Cooper scores, Allen shakes off sluggish start to send Bills past Titans

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — It didn’t take Amari Cooper long to get the hang of Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills' offense — even when the quarterback was changing plays at the line of scrimmage.

Five days after arriving in Buffalo following a trade with Cleveland, Cooper turned his first catch in his Bills debut into a go-ahead touchdown of a 34-10 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

Turns out, limited practice time was enough for the 10th-year veteran to get a handle on Buffalo’s vast playbook. Cooper said he understood his role in adjusting at the line of scrimmage by running an in-route with Allen hitting him open in the middle for a 12-yard TD to put Buffalo up 14-10 on its opening possession of the second half.

“We had an alert on the play built in, predicated on if we got a specific look,” said Cooper, who motioned to fellow receiver Keon Coleman to confirm the play. “We got the look that we wanted, we checked to it, and it worked just like it did in practice.”

Cooper finished with four catches for 66 yards on 18 offensive snaps. And his mere presence played a role in opening space for Buffalo’s other receivers who had previously struggled to get open.

“Any time you have a player of his caliber, he demands extra attention. If you don’t, we’re probably going to throw him the ball,” Allen said of Cooper. “But our guys did a good job of getting open, making plays.”

Coleman became Buffalo’s first receiver this season to top 100 yards with 125 on four catches.

Allen celebrated his 100th career start with his 26th 300-yard outing while finishing 21 of 33 for 323 yards and two touchdowns. He improved to 68-32 as a starter, matching four players — Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers — for the sixth-most wins in a quarterback’s first 100 starts.

Allen overcame a sluggish first half in which he went 4 of 11 for 65 yards, and also completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Ty Johnson. James Cook and Ray Davis rounded out the rout with touchdown runs in an outing the AFC East-leading Bills (5-2) overcame a 10-0 deficit.

The Titans continued their freefall in dropping to 1-5 — their worst start to a season since opening 2015 at 1-6. And a change in quarterback didn’t help an offense that entered the weekend ranking among the worst in the NFL in numerous categories, including scoring. They have failed to top 17 points for the fifth time this season.

Backup Mason Rudolph got the start with Will Levis bothered by an injury to his right throwing shoulder.

In listing Levis as week to week, coach Brian Callahan said he made the decision to go with Rudolph after practice on Friday.

“The injury is real. He tried to fight through it. I appreciate the toughness and willingness,” Callahan said.

As for the loss, Callahan said it mirrored an offense that has spent much of the season having difficulty scoring in the second half.

“We went backwards on offense. We had penalties, we had a million issues, quarterback hits, all those things. Not good enough,” Callahan said. “We didn’t do a good enough job to do anything in the second half worthwhile. It’s frustrating. Got to find an answer.”

The Titans started strong with Rudolph’s 4-yard TD pass to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Nick Folk’s 25-yard field goal giving them a 10-0 lead before they were shut out on their final eight drives.

Rudolph finished 25 of 40 for 215 yards with a touchdown, interception and lost fumble.

Buffalo blew the game open by scoring three touchdowns and two field goals on its five second-half possessions.

The game turned in the opening moments of the second half, when Buffalo’s defense forced the Titans to turn the ball over on downs. On third-and-1 at Buffalo’s 45, Tony Pollard took a direct snap and was stopped for a 1-yard loss while attempting to dive over the middle. On the next play, rookie defensive tackle DeWayne Carter and safety Taylor Rapp combined to stuff Pollard for a 3-yard loss.

Cooper scored six plays later.

Cooper’s debut introduced a new cheer from the hometown fans, with “Cooooop!” echoing through the stadium after each catch. The only one the 30-year-old failed to bring in was actually a drop after he bobbled Allen’s swing pass to the left sideline that appeared to bounce off his helmet and nose on third-and-1 to end Buffalo’s opening possession.

“It seems like a different 'Coop’ chant every single time,” said Cooper of a chant dating to his college days at Alabama. “Just grateful, appreciative, there was something special about the one today though.”

Injuries,

Titans: OL Jaelyn Duncan, starting in place of Leroy Watson, did not return after hurting his hamstring.

Bills: WR Curtis Samuel was ruled out after hurting his shoulder in the first quarter. ... LB Terrel Bernard didn’t return after hurting his ankle in the third quarter.

Up next

Titans: Play at the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Bills: Play at the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

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