Josh Allen's creativity and Jameis Winston's risk-taking produce statistical firsts in the NFL

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Josh Allen and Jameis Winston delivered signature performances in prime time that define their styles of play.

Allen used his athleticism, creativity and a statistical quirk to become the first quarterback ever credited with a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game in Buffalo's win over San Francisco.

Winston showed off his propensity for big plays — and big blunders — when he became the first player ever to throw for at least 400 yards, four touchdowns and two pick-6s in the same game in a loss for Cleveland at Denver.

It was a weekend of firsts for the two quarterbacks.

It started on Sunday night when Allen took advantage of a peculiar rule of NFL stat-keeping to do something no quarterback had ever done. He threw a short pass to Amari Cooper, who was immediately wrapped up by two defenders.

Allen alertly ran toward Cooper and signaled for the ball and Cooper obliged with a pitch. Allen then sprinted and dove in for a 7-yard touchdown on a pass he threw. That's where the odd scoring comes in, with Cooper getting credit for a catch for minus-2 yards and Allen getting credit for 9 yards receiving, a receiving touchdown but no actual reception and a 7-yard TD pass.

Allen became the second player this season to get credit for a receiving touchdown but no catch in a game, with Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs doing it following a lateral against Arizona in Week 3. It has happened only one other time in the Super Bowl era, with Allen Rice doing it in 1984 for Minnesota against Denver.

Only three other players in NFL history got credit for a receiving touchdown on a pass they threw. with Marcus Mariota the most recent in the 2017 wild-card game for Tennessee against Kansas City when he caught his own deflected pass.

Brad Johnson also scored when he caught his own deflected pass for Minnesota against Carolina in 1997, and Frank Ryan scored on a lateral for the Rams against Detroit in 1960.

There was one other play where a player scored a TD following his own pass, according to Sportradar, with Roy Zimmerman doing it for the Eagles against the Giants in 1944 following a lateral. But under rules before 1950, Zimmerman was credited solely with a lateral touchdown.

Allen later ran for a touchdown, becoming the seventh player in the Super Bowl era and first quarterback ever to get a passing, rushing and receiving TD in the same game.

Winston, who created his own 30-30 club when he threw 33 TDs and 30 interceptions in 2019, had the kind of performance that has defined his high-risk, high-reward career.

He threw for 497 yards with four TDs, three interceptions and two pick-6s. Winston became the first player in NFL history to throw for at least 400 yards and four TDs with two pick-6s.

The Broncos had 171 yards on interception returns with the 668 yards combined on Winston's passes setting an NFL record, according to OptaStats, topping the 664 by Vinny Testaverde for the Jets against Baltimore in 2000.

Not that there was much doubt, but Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are headed back to the postseason for a 10th straight season — one shy of the longest streak ever, held by New England from 2009-19.

The Chiefs are off to an 11-1 start in their bid to be the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls. Kansas City can clinch a ninth straight AFC West title with a win over the Chargers on Sunday night. The Patriots are the only team with a longer streak, having won the division every year from 2009-19.

Nine of the Chiefs' 11 wins have come by seven points or fewer — one shy of the record set by the 1978 Houston Oilers. Kansas City's plus-54 point differential is the worst of the 59 teams to start 11-1 or better.

The Chiefs will be joined in the postseason again by the Buffalo Bills, who clinched their sixth straight playoff berth and fifth straight AFC East title. Their division-winning streak is tied for the seventh-longest streak ever, trailing only the Patriots and Chiefs, along with the Rams (1973-79), Pittsburgh (1974-79), Minnesota (1973-78) and Cleveland (1950-55).

The Steelers have not clinched a playoff berth yet but are assured of not having a losing season for the record-tying 21st straight season. The only other team to do that was Dallas from 1965-85. Coach Mike Tomlin has been in charge for 18 of those seasons and has never finished with a losing record.

The Chicago Bears are hoping to get the interim coach bump.

Chicago fired Matt Eberflus after another late-game meltdown and promoted Thomas Brown to interim coach starting with Sunday's game at San Francisco.

Interim coaches have split their debuts this season, with Jeff Ulbrich losing his first game for the New York Jets and Darren Rizzi winning his debut for New Orleans.

Over the last 10 seasons, teams have gotten a bump from changing coaches, with the interims going 13-11 in their first game. Those teams that fired coaches had posted a .284 winning percentage before the change.

Eberflus' tenure was one of the worst ever. He went 14-32 (.304) for the 13th-worst winning percentage ever among the 229 coaches with at least 45 games. He was at his worst in close games, with a 5-17 mark in games decided by seven points or fewer. The .227 winning percentage ranks last among the 221 coaches who have had at least 20 games decided by seven points or fewer.

Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals keep scoring — and losing.

The Bengals scored at least 33 points in a game for the sixth time this season on Sunday but fell 44-38 to the Steelers. Cincinnati has lost four time this season when scoring 33 or more points, topping the 2017 Texans, 2002 Chiefs and 1985 Chargers for the most losses in a season when scoring that many points.

Only eight quarterbacks other than Burrow have lost more than four starts in a career when their team scores at least 33 points, with former Dolphins QB Dan Marino's eight the most.

Burrow leads the NFL with 30 TD passes and 3,337 yards but the Bengals are only 4-8 thanks to a defense that has allowed 28.3 points per game.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

CORRECTS DATE TO THURSDAY, NOV. 28, 2024 - Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus watches against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) walks off the field after his team's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth (88) celebrates with wide receiver Mike Williams (18) after scoring a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton (32) holds the recovery ball after a fumble by the Las Vegas Raiders during the second half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston throws an interceptionduring the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) celebrates after scoring against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) dives for the end zone to score against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Jewish settlers mounted a string of attacks on Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank overnight, burning homes and clashing with Israeli troops. There were no immediate reports of any Palestinian casualties.

The Israeli military said Jewish settlers attacked the village of Beit Furik after troops arrived in the area to dismantle an unauthorized farming outpost they had built nearby. It said the settlers hurled stones, wounding two members of the paramilitary Border Police, and one group entered the village and burned property.

The West Bank has seen a surge in settler violence since the start of the war.

In Lebanon, a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held despite Israeli forces carrying out several new drone and artillery strikes on Tuesday, killing a shepherd in the country's south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel last year in solidarity with Hamas militants who are fighting in the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war in Gaza has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Here's the Latest:

BERLIN — A Syrian photographer working for the German news agency dpa was killed by a fighter jet attack near the Syrian city of Hama, dpa reported on Wednesday.

The news agency couldn’t immediately give more details about when 32-year-old Anas Alkharboutli was killed. But the agency’s editor-in-chief, Sven Gösmann, said “all of us at dpa are in shock and infinitely saddened by the death of Anas Alkharboutli.”

“With his pictures he not only documented the horrors of war, he always worked for the truth,” Gösmann said. “In recent days in particular, his photos were seen around the world as he reported on the civil war that flared up again."

Alkharboutli joined dpa as a photographer in the Middle East in 2017. He mainly reported from the Syrian civil war zone.

Alkharboutli’s photography was recognized internationally. In 2020, he received the Young Reporter Trophy of the French Prix Bayeux for war reporting. At the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards, he won the Sports category with a series of images of children training in karate, the news agency said.

BEIT FURIK, West Bank — Jewish settlers mounted a string of attacks on Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank overnight, burning homes and clashing with Israeli troops.

There were no immediate reports of any Palestinian casualties.

The Israeli military said Jewish settlers attacked the village of Beit Furik after troops arrived in the area to dismantle an unauthorized farming outpost they had built nearby on land privately owned by Palestinians. It said the settlers hurled stones, wounding two members of the paramilitary Border Police.

Adel Hanni, a resident of the village, told the AP that a group of roughly 70 settlers gathered on the village lands early morning as the troops took down the outpost. The settlers burned Hanni’s son’s home, a car, a village shop and smashed the windows of several more homes. An Associated Press reporter saw a blackened home and a destroyed car on Wednesday morning.

"Some settlers started to break into the house, while others carried incendiary materials,” said Hanni, 57.

Settlers also attacked the village of Huwara, which has been the target of several previous attacks — even before the outbreak of the war in Gaza — and clashed with troops near Rujeib, another Palestinian village, the military said.

Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency said in a statement that they were investigating the settler attacks. They said they arrested eight Israelis for suspected property damage and assaulting security forces.

The West Bank has seen a surge in settler violence since the start of the war, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. Settlers have also raced to establish new farming outposts that rights groups say are among the biggest drivers of the violence.

The UN’s humanitarian office said settler attacks on Palestinian farmers during the recent olive harvest season “at least tripled” in 2024 compared to the last three years.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for an independent state.

The West Bank is home to some 3 million Palestinians who live under Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in cities and towns. Some 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship live in more than 100 settlements across the West Bank, many of which resemble suburbs or small towns.

Most of the international community considers the settlements to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday killed eight people, including four children.

The Awda Hospital, which received the bodies from one strike, said five were killed as they gathered outside of shelters in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

The hospital said another 15 people, mostly children, were wounded in the strike.

Also in central Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah said it received the bodies of three people who were killed in what it says were two separate Israeli strikes early Wednesday.

The three dead include a man and a woman who were killed in a strike in Deir al-Balah, and another man killed in the urban refugee camp of Bureij, the hospital said.

The Israeli military said it struck a “terrorist target” in Nuseirat, without elaborating. It had no immediate comment on the other strikes.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Wednesday it had returned the bodies of two militants who crossed into Israel from Jordan in October and shot two soldiers.

The militants entered Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea on Oct. 18, shooting and wounding two soldiers before being shot dead by Israeli troops. Hamas praised the incursion but not claim responsibility for it.

The Israeli military did not release the names of the militants who carried out the attack.

Palestinians mourn over the body of victim of an overnight Israeli strike, during a funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A wounded Palestinian child is carried on a stretcher at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, following an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian walks past a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Shaked Malka, center, and her partner Yair Amar collect items from their home in Metula, Israel's northernmost town, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. Most residents of Israeli settlements and towns near the border with Lebanon have evacuated due to rocket attacks from Hezbollah in recent months.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

CORRECTS NAME OF LEBANESE VILLAGE .- Backdropped by the southern Lebanese village of El Adeise, houses damaged by Hezbollah rockets attacks are seen in Metula, Israel's northernmost town, Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024. 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Parts of the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila are seen flattened by bombardments from Metula, Israel's northernmost town, on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Yemeni graduates of fighting courses organised by Houthi group, burn Israeli British and American flags in support of Gaza during a parade, in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

A Palestinian inspects the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the body of victim of an overnight Israeli strike, outside a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian man carries a wounded child, following an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, as they arrive at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A burnt house following a settler attack that damaged vehicles and houses in the village of Beit Furik, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Mohammed Hanani looks at his burnt car following a settler attack that damaged vehicles and houses in the village of Beit Furik, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Mohammed Hanani looks at his burnt car following a settler attack that damaged vehicles and houses in the village of Beit Furik, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

A man carries a sack of donated flour distributed by UNRWA at the Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A man grabs a sack of donated flour at a UNRWA distribution center in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli armoured vehicles move on in an area at the Israeli-Gaza border, seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)