That's one we won't soon forget, huh?
The Texans wore their new H-Town uniforms, donned the new "H" helmet for the first time ever, and then won an all-timer, regular season style, against the potent and powerful Buffalo Bills, 23-20.
Those three plus hours were jam-packed with drama, sadness, joy and finally ecstasy. But my Harris Hits are going to start with two gridiron warriors before anything else.
1) It gives me so much pleasure to say that defensive end Dylan Horton is alive and well and played in an NFL football game for the first time in 11 months. For those that don't know, it was just after the Cincinnati game in 2023 when we heard that Dylan was going to have to step away from the team. We didn't know at the time but we found out that he was stricken with late-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma. It was on December 1st of last year when he was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes and not only was his career put on hold, the fight for his life, literally, had just begun. But, in March of 2024, he revealed that he was in remission and that he looked forward to playing football again. Throughout this year's training camp, I saw him drenched in sweat every single day but I didn't even imagine that we would see him on the field anytime soon. However, he was following through on his promise to get back on the field. On Sunday, he ended up with one tackle, which really wasn't not what this was all about on this day. It was that he was back on that dadgum field playing football again, against the Bills, in a huge game…right where he wanted to be all along.
2) The second football warrior that I wanted to mention right off the start was added to the injury report on Saturday with illness and that's Azeez Al-Shaair. After the Texans had congregated in the locker room for Coach DeMeco Ryans postgame speech, Azeez was just spent. You know the old coaching adage "leave it all out on the field"? Al-Shaair did that, literally, and put in one of the best performances of his career and this season. He led the team in tackles, had a TFL, two QB hurries and two passes defensed. The play he made running with Dalton Kincaid all the way down the seam? Unreal. He'll tell you he needs some jugs machine time after dropping the next pass from Bills QB Josh Allen. But, he was everywhere. He hit everything. He ran down Josh Allen on a scramble that forced an errant Allen pass. He hit Allen on a fourth down scramble that really shook up the star Bills QB. He was, is and always will be the epitome of SWARM. I was fortunate to call preseason games this summer for many reasons but one reason that I was excited about was that I got to be in the production meetings with coaches and players. Getting ready for the Giants preseason game, Azeez spent about 45 minutes with us and I left out of there feeling like he was immediately my favorite Texan. But, what he did yesterday, I'm speechless. Just plain speechless. I'll remember that effort and performance for a long time.
3) Let's get to "The Ambassador of Clutch" Kai'mi Fairbairn. Man, what another big-time kick. I went back behind the goalpost on the Texans second to last drive of the game. I thought that was the one that was going to end in another Fairbairn game-winning kick. Alas, it did not but after tremendous complementary football over the last minute of action, the Texans had the ball at the 42-yard line and punter/holder Tommy Townsend knelt on the new H logo at midfield. When Fairbairn hit that ball, it was not going end over end as it usually does, it sort of had a sideways spin and I thought it would spin away from the sticks. But he hit that power fade right back over the middle and I'm telling you that ball was SMOKING hot. It FLEW past me into the first few rows of the bleachers and was probably good from 65+. I took a second to look around the stadium at that point and it was euphoric. Man, I'll remember that one for a while.
4) I've often thought there are two instances when a team's energy goes to a different level - a massively physical hit, tackle or block and a deep shot for a TD. Nico Collins has actually nailed both categories this season, but on Sunday, before he went out of the game, he sprinted past rookie S Cole Bishop and CB Rasul Douglas and QB C.J. Stroud didn't miss him. 67-yard BOMB for a touchdown. One play. One touchdown. Here's how the X's and O's went on that play as I described in my Big Play Breakdown after the game.
1st quarter
1:43 remaining
Texans leading 7-3
1st and 10 - Texans ball
-33-yard line
The Texans defense created its first three and out just after the Akers touchdown. A Cam Martin punt didn't do a ton of damage and went out of bounds at the Texans 33-yard line. So, first play out of the time out, the Texans went back to one of their familiar alignments out of 12 personnel (one RB, two TE). The two TEs flanked the tackles with Tank Dell and Nico Collins in condensed splits on each side with RB Cam Akers to Stroud's left side. Dalton Schultz went in motion from right to left and Stroud faked a toss to Akers heading to the left side. It looked like it was quarters coverage, definitely on the side with Nico Collins. The Texans WR took OFF and the toss fake caught the eyes of rookie safety Cole Bishop. Collins essentially split Bishop and CB Rasul Douglas and had three steps on the closest defender. Stroud eyed Nico and LAUNCHED deep, landing the ball in Collins' hands for a 67-yard TD to give the Texans a 14-3 lead.
Unfortunately, Nico went out of the game after that long run-and-catch for a TD, but the IMPACT was felt and felt substantially on the defensive side of the ball. How so? Well, the defense gave up just 48 yards on 17 plays, leading to three straight punts, on the Bills three drives the rest of the first half.
5) One of my favorite moments of the game was Khalil Davis' sack in the first quarter. First off, I was happy to see Khalil get another sack. That play was designed to be a screen but Josh Allen pulled down the ball and held it long enough for Khalil and others to swallow up the Bills QB. What you couldn't see was DeMeco Ryans giving his players the heads up from the sideline that the screen was coming. Texans nickel Jalen Pitre jumped the screen nearly immediately and the Bills outside WR started to run block. So the play was dead on arrival and Allen had to pull the ball down as a result. Davis then had that extra half second to get to Allen to make the sack. That sack and the subsequent 3rd down stop forced a field goal attempt for the Bills, instead of a first quarter touchdown.
6) On the ensuing drive the Texans continued to get great play from RB Dare Ogunbowale. One of my five favorite plays of the day came on a key third and five. Here's how I described it in Big Play Breakdown.
1st quarter
5:06 remaining
Bills leading 3-0
3rd and five - Texans ball
-35 yard line
The Texans came out in a two by two set with two receivers to the left of the formation and two to the right side of the formation. QB C.J. Stroud was in the shotgun with RB Dare Ogunbowale to his left side. With only five yards needed for a conversion, the Texans had a lot of options on this play, so the Bills decided to go BLITZ zero - send the house at Stroud and play man-to-man coverage on every eligible receiver. The Bills brought SEVEN at Stroud but the key was the outside blitzer to Stroud's left side. In certain situations, Ogunbowale picks up the end man on the line of scrimmage. In others, Ogunbowale leaks out to the flat with no one covering him. Dare chose option B and leaked out to the flat. Stroud recognized it and flipped the ball out to Ogunbowale in the left flat before the edge blitzer could get a hit on Stroud in the pocket. Dare made the easy catch and sped forward for a massive 28-yard gain.
It's impossible to measure the full impact of Dare for this team, but know that he was RB1 on Sunday and there isn't anyone that saw that coming back in training camp. But, BUT, he did that job brilliantly, making that and many other key plays during the game. How about the final offensive play, making that short catch and getting down immediately? How about the key catch on the drive prior in the fourth quarter where he slid down after the first down to not go out of bounds? He is beloved for many reasons and he has EARNED the right to continue to be on the field at the running back position.
7) A few plays after Dare's catch and run for a first down, Dare's backfield mate Cam Akers ran 15 yards for a touchdown to cap that drive. It was a brilliantly constructed scheme from OC Bobby Slowik. Here's how it went down.
1st quarter
3:02 remaining
Bills leading 3-0…not for long
1st and 10 - Texans ball
+15-yard line
After Ogunbowale's catch, the Texans moved the ball into the red zone after a Nico Collins 11-yard catch and a Cam Akers 11-yard carry. So, with the ball at the 15-yard line, the Texans put 12 personnel (one RB, two TE) in the game but lined up in the I-formation with Dalton Schultz at fullback and Cade Stover at H-back. This run concept is so beautiful. It essentially is a counter play with Stover as the kick out block and Schultz as the turn up block. Typically, a counter play is with a guard and a fullback, sometimes it's a guard and a tackle, but OC Bobby Slowik used his tight ends as the kick/turn up blocker. Stover went in motion and hammered the DE to the left side. Schultz, as the fullback, started right and then countered back to the left side. As he did, he had a perfect angle on LB Terrel Bernard and pinned him inside. Akers stepped right, turned back left, took a handoff from Stroud and split the gap created by Stover and followed Schultz's great block on Bernard. WR Xavier Hutchinson did a GREAT job stalk blocking the CB and Akers sped the full 15 yards all the way into the end zone for the first TD of the day, the Texans longest rushing TD of the season.
8) The block from Stover was tremendous, no doubt, but it's the plays that Dalton Schultz has been making that got my attention. I found him in the locker room and made sure to congratulate him because it's all the little things that he's been doing for this offense, without a ton of fanfare and a significant share of targets. He's not getting a ton of targets, but he's blocking his butt off, including on that touchdown, and making the most of his chances when he gets them. How about third and nine from the Houston 13-yard line when Stroud found Schultz in between four defenders for an 18-yard catch? Huge moment.
9) The three downs after Stroud's fumble were the turning point in the game. The Texans stuffed the run on first down. Then, Bills QB Josh Allen put the cape on to come back in the game, but the Texans forced an incompletion to James Cook on the near sideline (great coverage Eric Murray) on second down. The third down play goes back to Azeez Al-Shaair. Allen had a nice pocket to start the play, but the coverage was sticky. Al-Shaair was spying on Allen. When the Bills gunslinger started running to his right, Al-Shaair ran like you-know-what to catch him. I think Al-Shaair's arrival startled Allen, who could really do nothing but throw the ball away with Al-Shaair hitting him as he released the pass. The Bills could only tie the game at that point, leading to the incredible final 3:20 of the game.
10) The Bills final three downs were pretty darn important too, and it was all set up by a Tommy Townsend gem of a punt. His punt came down from the heavens, hit at the 2-yard line, bounced ten feet in the air and then Kris Boyd downed it at the three. The Texans then won the clock/game management situation, having dominated those last three Bills offensive downs with a stout pass rush and sticky coverage again. I watched that entire sequence from the back of the end zone and even though Will Anderson Jr and Danielle Hunter didn't get sacks there, the pressure was unrelenting, forcing Josh Allen into more inaccurate throws at the exact right time.
Well, that was an emotional win for the Texans and now it's road trip time. It'll be a trip to Foxboro, a location in which the Texan have never won. That's the past, though, it's time to win in the present. See ya then, everyone!
