The Buffalo Bills’ rushing offense woke up at a perfect time, as they earned a hard-fought victory against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Trickery and rushing ruled the day for the Buffalo Bills in a hard-fought victory.

Cole Beasley threw a touchdown pass to compliment a 172-yard performance from the run game, which was paced by 82 from Devin Singletary. It was enough to give Buffalo a 27-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers at Bills Stadium. The Bills (8-3) has clinched their first pair of non-losing seasons since the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. They maintain a single-game lead on Miami for the AFC East division lead.

ESM looks back on the three stars of Sunday’s big win…

3rd Star: WR Cole Beasley

(3 receptions, 20 yards, 1-for-1, 20 yards, 1 TD)

No. 11 threw a touchdown for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but Drew Bledsoe was nowhere to be found. Instead, it was Beasley launching his first pass since a 2018 attempt at theatrics in Dallas. It was good for his first NFL completion, a 20-yard scoring strike to Gabriel Davis. The Bills have done some strong work with their disease-prevention tactics (often keeping rookie thrower Jacob Fromm in quarantine in case of an emergency), but if they ever face a situation like the one Denver is facing this weekend, they could well turn to Beasley, who served as an option quarterback at Little Elm High School.

2nd Star: WR Gabriel Davis

(3 receptions, 79 yards, 1 TD)

How ironic is it that, one of the weekend of the 10th anniversary of the Steve Johnson incident, that a Bills receiver bearing the No. 13 in a throwback jersey would come through in the clutch? That was Davis, who not only came through on Beasley’s toss of glory, but also on a pair of deep passes that kept Buffalo drives going. Davis has turned himself into quite the day three steal, and has situated himself as a crucial piece of the Buffalo offensive puzzle moving forward. His performance alongside Beasley came up huge on a day when they were missing John Brown due to an injury.

1st Star: LB A.J. Klein 

(14 tackles, 2 pass defenses, 1.5 sacks)

Klein continued his Buffalo redemption story on Sunday, becoming a strong prescience when the Bills needed it most. On the final drive, with the Chargers going for a desperation drive at the end of the game, Klein earned himself a 10-yard sack, combining with Jerry Hughes for another at the end of the first half, one that partly led to a Los Angeles punt. He had three other tackles for a loss on the afternoon, including a big shove of Joshua Kelley on a third-and-one with the Bills holding on to a 24-14 lead. It limited the damage to a field goal, and helped Buffalo keep a lead they’d never relinquish. Klein has shown that his breakout game against Seattle was no fluke and he’ll no doubt be relied on as the season hits its final stages.

The Bills return to action next Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags