INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There were 28 seconds left to play Saturday night, the Buffalo Bills had just taken a 24-22 lead against the Los Angeles Chargers, and at that moment there had to be scores of fans considering all the ways something could go wrong.

These are the Bills, after all, a team that has made it their business too many times to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, sometimes in the most unbelievable ways.

Who wasn’t thinking back to the 13 Seconds debacle in Kansas City two years ago as Tyler Bass lined up to kick off at Sofi Stadium, moments after his 29-yard field goal had given the Bills the lead? Come on, admit it, you did.

However, unlike that awful night at Arrowhead Stadium when Bass kicked the ball through the end zone and not one precious second came off the clock, this time he executed a squib kick that ate up five seconds, so the Bills were off to a good start in their effort to close out the game.

And then on the next play, with the Chargers out of timeouts, no one in coverage had a chance to repeat the mistakes the Bills made in Kansas City when they allowed Patrick Mahomes to complete two big passes that moved the Chiefs into position for a tying field goal. That’s because Ed Oliver smashed his way past Chargers guard Jamaree Salyer and sacked Easton Stick to essentially end the game.

“Five sacks overall and they were all big for us in big moments of the game,” coach Sean McDermott said. “I didn’t think we were rushing well on early downs. I think they were doing a good job of getting their hands on us early, but when we needed it on some critical third downs, we had some big-time sacks. Ed had two of them and obviously the last one was huge just to burn so much time off the clock because it really put them in (a situation where) they can only do one or two things.”

And thus, on a night when so many things were laborious for the Bills, they found a way to stretch their winning streak to three games and kept alive their push to the postseason with a hard-earned but far too sweaty victory.

“Tough game. Tough game, gritty performance by our guys,” McDermott said. “We knew it was going to be tough coming out here and give credit to the Chargers, they were ready to play. Our guys stuck with it which was good to see.”

Here’s how I graded the Bills:

PASS OFFENSE: B-

Hey, Gabe Davis checked back in after taking the last two weeks off from the stat sheet. And it’s a good thing because the Bills needed someone to step up and jump start their sputtering offense. Davis made four catches for 130 yards, the last three of which were crucial to the victory as they all led to touchdowns including one by him on a 57-yard play.

Stefon Diggs had yet another quiet game with five catches for 29 yards, but two came on the winning drive including a clutch 11-yarder on a third-and-8 as Allen made an outstanding throw to the sideline to the Chargers 34. That play may have saved the game because without that first down, who knows what might have happened.

Also, Khalil Shakir had a couple highly impactful plays, one on a great catch of a poorly thrown Josh Allen pass that converted a third down on the third TD drive, and then the big play at the end which converted another critical third down, the one where he thought he scored a TD but had it reversed which ended up being a good thing.

As for Allen, it wasn’t his best night, and being asked to throw only 21 passes left a bit to be desired in the Joe Brady game plan. He’s the meal ticket, and I think he needs to be throwing more often than that.

RUN OFFENSE: C+

Not a bad night for James Cook, but nowhere near what he did against Dallas which earned him AFC offensive player of the week. He carried 20 times for 70 yards with a long of 10, but he lost a fumble which led to a Chargers field goal. He had another fumble deep in his own territory but Reggie Gilliam bailed him out by recovering. Plus, he wasn’t even targeted in the pass game.

Leonard Fournette’s Bills’ debut was decent enough, five carries for 20 yards including two for 14 yards that set up Allen’s TD sneak in the second quarter near the end of the half. The Chargers were stout up front and the Bills’ offensive line didn’t have nearly the same performance it did against Dallas.

“Give credit where it’s due,” Allen said of the Chargers. “That’s a team with a coaching change, obviously, their quarterback (Justin Herbert) was out, but they came out and they played hard. They had a really good game plan. It’s tough because when you’re playing a team with nothing to lose, that’s a dangerous team, and that was a dangerous team that we played today. We gutted it out and we found a way.”

PASS DEFENSE: A-

There were some issues early in the game as dropped coverages allowed the Chargers to complete three passes of 19 yards or more in the first quarter which enabled them to rack up six first downs. But then the Bills settled in and Chargers QB Easton Stick had a tougher time throwing the ball downfield as there was only one more completion of at least 19 yards.

The pass rush wasn’t great early but in the second half, wow, they got after Stick as they sacked him five times, three of those on third down which either forced a punt or a field goal attempt. One of those by Terrel Bernard came with six minutes left and LA at the Bills 27 looking to take the lead. His play forced them to kick a field goal and that meant the Bills only needed a field goal to win. And then Oliver’s second sack came with 23 seconds left and effectively ended any hope the Chargers had for a miracle victory.

Obviously, not having to face Justin Herbert, Mike Williams and Keenan Allen helped, but the Bills did a nice job in coverage on WRs Josh Palmer (5-47) and Quentin Johnston (2-29). Most of the damage was done by TE Gerald Everett (7-42) and RB Austin Ekeler (3-21).

RUN DEFENSE: B

Ekeler had a productive night with 65 yards on 15 attempts and Stick was able to get out for 25 yards on seven attempts while also scoring LA’s only touchdown on a one-yard bootleg. But overall, the Bills did a nice job in limiting the Chargers to 3.6 yards per rush, a figure inflated by Stick's 21-yard scramble through a gaping hole up the middle.

Taylor Rapp led the defense with nine tackles while Taron Johnson, Bernard and Christian Benford were all in on seven. Up front, Greg Rousseau continues to play great against the run as he made six stops.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

It was a disaster for most of the night, but the kickers saved the grade from being an F. Special teams have been a problem much of the season, and this was a particularly troubling night.

Deonte Harty, a mostly useless player all season, fumbled a punt late in the first quarter which gave the Chargers a drive start at the Buffalo 27 when the score was only 3-0 and it quickly became 10-0. On that play, Damar Hamlin also committed a penalty which was naturally declined. Earlier, Baylon Spector had a penalty on a kickoff that pushed the Bills back to their 16. And Siran Neal had a false start on a punt.

Sam Martin had one of his best games of the season. He punted four times for a tremendous net average of 49 yards with three downed inside the 20, one of those going out of bounds at the 4. Of course, when the punter is one of the best players in a game, that’s generally not a good thing.

And then Bass came through in the end with the winning 29-yard field goal after making all three of his extra points. Oh, and he also executed a productive squib kickoff at the end which cost the Chargers five precious seconds.

COACHING: B-

There were some things the Bills needed to overcome in this game, and they answered the call. That was impressive, especially with their season on the line, so McDermott and his staff deserve credit for that.

There were certainly moments when things were going a little crazy on defense as Stick was completing big passes on third down, but much of that came early in the game. When it mattered in crunch time, McDermott’s defense came up huge as it held the Chargers to 4 of 14 on third down, 268 total yards, and allowed only one TD, and that was mostly thanks to the Harty fumble which meant the Chargers only had to drive 27 yards.

Joe Brady’s game plan was a little odd to me. Allen attempted only 21 passes, one week after attempting only 16 and that despite the fact that the Bills won both games, that doesn’t seem like a trend that should continue. For evidence, look at what happened on the winning drive when Allen took over via the air. Yes, you want to run the ball well, but the Bills really weren’t having a lot of success, so I didn't get why Allen seemed to be neutered much of the game.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills vs. Chargers report card: Buffalo survives with season on line