How Houston Texans escaped with narrow victory over Bills

TEXANS ON TAP

How Houston Texans escaped with narrow victory over Bills
The Texans beat the Bills, 23-20. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

C.J. Stroud threw for 331 yards and a touchdown and Ka′imi Fairbairn’s tiebreaking 59-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Houston Texans to a 23-20 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The Texans (4-1) led 20-3 after a field goal early in third quarter before the Bills scored 17 straight points to tie it with about 3½ minutes to go.

Stroud was called for intentional grounding to bring up fourth-and-15 and take the Texans out of field-goal range with less than a minute left.

A punt backed the Bills up to their 3 and they punted after three straight incomplete passes to give Houston one last chance.

Dare Ogunbowale had a 5-yard run to set up Fairbairn’s game winner.

This is one video you won't want to miss, as the crew from Texans on Tap reacts live to the big win!

Already without running back Joe Mixon for a fourth straight game, Houston struggled offensively after losing NFL receiving leader Nico Collins to a hamstring injury after he scored a long touchdown early in the second quarter.

Stefon Diggs led the Texans with six receptions for 82 yards in his first game against his former team since a blockbuster offseason trade.

Josh Allen was 9 of 30 for 131 yards and a touchdown as the Bills (3-2) lost for a second straight week after opening the season with three straight wins. Allen struggled before halftime again Sunday, managing just 56 yards passing a week after throwing for 42 yards in the first half of a rout by the Ravens.

Dawuane Smoot’s strip-sack of Stroud gave the Bills the ball at the Houston 15 with 4½ minutes to play.

They had the first play of the ensuing drive with Mitchell Trubisky at QB while Allen was in the medical tent being checked out after banging his head hard on the turf a few plays earlier. He re-entered the game on second down but threw two incompletions.

The Bills tied it on a 33-yard field goal.

The Texans were driving with about eight minutes left when Terrel Bernard intercepted a pass intended for Diggs to give Buffalo the ball at its 20.

The Bills couldn’t move the ball and had to punt, but soon got it back on the strip-sack.

The Bills cut the lead to 10 when James Cook scored on a 5-yard run with about nine minutes left in the third quarter.

Rookie Keon Coleman’s 49-yard reception on fourth-and-5 got the Bills within 20-17 on their next drive. Coleman slipped a tackle and then darted down the sideline before flipping into the end zone for his second TD this season.

The touchdown pass was the 231st in Allen’s career, tying him with Patrick Mahomes for the most by a player in his first seven seasons.

The Texans took a 7-3 lead when Cam Akers ran 15 yards for a touchdown with about three minutes left in the first quarter. Ogunbowale had a 38-yard catch-and-run on third-and-5 to keep that drive going.

Collins got in front of the defense for a 67-yard touchdown reception on the first play of Houston’s next drive to extend the lead to 14-3.

Fairbairn added a 50-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter and his 47-yarder early in the third made it 20-3.

Injuries

Texans RB British Brooks left with a knee injury in the first quarter. … S Jimmie Ward left in the second with a groin injury.

Up Next

Bills: Visit the New York Jets on Monday, Oct. 14.

Texans: Visit New England next Sunday.

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The Dodgers host the Astros this weekend! Composite Getty Image.
  • It’s the first place Houston Astros against the first place Los Angeles Dodgers as they open their latest head-to-head series. This is not a recording. The two most dominant powers in the sport over the last decade gather at Dodger Stadium this Independence Day weekend. The Astros have a sizable lead in pursuit of their eighth American League West championship in the last nine years. The Dodgers have an even more sizable lead as they chase their fourth straight National League West crown, which would be their 12th in 13 years. Each franchise has won two World Series in that time frame, each has lost two. All Astro and Dodger parties would sign off immediately on a 2025 World Series matchup. This three-game set carries no big picture significance, but every game counts, and it’s just fun seeing these two get after it. It would be more fun if the Astros had Yordan Alvarez available. Then again, the Dodgers won’t have Josh Fields.

Both continue to roll along despite rashes of injuries. When the Astros awoke May 24 their record sat at 26-25. Since then they have gone 26-10. That is a dominant stretch despite this clearly not being a dominant team. The still Alvarez-less offense is mediocre. So is the starting pitching apart from the one-two awesome punch that Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez have been. When Brown or Valdez has been the Astros’ starting pitcher this season, the team record is 25-9. With anyone else making the start, 27-26. They have been every bit as dynamic a duo so far in 2025 that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole were for the Astros in 2019 when Verlander edged out Cole to win his third Cy Young Award. Brown is a lock to be named to his first American League All-Star team this Sunday. Valdez is worthy of a third consecutive selection but could get caught in a numbers squeeze. Eight or nine starting pitchers are picked for each league.

The Dodgers won’t face Brown this weekend, but will have to deal with Valdez on Saturday night. His mound counterpart will be Shohei Ohtani. Oooooooh! Framber didn’t give up a run in 13 innings over his last two starts, and over his last 10 outings has a super-spiffy 1.72 earned run average. The amazing Ohtani is easing back into pitching after his second Tommy John surgery. Ohtani has started three games, totaling just four innings. He has yet to throw 30 pitches in an outing. Saturday he probably will be allowed 30 to 40.

Arms race

While Friday’s outing isn’t remotely a make or break start for Lance McCullers, it does speak to a significant question the Astros hope to find a pleasing answer to over the remainder of the regular season. Who is their third starting pitcher in a playoff series? After Brown and Valdez there is simply no one who inspires confidence at this point. McCullers has been awful his last two times out, jacking up his ERA to 6.61 eight starts into his season. 20 walks issued in 32 2 /3 innings pitched is glaringly bad. McCullers is still reasonably in ramp up mode, but given his injury history along with performance concerns, the third starter spot can’t be considered his to lose. Spencer Arrighetti’s resume is thin but his return at the level he pitched at after the All-Star break last season would be massive. Colt Gordon and Brandon Walter have both done some nice fill-in work, but no one plausibly wants them starting what would be a do or die game if the Astros wind up in a game three of a best-of-three Wild Card series.

Historic achievement

Not as if it’s subplot or anything this weekend, but let’s call it notable that the two active career hits leaders in Major League Baseball share the field this weekend. Jose Altuve this week vaulted past Jeff Bagwell for second in Astros’ history behind Craig Biggio. Altuve enters the weekend 743 hits behind Biggio. He is no lock to catch him before Altuve’s five-year contract expires at the end of the 2029 season. Altuve will be 39 then. Biggio was 41 when he rapped his 3000th hit, then added 60 more before beginning the waiting game for election to the Hall of Fame.

Like Biggio got and presumably someday Altuve will get, Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman will get the call from Cooperstown some day. Like Altuve, Freeman is 35 years old, has won a Most Valuable Player Award, one Gold Glove, and with his selection this week been named an All-Star nine times. Aaron Judge may change this in the next couple of years, but among active players only Mike Trout (by a long shot) has compiled more Baseball-Reference offensive Wins Above Replacement than Freeman (second) and Altuve (third).

For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch! 

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