Buffalo Bills 'Stupid Rookie' Dalton Kincaid Comes Up Big vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Buffalo Bills rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid hardly played like a youngster in Thursday night's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buffalo Bills have been banged up at the tight end position in recent weeks. Ahead of Thursday night's meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Highmark Stadium, the Bills placed longtime offensive staple Dawson Knox on IR due to a wrist injury and ruled out tight end Quintin Morris prior to kickoff.

All this did was open the door for rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid, who showed out on the national stage and was a major reason Buffalo pulled out a 24-18 win at home.

In the first game without Knox, Kincaid showed why he was worthy of being Buffalo's first-round pick this past April. He finished with five catches for 65 yards and his first-career touchdown, which came on a 22-yard pass from Josh Allen in the second quarter.

"Definitely miss Dawson. But I mean, short week, had to turn around and go make some plays," Kincaid said. "I think tonight was a lot of fun. A lot of guys making plays and just playing with a lot of energy."

After the score, Allen made it a point to grab the ball and keep it for Kincaid, which resulted in some jokes after the game.

Dalton Kincaid / Adrian Kraus, Associated Press

"We call them SFRs, 'stupid rookies,'" Allen said jokingly while intentionally leaving out the expletive. "You never know what they're gonna do on their first touchdown so I stole it from him and made sure I got it to our equipment manager."

Kincaid's key performance came just a few days after he had his breakout game in a 29-25 loss to the New England Patriots, which saw him post eight grabs for 75 yards. Kincaid continues to gain the trust of Allen, and will be a valuable piece moving forward for the Buffalo offense.

"As much as a stupid rookie that he is, he feels like - and a lot of guys will say this - he feels like he's been in this league for a long time," Allen said of Kincaid. "He's a professional, he takes it very serious and it's a business to him. So just his approach has been fantastic. The trust that I have in him is going to continue to grow.”

The Bills will have some extended rest before visiting the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9 on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 8:20 p.m. ET.