Texans smother Josh Allen, stun Bills with walkoff FG in showdown of AFC contenders

The Houston Texans lost Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins to injury and blew a 20-3 third-quarter lead against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Doesn't matter. After the Bills tied the game at 20-20 at the end of the fourth quarter, the Texans rallied to score a game-winning walk-off field goal for a 23-20 win in the showdown of the AFC Super Bowl contenders achieve.

With the game tied 20-20, the Bills had a chance to run out the clock and force overtime. But on their final possession, they had just 16 seconds left on three offensive plays and punched out of their end zone to give the Texans a narrow field with seven seconds left in regulation.

The Texans took advantage with a 59-yard field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn as time expired to secure the victory.

With the win, Houston improved to 4-1 and maintained control of the AFC South. A second straight loss dropped the Bills to 3-2 after a blistering 3-0 start. Buffalo's offense failed to reach the end zone in the first half and struggled for a second straight game.

Houston took control early with a 70-yard touchdown drive on its second possession to take a 7-3 lead. A 67-yard touchdown pass from CJ Stroud to Nico Collins then extended Houston's lead to 14-3 in the second quarter.

Collins shot past two Buffalo defenders before Stroud unleashed the ball deep, extending Houston's lead to double digits.

Houston then added another field goal for a 17-3 halftime lead as Buffalo's offense struggled for its second straight game following last week's 35-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Bills managed 103 total yards in the first half.

Allen often has problems early on

Josh Allen completed just one of his first nine passes and entered halftime having completed six of 18 passes for 56 yards. But at the start of the second half the script changed.

Collins ended the first half in the locker room with a hamstring injury and was sidelined at halftime. The Texans' offense scored a field goal on the first drive of the third quarter, but failed without Collins, who opened Sunday's game as the NFL's leading receiver.

After six stagnant quarters, Buffalo's offense showed signs of life with touchdowns on the first two drives of the half. With 4:20 left in the third, Keon Coleman caught a fourth-and-5 pass from Allen near midfield and ran down the left sideline for a 49-yard touchdown to cut Buffalo's deficit to 20-17 .

Bills fail to capitalize on late Stroud turnovers

Houston's offensive woes in the second half were then compounded by two Stroud turnovers. Midway through the fourth quarter, Stroud threw an interception into Bills territory to thwart a potential scoring drive.

On Houston's next possession, Stroud fumbled the ball deep in Houston territory to put Buffalo in scoring position.

Buffalo failed to move the ball after the fumble and settled for a field goal to tie the game 20-20. The Bills managed just three points due to late turnovers from Stroud and then ran out of time with a late chance to force overtime.

Mismanagement late at night costs bills

The Texans struck from midfield with 40 seconds left after an intentional grounding penalty on Stroud knocked them out of field goal range. With 32 seconds left, the Bills took possession of the ball at their own 3-yard line. Overtime seemed inevitable.

But the Bills didn't run the ball and Allen threw incompletions on three consecutive plays. The Bills returned the ball after the game clock ran down to 16 seconds. Houston took the lead at the Buffalo 46-yard line and then gained five yards to set up Fairbarin for the walkoff field goal.

Stroud had a productive day outside of his turnovers, completing 28 of 38 passes for 331 yards with a touchdown. Allen had one of the worst games of his career.

Allen finished the day completing 9 of 30 passes (30%) for 131 yards (4.4 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and no turnovers. The Bills managed just 276 yards on offense against a stout Texans defense.

It was the second difficult game in a row for Allen after a 3-0 start created early MVP sentiment. In last week's loss to the Ravens, Allen completed 55% of his passes for 180 yards without a touchdown.

It's safe to say he gave up his mantle as MVP favorite within five weeks. The Bills will look to bounce back in Week 6 against the New York Jets. The Texans will look to improve on their 4-1 start in a Week 6 game against the New England Patriots.