The Buffalo Bills came into this season with Super Bowl dreams. Those hopes have dwindled down to praying Josh Allen can have a historic run of four games in the playoffs. Assuming the Bills make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Bills are a surprising 7-4 after a rough outing against the Houston Texans, who won 23-19 despite being without quarterback C.J. Stroud, who missed his second straight start due to a concussion. The Texans (6-5) harassed Allen all night, sacking him eight times, a single-game career-high for the reigning NFL MVP.<\/p>\n
The Bills’ defense allowed 20 points and more than 200 yards in the first half to a Davis Mills-led team, and saw linebacker Terrel Bernard and cornerback Maxwell Hairston leave the game with injuries.<\/p>\n
The Bills had a shot in the final minutes to get the lead. They pulled off a wild hook-and-ladder play for 44 yards on fourth-and-27 to keep the game alive. But on fourth down in Texans territory, Allen threw an interception and the Texans had the win.<\/p>\n
The Bills started the season 4-0 and are 3-4 since. They\u2019ve had ugly losses to the Falcons, Dolphins and now the Texans.<\/p>\n
Allen is one of the best players in football, but still hasn\u2019t gotten Buffalo to the Super Bowl. That goal seems to be further away than it has been in a few years.<\/p>\n
Texans come out strong<\/p>\n
The first half was surprisingly entertaining and a funny thing was happening: The Texans looked like the better team.<\/p>\n
Houston had 201 yards in the first half to 155 for the Bills. The Bills had two big plays, a 45-yard touchdown run by James Cook and a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown by Ray Davis, but there wasn\u2019t much else. The Texans\u2019 fantastic defense did a good job containing Allen. Houston also got a field goal off an Allen interception in Bills territory.<\/p>\n
Mills missed a lot of passes and the offense still was effective. Mills did warm up in the second half with a pair of touchdown passes. His second touchdown pass was to rookie Jayden Higgins with five seconds left in the half. That gave Houston a 20-16 lead going into halftime.<\/p>\n
The Bills came in expected to win, but they were fortunate they were trailing by only four points at halftime.<\/p>\n
Texans D clamps down<\/p>\n
The Texans’ defense, which came into Week 12 leading the NFL in points allowed and yards allowed, started to take over the game in the second half.<\/p>\n