Game Recap

Presented by

Bills 23, Browns 20 | Final Score, recap + highlights

Dec 21, 2025 at 04:23 PM

Sydney Ciano

Seasonal writing associate

Location: Huntington Bank Field

Final score: Bills 23 Browns 20

Records: Bills (11-4), Browns (3-12)

Next opponent: Bills vs. Eagles Sunday, Dec. 28 at 4:25 p.m. EST

Sunday didn't go exactly how the Buffalo Bills wanted, but they came out with a win, nonetheless, beating the Cleveland Browns 23-20 in Week 16.

Game Recap

Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich was displeased with the lack of fast starts out of Buffalo's defense. On Sunday, the Bills came out hot. Despite giving up a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, the defense halted quarterback Shedeur Sanders and the Browns' offense from retaking the lead.

In Buffalo territory, Sanders threw a slightly too-high pass behind running back Quinton Judkins on second-and-13. The ball hit Judkins' shoulder, deflecting high in the air. As it dropped back down, veteran cornerback Jordan Poyer wrapped his arms around the ball and put quarterback Josh Allen back in business at the end of the first quarter.

The running back room is powered by James Cook III, but Allen got all three going early against Cleveland.

Following Poyer's interception, Allen connected with Ray Davis after buying time. He scrambled to the right on the outside, turning his body back inside to hit Davis for 14 yards. On the following play, Allen outran the Browns' defenders again, completing a pass to tight end Jackson Hawes. Hawes fought for more yardage after the catch, picking up a total 18 yards.

Capping off the drive, which bled into the start of the second quarter, Ty Johnson had three touches back-to-back. On first-and-goal from the 16-yard-line, Johnson kept his legs moving, carrying some of Cleveland's defenders with him as his picked up nine yards. He powered headfirst on second-and-one, fighting for not only the first down, but the full six points. With just two yards left of the field, Johnson walked his way into the end zone. A missed extra point gave the Bills a 13-7 lead.

Buffalo's first touchdown of the afternoon was on a drive almost singlehandedly powered by Cook.

Allen and Davis had a combined 13 yards on the Bills' first drive of the game. After back-to-back rushes for 23 yards, Cook waited one snap to get Buffalo on the board. On second-and-four, the star running back weaved his way down the field, splitting unblocked defenders and escaping another two, taking the ball all the way into the end zone for a 44-yard score.

Cook's second touchdown on Sunday doubled Buffalo's lead to 20-10.

Like Johnson, he couldn't squeeze through on his first attempt past the plane. Landing on top of a defender and extending his arm out before he hit the ground, Cook got the touchdown on his second attempt. This tied him for most rushing touchdowns in 2025 across the NFL with seven scores.

After Cook's second touchdown, though, it wasn't smooth sailing into halftime for either team.

Under the two-minute warning, Cleveland gave the ball back to Allen and Co. After a promising nine-yard completion to wide receiver Khalil Shakir, however, Allen was forced to scramble around and ultimately was backed up all the way inside Buffalo's one-yard-line. The 22-yard loss set punter Mitch Wishnowsky up for a difficult punt, but he got it near midfield from the back of the end zone.

A 15-yard face mask penalty on cornerback Jordan Hancock gave the Browns an opportunity to put points up on the board with six seconds left. Sanders threw an incomplete pass, cutting the time on the game clock in half. Hoping to make it a one-possession game, a poor ball placement off the snap gave kicker Andre Szmyt nothing to work with and left Cleveland with 10 points at the end of the half.

While the third quarter was relatively quiet for the Bills' offense, their defense came up with another deflection and interception against Sanders.

Defensive end Joey Bosa got his hands up and high as the ball left Sanders' hand. Similar to Poyer's pick earlier in the game, defensive tackle DaQuan Jones waited for the ball to fall back down and snatched it for the interception. Buffalo converted this into a 41-yard field goal, making it 23-10.

The Bills' offense stalled in the second half, but the consistency from their defense bailed them out. Defensive end Greg Rousseau had 2.5 sacks for a loss of 19 yards total on Sunday in addition to three tackles.

One of these sacks came at a critical moment with the Browns creeping up on the scoreboard, 23-20. He and Poyer registered half a sack each, pushing Cleveland back eight yards to its own 15-yard-line. On the following play, Rousseau wrapped Sanders up by his ankles, bringing him down in the end zone. Since Sanders got the ball out before he was down, Rousseau was credited a quarterback hit and forced intentional grounding.

The Browns were eventually forced to punt, use up their timeouts and hand Buffalo the win as Allen got the first down to seal the game.