The Buffalo Bills looked dead in the water during Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season. They trailed 40-25 against the Baltimore Ravens with just under four minutes remaining in the game, but then, as always, Josh Allen put on the superhero cape.
Lamar Jackson was incredible in his own right for the Ravens, but there's a reason that the Bills' quarterback won the league's MVP award last year. However, if he was going to repeat this season, he was going to need someone to step up in the wide receiver room alongside Khalil Shakir.
Many wanted that player to be Keon Coleman, a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, who caught just 29 passes for 556 yards and four touchdowns in his rookie campaign. Early in Sunday's game, it seemed like it might have been the same story for Coleman in Year 2.
Keon Coleman overcomes blunders to help secure Bills win
Not only did he step out of bounds on a two-point conversion in the third quarter that cost the Bills two points, but Coleman wasn't able to haul in another two-point conversion that would have tied up the contest with just under two minutes left in the game.
Somehow, neither of these blunders came back to bite Buffalo, as they escaped with a thrilling 41-40 victory that fans had to see to believe. Oh, and Coleman ended up being pivotal in the win, making several key plays down the stretch.
On the final drive of the game, Coleman hauled in an eight-yard pass and then a 25-yard pass that put the Bills in field goal range. Of course, newly signed kicker Matt Prater ended up knocking in a field goal as time expired, giving the Bills a shocking victory.
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Coleman also made a big play on a previous drive in the fourth quarter, keeping incredible concentration to grab a deflected pass in the end zone that brought the Bills within nine points once again.
This is about as ideal a start as Bills fans could have imagined for the second-year wide receiver. He made a few rookie-like mistakes in the contest, but he was able to overcome them and play a key role in the victory.
He finished with a team-leading eight catches for 112 yards and a touchdown, and he was targeted two more times than any other Bills receiver. The game might not have come down to the wire if not for Coleman's minor blunders, but they surely would not have won without him.