The Buffalo Bills closed their final regular season road game with back-to-back defensive stands while protecting a three-point lead to hold on for a 23-20 win over the Cleveland Browns.

Buffalo improves to 11-4 with its fourth straight win, inching closer to securing a playoff berth for a seventh consecutive season.

Here's what we learned from Bills at Browns:

1 — Defensive line gets their hands on the QB and the ball

Buffalo had one of the best overall efforts from its defensive line all season as the Bills D-line recorded 2.5 sacks, 8 QB hits, four batted passes and one interception.

"We felt like we had a chance to get after their O-line a little bit today, they've got some guys out," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "Having said that, it takes the physicality in one's rush, and it takes all four guys to do that."

All the sacks came courtesy of DE Greg Rousseau, who had his first multi-sack game since the 2024 season. He also recorded a staggering 7 QB hits and two other tackles for a loss.

Rousseau showed up when the Bills needed him most, sacking Browns QB Shedeur Sanders twice in the fourth quarter and adding another pressure to force an intentional grounding call.

"His production today was certainly significant and needed and felt, as you saw down the stretch there," McDermott added.

The Bills also got their hands in the passing lane often against Sanders, with DE Joey Bosa batting a pass up in the air on Cleveland's first drive of the second half. DT DaQuan Jones was in the right place to come down with the interception.

Bosa was one of five defensive players to be credited with a pass defended Sunday, and Jones became the eighth different Bills player to record an interception this season.

Buffalo capitalized on the takeaway with a field goal to make it 23-10.

2 — Run game sets the pace to open up early lead

Buffalo scored touchdowns on its first three drives off the game, opening up a 20-10 lead. The Bills have now won their last 15 games when scoring 20+ first half points.

Bills running backs were responsible for all three touchdowns on the day, with James Cook III headlining the backfield with 117 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns.

Both of Cook's scores came in the first half and displayed why he's been among the NFL's best RBs this season. On 2nd and 4 from the Cleveland 44-yard line in the first quarter, Cook avoided three Browns defenders at the line of scrimmage, then turned on the jets to maneuver past the second-level defenders and into the end zone.

Cook tied his own franchise record with his fourth rushing score of 40+ yards, and recorded his 40th scrimmage TD in his 64th career regular season game. Only Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas reached 40 touchdowns faster in team history (63 games.)

"He's the best back in football," QB Josh Allen said. "He should be in the running for every award. He's an absolute stud. We love having him. He makes our offense go."

Two drives later, Cook notched his 12th rushing score on the year, making an incredible effort at the goal line by extending the ball across the white line for a three-yard touchdown.

"He's having a great season," McDermott said of Cook. "We knew we were going to have to be able to run the football."

With his ninth 100+ yard rushing performance of the season, Cook now leads the NFL in rushing yards (1,532). According to Next Gen Stats, Cook totaled 87 rushing yards after contact in Week 16, making him 1 of 2 RBs (Jonathan Taylor) to break 1,000 this season.

Ty Johnson also reached the end zone in the first half, scoring from two yards out early in the second quarter. Johnson had three carries for 16 yards with all touches coming on three consecutive plays.

The veteran RB picked up gains of 9, 5 and 2 yards on three straight runs to punch in his second rushing TD of the year.

Remarkably, it was the first game this season that multiple Bills running backs had rushing touchdowns and the first time doing so on the road since at Chicago in 2022.

3 — Josh Allen returns in the second half despite injury scare

Up 20-10 late in the first half, the Bills looked to add to their lead before going into the locker room. Starting from their own 14, the drive began with a short completion to WR Khalil Shakir for a pickup of nine yards.

On second down, Allen dropped back to pass again but made a costly error of scrambling backwards too far and was dropped for a loss of 18 yards, narrowly avoiding a safety by holding the ball outside the goal line.

To make matters worse, Allen grabbed his right leg after the play and gingerly walked off the field. Bills trainers tended to his right foot on the bench briefly, then the QB made his way to the locker room for X-rays during halftime, walking without a shoe on the injured foot.

Thankfully for Allen and the Bills, X-rays came back clean and the QB returned to the game for the first drive of the second half, missing a total of zero offensive snaps.

"Just tweaked my foot a little bit. Just flamed up on me a little bit. The pain subsided. So we're good," Allen said.

However, the QB could not get into a rhythm, going 6 of 12 passing for 44 yards in the second half. It was his lowest completion percentage and pass yardage in the second half of a game this season.

Allen said he did not believe the injury impacted his play.

"No, I don't think so," he said.

Because of the QBs competitive nature, McDermott shared that it's difficult to know the ways the injury affected Allen's game.

"Josh isn't one to lead on if he is (impacted)," McDermott explained. "He's so tough, so competitive. It's hard to tell what's really going on inside of that heartbeat of his. He just loves being out there with his teammates."

The coach did not have any additional updates from head athletic trainer Nate Breske as to the extent of Allen's injury.

"I don't have a follow up yet," McDermott said "It seems like Josh is in good spirits."