Bills keep overcoming flaws and slow starts, winning on another second-half rally

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Thrilling as the second-half comebacks have been, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills acknowledge that continuing to test the limits of how big of a hole they can dig themselves out of is a flawed formula for sustained success.

Each week the Bills insist they need to be better to start games. And each week — or at least the past two — they’ve somehow come away victorious.

Two weekends ago, Buffalo trailed Cincinnati by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter before scoring three touchdowns in a 4-1/2-minute span of a 39-34 win.

On Sunday, the Bills spotted New England a 21-0 second-quarter lead before Allen — in between throwing up on the sideline — oversaw five straight touchdown drives in a 35-31 win to maintain Buffalo's slim hopes of winning a sixth straight AFC East title.

Buffalo (10-4) still trails the division-leading Patriots (11-3), who need to beat only the Jets and Miami to clinch.

“I don’t know why. It just happens,” Allen said of what’s become a game-day ritual of vomiting, after being captured on TV doing so in the fourth quarter. “It’s due to nothing else other than just a weird feeling.”

As gut-checks go, that might be an extreme one for the expectant father, after his newlywed wife, actor Hailee Steinfeld, announced her pregnancy last week.

As for the Bills’ ability to find a spark: “Obviously, we want to start faster,” Allen said. “But it's being able to dig ourselves out and be battle-tested coming down the stretch here."

That’s the second time in five days Allen used “battle-tested” to describe the Bills.

And, perhaps, there might be something to that in a season when Buffalo's recent playoff rivals already have been eliminated — Kansas City and Cincinnati — while Baltimore strives to stay in contention.

AFC West-leading Denver and Houston, currently the AFC’s seventh seed, might have superior defenses. And the Bills learned how sturdy the Texans are while getting manhandled in a 23-19 loss last month.

Yet no current AFC contender can match the Bills’ postseason experience; they've gone 7-6 during their six-year playoff run.

Coach Sean McDermott has referred to the experience — especially the losses — as gathering scars from which the Bills can learn. It’s no different, he said Sunday, from how the team has not blinked in the face of adversity this season.

All it took on Sunday was a glimpse from Allen during halftime.

“I saw Josh as I was bringing everybody up, and he looked at me,” McDermott said. “I just knew he was seeing it like I was. The entire team was on the same vibe.”

The Bills have plenty to clean up, particularly on an injury-depleted defense that was missing top pass defender, cornerback Christian Benford, because of a toe injury.

The Bills still found a way to win, similar to how they overcame missing two starting offensive tackles in a 26-7 victory over Pittsburgh three weekends ago.

Let’s not forget how Buffalo opened the season: with Allen rallying the team from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit against Baltimore.

The Bills are 4-1 this season when allowing 30 or more points and 7-4 when tied or trailing at halftime.

During his previous 10 seasons with the Chargers, edge rusher Joey Bosa knew mostly frustration in how his team would come up short in the clutch.

It’s different in Buffalo.

“I just don’t think there’s any quit on this team,” Bosa said. “We’ve proved that a few games this year, that you just have to keep fighting. And when you have Josh back there with the ball in his hands, anything is possible.”

Second-half production. In winning four of five games, Buffalo has combined to outscore its opponents 111-35 over the final 30 minutes.

First-half production. In those five games, the Bills have been outscored a combined 94-58 over the first 30 minutes.

Ray Davis. The backup running back/kickoff returner combined for 164 yards on four returns against New England. He now leads the league averaging 32.4 yards per return.

Defensive interior. Buffalo allowed a season-high 246 yards rushing and four touchdowns. The yards rushing were the most allowed in a Bills win since Buffalo gave up 318 in a 16-13 OT victory over the Jets in 2009.

DT Jordan Phillips has been ruled out against Cleveland this weekend after hurting his ankle. ... K Matt Prater also has been ruled out because of a quadriceps injury to his kicking leg, leading to Buffalo having to sign a replacement this week.

21 — Largest point deficit Buffalo has overcome on the road, matching a 34-31 OT win at Miami in 1987 and a 49-31 win at Cincinnati in 2010.

Don’t peek ahead to a Week 17 showdown against Philadelphia before traveling to play Cleveland (3-11) on Sunday.

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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) passes against the New England Patriots during the second half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) reacts after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Buffalo Bills outside linebacker Matt Milano (58) reacts after sacking New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye during the second half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook III (4) celebrates after scoring against the New England Patriots during the second half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.

The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.

A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects' ideologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”

There are 25 people still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition. Three of them are patients in a children's hospital.

Also among them is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling and disarming one assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and then setting it on the ground.

Those killed ranged in age from 10 to 87 years old. They were attending a Hanukkah event at Australia's most famous beach Sunday when the gunshots rang out.

Albanese and the leaders of some of Australia's states have pledged to tighten the country's already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.

Officials divulged more information as public questions and anger grew on the third day following the attack about how the suspects were able to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism.

Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six weapons legally.

“The suspected murderers, callous in how they allegedly coordinated their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of their victims,” said Barrett. “It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally.”

The suspects traveled to the Philippines last month, said Mal Lanyon, the Police Commissioner for New South Wales state. Their reasons for the trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by investigators, Lanyon said.

He also confirmed that a vehicle removed from the scene, registered to the younger suspect, contained improvised explosive devices.

“I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags,” Lanyon said.

The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed Tuesday that Sajid Akram traveled to the country from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28 along with Naveed Akram, 24, giving the city of Davao as their final destination. Australian authorities have not named the younger suspect.

Groups of Muslim separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for the Islamic State group and have hosted small numbers of foreign militant combatants from Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past.

Decades of military offensives, however, have considerably weakened Abu Sayyaf and other such armed groups, and Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants in the country’s south.

Earlier, Albanese visited al Ahmed in a hospital. Albanese said the 42-year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner had further surgery scheduled on Wednesday for shotgun wounds to his left shoulder and upper body.

“It was a great honor to met Ahmed al Ahmed. He is a true Australian hero,” Albanese told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with him and his parents.

“We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country. We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what the terrorists seek. We will unite. We will embrace each other, and we’ll get through this,” Albanese added.

The famous blue-shirted lifeguards of Bondi Beach attracted praise as more stories of their actions during the shooting emerged.

One duty lifeguard, identified by the organization’s Instagram account as Rory Davey, performed an ocean rescue during the shooting after people fled, fully clothed, into the sea.

Another lifeguard, Jackson Doolan, posted to his social media a photo taken as he sprinted, barefoot and clutching a first aid kit, from Tamarama beach a mile away toward Bondi as the massacre continued.

“These guys are community members and it’s not about the surf,” Anthony Caroll, one of the stars of a popular reality television show called “Bondi Rescue,” told Sky News on Tuesday. “They heard the gunshots and they left the beach and came right up the back here into the scene of the crime, into harm’s way while those bullets were being shot.”

Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon visited the scene of the carnage on Tuesday and was welcomed by Jewish leaders.

“I’m not sure that my vocabulary is rich enough to express how I feel. My heart is torn apart because the Jewish community, the Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my community,” Maimon said.

Thousands have visited Bondi from all walks of life since the tragedy to pay their respects and lay flowers on a mounting pile at an impromptu memorial site.

One of the visitors on Tuesday was former Prime Minister John Howard, who was responsible the the 1996 overhaul of gun laws and an associated buyback of newly outlawed weapons.

In the aftermath of Sunday's shooting, a record number of Australians signed up to donate blood. On Monday alone close to 50,000 appointments were booked, more than double the previous record, the national donation organization Lifeblood told The Associated Press.

Almost 1,300 people signed up to donate for the first time. Such was the enthusiasm at Lifeblood’s Bondi location that appointments to give blood were unavailable before Dec. 31, according to the organization’s website.

A total of 7,810 donations of blood, plasma and platelets were made across the country on Monday, spokesperson Cath Stone said. Australian news outlets reported queues of up to four hours at some Sydney donation sites.

Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.

People offer flowers and hugs at a floral memorial during a tribute for victims of Sunday's shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

British Consul General Louise Cantillon, arrives at a memorial with flowers and a wreath during a tribute for victims of Sunday's shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

In this photo released by the Prime Minister office, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets Ahmed al Ahmed at St George Hospital in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Australian Prime Minister Office via AP)

Former PM John Howard waves during a flower memorial for victims of Sunday's shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Rabbi Yossi Friedman speaks to people gathering at a flower memorial by the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, following Sunday's shooting in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)