Bills wide receiver beckons defender before delivering 'completely maniacal' hit

D.J. Moore had plenty of room to step out of bounds on his first catch with the Buffalo Bills.

He chose violence instead.

Moore caught a short pass from Josh Allen on a crossing route on the Bills' third play from scrimmage Saturday in the preseason win against the Carolina Panthers and turned up the left sideline.

Then things got interesting.

The 29-year-old wide receiver picked up speed and motioned with his right hand as Panthers safety Nick Scott approached. Moore may have been signaling for Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer to block upfield.

Or he was beckoning Scott to come get some.

Either way, Moore didn't head for the sideline.

Scott broke down to make the tackle and Moore lowered his shoulder into the safety, finishing a 32-yard gain at the Panthers' 13-yard line.

"Waving a defender to you cause you want to deliver a hit in the preseason is completely maniacal," NFL analyst Warren Sharp posted on X.

Welcome to Buffalo.

waving a defender to you cause you want to deliver a hit in the preseason is completely maniacal pic.twitter.com/sbNAQLSCJO

The catch was Moore's first opportunity to show what his connection with Allen might look like after the Bills acquired the veteran wide receiver in the offseason.

Moore caught all three of his targets for 61 yards during Allen's two series in the first quarter. The Bills scored on both possessions, kicking a field goal on the first before Allen improvised and found Keon Coleman for a touchdown on the second.

It was also quite a change from the last pass thrown Moore's way in a game.

Moore's final target with the Chicago Bears came in overtime of their playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams in January. The pass was intercepted on Chicago's final offensive play, and the Rams went on to kick the game-winning field goal to advance to the NFC Championship Game.

D.J. Moore's first @BuffaloBills catch of the preseason goes for 33 yards!

Stream on @NFLPluspic.twitter.com/sErDqbd3Yl

His first target with Buffalo went considerably better. Allen would like to make sure Moore keeps getting them.

"I'm going to go out and make an assumption that it's going to be awesome to do that every single game, to get him the ball early and often," Allen said after the Bills' 29-14 preseason victory.

Defenses will know Moore is coming, Allen acknowledged. That's where the rest of Buffalo's offense comes in.

Allen pointed to Khalil Shakir making a 21-yard catch on the opening play and the options the Bills have with James Cook, Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox and Coleman.

"When everything is firing, we can be two-dimensional, that's when we feel like we're in a good spot," Allen said.

Moore's first catch offered a glimpse of what Buffalo added to that group.

And it offered a warning to defensive backs who think the sideline will do the tackling for them.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills wide receiver beckons defender before delivering 'completely maniacal' hit