- Texans defense dominated the Bills with devastating performance. Josh Allen was close to breaking the Texans’ hearts Thursday night, but Calen Bullock finished off the best game of his NFL career with his second interception of the game in the final seconds with the Bills threatening to take the lead late. Bullock’s first INT came right after the Texans took the lead in the second quarter, leading to a Houston field goal. He also forced a fumble deep in Buffalo territory that led to another field goal. But Bullock was hardly the only standout defensively for the Texans, who sacked Allen a career-worst eight times for minus-70 yards. Will Anderson Jr. was destructive all game, with 2.5 sacks and nearly picking Allen on the final drive. The Texans bailed out a sluggish Houston offense and survived a miracle conversion by Buffalo on fourth-and-27 on the final drive. That’s now Houston’s eighth game this season allowing fewer than 20 points, which is the most in the NFL. Folks, this is as good a defense as there is in this league.
- Battered Allen can’t rescue Bills from offensive mistakes. After a six-TD performance Sunday, Josh Allen was held out of the end zone in the Bills’ frustrating loss to the Texans. He was sacked eight times and harassed most of the game, apparently hurting his shoulder on an early scramble, was unable to set his feet, move up in the pocket or shake loose much as a scrambler. Allen threw two picks, and both were poor throws. The first was an underthrown ball on the first play after the Texans first took the lead. James Cook got the Bills on the board with a long TD run, and Ray Davis gave Buffalo a 16-13 lead with a 97-yard kickoff return. But the Bills’ offense produced only three points in the game’s final 39-plus minutes. The Bills were moving the ball, but sacks kept moving them back. Khalil Shakir had a big game for the Bills, but his fumble gifted Houston a field goal, and Cook was stuffed on fourth down at the Houston 23-yard line. Allen had a chance on the last drive after executing a brilliant pitch play on fourth-and-27, but he forced a pass in the final seconds that was picked off. Just a maddening night from an execution standpoint.
- Davis Mills delivered again, helping Texans’ playoff chances. It appears that Davis Mills will head back to the bench next week when the Texans face another crucial matchup at Indianapolis, with C.J. Stroud expected to return from his three-game absence. But give Mills a ton of credit for his terrific relief work, leading the Texans to three thrilling victories and injecting some life into the team. At 6-5, the Texans’ playoff chances received a big boost Thursday night, even with a lot of work left to do to lock in a spot. Mills deserves a ton of credit. He started Thursday's game 1-for-8 passing and was only 3 of 12 before hitting eight of his next nine passes before halftime, leading two key TD drives. Houston’s offense did nothing in the second half, other than a field goal created by a turnover, and it was 3 for 12 on third downs. But Mills didn’t take a sack and didn’t turn the ball over, doing his job. He wasn’t great on the whole Thursday, but if the Texans make the postseason, Mills deserves a heaping helping of praise for holding the fort.
- Bills went away from Cook, and it cost them. On his first carry of the second quarter, James Cook cut back against the grain and sprinted 13 yards, giving him 75 on his first seven rushes of the game – the most rushing yards by an opponent against the Texans this season. One of those runs was a 45-yard TD that got the Bills on the board first. But those seven carries would be the only ones he received until the second half, and they really didn’t feed him again until the fourth quarter. Cook was stuffed on back-to-back plays, on third-and-2 and fourth-and-1, leading to a turnover on downs in the fourth. But Cook getting just 19 touches (on 66 offensive plays) in a game where Buffalo struggled to finish drives just isn’t good enough. The Bills were hurt by bad field position most of the game, but that was only more reason to be patient and give one of their best playmakers the ball. He finished with 117 of Buffalo’s 326 yards. In the Bills’ big win over the Chiefs, Cook ran the ball 27 times. With the mini-bye ahead, it might have been more prudent to get him the ball more often, rather than try to deal with Houston’s pass rushers.
- Texans figuring out how to win the close ones. One of the big reasons why the Texans found themselves with a 3-5 record not long ago was that they were struggling to figure out how to finish off games. The Texans lost their first five one-possession games this season, by a combined 23 points. But in getting over the .500 hump, Houston has now won three straight one-score affairs, all coming down to the final seconds. Davis Mills led the furious comeback against the Jaguars, the Texans took care of business late against the Titans and sweated out another thriller against the Bills. Thursday night’s performance was about the defense, holding the Bills out of the end zone after James Cook’s first-quarter TD and holding on for dear life late on three defensive possessions despite Buffalo getting inside Houston’s 25-yard line on each of them. They might not be as fortunate the next time, but the Texans have shown better poise late in games – both improving their playoff hopes and prepping them for the bumpy road ahead.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Bills-Texans (via NFL Pro): James Cook reached a top speed of 21.33 mph on his 45-yard TD run, his fastest play of the season and the second-fastest of his career.
NFL Research: On Thursday, Will Anderson Jr. tied Mario Williams’ Texans record (from the 2007 season) of six straight games with a sack for the longest single-season streak of games with a sack. The only Texans player with a longer sack streak is J.J. Watt with seven games, spanning over the 2014-2015 seasons. Watt won Defensive Player Of The Year both of those seasons.
