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, starting Down for the second week n a row:
ARROW DOWN:
Clock management/coaching on final offensive drive
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.
The Bills weren’t trying to score, they just had to get a first down. If they run three-straight plays, the Texans call timeout after each play, anyway, also resulting in the clock stopping each time.
The Bills decided to throw to get one first down, which can be understandable.
However, the reason the Bills should have run the ball is because in either scenario, they'll punt it back if there's no first down. At least running the ball would have forced Houston to burn those timeouts and have none remaining when they get it back.
Instead, they still had all three, but only needed one
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.
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.
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 the 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.
P - Sam Martin
Martin was booming his punts, averaging over 50 yards gross per punt and landing five of eight of them inside the Texans' 20-yard line.
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