Arrow Down: Bills at Texans

Houston, Texas (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Bills dropped their second-straight game, 23-20, on Sunday afternoon to the Houston Texans. They now sit at 3-2 on the 2024 season.

Here are my Arrows Up and Down from the contest:

Photo credit Alex Slitz - Getty Images

ARROW DOWN:

The offense overall

After a really nice second drive of the game, the Bills offense just could not get in gear for almost the rest of it. They finished with just 276 total yards.

QB - Josh Allen

Allen was off-target far too much early in the game, and that translated to a final stat line of 9-of-30 (30%) for just 151 yards.

Wide receiver separation

Once again, just like last Sunday night in Baltimore against the Ravens, Bills wide receivers had trouble separating from Texans defensive backs. That allowed Houston to blitz a lot, and Allen was not able to find anyone open.

Bills receivers were targeted 18 times, with only four passes being completed.

Guards David Edwards and O’Cyrus Torrence

Edwards missed a couple of early blocks that forced Allen to get rid of the ball quickly, and Torrence struggled holding up on multiple blitzes.

S - Cole Bishop

It was a rough day for the rookie, who missed several tackles out in space while he was 1-on-1, and also seemed to blow the coverage that led to the Texans’ 67-yard touchdown pass.

Speaking of...

67-yard touchdown pass against

With the Texans already up 7-3, they got the ball at their own 33-yard line with 1:34 remaining in the first quarter. On the very first play of the drive, quarterback C.J. Stroud went up top to wide receiver Nico Collins, who was absolutely wide-open for an easy long touchdown.

That made the score 14-3, and put the Bills in a huge early hole.

Allen to Hollins… again

Once again, the Allen-to-Mack Hollins connection was off.

It started with a deep ball they couldn’t connect on when Hollins was open, then two passes with Hollins open in the middle of the field and Allen unable to get it to him as he scrambled.

Punt coverage

Former Bills wideout Robert Woods had punt returns of 8, 17, 36, and 13 yards for the Texans. The last one set up the game-winning field goal.

Woods finished with an average of 13.5 yards a return.

Not scoring with great field position late

With the score 20-17 and only 4:21 remaining, the Bills recovered a fumble and had a first down at the Texans’ 15-yard line.

Allen was off the field being evaluated for a head injury, so it was obvious they would most likely run the football. They did on first down for no gain. Then Allen threw incomplete to James Cook, followed with another incompletion.

They settled for a 33-yard Tyler Bass field goal to tie the game instead of going up by four.

A golden opportunity wasted.

Final offensive drive/Unable to get it to overtime

After a tremendous punt by the Texans and the score tied at 20-20, the Bills had the ball at their own three-yard line with just 32 seconds left in regulation. The Texans still had three timeouts, so even if Buffalo ran the football, Houston would use those up after each play.

Instead, the Bills got aggressive to get a first down, and maybe more.

Keon Coleman was called for offensive pass interference, then Allen threw incomplete to Hollins, and then another incompletion to Curtis Samuel.

That forced a punt, giving the Texans the ball at the Bills' 46-yard line, and enough time to eventually kick the game-winning field goal.

Third down offense and defense

Houston converted too many third downs, and especially longer ones. They finished 8-for-16 (50%) on the day.

The Bills struggled mightily in that department, converting only 3 of their 14 opportunities (21.4%).

Red zone offense

In addition to the late series they did not convert, the Bills' second drive of the game started with great field position at the Texans' 49-yard line. The Bills drove to the Houston 20-yard line, but had to settle for a field goal.

They were 1-for-3 overall in the red zone. Just one of those field goals turned into touchdowns would have made a huge difference.

Photo credit Alex Slitz - Getty Images

ARROW UP:

DT - DeWayne Carter

Carter started the game with a great stop on a screen pass on the Texans’ very first offensive snap. Then he continued to be disruptive on several key plays, finishing with three total tackles, including two for loss, and a quarterback hurry.

The comeback

The Bills trailed 20-3 in the third quarter, but did a great job to fight all the way back to tie it up before ultimately falling short.

Keon Coleman’s touchdown

With the Bills trailing 20-10 and with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter, they faced a 4th-and-5 from the Texans' 49-yard line.

Allen threw a strike to Coleman that was good enough for a first down, but then the rookie did a great job to spin out of a tackle and take it the distance for the 49-yard score.

LB - Dorian Williams

Williams did a really nice job of plugging holes and making tackles when he got there, especially 1-on-1. He finished with a game-high 11 tackles, 10 of them were solo!

He also had the fumble recovery late in tjhe fourth quarter.

Terrel Bernard’s interception

With the Bills trailing 20-17 with 8:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Texans were looking to widen the lead and had on 2nd-and-7 from the Buffalo 33-yard line.

C.J. Stroud tried to hit Stefon Diggs through the air, but Bernard made a great athletic play to adjust his body, dive, and snatch the ball out of the air, giving it back to the Bills.

The running game

Overall, the numbers in the run game were good. The Bills ran it 28 times for 150 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per-carry.

Related

Click here to read article