Top 3 Things We Learned

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Top 3 things we learned from Bills at Texans | Week 5

Oct 06, 2024 at 09:17 PM

Alec White

Content Coordinator

The Buffalo Bills nearly rallied from down three scores Sunday but fell to the Texans 23-20 on a field goal as time expired. Buffalo (3-2) drops its second straight game and will now head to face the Jets on Monday night in Week 6.

Here's the top 3 things we learned from Bills-Texans:

1 — HC Sean McDermott laments end-of-game strategy

Down 20-3 in the second half the Bills mounted a comeback of 17 unanswered points to tie the game with 3:18 to play. Houston drove the ball across midfield, but thanks to an intentional grounding penalty on QB CJ Stroud, the Texans didn't get into field goal range and had to punt.

The punt was well executed and left the Bills in a precarious spot, the ball at their own 3-yard line and the game knotted at 20-20. Under normal circumstances, this is where Josh Allen typically shines.

"I love Josh with the ball in his hands," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "Efficient offense was the right approach there, and I didn't have us do that."

What McDermott also admitted was that three straight long pass attempts with Houston holding all of its timeouts was not the right approach. All three of Allen's passes fell incomplete and gave Houston the ball back at midfield with 7 seconds left and timeouts in its back pocket. A five-yard completion set up a 59-yard game-winning field goal for Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn as the clock expired.

"We needed to run the clock and move the chains and that's on me. We didn't do that there and that's my fault," McDermott said.

QB Josh Allen said that the offense was trying to be "aggressive" in that situation.

"Coach is going to trust us to go out there and do that. Obviously, would love to convert there, and hindsight is 20-20," Allen said.

Three consecutive runs by the Bills would've forced the Texans to use all their timeouts, meaning they wouldn't have had one to stop the clock to set up their field goal.

"If the situation goes three straight runs, you're running six seconds off potential each time, and may be in a similar situation," McDermott said. "So either way, we got to do a better job. And that starts with me 100%."

2 — Uncharacteristic Allen

Sunday marked Josh Allen's lowest completion percentage in a game since entering the NFL. The Bills QB completed just 9 of 30 passes (30%) for 131 yards and a touchdown.

"We were just off slightly tonight. That's something I gotta clean up," Allen said.

During his press conference, Allen recounted several missed opportunities that he took accountability for. He couldn't connect with WR Mack Hollins on a potential wide open touchdown on the first drive of the game, then nearly had one intercepted on a seam ball to TE Dalton Kincaid.

"We missed by a little bit. Had Mack open early, overthrow him, and then right before the half to Dalton, running down the seam, had a chance and an opportunity," Allen shared.

On downfield throws of 10 air yards or more, Allen was 1 of 16 for 26 yards, the lone completion coming to Kincaid in the second half. Allen thinks there's a lot of room for improvement all around as an offense.

"Starts with making better decisions on my part, and I know I didn't complete the ball at a high rate tonight, put the ball in harm's way, especially early in that first half. But I trust our guys," Allen said.

Outside of Keon Coleman's 49-yard TD in the third quarter, there wasn't much room for the Bills receiving room to operate. Discounting Coleman's TD, Bills receivers had just 27 yards.

"I would have hoped for more. I'm sure those guys feel the same way," McDermott said of the WR core.

Allen cautioned against an over-criticism of his receivers, saying it was more about him not playing at a high level.

"Let's not base all this off of one game. I think our guys have been doing a great job early on in the season, finding ways to get open," Allen said. "Joe's been calling it well. Ultimately, comes down to me executing at a high level, and just didn't do that enough."

3 — Third down disparity

Among Buffalo's list of things to improve on will be their 3rd down conversion rate. The Bills converted on just 3 of 14 of their 3rd down plays, while the Buffalo defense allowed Houston to pick up first downs on 8 of 16 tries.

LB Terrel Bernard gave credit to Stroud and the Texans for being able to convert on third and short, but added the Bills should be able to stop them on third and longs. The Texans converted six times when facing a 3rd and 6 situation or longer.

"They're going to convert sometimes, obviously in those third and medium and third and long situations, we need to get off the field every single time," Bernard said.

Bernard gave insight on how the Bills could fix those issues.

"Executing the back end and covering. Whether that means… anticipating the routes a little bit, just playing to our technique and our fundamentals. And I think that's a huge part of it," he said. "It's a known thing for us to get better in those situations."

Third down disparity is something that's troubled the Buffalo in both its losses this season. In Week 4 at Baltimore, the Bills offense was 3 of 13 (23%) on third downs while the defense allowed the Ravens to convert 5 of 9 third downs.

"This isn't a defining moment in our season," Allen said. "It's a chance to learn and grow from this, and that's what we're going to do."