John McClain, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, is in his 48th year of covering the NFL in Houston, including 45 seasons at the Houston Chronicle.
Winning close games with dramatic finishes has become addictive since the 2023 season when the Texans hired Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and drafted quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Sunday's improbable 23-20 victory over the Bills was the most recent example of how the Texans have become magicians, reaching into their bag of tricks on Sunday and pulling out Ka'imi Fairbairn to kick a 59-yard field goal with no time remaining, turning NRG Stadium into pandemonium.
Fairbairn's field goal – his eighth of 50-plus yards in five games – produced a fantastic finish that catapulted the Texans to a 4-1 record, their second-best start to 2012 when they began that season 5-0.
The Texans have earned their four victories by 2, 6, 4 and 3 points. Last season, they won seven of 10 games by one score or less: 7, 2, 3, 5, 5, 3 and 4 points.
"These are the type of games you find out who you are as a team," Ryans said. "Buffalo is an outstanding team. Nothing but respect for them. It doesn't matter how you get it done. I'm proud of our guys for gutting it out. It wasn't all pretty (but) it's about how you finish."
And what a finish it was coming one week after Stroud engineered the game-winning drive on their last series to pull out a come-from-behind 24-20 victory over the Jaguars.
Wearing their new H-Town Blue uniforms for the first time, the Texans' defense forced quarterback Josh Allen into one of the worst games of his career, and questionable strategy by Head Coach Sean McDermott put the Texans into position to pull out the victory and make former Buffalo receiver Stefon Diggs the happiest player in the stadium.
Diggs caught six passes for 82 yards. He became Stroud's go-to receiver when Nico Collins left the game with a hamstring injury after catching a 67-yard touchdown pass from Stroud that gave the Texans a 14-3 lead.
The Texans' limited Allen to a 9-for-30 performance for 131 yards. He averaged 4.4 yards per attempt. He completed 30 percent of his passes – the lowest in the league over the last 30 years for a quarterback with at least 30 attempts.
But the Bills still had a chance to escape NRG Stadium with a victory.
In the first half, the Texans played their best half of the season. They led 17-3 at halftime when Fairbairn drilled a 50-yard field goal as time expired. They elevated the lead to 20-3 on Fairbairn's 47-yard field goal in the third quarter, and then they came unglued. The Bills made it 20-17 with two touchdown drives.
The fourth quarter was a quarter Stroud would like to have back. He was intercepted at the Buffalo 19, sacked at the Texans' 15 that led to the game-tying field goal and was called for intentional grounding to take them out of field goal range for what appeared to be a venture into overtime.
Although it looked like this game was headed to overtime, the Texans were determined to finish it in regulation. Tommy Townsend's 46-yard punt was downed by Kris Boyd at the Buffalo 3. With 32 seconds left, the Bills had Allen, who had left the game when his helmet hit the turf, throw three times out of his end zone, all incomplete.
With 16 seconds left, Robert Woods returned the Bills' punt 13 yards to the Buffalo 46. With 7 seconds left, Stroud threw a 5-yard pass to Dare Ogunbowale, who started at running back over Cam Akers. The Texans called a timeout with 2 seconds left to set up the field goal. Jon Weeks' snap, Townsend's hold and Fairbairn's kick were perfect, and the celebration began.
"Congratulations to Imi – no bigger play than a 59-yard walk-off," Ryans said. "It's comforting to know you have a guy who can hit it at that critical moment. It's clutch time, and he stood up. It takes Weeks with the snap, Tommy with the hold (and) our protection up front -- everybody working together.
"The third quarter was definitely our sloppiest. Felt really good in the first half, no penalties, no sacks (and) we played clean. We were humming in the first half."
Not surprisingly, penalties became an issue in the third quarter for a team that entered the game as the most penalized in the league. They were called seven times for 65 yards in the second half.
"That third quarter wasn't who we are, but I really love the way our guys stepped up in the fourth," Ryans said. "That's what the league is. Games are going to be tight. Come within one score almost every week. It's about having a chance at the end and how you close it out, and we made the plays we needed to make to win."
There were a boat-load of big plays and terrific performances by a lot of players who contributed to the victory, starting with Diggs.
Buffalo played without its best receiver, Khalil Shakir, and the Bills could have used him. Their wideouts combined for four receptions – two fewer than Diggs.
"We were really happy for Diggs," Ryans said. "We knew how important this win was for him. We tried not to make a big deal out of it through the week, but we knew it. It's emotional. No bigger game for him than this one. Play after play, Diggs stepped up and made plays. I'm happy for him that we were able to get this win for him."
Diggs had played down the significance of the game last week but admitted afterward how much it meant to him after having four consecutive 100-catch and 1,000-yard seasons with the Bills.
"I'm not going to sit here and act like it was just regular," Diggs said. "It meant a lot to me, and it was reassuring the guys around me knew it meant a lot to me, even if I didn't say it. I'd be lying if I said it didn't mean a lot.
"I was just trying to take advantage and get a win for my team, but, obviously, it's emotional."
Another player who deserved special praise was linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair. He spent Saturday night in a hospital getting treatment for a virus. He led the defense with eight tackles, including one for loss, knocked down Allen two times and broke up two passes in the secondary.
"Azeez meant everything to what we did today," Ryans said. "People don't know (how) sick (he was) last night. Didn't know if he was even going to play. For him to be as tired as he was, for him to gut it out and play every snap, it was an outstanding performance by him.
"I know what he was battling. I know how hard it was for him to push through and play through that game. I've got so much respect for Azeez and what he accomplished."
Even though the Texans had one sack by Khalil Davis, they knocked down Allen six times, recorded seven tackles for loss and pressure him 14 times. His rating was 56.4. The defense limited the Bills to 276 yards and 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) on third down.
"Limiting Josh is a tough out for us," Ryans said. "It took a valiant effort from everybody. (The) D-line knew we weren't going to get many sacks against him because he's so elusive in the pocket. They did a great job keeping the pressure on him. Our back-end guys, the way they covered, that was the reason we played tight coverage and made the plays we needed to make. It was that collective effort of rush and coverage."
Stroud was 28-of-38 (73.7 percent) for 331 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He averaged 8.7 yards per attempt and posted a 97.6 rating. He helped the Texans convert 50 percent (8-of-16) on third down.
"There's a ton of things to learn from," Stroud said. "There are always things you can clean up. Some things are more abrupt, more noticeable than others, but I felt like when you can find a way to win, that shows you how much of a resilient team you are.
"It's not easy to play a great four quarters of football. The best players in the world are battling against each other, but the more we can do that – and I think everybody can tell -- we're going to be a force to (be) reckoned with."
New England will have to reckon with the Texans next week at Gillette Stadium, where they have an 0-7 record against the Patriots.
