The Buffalo Bills faced the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football in a battle between two 6-1 teams. While the Bills delivered a big punch, taking their record to 7-1, the Vikings fell to 6-2. The game started out very slowly until the Bills' defense woke up with a huge second-quarter sack by edge rusher Greg Rousseau.
With just 44 seconds left in the first half, quarterback Josh Allen threw another fantastic touchdown pass to wake up the offense, giving the Bills a 10-3 lead while giving the team the momentum they would need for the rest of the game.
Key play that dictatated game's outcome in Bills' favor
With the ball and the game tied 3-3, Allen turned to his right side, helped by his injured but productive offensive line. His scrambling left tight end Keleki Latu wide open in the end zone to catch a 25-yard pass for his first career NFL touchdown.
With this incredible play, it changed the trajectory of the entire game, as the Bills were able to absorb Minnesota's blitzes by running the ball and winning the time of possession.
The touchdown that almost didn't happened
Latu is a huge tight end at 6-foot-6, 249 pounds, with a special journey to making the Bills roster. The little brother of Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu, Keleki began carving his own path in college.
He started his collegiate career with the California Golden Bears in 2021-22. He then transferred to the Nevada Wolf Pack in 2023 and finished his college career with the Washington Huskies in 2024. There, he earned honorable mention All-Big Ten, catching 40 passes for 371 yards.
The young receiver then went undrafted to the Buffalo Bills in 2025, where he started the season on the practice squad and was then called up to the active roster for the rest of the season.
Then, during the 2026 offseason, the Bills made a career-defining decision for Latu, letting fullback Reggie Gilliam walk in free agency to make way for Latu to start the season on the opening-day roster, so the team could keep four active tight ends and no fullback on the roster.
This ended up being the right decision for the team, as Latu's first career touchdown catch on MNF means that the Bills now have all four of their active tight ends with a career receiving touchdown.
If the Bills kept a fullback on their roster, it most likely would have meant that Latu would have been picked up off the practice squad, and he would have been chasing his first career touchdown in another uniform.
Luckily, general manager Brandon Beane saw the value in keeping four active tight ends on the roster and realized he may have a diamond in the rough in fourth tight end Latu. Now, Latu has to keep building on that and record some more touchdowns to add to his resume.
It took the Bills offense until 44 seconds left until halftime to get the team energized and ready to play this game. The team then put forth everything they had offensively and defensively to pull out this incredible win.
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