It’s safe to say the New Orleans Saints gave the Buffalo Bills more of a fight than most anticipated on Sunday.
Buffalo was a 15.5-point favorite heading into the Week 4 matchup, but New Orleans pulled to within 21-19 midway through the fourth quarter.
Though quarterback Josh Allen had a relatively quiet game—he had 209 yards passing—at time of publication, he did pass a franchise legend midway through the third quarter.
Allen punched it in for a 5-yard rushing touchdown that put the Bills up 21-10. It marked his third rushing touchdown of the season and the 68th of his career — and counting the two career receiving touchdowns he has, Allen made a little bit of history.
“Josh Allen runs it in on the five yard rushing TD, marking his 70th career scrimmage TD and surpassing O.J. Simpson (69) for the third-most in team history,” Bills PR wrote on X.
Simpson totaled 57 rushing touchdowns and 12 receiving touchdowns during his nine years with the Bills, which also included 10,183 rushing yards (and a 2,003-yard season in 1973) and 1,924 receiving yards.
Allen’s 42 rushing yards against the Saints also has him on the door of hitting another franchise milestone. Allen is just 143 rushing yards shy of passing Joe Cribbs and moving into fourth place on the Bills’ all-time rushing list (4,445 yards).
The only players who would have more rushing yards then would be Thurman Thomas (11,938), Simpson (10,183), and Fred Jackson (5,646).
Allen also added two passing touchdowns against the Saints, moving him closer to another franchise legend.
The reigning MVP is just 35 passing touchdowns away from tying Jim Kelly for the most career touchdown passes in franchise history. It’s feasible Allen could pass Kelly this season, but at his current pace (1.75 TDs per game), Allen would fall seven touchdowns short, putting him in line to break Kelly’s record next season.