Heading into Thursday night’s game in Houston, the Buffalo Bills found themselves in a tough spot.
With the Patriots sitting at 9-2, along with already having lost a head-to-head battle at home against them last month, the 7-3 Bills faced off against the Texans on the road, needing to try and keep pace against their Division rivals.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, that didn’t happen.
The Bills ended up running into a Houston team that was amped up and playing at a different level, with their defense making Josh Allen’s life miserable for the entire football game. On offense, Texans quarterback Davis Mills did just enough and played mistake-free, while his defense forced Allen into multiple turnovers, including one at the end to seal the win for the Texans.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys for the effort they showed tonight,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans after the game. “Playing together, playing complementary football. Went down to the wire, but it’s all about how you finish. So I’m really excited to get this win.”
Overall, Mills went out and finished 16-of-30 for 153 yards and two touchdowns, while Allen finished the night 24-of-34 for 253 yards but ended up with zero touchdowns and two interceptions.
The latter turnover ended a potential comeback bid by the Bills, who had a chance to win on their final possession.
On that last gasp, Buffalo actually drove from their own 18 down to the Texans’ 17, but a false start on a 4th-and-1 backed them up to Houston’s 22-yard line.
Instead of a short yard to potentially move the chains, it saw Allen have to convert a 4th-and-6, and Houston came after him on that final play. Facing pressure, Allen threw an ill-advised pass off his back foot for the interception, solidifying the win for Houston, while dropping the Bills to 7-4 on the season.
Overall, he was hit 12 times and was sacked eight times, with the Texans doing a good job of keeping the heat on him all night.
“Yeah, it’s not fun,” said Allen after the game on the career-high sack total he endured. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better throwing the ball away and living to see another down, and letting us play some situational football and pinning them deep. Too many times, I was going backwards, and I’ve got to be better on that.”
On one of the hits he took early in the game, Allen took a shot after he stepped up and was driven to the turf by Will Anderson, who came flying in from behind and landed on top of him after wrapping him up.
On the hit, Allen ended up landing on his left shoulder and remained down with what looked like a serious injury, writhing in pain before eventually walking off the field. He admitted after the game that he experienced numbness on the play, although it’s not clear how that affected him for the remainder of the game.
“Just left shoulder, landed on it, went a little numb on me,” said Allen. “We’re good.”
Houston was relentless all night, forcing Allen off his spot and making it difficult for the Bills to do much offensively. After putting up 44 points against the Buccaneers last Sunday, the Texans shut Buffalo’s offense down, holding them to just three second-half points.
“They wanted it today,” said Allen. “We had a chance to win it there at the end and gotta find a way.”
Meanwhile, Thursday night’s loss by Buffalo opens the door for New England to widen the gap for the Division if they can improve to 10-2 out in Cincinnati. Should they win their 9th-straight, New England has another good shot to extend that even further with a visit from the 2-9 Giants at Gillette Stadium up next on the Patriots’ Schedule on Monday night the following week. Meanwhile, the Bills have another tough one coming up with a visit to Pittsburgh up next on Sunday, 11/30.
Needless to say, for a Bills team that seemed to be flying high ahead of that match-up last month in Week 5, where the pregame festivities saw the crowd seemingly come in expecting another easy win, things ultimately took a drastic turn. Instead, the Patriots dealt them what turned out to be a pivotal 23-20 loss, and after grabbing the edge over them a week later, Buffalo’s been chasing them ever since.
For now, Mike Vrabel’s club remains focused on the task at hand, with quarterback Drake Maye saying on Wednesday that it’s a tough Bengals team they’re about to face, and they’ll need to be ready.
“They make plays. You’ve got to have all hands on deck,” said Maye of the Bengals. “They match pretty well at times. Sometimes there’s zone stuff. They got a lot of eyes on the quarterbacks, and they make plays on the football, and tips and things like that. We got a tough challenge.”
Support Us: Help Us Compete Against The Corporate Media Giants
We need your help. If you enjoy our content, please help us beat Google's Corporate algorithm by adding us as a preferred source on Google News.
Click the button below and check the box next to "PatsFans.com"
Add as a preferred source on Google News
Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
The Pats are on the verge of a huge accomplishment if they do indeed win the AFC east. It’s probably 80+ percent likely now. Buff will come into Foxboro ready for revenge. But even if the Bills win that game and nullify the ‘head to head’ tie breaker, the pats currently have a two game lead and own the second tie-breaker which is division record. Cuz BUFF lost to MIA. Pats don’t have a divisional loss. For the Pats to lose the AFC east title, it’s going to take likely 3 or more losses by the pats in the final… Read more »