The Houston Texans lost Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins to injury then blew a 20-3 third-quarter lead on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
No matter. After the Bills tied the game 20-20 late in the fourth quarter, the Texans rallied for a game-winning walk-off field goal for a 23-20 win in the showdown of AFC Super Bowl hopefuls.
With the game tied 20-20, the Bills had a chance to run out the clock and force overtime. But they ran off just 16 seconds on three offensive plays on their final possession and punted from their end zone to give the Texans a short field with seven seconds left in regulation.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters postgame “that’s on me” regarding the sequence of plays on Buffalo’s final possession.
The Texans took advantage with a 59-yard Ka’imi Fairbairn field goal as time expired to secure victory.
With the win, Houston improved to 4-1 to maintain control of the AFC South. A second straight loss dropped the Bills to 3-2 following a scorching 3-0 start. Buffalo’s offense failed to find the end zone in the first half and struggled for a second straight game.
Houston took early control with a 70-yard touchdown drive on its second possession for a 7-3 lead. A 67-yard touchdown pass from CJ Stroud to Collins extended the Houston lead to 14-3 in the second quarter.
Collins blew by a pair of Buffalo defenders before Stroud unleashed the deep ball to extend Houston’s lead to double digits.
Houston then added another field goal for a 17-3 halftime lead as Buffalo’s offense struggled for a second straight game following last week’s 35-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Bills managed 103 total yards in the first half.
Allen struggles early, often
Josh Allen completed just one of his first nine passes and went into halftime having completed 6 of 18 passes for 56 yards. But the script flipped to start the second half.
Collins finished the first half in the locker room with a hamstring injury and was ruled out at halftime. The Texans scored a field goal on their opening drive of the third quarter, but went cold from there without Collins, who opened Sunday’s game as the NFL’s leading receiver.
After six stagnant quarters, Buffalo’s offense showed signs of life with touchdowns on its first two drives of the half. With 4:20 left in the third, Keon Coleman caught a fourth-and-5 pass from Allen near midfield and ran down the left sideline for a 49-yard touchdown to cut Buffalo’s deficit to 20-17.
Bills fail to capitalize on late Stroud turnovers
Houston’s second-half offensive woes were then exacerbated by a pair of Stroud turnovers. Midway through the fourth quarter, Stroud threw an interception in Bills territory to thwart a potential scoring drive.
On Houston’s next possession, Stroud fumbled deep in Houston territory to set Buffalo up in scoring position.
Buffalo failed to move the ball after the fumble and settled for a field goal to tie the game at 20-20.
The Bills managed just three points off the late Stroud turnovers, then mismanaged the clock with a chance to force overtime.
Late clock mismanagement costs Bills
The Texans punted from midfield with 40 seconds remaining after an intentional grounding penalty on Stroud knocked them out of field-goal range. The Bills took over possession at their own 3-yard line with 32 seconds left. Overtime appeared to be inevitable.
But the Bills didn’t run the ball, and Allen threw incompletions on three straight plays. The Bills punted back after running the game clock down to 16 seconds. Houston took over at Buffalo’s 46-yard line, then picked up 5 yards to set up Ka’imi Fairbarin for the walkoff field goal.
Stroud had a productive day outside of his turnovers and finished completing 28 of 38 passes for 331 yards with one touchdown. Allen had one of the worst games of his career.
Allen finished the day completing 9 of 30 passes (30%) for 131 yards (4.4 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and no turnovers. The Bills managed just 276 yards of offense against a stout Texans defense.
It marked a second straight game of struggles for Allen after a 3-0 start generated early MVP buzz. Allen completed 55% of his passes for 180 yards without a touchdown in last week’s loss to the Ravens.
Through five weeks, its safe to say he has given up his mantle as the MVP favorite.
The Bills will look to bounce back in Week 6 against the New York Jets. The Texans will look to improve on their 4-1 start in a Week 6 matchup against the New England Patriots.
