HOUSTON — The Buffalo Bills had somehow managed to claw their way back into Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans after going down 20-3 in the third quarter.

Then, a late-game collapse led to a game-winning Texans field goal as time expired, spoiling a Bills’ defensive effort that forced two fourth-quarter C.J. Stroud turnovers.

Bills coach Sean McDermott blamed himself.

With under a minute to go, the Texans were pushed out of field goal range on a Stroud intentional grounding penalty. With 41 seconds left on the clock, the Bills got the ball at their 3-yard line. Houston had three timeouts, and the Bills needed a first down to avoid giving the Texans the ball right back.

Buffalo averaged 5.4 yards per rush in the game and just 4.1 yards per pass. Quarterback Josh Allen was having one of his worst games of the last five seasons. He finished with just 131 passing yards on 9 of 30 passing. Despite experiencing difficulty in the passing game, offensive coordinator Joe Brady dialed up three straight passing plays. All three were incomplete passes.

So the Bills punted back to the Texans with 16 seconds left. They ran one play for five yards while Buffalo’s safeties were playing deep as if Houston was going to try for a touchdown. Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn drilled the 59-yard field goal to win the game for his team, dropping the Bills to 3-2.

McDermott said he should have run the ball.

“The end of game situation on offense we needed, tough situation,” McDermott said. “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 has a long history of game management problems. No instance brings more ire to Bills fans than how he botched the sequence that led to the Kansas City Chiefs tying the playoff game in 2022 with just 13 seconds left.

Asked if he gave Brady the green light to call pass on three straight plays, McDermott said he didn’t think those details were relevant. If the Bills had run three consecutive times and not gotten a first down, they would have potentially been giving the Texans the ball back all the same, McDermott said.

The Bills’ offensive struggles offered an interesting subplot to the game, as former superstar receiver Stefon Diggs caught six passes for a game-high 82 receiving yards in a win for the Texans. The Bills have leaned heavily into their new “everybody eats” model in the passing game, but the group managed just four receptions on 18 targets to wide receivers in the game.

McDermott wants to look at the tape, but he offered one observation about why the passing game struggled so much against the Texans, which accounted for 425 total yards in the game compared to just 276 for the Bills.

“I just feel like overall, maybe (we were throwing) too much down the field,” he said. “I thought some of the getting the ball out, I think it was (better) in the second quarter, maybe some in the third as well. I thought that was effective for us and it seemed like maybe we were looking down the field. … We talked about it at halftime. We knew first down wasn’t good for us.”

The Bills went 3-for-14 on third down and faced an average of third and 8 yards in the game.

“That’s not healthy,” McDermott said.

Allen completed just 30% of his throws, which was the lowest number of his career. That’s the lowest completion % by a quarterback who attempted 30 or more passes in a game in the last 30 years.

Allen said the connection between himself and his pass catchers was just slightly off. He missed receiver Mack Hollins on what would have been a touchdown in the first quarter on a bad overthrow.

“Then right before the half, too, Dalton (Kincaid) running down the seam, had a chance, an opportunity there, we were off slightly tonight,” Allen said. “That’s something I got to clean up and I’m proud of how we responded in the second half, got on our horses and gave ourselves a chance to win a football game.”

The Bills did have a chance to win the game, but their offense ended eight of 12 possessions with a punt. Allen didn’t turn the ball over. He hasn’t thrown an interception all season, but the passing game hasn’t been good enough the past two games to win.

Asked if he’s still confident in his receivers, Allen said he has to make better decisions.

“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,” he said. “I know you guys are going to be wild this week but love my guys and we’re going to keep working and this isn’t a defining moment in our season. It’s a chance to learn and grow from this and that’s what we’re going to do.”

McDermott said the Bills were down after the loss and that there aren’t any moral victories in the NFL. But he liked how his team battled back, even if they didn’t pull off a win.

“To battle back after getting down like we did. We have a lot of young guys, particularly on the defensive side battling and giving us great effort in all three phases,” he said. “The margins in the NFL are slim and we got to continue to work to improve ourselves, get some guys healthy at some point here. I think that would help and yet that’s not an excuse. We have to find ways to pull these out.”

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.