4th and 15th – Texans ball and punting

On Matchdays 3 and 5 prior, a miscommunication between Dalton Schultz and CJ Stroud resulted in a controversial intentional grounding penalty. That brought the ball back to the 49-yard line and forced a Texans punt. So Tommy Townsend aka “Tommy Rockets” took Jon Weeks’ snapshot and hit a beautiful HIGH in the air. He dropped the punt at the two-yard line and the Texans rebounded it to Kris Boyd, who knocked it down at the three-yard line. I mean, NICE. The first thing I said to Marc Vandermeer when Boyd put down that punt: “Hey, we’ve got three timeouts left. It’s not over yet.”

On the first play after the punt, I was sure the Bills would run the ball out of the shadows of their own end zone and force the Texans to burn all three timeouts. No. The Bills decided to test rookie Kamari Lassiter on the field along with fellow rookie WR Keon Coleman. The Texans’ rookie beat the Bills’ rookie to the penalty spot and nearly snagged Josh Allen’s pass for an interception. As a result, Coleman interfered to stop Lassiter from catching the ball. The Texans declined the penalty that resulted in second down.

The Bills did not change course after the incompletion on first down and decided to throw again from their own end zone. Not only did they decide to throw, but they also did it from an empty set. As a result, there was NO help in the backfield against the Texans pass rush. WR Mack Hollins lined up in the slot on the left side and executed a stick-nick-double move to get deep to S Eric Murray. The route took so long that the pass rush, led by a SICK Danielle Hunter spin move, interfered with Josh Allen’s throw to Hollins down the field. Allen broke away from Hunter and was unable to make the throw. The throw was inaccurate due to the pressure as Murray went step for step with Hollins. Okay, on to third down.

On third down, I was CONVINCED that the Texans’ pass rush was enough to stop the Bills from throwing the ball, but that wasn’t the case. They wanted to throw the ball again. This time the Bills came out in a 2×2 set, with stack receivers on the left side and a modified bunch set on the right side. Although they put an RB in the backfield to counter the pass rush, the backfield used a route on the opposite side, away from Will Anderson Jr. The Texans’ second-year star went one-on-one against star Dion Dawkins. TE Dalton Kincaid started moving and ran straight to the uprights. Nothing there. Bills WR Curtis Samuel ran beyond the uprights, but Anderson Jr. beat Dawkins with a serious bull rush. As Allen tried to find Samuel, Anderson Jr. reached for Allen just as he threw the ball to Samuel. That pressure forced the throw five yards short, and the Texans defense had once again done its job.

*On the next play, the Bills punted to Robert Woods, who sprinted 13 yards to carry the ball into Buffalo territory. Stroud then hit Dare for five big yards in preparation…

2nd and 5 – Texans ball

Ka’imi from 59 yards issssssss…….GOOOOOOOOODDDDD! He did it AGAIN and won the game again for the Texans. What a victory. What a victory!!