As DJ Khaled once said…"ANOTHER ONE".
Yes, the Texans held on for another thrilling victory, this time against the potent Buffalo Bills 23-20. There were a ton of big plays in this gargantuan matchup, so let's dive into the good stuff right here.
1st quarter
5:06 remaining
Bills leading 3-0
3rd-and-5 Texans ball
-35 yard line
The Texans came out in a 2-by-2 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.
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.
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 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.
4th quarter
0:41 remaining
Tie game 20-20
4th and 15 - Texans ball and punting
+49-yard line
On the previous 3rd and five, a miscommunication between Dalton Schultz and C.J. Stroud led to a controversial intentional grounding penalty. That moved the ball back to the 49-yard line and forced a Texans punt. So, Tommy Townsend aka "Tommy Rockets" took the Jon Weeks snap and hit a beauty HIGH in the air. He dropped that punt at the two yard line and it took a Texans bounce back to Kris Boyd, who downed it at the three yard line. I mean, BEAUTIFUL. The first thing that I said to Marc Vandermeer when Boyd downed that punt - "Hey, we still have three time outs. It's not over yet."
4th quarter
0:32 remaining
Tie game 20-20
1st and ten - Bills ball
-3-yard line
On the first play after the punt, I thought for sure the Bills would run the ball out of the shadow of their own end zone and force the Texans to burn all three time outs. Nope. The Bills decided to test rookie Kamari Lassiter down the field with fellow rookie WR Keon Coleman. The Texans rookie beat the Bills rookie to the spot and nearly snatched the Josh Allen pass for an interception. As a result, Coleman interfered to keep Lassiter from making the catch. The Texans declined the penalty leading to second down.
4th quarter
0:27 remaining
Tie game 20-20
2nd and ten - Bills ball
-3-yard line
The Bills didn't change course after the incompletion on first down and decided to throw again out of their own end zone. Not only did they decide to throw, they did so out of an empty set. As a result, there was NO help in the backfield against the Texans pass rush. WR Mack Hollins aligned in the slot on the left side and ran a stick nod double move, trying to get deep on S Eric Murray. The route took so long that the pass rush, led by a SICK Danielle Hunter spin move, impacted the Josh Allen throw to Hollins down the field. Allen faded away from Hunter and couldn't step into the throw. The throw was inaccurate due to the pressure as Murray was step-for-step with Hollins. Okay, on to third down.
4th quarter
0:27 remaining
Tie game 20-20
3rd and ten - Bills ball
-3-yard line
On third down, I was CONVINCED that the Texans pass rush was enough to scare off the Bills from throwing the ball, but it didn't. They wanted to throw the ball again. This time, the Bills came out in a 2x2 set, with stack receivers to the left side and a modified bunch set to the right side. They did put a RB in the backfield to help against the pass rush, but the back went to run a route on the opposite side away from Will Anderson Jr. The Texans 2nd year star went one-on-one against star Dion Dawkins. TE Dalton Kincaid went in motion and ran right to the sticks. Nothing there. Bills WR Curtis Samuel ran beyond the sticks but, BUT, Anderson Jr. beat Dawkins with a serious bull rush. As Allen was trying to find Samuel, Anderson Jr. was reaching for Allen just as he was throwing the ball to Samuel. That pressure forced the throw to come up five yards short and the Texans defense had done its job, yet again.
*On the next play, the Bills punted to Robert Woods who sprinted forward 13 yards to get the ball into Buffalo territory. Then, Stroud hit Dare for five huge yards to set up…
4th quarter
0:02 remaining
Tie game 20-20
2nd and five - Texans ball
+41 yard line
Ka'imi from 59 yards issssssss…….GOOOOOOOOODDDDD! He did it AGAIN and won the game for the Texans yet again. What a win. WHAT A WIN!!
