In the week leading up to Sunday's game against the Steelers, QB Josh Allen kept his eye on WR Gabe Davis in practice and team walk-throughs. Davis had been dealing with an ankle injury for the past two weeks and from what Allen saw last week, he felt good about his wide receiver heading into Sunday afternoon.
"The way he was moving, bouncing around on it, I was like OK this guy's ready to go," Allen said. "And he was."
Allen's trust in Davis was evident on the opening drive of the game. It looked like possession was about to flip to the Steelers and LB Von Miller was walking to the other side of the field in preparation for a punt. But Allen and Davis had other another plan in mind that entailed getting the Bills on the scoreboard.
"I look up and you see Gabe going 98 yards for the touchdown," Miller said. "All I can say is, it was unbelievable man."
As soon as Davis lined up and saw the type of coverage the Steelers were playing, he knew the play call could result in a big play. But what he didn't know is that the play was going to be a 98-yard TD pass from his quarterback.
"It's something I always knew I could do, I just needed the opportunity," Davis said. "Just like everybody else in this world, we're human, and we're going to have our days and have our time. I had my time, and I was happy I was able to come out there and be focused and ready to go."
Davis felt that his long TD play was a confidence boost for the offense. And in turn, the four touchdowns that followed the first score of the day proved his thought to be true.
The Bills' next touchdown also came from Davis, who had three receptions for 171 yards on the day. On the 62-yard bomb from Allen which made it 17-3, Davis was slightly worried that Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was going to get the ball away from him. But once he got a good enough grip on it, the WR was able to come out of the ball battle with his second TD of the afternoon.
"It's unreal to be in a position that I'm in and be able to make that play," Davis said on his second TD. "I was just telling the guys, it feels like I didn't even do it because it's such a big moment of the game. It's such a big step for me as well in my head and what I have going on. I was just really happy to be able to be the player to do it."
With his 62-yard and 98-yard touchdown catches, Davis became the third player in team history to record multiple 60+ yard TD catches in a single game. And after Sunday's victory, Davis felt a lot of love from his teammates for his dynamic performance after recently struggling to get his game back to 100% with his lingering ankle injury.
"Guys were just saying that Gabe's back and Gabe's doing what Gabe does," Davis said.
"He's coming off a little bit of a couple of weeks of an ankle and I just wanted him to know that I trust him implicitly," Allen added. "I'm going to give him these opportunities. When you continue to make them, it makes it that much easier to trust a guy."
