For the first time this season, the Houston Texans are over .500. Behind yet another monstrous defensive effort that included eight sacks of Josh Allen, the Texans upset the Buffalo Bills, 23-19, for their third straight win.
Davis Mills threw two touchdown passes and improved to 3-0 as a starter with C.J. Stroud (concussion) injured.
Will Anderson Jr. led an overwhelming pass rush: Allen’s eight sacks taken were a career high, and Anderson had 2.5 of those sacks and applied pressure seemingly all night. Houston also forced three turnovers, two of which led to field goals. Calen Bullock sealed the game with a last-minute interception.
Houston (6-5) remains eighth in the AFC, one spot outside the playoffs, but is now just a half-game behind the division-rivals Jaguars. The Bills, now 7-4, fall to sixth in the AFC.
After a slow start to the game, the final four minutes of the first half featured 24 combined points.
Down 9-3 late in the first half, Mills found an open Christian Kirk from 2 yards out for an easy score.
On the very next play from scrimmage, Allen forced a deep pass Elijah Moore’s way, and Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair read it well and tipped it away. Calen Bullock came up with an athletic interception on the redirect and took it back for a touchdown, but the return was wiped out due to a block in the back. Ka’imi Fairbairn knocked through a field goal to make it 13-9.
On the ensuing kickoff, though, Ray Davis went the distance, at first running into his own man, spinning away from a would-be tackler and then outracing everyone.
The fireworks weren’t done. Mills led another long drive and capped it with an 8-yard touchdown to Jayden Higgins. The hosts led 20-16 at halftime.
Then the defenses took over. Late in the third quarter, Calen Bullock ripped the ball away from Khalil Shakir, and Justin Reid recovered the fumble, setting up another Fairbairn field goal to make it 23-16.
The Bills mounted three lengthy fourth-quarter drives, but the Texans defense came through all three times. On the first, it stuffed James Cook twice in short yardage, forcing a turnover on downs. On the second, the Bills were forced to settle for a field goal.
On the third, madness broke out. Allen took consecutive sacks — his seventh and eighth of the night — but Buffalo somehow converted a fourth-and-27 with a completion to Joshua Palmer, who then lateraled to Shakir for a gain of 33 yards.
Once again, though, the defense held. Dion Dawkins false started on a fourth-and-1, and Bullock picked off Allen’s fourth-and-6 pass to seal it.
CBS Sports will have takeaways from this game shortly.
