked a punt since 2018. The Bills hadn’t allowed a blocked punt touchdown since the 2021 season opener. Both streaks ended on the same play at the worst possible moment for Buffalo.

Special teams rarely get blamed when games are as offensively wild as this one. But that blocked punt forced the Bills to dig deeper than they should have needed to. They had already been playing from behind early. That play made things considerably harder.

What Sean McVay Said After

Some coaches get flowery after big wins. McVay got direct.

He called Josh Allen an alien. He meant it completely as a compliment — acknowledging that the things Allen could do on a football field weren’t things you simply prepare for and neutralize with a good game plan. Allen can beat you from the pocket, with his legs, with his arm, through extended plays, with pure will. McVay admitted that defending him was a fine line no defense had truly solved. The Rams happened to find just enough answers on the night.

McVay also pointed to Stafford’s decision-making as the key on the other side. Stafford was 23 of 30. That is three incompletions in a game where the Rams ran 60-plus offensive plays. For a veteran quarterback in a playoff-or-go-home stretch of the season, that level of efficiency under pressure is exactly what a team needs.

Bills coach Sean McDermott, on the other side, pointed to all three phases letting his team down. He did not single out Allen. He did not look for excuses. He said the Rams controlled the line of scrimmage and that both his defense and special teams failed to hold up their end.

That is a fair reading of what happened.

Why These Numbers Matter Beyond the Scoreboard

Think about the full picture here for a moment.

Two teams combined for 902 yards of total offense. There were no turnovers. There were no sacks. Both teams scored 42 or more points. This was the first time in NFL history that two teams each scored 40 or more points in a game without either team committing a turnover.

The Bills became the first team in NFL history to score six touchdowns in a game and lose.

Allen broke Jim Kelly’s franchise record for most 300-yard passing games. He passed Cam Newton for the most games with at least two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. He joined a very short list of quarterbacks to reach 4,000 career rushing yards. He set the all-time single-game fantasy scoring record for a quarterback.

And the Rams? Their 11-of-15 third-down conversion rate was the highest they had posted in weeks. They moved above .500 for the first time in 2024. They won their first game against the Bills since 2012.

Every one of these numbers meant something real. Not just to fantasy managers or stat enthusiasts — to the players and coaches who grind through a season and measure themselves against those kinds of milestones week after week.

A Game That Felt Like the Best Possible Version of Football

It is rare to walk away from a losing effort feeling like you watched something genuinely worth remembering. But this game gave both sets of fans that experience.

Bills fans got to watch their quarterback put on one of the most extraordinary individual performances the sport has ever produced. They lost. That stings. But what Allen did — without his best weapons, against a good defense, in a hostile building — was the kind of thing you tell someone about years later.

Rams fans watched their team find a way. In a season where things had been inconsistent and frustrating, this was the game that showed McVay’s group still had something real. Stafford was efficient. Nacua was electric. Williams was tireless. And when the game came down to two or three defining moments, the Rams made the right calls.

That is what a 44-42 game in December looks like when both teams play close to their ceiling.

FAQs

1. What was the final score of the Bills vs Rams game on December 8, 2024?

The Los Angeles Rams beat the Buffalo Bills 44-42 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. It was Week 14 of the 2024 NFL regular season.

2. What record did Josh Allen break in this game?

Allen became the first player in NFL history to score three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in the same regular-season game. He also set the all-time single-game fantasy scoring record for a quarterback at 51.88 points on ESPN standard scoring.

3. How many total touchdowns did Josh Allen score?

Six — three through the air (to Khalil Shakir, Ty Johnson, and Mack Hollins) and three on the ground, including a final 1-yard dive with one minute left that cut the Rams’ lead to two points.

4. What were Matthew Stafford’s stats?

For 320 yards and two touchdowns, Stafford completed 23 of 30 throws. His 76.7% completion rate reflected a clean, efficient performance from start to finish.

5. How did Puka Nacua perform?

Nacua had 12 catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns — one a four-yard rushing score and one a 19-yard receiving TD with 1:54 left that effectively sealed the win. He was targeted 14 times and was easily the most productive player on the field in terms of impact.

6. What did Kyren Williams contribute?

Williams carried the ball 29 times for 87 yards and two rushing touchdowns, including the game’s opening score. He was the engine of the Rams’ ground game and helped Los Angeles control the clock and limit Allen’s possessions.

7. How did Buffalo score six touchdowns and still lose?

They fell behind 17 points entering the fourth quarter and scored all three of their fourth-quarter touchdowns too late to overcome the deficit. Their onside kick attempt after Allen’s final score also failed, giving the Rams the ball and the win.

8. What happened with the blocked punt?

In the second quarter, Rams linebacker Jacob Hummel blocked a Sam Martin punt near the Bills’ end zone. Tight end Hunter Long scooped the ball up and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. It was Long’s first career NFL score and pushed the Rams to a 17-7 lead.

9. What was the significance of the Rams’ third-down efficiency?

Coming into the game, the Rams had been the NFL’s worst team on third down across the previous three weeks. On this day they converted 11 of 15 third-down opportunities — the difference between long, clock-eating drives and short punts that kept Allen on the field.

10. What was the Rams’ time of possession advantage?

Los Angeles held the ball for 17 more minutes than Buffalo. They also ran 18 more plays. That gap was central to their strategy — keep the ball, keep Allen on the sideline, build a lead that even a great fourth quarter couldn’t erase.

11. What did Sean McVay say about Josh Allen after the game?

McVay called Allen an alien. He talked about how Allen can beat you from the pocket, with his mind, with his arm, and with his legs. He said Allen was a legitimate MVP candidate and that defending him was a genuine nightmare that required difficult decisions on every snap.

12. How did the game end specifically?

Allen scored with one minute left to make it 44-42. The Bills attempted an onside kick. Rams running back Ronnie Rivers recovered it cleanly. Los Angeles ran out the clock, and the Bills never touched the ball again.

13. Was this a rivalry game in the traditional sense?

These two teams don’t face each other often — they’re in different conferences. The Rams had not beaten the Bills since 2012, and this was their first win over Buffalo at home since 1983. Those dry spells made the victory feel especially significant for the Rams organization.

14. What other records did Josh Allen set in this game?

He passed Jim Kelly for the most 300-yard passing games in Bills franchise history (27). He became the fifth quarterback in NFL history to reach 25,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards. He tied his own NFL record for the most games with two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.

15. What was Bills coach Sean McDermott’s reaction?

McDermott pointed to three phases — offense, defense, and special teams — all falling short. He credited the Rams for controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides. He did not blame Allen’s performance or search for excuses. He accepted the loss plainly and acknowledged the Rams had been better that day.

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